Journal rankings · indicator year 2023
Choose a field to open its ranking, or a journal to find its row in its subfield’s list.
Domain ranking · 2023
Life Sciences journal rankings 2023
3,032 ranked journals · Domain
Life Sciences has 3,032 ranked journals in 2023. The median journal has an OJR of 0.78, below the world average of 1.00, down 0.01 on 2022; Q1 starts at OJR 1.25. The top three are Cell, Nature Human Behaviour, and Molecular Cancer.
Ranks and citation indicators: 2023. 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 2020–2022, the window the 2023 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.
Fields in Life Sciences (5)
Up to All journals3,032 ranked journals
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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 2022. This is OpenJournalRank’s own count, not Clarivate’s Journal Impact Factor. | Citable documents (articles, reviews and conference papers) published in 2020–2022, the window the 2023 OJR is computed on. A journal needs at least 30 to be ranked. | Share of the journal’s 2020–2022 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 2014 to 2023. | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1CellCell Press · United States | 10.78Q1 | 35.77 15.98 down from 2022 | 1,496 | 100% | $11,400 | ||
2Nature Human BehaviourNature Portfolio · United Kingdom | 8.41Q1 | 19.04 8.58 down from 2022 | 621 | 52% | $12,690 | ||
3Molecular CancerOABioMed Central · United Kingdom | 8.11Q1 | 27.73 7.55 down from 2022 | 497 | 100% | $5,090 | ||
4Nature GeneticsNature Portfolio · United States | 7.47Q1 | 26.04 0.85 down from 2022 | 632 | 58% | $12,690 | ||
5NatureNature Portfolio · United Kingdom | 7.35Q1 | 20.05 6.84 down from 2022 | 8,744 | 35% | $12,690 | ||
6Nature Reviews Molecular Cell BiologyNature Portfolio · United Kingdom | 7.20Q1 | 37.39 10.61 down from 2022 | 339 | 24% | — | ||
7Fungal DiversitySpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands | 7.12Q1 | 20.15 0.34 up from 2022 | 63 | 47% | $3,490 | ||
8Nature MethodsNature Portfolio · United States | 6.62Q1 | 19.15 4.52 down from 2022 | 948 | 51% | $12,690 | ||
9iMetaOAWiley · Australia | 6.41Q1 | 20.54no 2022 value | 59 | 100% | $1,320 | — | |
10Pharmacological ReviewsAmerican Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics · United States | 6.38Q1 | 19.12 4.58 down from 2022 | 102 | 70% | $4,500 | ||
11Nature NeuroscienceNature Portfolio · United States | 6.36Q1 | 18.25 4.04 down from 2022 | 595 | 60% | $12,690 | ||
12Signal Transduction and Targeted TherapyOASpringer Nature · United Kingdom | 6.35Q1 | 24.23 1.66 up from 2022 | 1,108 | 100% | $3,790 | ||
13Cell MetabolismCell Press · United States | 6.34Q1 | 20.40 0.91 down from 2022 | 600 | 100% | $10,400 | ||
14Nature BiotechnologyNature Portfolio · United States | 6.34Q1 | 17.65 8.25 down from 2022 | 883 | 41% | $12,690 | ||
15Studies in MycologyElsevier BV · Netherlands | 6.02Q1 | 14.70 4.60 down from 2022 | 37 | 100% | $1,430 | ||
16Nature Biomedical EngineeringNature Portfolio · United Kingdom | 5.83Q1 | 22.52 1.90 up from 2022 | 460 | 54% | $12,690 | ||
17Nature reviews. CancerNature Portfolio · United Kingdom | 5.76Q1 | 33.08 6.85 down from 2022 | 297 | 17% | — | ||
