OpenJournalRank

Journal rankings · indicator year 2021

Choose a field to open its ranking, or a journal to find its row in its subfield’s list.

Subfield ranking · 2021

Global and Planetary Change journal rankings 2021

221 ranked journals · Subfield in Environmental Science

Global and Planetary Change has 221 ranked journals in 2021. Its median journal scores above the world average: OJR 1.03 against 1.00, up 0.02 on 2020. A journal needs OJR 1.85 to reach Q1. The top three are Reviews of Geophysics, Nature Climate Change, and Nature Sustainability.

Ranks and citation indicators: 2021. Journal access status and listed APC: source snapshot September 23, 2026.

Ranked journals

Journals whose main subfield sits in this category and that published at least 30 citable documents (articles, reviews and conference papers) in 2018–2020, the window the 2021 score is computed on.

221
23% of Environmental Science
Median OJR

The OpenJournalRank Indicator (OJR) is a free, publicly available metric of a journal’s field-normalized citation impact, computed from open OpenAlex citation data. It compares citations to a journal’s papers from the previous three years with the world average for papers of the same subfield, year and type, so 1.00 is the world average and values can be compared across fields. It is computed with the NCI3 method.

The middle OJR among ranked journals in this category: half score higher, half lower. 1.00 is the world average for papers of the same subfield, year and type.

The dot is this category, the solid tick is the median of all ranked journals and the dashed line is the world average.

1.03+0.02 vs 2020
This subfieldAll 0.79World 1.00
Open-access journals

Share of ranked journals in this category that are fully open access, so every paper is free to read. Hybrid journals, which sell subscriptions and open single papers for a fee, are not counted.

51%
All fields: 36%
Median listed APC

Median list price of the article processing charge, in US dollars, among ranked journals in this category that list a price above zero. Journals with a listed APC of $0 and journals with no known price are left out of this median. The At a glance table below gives a second median that includes the $0 prices.

$3,190
Median positive listed APC: $3,190 among 132 journals. Another 2 list $0; 87 have no known price. All fields: $3,290.

Subfields of Environmental Science (11)

221 ranked journals

Filters

Quartile

Quartiles split the ranked journals of the list you are viewing into four equal groups by OJR. Q1 is the top quarter and Q4 the bottom quarter.

They are computed within the list on screen, so a journal can be Q1 in its subfield and Q2 in the global ranking.

Access
APC (list price)
Loading every ranked journal in this list…
Global and Planetary Change ranking, 2021

Rank is the position by OJR within the list on screen; 1 is the highest.

OJR is field-normalized 3-year citation impact: 1.00 is the world average for papers of the same subfield, year and type, so values compare across fields.

The badge is the journal’s quartile in this list.

OJR

Citations per paper over a two-year window, counted from OpenAlex. It is not field-normalized, so compare it only between journals of the same field.

▲ or ▼ is the change from 2020. This is OpenJournalRank’s own count, not Clarivate’s Journal Impact Factor.

Citable documents (articles, reviews and conference papers) published in 2018–2020, the window the 2021 OJR is computed on. A journal needs at least 30 to be ranked.

Share of the journal’s 2018–2020 papers that are free to read in any open-access form. The green OA tag next to a title marks a fully open-access journal.

List price of the article processing charge in US dollars. “$0 listed” means the listed price is zero; a dash means no price is listed.

The line is the journal’s OJR from 2012 to 2021.

