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
Library and Information Sciences journal rankings 2021
41 ranked journals · Subfield in Social Sciences
Library and Information Sciences has 41 ranked journals in 2021. The median OJR fell 0.11 on 2020 to 0.88, below the world average of 1.00; Q1 starts at OJR 1.32. The top three are Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, The Library Quarterly, and The Journal of Academic Librarianship.
Ranks and citation indicators: 2021. Journal access status and listed APC: source snapshot September 23, 2026.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Subfields of Social Sciences (22)
41 ranked journals
Filters
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. | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1Journal of Librarianship and Information ScienceSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 2.19Q1 | 2.25 0.24 down from 2020 | 172 | 28% | $3,650 | ||
2The Library QuarterlyUniversity of Chicago Press · United States | 2.14Q1 | 2.12 0.06 down from 2020 | 63 | 8% | — | ||
3The Journal of Academic LibrarianshipElsevier BV · United States | 2.11Q1 | 3.03 0.62 up from 2020 | 327 | 25% | $3,990 | ||
4College & Research LibrariesOAAssociation of College and Research Libraries · United States | 2.09Q1 | 2.47 0.36 down from 2020 | 173 | 100% | — | ||
5Communications in Information LiteracyOACommunications in Information Literacy · United States | 1.67Q1 | 1.49 0.49 up from 2020 | 56 | 100% | — | ||
6Reference Services ReviewEmerald Publishing Limited · United Kingdom | 1.59Q1 | 1.65 0.30 up from 2020 | 118 | 34% | — | ||
7Library ManagementEmerald Publishing Limited · United Kingdom | 1.54Q1 | 1.82 0.33 up from 2020 | 140 | 2% | — | ||
8Open Information ScienceOADe Gruyter · Poland | 1.51Q1 | 1.77 0.85 up from 2020 | 52 | 100% | $0 listed | ||
9portal Libraries and the AcademyJohns Hopkins University Press · United States | 1.44Q1 | 1.49 0.15 up from 2020 | 130 | 26% | — | ||
10Public Library QuarterlyTaylor & Francis · United States | 1.35Q1 | 1.78 0.96 up from 2020 | 139 | 15% | — | ||
11Journal of Education for Library and Information ScienceUniversity of Toronto Press | 1.32Q1 | 1.72 0.12 down from 2020 | 76 | 14% | — | ||
12The International Information & Library ReviewTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.29Q2 | 1.64 0.64 up from 2020 | 111 | 10% | — | ||
13Journal of Library AdministrationTaylor & Francis · United States | 1.28Q2 | 1.78 0.65 up from 2020 | 176 | 16% | — | ||
14Journal of Information LiteracyOAChartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals · United Kingdom | 1.23Q2 | 1.15 0.24 up from 2020 | 81 | 100% | — | ||
15IFLA JournalSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 1.20Q2 | 1.58 0.51 up from 2020 | 88 | 22% | $3,650 | ||
16Library trendsJohns Hopkins University Press · United States | 1.18Q2 | 0.79 0.88 down from 2020 | 137 | 16% | — | ||
17Journal of the Australian Library and Information AssociationTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.16Q2 | 1.59 0.46 up from 2020 | 107 | 25% | — | ||
18New Review of Academic LibrarianshipTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.10Q2 | 1.39 0.16 up from 2020 | 89 | 44% | — | ||
19Journal of Library & Information Services in Distance LearningTaylor & Francis · United States | 1.03Q2 | 1.13 0.23 down from 2020 | 68 | 23% | — | ||
20Journal of Critical Library and Information StudiesOAUnited States | 1.00Q2 | 0.96 0.49 up from 2020 | 32 | 100% | — | ||
21College & Undergraduate LibrariesTaylor & Francis · United States | 0.88Q2 | 0.51 0.76 down from 2020 | 74 | 19% | — | ||
22Reference & User Services QuarterlyAmerican Library Association · United States | 0.82Q3 | 0.88 0.05 up from 2020 | 91 | 92% | — | ||
23LibriOADe Gruyter · Germany | 0.80Q3 | 0.90 0.08 down from 2020 | 75 | 28% | $0 listed | ||
24Performance Measurement and MetricsEmerald Publishing Limited · United Kingdom | 0.73Q3 | 1.23 0.31 up from 2020 | 46 | 22% | — | ||