18Carbon ResearchSpringer Science+Business Media | 5.67Q1 | 21.23no 2022 value | 30 | 100% | $0 listed | — | |
19Trends in Food Science & TechnologyElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 5.64Q1 | 18.75 0.59 up from 2022 | 1,239 | 26% | $5,440 | ||
20Artificial Intelligence in AgricultureOAElsevier BV · China | 5.54Q1 | 14.75 2.93 up from 2022 | 77 | 100% | $1,100 | ||
21Nature MicrobiologyNature Portfolio · United Kingdom | 5.44Q1 | 15.92 9.27 down from 2022 | 572 | 62% | $12,690 | ||
22Nature Reviews Drug DiscoveryNature Portfolio · United States | 5.39Q1 | 25.72 0.31 up from 2022 | 547 | 11% | — | ||
23ImmunityCell Press · United States | 5.26Q1 | 18.69 4.94 down from 2022 | 708 | 100% | $10,400 | ||
24Circulation ResearchLippincott Williams & Wilkins · United States | 5.26Q1 | 15.30 2.65 down from 2022 | 697 | 29% | — | ||
25Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food SafetyWiley · United States | 5.17Q1 | 14.46 2.84 down from 2022 | 545 | 59% | $5,000 | ||
26ScienceAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science · United States | 4.96Q1 | 16.75 0.74 up from 2022 | 8,132 | 34% | — | ||
27Nature Reviews MicrobiologyNature Portfolio · United Kingdom | 4.93Q1 | 24.84 6.37 down from 2022 | 516 | 30% | — | ||
28The InnovationOAElsevier BV · United States | 4.76Q1 | 18.83 0.79 down from 2022 | 316 | 100% | $5,000 | ||
29Drug Resistance UpdatesElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 4.75Q1 | 17.21 7.79 down from 2022 | 83 | 54% | $5,410 | ||
30International Journal of Oral ScienceOASpringer Nature · China | 4.75Q1 | 12.10 8.81 down from 2022 | 135 | 100% | $3,890 | ||
31The Journal of Peasant StudiesTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 4.74Q1 | 6.21 0.50 down from 2022 | 278 | 43% | — | ||
32Nature MetabolismNature Portfolio · United Kingdom | 4.70Q1 | 14.36 2.15 down from 2022 | 497 | 51% | $12,690 | ||
33Molecular PlantElsevier BV · China | 4.65Q1 | 9.35 7.04 down from 2022 | 618 | 100% | $5,000 | ||
34Nature ImmunologyNature Portfolio · United States | 4.65Q1 | 16.88 2.88 down from 2022 | 698 | 55% | $12,690 | ||
35MycosphereOAGuizhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences | 4.63Q1 | 12.16 1.94 down from 2022 | 51 | 100% | — | ||
36Cell ResearchSpringer Nature · United Kingdom | 4.62Q1 | 11.70 11.57 down from 2022 | 451 | 100% | $5,190 | ||
37Nature CommunicationsOANature Portfolio · United Kingdom | 4.60Q1 | 16.12 2.12 down from 2022 | 20,654 | 100% | $6,990 | ||
38Nature Ecology & EvolutionNature Portfolio · United Kingdom | 4.58Q1 | 10.09 2.85 down from 2022 | 765 | 52% | $12,690 | ||
39MicrobiomeOABioMed Central · United Kingdom | 4.53Q1 | 15.17 2.25 down from 2022 | 618 | 100% | $4,990 | ||
40Current Directions in Psychological ScienceSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 4.52Q1 | 9.90 0.23 up from 2022 | 213 | 62% | $3,900 | ||
41Progress in Lipid ResearchElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 4.46Q1 | 16.16 1.04 up from 2022 | 96 | 61% | $5,530 | ||
42Nature ProtocolsNature Portfolio · United States | 4.44Q1 | 14.69 1.50 down from 2022 | 523 | 46% | — | ||
43Military Medical ResearchOABioMed Central · China | 4.35Q1 | 11.18 7.05 down from 2022 | 196 | 100% | $0 listed | ||
