Journal rankings · indicator year 2025
Choose a field to open its ranking, or a journal to find its row in its subfield’s list.
Subfield ranking · 2025
Library and Information Sciences journal rankings 2025
38 ranked journals · Subfield in Social Sciences
Library and Information Sciences has 38 ranked journals in 2025. The median OJR fell 0.07 on 2024 to 0.79, below the world average of 1.00; Q1 starts at OJR 1.41. No journal’s likely rank range stays within the top 3, so the intro names none.
Ranks and citation indicators: 2025. 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 2022–2024, the window the 2025 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)
38 ranked journals
Filters
Rank is the position by OJR within the list on screen; 1 is the highest. The small range under it is the likely rank range: in 95% of 1,000 resamples of the journal’s papers, it ranked inside that range. Journals whose ranges overlap are not clearly different. | 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 2024. This is OpenJournalRank’s own count, not Clarivate’s Journal Impact Factor. | Citable documents (articles, reviews and conference papers) published in 2022–2024, the window the 2025 OJR is computed on. A journal needs at least 30 to be ranked. | Share of the journal’s 2022–2024 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 2016 to 2025. A label compares the 2022→2025 change with the median change of the journal’s field or domain. Rising needs a relative change of +10% or more that is at least 2 standard errors above zero; Falling needs -9.1% or less (rounded), at least 2 standard errors below zero. Sorting uses that relative change. | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rank 1; likely between #1 and #4 of 38The Journal of Academic LibrarianshipElsevier BV · United States | 2.08Q1 | 3.34 0.02 up from 2024 | 366 | 48% | $3,990 | ||
Rank 2; likely between #1 and #13 of 38Journal of the Australian Library and Information AssociationTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.76Q1 | 1.79 1.16 down from 2024 | 98 | 39% | — | ||
Rank 3; likely between #1 and #9 of 38Journal of Librarianship and Information ScienceSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 1.74Q1 | 2.92 0.06 down from 2024 | 248 | 31% | $3,650 | ||
Rank 4; likely between #1 and #13 of 38Reference Services ReviewEmerald Publishing Limited · United Kingdom | 1.72Q1 | 1.44 0.18 down from 2024 | 67 | 27% | — | ||
Rank 5; likely between #1 and #15 of 38Open Information ScienceOADe Gruyter · Poland | 1.65Q1 | 4.22 1.14 up from 2024 | 51 | 100% | $0 listed | ||
Rank 6; likely between #2 and #12 of 38Public Library QuarterlyTaylor & Francis · United States | 1.59Q1 | 2.29 0.01 down from 2024 | 101 | 13% | — | ||
Rank 7; likely between #1 and #17 of 38Journal of Information LiteracyOAChartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals · United Kingdom | 1.50Q1 | 1.59 0.35 up from 2024 | 85 | 100% | — | ||
Rank 8; likely between #2 and #14 of 38IFLA JournalSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 1.49Q1 | 2.59 0.32 up from 2024 | 144 | 47% | $3,650 | ||
Rank 9; likely between #3 and #15 of 38Library ManagementEmerald Publishing Limited · United Kingdom | 1.41Q1 | 1.94 0.54 down from 2024 | 114 | 19% | — | ||
Rank 10; likely between #2 and #17 of 38New Review of Academic LibrarianshipTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.41Q1 | 1.71 0.83 down from 2024 | 51 | 14% | — | ||
Rank 11; likely between #4 and #17 of 38College & Research LibrariesOAAssociation of College and Research Libraries · United States | 1.32Q2 | 1.44 0.33 down from 2024 | 190 | 100% | — | ||
