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
Oceanography journal rankings 2021
53 ranked journals · Subfield in Earth and Planetary Sciences
Oceanography has 53 ranked journals in 2021. The median OJR fell 0.12 on 2020 to 0.84, below the world average of 1.00; Q1 starts at OJR 1.16. The top three are Global Biogeochemical Cycles, Limnology and Oceanography Letters, and Biogeosciences.
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 Earth and Planetary Sciences (8)
53 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1Global Biogeochemical CyclesWiley · United States | 2.93Q1 | 9.47 2.36 up from 2020 | 331 | 61% | $4,070 | ||
2Limnology and Oceanography LettersOAWiley · United States | 2.77Q1 | 8.72 0.99 up from 2020 | 121 | 100% | $3,700 | ||
3BiogeosciencesOACopernicus Publications · Germany | 2.32Q1 | 8.53 3.37 up from 2020 | 1,041 | 100% | $1,628 | ||
4Ocean scienceOACopernicus Publications · Germany | 2.28Q1 | 7.74 3.49 up from 2020 | 289 | 100% | $1,412 | ||
5Frontiers in Marine ScienceOAFrontiers Media · Switzerland | 2.04Q1 | 6.82 0.61 up from 2020 | 2,428 | 100% | $3,801 | ||
6Limnology and OceanographyWiley · United States | 1.75Q1 | 5.94 1.35 up from 2020 | 652 | 63% | $3,530 | ||
7Progress In OceanographyElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 1.67Q1 | 5.13 1.26 up from 2020 | 487 | 60% | $3,720 | ||
8Journal of Geophysical Research OceansWiley · United States | 1.65Q1 | 5.55 1.30 up from 2020 | 1,562 | 58% | $4,070 | ||
9Ocean ModellingElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 1.62Q1 | 4.63 0.69 up from 2020 | 253 | 71% | $3,140 | ||
10Journal of Operational OceanographyTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.54Q1 | 5.29 2.14 up from 2020 | 70 | 53% | — | ||
11Journal of Physical OceanographyAmerican Meteorological Society · United States | 1.39Q1 | 4.28 0.26 up from 2020 | 562 | 56% | — | ||
12Marine ChemistryElsevier BV · Netherlands | 1.39Q1 | 4.58 0.88 up from 2020 | 266 | 54% | $3,280 | ||
13Marine Environmental ResearchElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 1.18Q1 | 3.82 0.25 up from 2020 | 713 | 47% | $3,440 | ||
14Limnology and Oceanography MethodsWiley · United States | 1.16Q1 | 3.36 0.70 up from 2020 | 171 | 58% | $3,530 | ||
15Estuarine Coastal and Shelf ScienceElsevier BV · United States | 1.16Q2 | 3.53 0.36 up from 2020 | 1,247 | 41% | $3,410 | ||
16Journal of Marine SystemsElsevier BV · Netherlands | 1.15Q2 | 3.73 1.04 up from 2020 | 307 | 42% | $3,510 | ||
17Deep Sea Research Part I Oceanographic Research PapersElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 1.14Q2 | 3.19 0.05 up from 2020 | 431 | 42% | $3,270 | ||
18OceanologiaOAElsevier BV · Poland | 1.02Q2 | 2.98 0.62 up from 2020 | 133 | 100% | — | ||
19OceanographyOAOceanography Society · United States | 1.01Q2 | 2.27 0.24 down from 2020 | 267 | 100% | $500 | ||
20Continental Shelf ResearchElsevier BV · Netherlands | 1.01Q2 | 2.99 0.47 up from 2020 | 426 | 34% | $3,260 | ||
21Deep Sea Research Part II Topical Studies in OceanographyElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 1.00Q2 | 3.35 0.88 up from 2020 | 427 | 47% | $3,760 | ||
22Ocean DynamicsSpringer Science+Business Media · Germany | 1.00Q2 | 3.41 1.19 up from 2020 | 278 | 34% | $3,690 | ||
23Journal of Plankton ResearchOxford University Press · United Kingdom | 0.91Q2 | 2.53 0.28 down from 2020 | 187 | 44% | $4,533 | ||
24Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic TechnologyAmerican Meteorological Society · United States | 0.91Q2 | 3.21 0.78 up from 2020 | 453 | 67% | — | ||
25PhycologiaTaylor & Francis · United States | 0.88Q2 | 3.59 0.90 up from 2020 | 191 | 26% | — | ||
26Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and EcologyElsevier BV · Netherlands | 0.87Q2 | 2.55 0.30 up from 2020 | 372 | 40% | $3,270 | ||
27Journal of OceanographySpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands | 0.84Q2 | 2.27 0.73 up from 2020 | 129 | 40% | $4,090 | ||