Compare
1Reviews of GeophysicsWiley · United States
10.50Q135.00 10.00 up from 20207970%$3,880
2Nature Climate ChangeNature Portfolio · United Kingdom
7.27Q120.44 4.56 up from 202081942%$12,690
3Nature SustainabilityNature Portfolio · United Kingdom
6.67Q120.80 8.05 up from 202063639%$12,690
4.88Q112.12 3.85 up from 202017867%$5,450
5Current Climate Change ReportsSpringer Science+Business Media · Germany
4.85Q114.87 3.34 up from 20207963%$4,490
6Geography and sustainabilityOAElsevier BV · Netherlands
4.80Q113.17no 2020 value36100%$1,700—
7Communications Earth & EnvironmentOANature Portfolio · United Kingdom
4.02Q114.15no 2020 value65100%$3,490—
8npj Climate and Atmospheric ScienceOANature Portfolio · United Kingdom
3.68Q114.15 3.35 up from 2020135100%$3,590
9Sustainability ScienceSpringer Science+Business Media · Japan
3.66Q17.32 0.58 up from 202037976%$3,890
10Current Forestry ReportsSpringer Science+Business Media · Germany
3.58Q111.39 3.04 up from 20205890%$4,990
3.45Q19.87 3.13 up from 202021062%$4,200
12Earth s FutureOAAmerican Geophysical Union · United States
3.44Q111.41 2.29 up from 2020349100%$3,180
3.32Q110.53 0.86 up from 202020170%$3,610
14Global SustainabilityOACambridge University Press · United Kingdom
3.29Q17.85 0.12 down from 202082100%$3,550
15One EarthElsevier BV · United States
3.28Q18.83 3.11 up from 202028896%$9,170
3.25Q114.01 5.55 up from 2020625100%$2,650
17Habitat InternationalElsevier BV · United Kingdom
3.18Q15.89 0.26 up from 202033322%$3,560
18Earth System GovernanceOAElsevier BV · Netherlands
3.02Q19.23 2.66 down from 202039100%$2,180
19AGU AdvancesOAWiley · United States
3.01Q19.41 9.41 up from 202032100%$3,460
20Ecology and SocietyOAResilience Alliance · Canada
2.98Q16.23no change467100%$975
21Journal of Urban ManagementOAElsevier BV · Taiwan
2.97Q15.98 1.20 up from 202095100%$1,200
22Climate Risk ManagementOAElsevier BV · Netherlands
2.86Q16.55 2.00 up from 2020114100%$3,130
23Environmental Science & PolicyElsevier BV · United Kingdom
2.82Q17.73 1.18 up from 202071458%$4,250
24Land Use PolicyElsevier BV · Netherlands
2.80Q16.88 0.79 up from 20201,99735%$3,830
25Weather and Climate ExtremesOAElsevier BV · Netherlands
2.75Q110.02 3.48 up from 2020127100%$3,969
26Environmental Research LettersOAIOP Publishing · United Kingdom
2.68Q18.61 0.37 up from 20202,060100%$3,045
27AMBIOSpringer Science+Business Media · Sweden
2.65Q18.45 2.16 up from 2020412100%$4,490
28Fish and FisheriesWiley · United Kingdom
2.55Q17.93 1.45 up from 202023259%$5,000
29People and NatureOAWiley · United States
2.53Q17.51 2.23 up from 2020167100%$2,540
30Climatic ChangeSpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands
2.49Q16.40 0.99 up from 202074957%$4,390
31Frontiers in ClimateOAFrontiers Media · Switzerland
2.48Q18.82 1.82 up from 202040100%$3,077
32Earth System DynamicsOACopernicus Publications · Germany
2.46Q19.92 3.38 up from 2020195100%$1,585
33Natural hazards and earth system sciencesOACopernicus Publications · Germany
2.44Q16.69 1.54 up from 2020585100%$1,553
34Journal of Environmental Policy & PlanningTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom
2.43Q15.07 0.33 up from 202013849%—
35Applied GeographyElsevier BV · United Kingdom
2.42Q15.78 0.85 up from 202045442%$3,220
36Atmospheric measurement techniquesOACopernicus Publications · Germany
2.35Q19.67 3.96 up from 20201,140100%$1,585
37BioScienceOxford University Press · United States
2.33Q16.18 0.79 up from 202043159%$5,088
2.22Q17.33 0.73 up from 202098100%$0 listed
39Geophysical Research LettersOAAmerican Geophysical Union · United States
2.17Q17.58 1.72 up from 20204,82661%$3,190
40Earth Systems and EnvironmentSpringer Science+Business Media · Switzerland
2.16Q19.67 6.41 up from 202016547%$4,090
41Big Earth DataOATaylor & Francis · United Kingdom
2.12Q16.65 1.41 up from 202069100%$1,024
42Climate ServicesOAElsevier BV · Netherlands
2.11Q16.11 0.16 up from 202091100%$2,290
43Annals of GISOATaylor & Francis · United Kingdom
2.09Q15.70 1.42 up from 202092100%$1,500
44Regional Environmental ChangeSpringer Science+Business Media · Germany
2.08Q16.09 1.86 up from 202043353%$3,990
45Ecosystem ServicesElsevier BV · Netherlands
2.07Q17.63 1.39 up from 202048257%$4,100
46Environmental DevelopmentElsevier BV · Netherlands
2.04Q14.91 0.32 up from 202018034%$3,540
47Agricultural and Forest MeteorologyElsevier BV · United Kingdom
2.01Q16.72 0.57 up from 20201,06939%$3,590
48Environmental Modelling & SoftwareElsevier BV · United Kingdom
2.00Q16.72 0.49 up from 202070864%$3,500
49International Journal of Digital EarthOATaylor & Francis · United Kingdom
1.98Q16.07 1.63 up from 202019079%$2,390
50Global Environmental PoliticsThe MIT Press · United States
1.93Q14.55 1.77 up from 202015842%—

