Journal rankings · indicator year 2024
Choose a field to open its ranking, or a journal to find its row in its subfield’s list.
Subfield ranking · 2024
Paleontology journal rankings 2024
73 ranked journals · Subfield in Earth and Planetary Sciences
Paleontology has 73 ranked journals in 2024. The median journal has an OJR of 0.66, below the world average of 1.00, down 0.02 on 2023; Q1 starts at OJR 0.94. The top three are Journal of Archaeological Research, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, and Journal of Field Archaeology.
Ranks and citation indicators: 2024. 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 2021–2023, the window the 2024 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)
73 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 2023. This is OpenJournalRank’s own count, not Clarivate’s Journal Impact Factor. | Citable documents (articles, reviews and conference papers) published in 2021–2023, the window the 2024 OJR is computed on. A journal needs at least 30 to be ranked. | Share of the journal’s 2021–2023 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 2015 to 2024. | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1Journal of Archaeological ResearchSpringer Nature · Netherlands | 4.23Q1 | 5.83 0.87 up from 2023 | 42 | 56% | $3,190 | ||
2Journal of Anthropological ArchaeologyElsevier BV · United States | 1.74Q1 | 2.23 0.24 down from 2023 | 208 | 68% | $3,370 | ||
3Journal of Field ArchaeologyTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.72Q1 | 1.71 0.16 down from 2023 | 108 | 47% | — | ||
4Cambridge Archaeological JournalCambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 1.62Q1 | 1.85 0.09 down from 2023 | 153 | 86% | $3,550 | ||
5AntiquityCambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 1.33Q1 | 1.38 0.26 down from 2023 | 570 | 79% | $3,550 | ||
6Zoological Journal of the Linnean SocietyOxford University Press · United Kingdom | 1.29Q1 | 2.70 0.70 down from 2023 | 415 | 81% | $3,541 | ||
7GeobiologyWiley · United Kingdom | 1.22Q1 | 3.70 0.42 up from 2023 | 138 | 75% | $4,880 | ||
8PalaeontologyWiley · United Kingdom | 1.22Q1 | 2.46 0.30 down from 2023 | 117 | 77% | $5,000 | ||
9American AntiquityCambridge University Press · United States | 1.19Q1 | 1.43 0.76 down from 2023 | 146 | 61% | $3,550 | ||
10Papers in PalaeontologyWiley · United States | 1.07Q1 | 2.18 0.17 down from 2023 | 152 | 64% | $4,480 | ||
11PaleobiologyCambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 1.04Q1 | 2.33 0.25 down from 2023 | 132 | 91% | $3,550 | ||
12Journal of Systematic PalaeontologyTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.04Q1 | 2.30 0.25 down from 2023 | 114 | 51% | — | ||
13Swiss Journal of PalaeontologyOASpringer Nature · Switzerland | 1.01Q1 | 1.77 1.18 down from 2023 | 79 | 100% | $1,340 | ||
14Journal of Archaeological Science ReportsElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 0.99Q1 | 1.41 0.16 down from 2023 | 1,430 | 56% | $2,910 | ||
15Journal of PalaeogeographyOAElsevier BV · China | 0.98Q1 | 2.21 0.46 down from 2023 | 111 | 100% | $1,500 | ||
16European Journal of ArchaeologyCambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 0.96Q1 | 1.26 0.02 down from 2023 | 92 | 70% | $3,550 | ||
17Newsletters on StratigraphyGebrüder Borntraeger Verlagsbuchhandlung · Germany | 0.95Q1 | 2.47 0.52 up from 2023 | 56 | 21% | — | ||
18Vegetation History and ArchaeobotanySpringer Science+Business Media · Germany | 0.95Q1 | 2.05 0.26 down from 2023 | 156 | 72% | $3,790 | ||
19Archaeological Research in AsiaElsevier BV · Netherlands | 0.94Q1 | 1.26 0.10 down from 2023 | 146 | 47% | $2,750 | ||
20Environmental ArchaeologyTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 0.94Q2 | 1.21 0.21 down from 2023 | 123 | 49% | — | ||
21Journal of Mammalian EvolutionSpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands | 0.91Q2 | 2.13 0.36 up from 2023 | 151 | 50% | $3,790 | ||
22Open ArchaeologyOADe Gruyter Open · Poland | 0.91Q2 | 0.96 0.39 down from 2023 | 228 | 100% | $848 | ||
23Norwegian Archaeological ReviewRoutledge · Norway | 0.87Q2 | 0.78 0.10 down from 2023 | 54 | 25% | — | ||
24GeobiosElsevier BV · France | 0.84Q2 | 1.47 0.59 down from 2023 | 107 | 54% | $3,030 | ||
25Journal of Vertebrate PaleontologyTaylor & Francis · United States | 0.83Q2 | 1.45 0.17 down from 2023 | 292 | 32% | — | ||
26The Anatomical RecordWiley · United States | 0.82Q2 | 2.13 0.01 up from 2023 | 653 | 69% | $4,430 | ||
27Palaeontologia ElectronicaOAUnited States | 0.81Q2 | 1.35 0.68 down from 2023 | 126 | 100% | — | ||