28Journal of PhycologyWiley · United Kingdom | 0.81Q3 | 3.11 0.27 up from 2020 | 386 | 30% | $3,900 | ||
29Botanica MarinaDe Gruyter · Germany | 0.75Q3 | 2.19 0.48 up from 2020 | 169 | 52% | $2,712 | ||
30Journal of Sea ResearchOAElsevier BV · Netherlands | 0.72Q3 | 2.27 0.09 up from 2020 | 245 | 41% | $2,610 | ||
31Aquatic BotanyElsevier BV · Netherlands | 0.71Q3 | 2.07 0.46 down from 2020 | 247 | 23% | $3,180 | ||
32ALGAEOAKorean Society of Phycology · South Korea | 0.70Q3 | 3.00 0.37 up from 2020 | 84 | 100% | — | ||
33Marine EcologyWiley · Germany | 0.68Q3 | 2.08 0.34 up from 2020 | 123 | 24% | $3,560 | ||
34European Journal of PhycologyTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 0.67Q3 | 2.50 0.02 up from 2020 | 157 | 34% | — | ||
35Helgoland Marine ResearchSpringer Science+Business Media · Germany | 0.66Q3 | 2.58 1.25 up from 2020 | 43 | 100% | $2,190 | ||
36Marine GeodesyTaylor & Francis · United States | 0.61Q3 | 1.89 0.26 up from 2020 | 86 | 21% | — | ||
37Journal of Marine ResearchYale University · United States | 0.54Q3 | 1.96 0.85 up from 2020 | 34 | 21% | — | ||
38Geophysical & Astrophysical Fluid DynamicsTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 0.54Q3 | 1.84 0.37 up from 2020 | 104 | 42% | — | ||
39Dynamics of Atmospheres and OceansElsevier BV · Netherlands | 0.53Q3 | 1.85 0.27 up from 2020 | 104 | 31% | $3,000 | ||
40Acta Oceanologica SinicaSpringer Science+Business Media · Germany | 0.53Q3 | 1.65 0.22 up from 2020 | 538 | 3% | $3,090 | ||
41Journal of Oceanology and LimnologySpringer Science+Business Media · China | 0.47Q4 | 1.67 0.42 up from 2020 | 510 | 7% | $2,990 | ||
42Journal of Ocean University of ChinaSpringer Science+Business Media · China | 0.40Q4 | 1.35 0.41 up from 2020 | 459 | 0% | $2,990 | ||
43Water WavesBirkhäuser · Switzerland | 0.39Q4 | 1.10 0.14 up from 2020 | 42 | 78% | $3,490 | ||
44Phycological ResearchWiley · Australia | 0.39Q4 | 1.45 0.10 up from 2020 | 126 | 38% | $3,800 | ||
45Ocean Science JournalSpringer Science+Business Media · South Korea | 0.38Q4 | 1.41 0.29 up from 2020 | 149 | 6% | $3,090 | ||
46African Journal of Marine ScienceTaylor & Francis · South Africa | 0.38Q4 | 1.05 0.15 down from 2020 | 128 | 40% | — | ||
47Cryptogamie AlgologieFrance | 0.38Q4 | 1.17 0.25 down from 2020 | 55 | 73% | — | ||
48Records of the Australian MuseumOAAustralian Museum · Australia | 0.27Q4 | 0.77 0.20 up from 2020 | 43 | 100% | — | ||
49Open Journal of Marine ScienceOAScientific Research Publishing · United States | 0.27Q4 | 0.85 0.30 up from 2020 | 57 | 100% | — | ||
50Plankton and Benthos ResearchOAJapan | 0.25Q4 | 0.72 0.05 down from 2020 | 96 | 100% | — |
Subfields of Earth and Planetary Sciences, with Oceanography highlighted.
- Geophysics144
- Atmospheric Science88
- Paleontology78
- Oceanography53
- Earth-Surface Processes18
- Geology10
- Geochemistry and Petrology7
- Space and Planetary Science4
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.
15 additional Oceanography 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
- 53
- Window papers (baseline)
- 38,046 -1.8% from indicator year 2018
- Median OJR
- 0.84 -19.6% from indicator year 2018
- Rising journals (2025)
- 2
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 | 45 | 45 | 47 | 47 | 50 | 50 | 52 | 47 | 47 | 48 | 46 | 50 | 52 | 54 | 54 | 57 | 55 | 55 | 56 | 56 | 54 | 53 | 52 | 50 | 50 | 50 | |
| Window papers (baseline) | 17,172 | 24,444 | 25,447 | 26,729 | 22,276 | 23,151 | 23,470 | 23,736 | 24,792 | 26,735 | 27,757 | 29,268 | 30,112 | 32,038 | 34,050 | 36,182 | 37,065 | 38,250 | 38,751 | 38,838 | 38,407 | 38,046 | 38,345 | 37,535 | 37,030 | 37,438 | |
| Median OJR | 0.70 | 0.78 | 0.98 | 1.059 | 1.02 | 1.16 | 1.17 | 1.31 | 1.36 | 1.22 | 1.27 | 1.26 | 1.092 | 1.11 | 1.060 | 1.19 | 1.062 | 1.093 | 1.05 | 1.03 | 0.96 | 0.84 | 0.82 | 0.83 | 0.81 | 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.