Journal rankings · indicator year 2021
Choose a field to open its ranking, or a journal to find its row in its subfield’s list.
Field ranking · 2021
Psychology journal rankings 2021
1,032 ranked journals · Field in Social Sciences
Psychology has 1,032 ranked journals in 2021. The median OJR fell 0.10 on 2020 to 0.85, below the world average of 1.00; Q1 starts at OJR 1.44. The top three are Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, The Lancet Psychiatry, and The Lancet Public Health.
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 in Psychology (7)
Up to Social Sciences1,032 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological ScienceOASAGE Publishing · United States | 12.11Q1 | 23.37 2.97 down from 2020 | 106 | 100% | $2,000 | ||
2The Lancet PsychiatryElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 7.61Q1 | 25.85 16.94 up from 2020 | 817 | 63% | $7,280 | ||
3The Lancet Public HealthOAElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 7.28Q1 | 29.48 21.11 up from 2020 | 424 | 100% | $6,680 | ||
4World PsychiatryWiley · Italy | 7.01Q1 | 18.62 5.57 up from 2020 | 325 | 97% | — | ||
5Psychological BulletinAmerican Psychological Association · United States | 6.61Q1 | 26.37 6.76 up from 2020 | 118 | 31% | — | ||
6American PsychologistAmerican Psychological Association · United States | 6.51Q1 | 12.96 5.03 up from 2020 | 517 | 23% | — | ||
7Perspectives on Psychological ScienceSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 6.37Q1 | 14.91 0.56 up from 2020 | 251 | 53% | $3,900 | ||
8Contemporary Educational PsychologyElsevier BV · Netherlands | 6.12Q1 | 10.50 4.24 up from 2020 | 237 | 32% | $4,720 | ||
9Qualitative Research in Sport Exercise and HealthTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 6.10Q1 | 13.24 6.74 up from 2020 | 161 | 64% | — | ||
10International Coaching Psychology ReviewBritish Psychological Society | 5.74Q1 | 23.32 22.76 up from 2020 | 49 | 0% | — | ||
11Psychological MethodsAmerican Psychological Association · United States | 5.20Q1 | 10.00 0.06 up from 2020 | 137 | 44% | — | ||
12Child Development PerspectivesWiley · United Kingdom | 4.84Q1 | 7.75 1.81 down from 2020 | 107 | 34% | $3,700 | ||
13Journal of Personality and Social PsychologyAmerican Psychological Association · United States | 4.65Q1 | 8.82 0.78 down from 2020 | 401 | 28% | — | ||
14Journal of the Learning SciencesRoutledge · United States | 4.61Q1 | 7.62 2.43 up from 2020 | 56 | 33% | — | ||
15Journal of Anxiety DisordersElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 4.57Q1 | 17.01 10.59 up from 2020 | 257 | 53% | $4,650 | ||
16JAMA PsychiatryAmerican Medical Association · United States | 4.43Q1 | 12.11 1.46 up from 2020 | 834 | 75% | — | ||
17International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative LearningSpringer Science+Business Media · United States | 4.40Q1 | 7.68 1.10 up from 2020 | 61 | 55% | $3,290 | ||
18International Journal of Mental Health and AddictionSpringer Science+Business Media · United States | 4.17Q1 | 15.50 11.79 up from 2020 | 531 | 61% | $4,090 | ||
19ReCALLCambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 3.91Q1 | 5.11 2.26 up from 2020 | 69 | 39% | $3,550 | ||
20Reading Research QuarterlyWiley · United States | 3.89Q1 | 5.67 2.03 up from 2020 | 133 | 34% | $3,530 | ||
21The European Journal of Psychology Applied to Legal ContextOAColegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid · Spain | 3.86Q1 | 9.81 0.89 down from 2020 | 34 | 100% | — | ||
22International Journal of Social PsychiatrySAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 3.70Q1 | 12.54 9.82 up from 2020 | 415 | 30% | $3,900 | ||
23Thinking Skills and CreativityElsevier BV · Netherlands | 3.66Q1 | 6.89 1.38 up from 2020 | 262 | 21% | $3,730 | ||
24Current Psychiatry ReportsSpringer Science+Business Media · United States | 3.66Q1 | 11.27 3.43 up from 2020 | 345 | 61% | $4,990 | ||
25Journal of Second Language StudiesJohn Benjamins Publishing Company · Netherlands | 3.53Q1 | 5.96 4.67 up from 2020 | 40 | 4% | — | ||
26Language LearningWiley · United States | 3.52Q1 | 6.06 0.31 up from 2020 | 139 | 34% | $3,760 | ||
27Journal of Behavioral AddictionsOAAkadémiai Kiadó · Hungary | 3.45Q1 | 8.55 0.18 down from 2020 | 316 | 100% | $916 | ||
28Dialogues in Clinical NeuroscienceOALaboratoires Servier · United Kingdom | 3.45Q1 | 7.00 0.29 down from 2020 | 110 | 100% | — | ||
29Journal of Computer Assisted LearningWiley · United Kingdom | 3.44Q1 | 6.31 1.01 up from 2020 | 269 | 42% | $4,150 | ||