25Public & Access Services QuarterlyTaylor & Francis · United States | 0.72Q3 | 0.84 0.32 up from 2020 | 104 | 4% | — | ||
26Partnership The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and ResearchOAThe Partnership · Canada | 0.69Q3 | 1.05 0.03 down from 2020 | 60 | 100% | — | ||
27Journal of Business & Finance LibrarianshipTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 0.65Q3 | 0.91 0.22 down from 2020 | 53 | 7% | — | ||
28International Journal of LibrarianshipOAChinese American Librarians Association · United States | 0.54Q3 | 0.87 0.62 up from 2020 | 52 | 100% | — | ||
29Journal of Access ServicesTaylor & Francis · United States | 0.50Q3 | 0.75 0.22 up from 2020 | 65 | 5% | — | ||
30Library Leadership & ManagementOAUnited States | 0.49Q3 | 0.50 0.20 up from 2020 | 85 | 100% | — | ||
| 0.48Q3 | 0.66 0.24 down from 2020 | 93 | 100% | — | |||
32Alexandria The Journal of National and International Library and Information IssuesSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 0.44Q4 | 0.49 0.31 up from 2020 | 71 | 100% | $3,400 | ||
33Evidence Based Library and Information PracticeOAUniversity of Alberta · Canada | 0.43Q4 | 0.70 0.05 up from 2020 | 198 | 100% | — | ||
34Children and LibrariesOAAmerican Library Association · United States | 0.19Q4 | 0.17 0.05 up from 2020 | 133 | 100% | — | ||
35Journal of New LibrarianshipOAUniversity of Colorado Boulder · United States | 0.15Q4 | 0.15 0.03 up from 2020 | 129 | 100% | — | ||
36College & Research Libraries NewsOAAssociation of College and Research Libraries · United States | 0.15Q4 | 0.12 0.07 down from 2020 | 1,098 | 100% | — | ||
37The Southeastern LibrarianOAUnited States | 0.14Q4 | 0.16 0.03 up from 2020 | 171 | 100% | — | ||
38Nordic Journal of Information Literacy in Higher EducationOAUniversity of Bergen · Norway | 0.07Q4 | 0.07 0.16 down from 2020 | 49 | — | — | ||
39Maine policy reviewOAUnited States | 0.06Q4 | 0.24 0.05 up from 2020 | 79 | 100% | — | ||
40SLIS ConnectingOAUniversity of Southern Mississippi · United States | 0.06Q4 | 0.09 0.09 up from 2020 | 46 | 100% | — | ||
41South Carolina LibrariesUnited States | 0.03Q4 | 0.03no 2020 value | 33 | 84% | — |
Subfields of Social Sciences, with Library and Information Sciences highlighted.
- Sociology and Political Science1,377
- Education762
- Political Science and International Relations333
- Communication75
- Gender Studies64
- Safety Research57
- Health55
- Public Administration52
- Urban Studies51
- Transportation50
- Law48
- Linguistics and Language48
- Demography42
- Library and Information Sciences41
- Anthropology38
- Geography, Planning and Development33
- Cultural Studies7
- Development4
- General Social Sciences3
- Human Factors and Ergonomics1
- Archeology0
- Life-span and Life-course Studies0
Journals
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.
8 additional Library and Information Sciences 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.
At a glance
Indicator year: 2021. Publication window: 2018–2020. How these summaries are calculated
- Ranked journals
- 41
- Window papers (baseline)
- 4,610 -7.0% from indicator year 2018
- Median OJR
- 0.88 -7.5% from indicator year 2018
- Rising journals (2025)
- 0
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.
| Measure | Year series | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranked journals | 26 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 32 | 30 | 30 | 34 | 36 | 36 | 38 | 39 | 39 | 41 | 43 | 44 | 43 | 41 | 42 | 44 | 41 | 41 | 42 | 41 | 40 | 38 | |
| Window papers (baseline) | 2,623 | 2,730 | 3,048 | 3,403 | 3,671 | 3,772 | 3,878 | 4,238 | 4,743 | 5,234 | 5,613 | 5,920 | 6,171 | 6,083 | 5,893 | 5,519 | 5,326 | 5,069 | 4,955 | 4,770 | 4,650 | 4,610 | 4,529 | 4,380 | 4,109 | 4,152 | |
| Median OJR | 0.63 | 0.678 | 0.77 | 0.87 | 0.74 | 0.680 | 0.96 | 0.946 | 0.953 | 0.83 | 0.9227 | 1.28 | 1.29 | 1.39 | 1.1000 | 1.19 | 1.08 | 1.1002 | 0.954 | 0.9228 | 0.995 | 0.88 | 0.94 | 0.75 | 0.86 | 0.79 |
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.