Citations made in 2021. Corpus-wide, 87.7% of core-journal articles and reviews published that year have at least one matched reference; the share varies by journal and field.

62 additional Global and Planetary Change journals with metrics are unranked under this release’s eligibility rules: a journal needs at least 30 citable documents in 2018–2020, at least 80% of them with a subfield, and a positive world-average expectation. Ranks are within the whole category; filters hide rows without re-ranking. OJR excludes self-citations.

Rising journals

At a glance

Indicator year: 2021. Publication window: 2018–2020. How these summaries are calculated

Ranked journals
221
Window papers (baseline)
106,095 +15.4% from indicator year 2018
Median OJR
1.03 +7.7% from indicator year 2018
Rising journals (2025)
13

Window papers are the baseline paper population: citable papers (articles, reviews and conference papers) from 2018–2020 in all journals of the world-average baseline, including non-core journals, counted by each paper’s own subfield. They are not the papers of the ranked journals alone.

Category by indicator year
MeasureYear series20002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Ranked journals7478909496102105106114124138145155164177186193195201209218221232236236241
Window papers (baseline)24,03130,38432,74335,50034,11136,29839,00541,67145,63450,22355,09060,14765,13870,95577,96484,03688,37990,51891,92495,13498,815106,095113,902120,307123,368123,867
Median OJR0.700.7890.7940.780.900.880.970.9280.920.9310.9770.9991.0611.091.071.0111.0641.040.960.991.0131.031.020.9750.9820.978

How to read these rankings

OJR, the OpenJournalRank Indicator
A field-normalized 3-year citation impact, computed from OpenAlex with the NCI3 method. It divides the citations a journal’s papers received by the world average for papers of the same subfield, year and type, so 1.00 is the world average and 2.00 means twice as many citations as expected. Because it is normalized, it can be compared across fields. Read the methodology
Quartiles
Q1 to Q4 split the ranked journals of the list you are viewing into four equal groups by OJR. A journal’s quartile depends on the list: the same journal can be Q1 in its subfield and Q2 among all journals.
Impact factor (2-year)
Citations per paper over a two-year window, counted from OpenAlex. It is easy to compare with familiar impact factors but is not field-normalized, so compare it only within a field. It is not Clarivate’s Journal Impact Factor. Why it differs from the Journal Impact Factor
Rank ranges
Each rank in the latest year carries a likely range from 1,000 resamples of the journal’s papers. Where two journals’ ranges overlap, the data cannot tell them apart, so treat neighbouring ranks as ties.