44Bone ResearchOASpringer Nature · China | 4.33Q1 | 15.49 2.05 up from 2022 | 148 | 100% | $3,405 | ||
45Nature reviews. ImmunologyNature Portfolio · United Kingdom | 4.31Q1 | 26.81 7.52 down from 2022 | 537 | 32% | — | ||
46Science ImmunologyAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science · United States | 4.27Q1 | 16.04 5.31 down from 2022 | 494 | 64% | — | ||
47Science Translational MedicineAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science · United States | 4.22Q1 | 16.05 1.28 up from 2022 | 1,157 | 62% | — | ||
48Cell stem cellElsevier BV · United States | 4.09Q1 | 13.76 2.69 down from 2022 | 550 | 100% | $10,400 | ||
49Cell Host & MicrobeCell Press · United States | 4.07Q1 | 13.63 8.90 down from 2022 | 611 | 100% | $10,400 | ||
50BiocharOASpringer Nature · Singapore | 4.04Q1 | 15.38 0.90 up from 2022 | 157 | 100% | $2,690 |
Citations made in 2023. Corpus-wide, 88.9% of core-journal articles and reviews published that year have at least one matched reference; the share varies by journal and field.
797 additional Life Sciences journals with metrics are unranked under this release’s eligibility rules: a journal needs at least 30 citable documents in 2020–2022, 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: 2023. Publication window: 2020–2022. How these summaries are calculated
- Ranked journals
- 3,032
- Window papers (baseline)
- 1,955,191 +12.9% from indicator year 2020
- Median OJR
- 0.784 -3.7% from indicator year 2020
- Rising journals (2025)
- 273
Window papers are the baseline paper population: citable papers (articles, reviews and conference papers) from 2020–2022 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 | 1,416 | 1,528 | 1,615 | 1,712 | 1,731 | 1,801 | 1,865 | 1,956 | 2,004 | 2,096 | 2,222 | 2,355 | 2,484 | 2,599 | 2,705 | 2,838 | 2,923 | 2,983 | 3,027 | 3,037 | 3,015 | 3,000 | 3,030 | 3,032 | 3,014 | 3,016 | |
| Window papers (baseline) | 681,698 | 747,894 | 789,157 | 838,563 | 854,790 | 911,302 | 969,983 | 1,041,301 | 1,106,285 | 1,194,995 | 1,291,816 | 1,389,175 | 1,451,151 | 1,495,499 | 1,547,978 | 1,608,280 | 1,646,156 | 1,651,790 | 1,653,566 | 1,677,661 | 1,731,463 | 1,821,734 | 1,907,316 | 1,955,191 | 1,960,779 | 2,008,547 | |
| Median OJR | 0.59 | 0.62 | 0.63 | 0.69 | 0.71 | 0.74 | 0.778 | 0.810 | 0.813 | 0.869 | 0.8675 | 0.90 | 0.91 | 0.873 | 0.8678 | 0.83 | 0.8177 | 0.8180 | 0.80925 | 0.806 | 0.814 | 0.80931 | 0.80 | 0.784 | 0.77 | 0.79 |
| Measure | Category statistic | Eligible population |
|---|---|---|
| Journal self-citation share | Median: 2.5% | 2,489 journals |
| Retracted papers per 1,000 | Pooled rate: 3.276 per 1,000 | 2,252 journals |
| Output growth | Median: -7.1% | 2,737 journals |
| Open access share | Median: 99.1% | 3,016 journals |
| Listed APC (USD) | Median including $0 listed prices: $3,258 | 1,900 ranked journals with a known listed price, including $0 listed prices |
| International collaboration share | Median: 25.1% | 2,917 journals |
| Review share | Median: 0.3% | 3,016 journals |
| Articles-only OJR | Median: 0.79 | 2,965 journals |
| Uncited share | Median: 26.6% | 3,016 journals |
| Citation concentration | Median: 42.9% | 3,011 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.