28Journal of Open Archaeology DataOAUbiquity Press · United Kingdom | 0.80Q2 | 1.09 0.59 down from 2023 | 34 | 100% | — | ||
29Netherlands Journal of Geosciences – Geologie en MijnbouwCambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 0.78Q2 | 2.28 0.11 down from 2023 | 48 | 100% | $1,725 | ||
30Cretaceous ResearchElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 0.77Q2 | 1.59 0.19 down from 2023 | 758 | 28% | $3,560 | ||
31Journal of AnatomyWiley · United Kingdom | 0.77Q2 | 1.90 0.28 down from 2023 | 545 | 85% | $4,050 | ||
32Paläontologische ZeitschriftSpringer Nature · Germany | 0.74Q2 | 1.33 0.57 down from 2023 | 142 | 66% | $3,190 | ||
33LethaiaOAWiley · Norway | 0.73Q2 | 1.66 0.46 down from 2023 | 100 | 100% | $3,300 | ||
34Acta Palaeontologica PolonicaOAInstitute of Paleobiology · Poland | 0.72Q2 | 1.41 0.10 down from 2023 | 179 | 100% | $23 | ||
35FaciesSpringer Science+Business Media · Germany | 0.70Q2 | 1.47 0.44 down from 2023 | 63 | 75% | $2,490 | ||
36Historical BiologyTaylor & Francis · Switzerland | 0.66Q2 | 1.39 0.07 up from 2023 | 699 | 18% | — | ||
37Ichnos/Ichnos : an international journal for plant and animal tracesTaylor & Francis · Switzerland | 0.66Q2 | 1.85 1.18 up from 2023 | 65 | 27% | — | ||
38RadiocarbonCambridge University Press · United States | 0.64Q3 | 1.33 0.71 down from 2023 | 339 | 70% | $2,487 | ||
39Palaeobiodiversity and PalaeoenvironmentsSpringer Nature · Germany | 0.63Q3 | 1.53 0.05 up from 2023 | 138 | 82% | $3,190 | ||
40PalaeoworldElsevier BV · Netherlands | 0.62Q3 | 1.30 0.40 down from 2023 | 215 | 20% | $3,000 | ||
41Comptes Rendus PalevolOAMuséum national d'histoire naturelle · France | 0.62Q3 | 1.09 0.03 down from 2023 | 125 | 100% | — | ||
42PalaiosSociety for Sedimentary Geology · United States | 0.62Q3 | 1.42 0.11 down from 2023 | 114 | 21% | — | ||
43GeodiversitasOAMuséum national d'histoire naturelle · France | 0.61Q3 | 1.12 0.28 down from 2023 | 87 | 84% | — | ||
44Fossil recordOAWiley · Germany | 0.60Q3 | 1.74 0.17 down from 2023 | 64 | 100% | $1,240 | ||
45Latin American AntiquityCambridge University Press · United States | 0.60Q3 | 0.88 0.01 up from 2023 | 217 | 62% | $3,550 | ||
46Journal of MorphologyWiley · United States | 0.60Q3 | 1.43 0.26 down from 2023 | 305 | 57% | $4,220 | ||
47Subterranean BiologyOAPensoft Publishers · France | 0.57Q3 | 1.38 0.13 down from 2023 | 86 | 100% | — | ||
48Journal of PaleontologyCambridge University Press · United States | 0.55Q3 | 1.20 0.01 down from 2023 | 313 | 76% | $3,550 | ||
49Ancient MesoamericaCambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 0.55Q3 | 0.86 0.08 down from 2023 | 147 | 80% | $3,550 | ||
50PaleoBiosUnited States | 0.55Q3 | 1.33 0.48 up from 2023 | 30 | 100% | — |
Subfields of Earth and Planetary Sciences, with Paleontology highlighted.
- Geophysics144
- Atmospheric Science85
- Paleontology73
- Oceanography50
- Earth-Surface Processes17
- Geology9
- Geochemistry and Petrology6
- Space and Planetary Science3
Journals
Citations made in 2024. Corpus-wide, 87.1% of core-journal articles and reviews published that year have at least one matched reference; the share varies by journal and field.
24 additional Paleontology journals with metrics are unranked under this release’s eligibility rules: a journal needs at least 30 citable documents in 2021–2023, 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: 2024. Publication window: 2021–2023. How these summaries are calculated
- Ranked journals
- 73
- Window papers (baseline)
- 19,964 +1.0% from indicator year 2021
- Median OJR
- 0.657 -16.3% from indicator year 2021
- Rising journals (2025)
- 5
Window papers are the baseline paper population: citable papers (articles, reviews and conference papers) from 2021–2023 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 | 53 | 53 | 54 | 53 | 53 | 51 | 53 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 66 | 66 | 69 | 71 | 71 | 70 | 73 | 76 | 77 | 76 | 78 | 78 | 77 | 73 | 77 | |
| Window papers (baseline) | 7,057 | 7,924 | 8,570 | 9,199 | 9,500 | 9,801 | 10,405 | 10,925 | 11,640 | 12,204 | 12,986 | 13,788 | 14,602 | 15,085 | 15,876 | 16,591 | 17,958 | 18,584 | 19,596 | 19,477 | 19,946 | 19,760 | 20,309 | 19,925 | 19,964 | 19,466 | |
| Median OJR | 0.75 | 0.61 | 0.619 | 0.63 | 0.620 | 0.708 | 0.660 | 0.65 | 0.69 | 0.715 | 0.7325 | 0.735 | 0.80 | 0.81 | 0.829 | 0.90 | 0.93 | 0.87 | 0.79 | 0.832 | 0.831 | 0.78 | 0.7318 | 0.68 | 0.657 | 0.64 |
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.