30Human Resource Development ReviewSAGE Publishing · United States | 3.26Q1 | 7.82 2.50 up from 2020 | 48 | 15% | $3,900 | ||
31School Psychology QuarterlyAmerican Psychological Association · United States | 3.25Q1 | —no 2020 value | 40 | — | — | ||
32Journal of Abnormal PsychologyAmerican Psychological Association · United States | 3.20Q1 | 8.33 0.04 down from 2020 | 238 | 41% | — | ||
33International Journal of TransgenderismTaylor & Francis · Germany | 3.19Q1 | 8.30 2.73 up from 2020 | 60 | — | — | ||
34Language and Linguistics CompassWiley · United Kingdom | 3.18Q1 | 4.16 0.84 up from 2020 | 87 | 31% | $2,900 | ||
35Developmental ReviewElsevier BV · United States | 3.18Q1 | 10.18 2.22 down from 2020 | 68 | 44% | $4,330 | ||
36Journal of Consulting and Clinical PsychologyAmerican Psychological Association · United States | 3.15Q1 | 8.73 1.63 up from 2020 | 251 | 38% | — | ||
37Clinical Psychological ScienceSAGE Publishing · United States | 3.15Q1 | 7.92 0.22 down from 2020 | 221 | 69% | $3,900 | ||
38Organizational Behavior and Human Decision ProcessesElsevier BV · United States | 3.15Q1 | 6.03 1.50 up from 2020 | 210 | 31% | $3,530 | ||
39American Journal of PsychiatryAmerican Psychiatric Association · United States | 3.13Q1 | 10.12 0.29 up from 2020 | 560 | 41% | — | ||
40Psychological Trauma Theory Research Practice and PolicyAmerican Psychological Association · United States | 3.12Q1 | 11.28 8.26 up from 2020 | 448 | 31% | — | ||
41European Journal of PersonalitySAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 3.10Q1 | 8.25 0.98 up from 2020 | 161 | 49% | $3,900 | ||
42International Journal of Adolescence and YouthOATaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 3.09Q1 | 7.83 4.03 up from 2020 | 135 | 100% | $1,226 | ||
43Journal of Child Psychology and PsychiatryWiley · United Kingdom | 3.09Q1 | 8.40 0.79 up from 2020 | 368 | 66% | $4,530 | ||
44Psychiatry ResearchElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 3.06Q1 | 13.76 9.89 up from 2020 | 2,443 | 46% | $4,230 | ||
45Educational Psychology ReviewSpringer Science+Business Media · United States | 3.03Q1 | 11.90 1.40 up from 2020 | 144 | 58% | $4,790 | ||
46Child DevelopmentWiley · United Kingdom | 3.01Q1 | 5.42 0.49 down from 2020 | 448 | 56% | $4,320 | ||
47Psychotherapy and PsychosomaticsKarger Publishers · Switzerland | 2.92Q1 | 11.94 5.84 up from 2020 | 237 | 62% | — | ||
48International Journal of Clinical and Health PsychologyOAElsevier BV · Spain | 2.90Q1 | 10.34 5.38 up from 2020 | 91 | 100% | $2,970 | ||
49Comprehensive PsychiatryOAElsevier BV · United States | 2.89Q1 | 9.94 5.39 up from 2020 | 286 | 100% | $3,470 | ||
50Emotion ReviewSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 2.86Q1 | 7.06 2.41 up from 2020 | 97 | 60% | $3,900 |
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.
251 additional Psychology 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
- 1,032
- Window papers (baseline)
- 394,757 +17.4% from indicator year 2018
- Median OJR
- 0.85 -12.7% from indicator year 2018
- Rising journals (2025)
- 68Comparison-group list (68)
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 | 519 | 548 | 577 | 590 | 609 | 627 | 650 | 677 | 713 | 736 | 759 | 789 | 812 | 836 | 872 | 914 | 953 | 976 | 1,000 | 1,008 | 1,032 | 1,032 | 1,044 | 1,049 | 1,036 | 1,032 | |
| Window papers (baseline) | 100,368 | 108,714 | 116,356 | 126,019 | 132,361 | 141,328 | 150,104 | 163,997 | 178,881 | 196,566 | 212,190 | 230,053 | 245,061 | 259,850 | 274,026 | 290,061 | 308,630 | 323,270 | 336,144 | 346,025 | 361,777 | 394,757 | 437,922 | 469,605 | 479,050 | 491,558 | |
| Median OJR | 0.67 | 0.68 | 0.69 | 0.73 | 0.76 | 0.77 | 0.79 | 0.83 | 0.867 | 0.90 | 0.920 | 0.94 | 1.0178 | 1.0183 | 1.017 | 1.01 | 1.003 | 1.001 | 0.98 | 0.93 | 0.95 | 0.85 | 0.872 | 0.869 | 0.915 | 0.9249 |
| Measure | Category statistic | Eligible population |
|---|---|---|
| Journal self-citation share | Median: 3.9% | 730 journals |
| Retracted papers per 1,000 | Pooled rate: 0.819 per 1,000 | 625 journals |
| Output growth | Median: -1.9% | 962 journals |
| Open access share | Median: 55.7% | 1,032 journals |
| Listed APC (USD) | Median including $0 listed prices: $3,390 | 484 ranked journals with a known listed price, including $0 listed prices |
| International collaboration share | Median: 21.7% | 951 journals |
| Review share | Median: 2.1% | 1,032 journals |
| Articles-only OJR | Median: 0.96 | 1,023 journals |
| Uncited share | Median: 36.5% | 1,032 journals |
| Citation concentration | Median: 45.5% | 1,030 journals |
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.