Rank 12; likely between #6 and #17 of 38The Library QuarterlyUniversity of Chicago Press · United States | 1.24Q2 | 1.14 0.70 down from 2024 | 86 | 9% | — | ||
Rank 13; likely between #5 and #25 of 38Performance Measurement and MetricsEmerald Publishing Limited · United Kingdom | 1.08Q2 | 1.39 0.29 down from 2024 | 34 | 15% | — | ||
Rank 14; likely between #10 and #20 of 38Journal of Library AdministrationTaylor & Francis · United States | 1.05Q2 | 1.32 0.04 down from 2024 | 200 | 24% | — | ||
Rank 15; likely between #4 and #27 of 38LibriOADe Gruyter · Germany | 1.02Q2 | 2.12 1.04 up from 2024 | 83 | 100% | $0 listed | ||
Rank 16; likely between #11 and #20 of 38portal Libraries and the AcademyJohns Hopkins University Press · United States | 1.00Q2 | 1.13 0.04 up from 2024 | 135 | 52% | — | ||
Rank 17; likely between #5 and #29 of 38Canadian Journal of Information and Library ScienceOACanadian Association for Information Science · Canada | 0.94Q2 | 0.80 0.02 up from 2024 | 53 | 100% | — | ||
Rank 18; likely between #10 and #28 of 38Communications in Information LiteracyOACommunications in Information Literacy · United States | 0.89Q2 | 1.00 0.17 down from 2024 | 49 | 100% | — | ||
Rank 19; likely between #11 and #29 of 38Public & Access Services QuarterlyTaylor & Francis · United States | 0.81Q2 | 1.45 0.43 up from 2024 | 101 | 7% | — | ||
Rank 20; likely between #14 and #29 of 38Journal of Business & Finance LibrarianshipTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 0.76Q3 | 2.45 0.34 up from 2024 | 52 | 13% | — | ||
Rank 21; likely between #14 and #29 of 38Journal of Education for Library and Information ScienceUniversity of Toronto Press | 0.73Q3 | 0.57 0.86 down from 2024 | 112 | 0% | — | ||
Rank 22; likely between #16 and #27 of 38Proceedings of the ALISE Annual ConferenceOAPublisher not listed | 0.73Q3 | 0.38 0.15 up from 2024 | 382 | 100% | — | ||
Rank 23; likely between #16 and #28 of 38The International Information & Library ReviewTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 0.72Q3 | 0.90 0.50 down from 2024 | 94 | 22% | — | ||
Rank 24; likely between #14 and #31 of 38Partnership The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and ResearchOAThe Partnership · Canada | 0.70Q3 | 0.59 0.18 down from 2024 | 43 | 100% | — | ||
Rank 25; likely between #12 and #35 of 38Journal of Library Outreach and EngagementOAPublisher not listed | 0.63Q3 | 0.41no change | 32 | 100% | — | ||
Rank 26; likely between #17 and #33 of 38The International Journal of Information Diversity & Inclusion (IJIDI)OAUnited States | 0.59Q3 | 0.59 0.09 up from 2024 | 67 | 100% | — | ||
Rank 27; likely between #17 and #34 of 38Journal of Library & Information Services in Distance LearningTaylor & Francis · United States | 0.55Q3 | 1.07 0.11 up from 2024 | 31 | 25% | — | ||
Rank 28; likely between #20 and #33 of 38International Journal of LibrarianshipOAChinese American Librarians Association · United States | 0.53Q3 | 0.66 0.23 up from 2024 | 92 | 100% | — | ||
Rank 29; likely between #19 and #33 of 38Evidence Based Library and Information PracticeOAUniversity of Alberta · Canada | 0.52Q3 | 1.04 0.44 up from 2024 | 156 | 100% | — | ||
Rank 30; likely between #24 and #33 of 38Library trendsJohns Hopkins University Press · United States | 0.45Q4 | 0.54 0.15 up from 2024 | 108 | 98% | — | Falling vs field, 2022–25 | |
Rank 31; likely between #24 and #35 of 38Journal of Access ServicesTaylor & Francis · United States | 0.39Q4 | 0.55no change | 35 | 7% | — | ||
Rank 32; likely between #25 and #35 of 38Journal of New LibrarianshipOAUniversity of Colorado Boulder · United States | 0.37Q4 | 0.46 0.15 up from 2024 | 89 | 100% | — | ||
Rank 33; likely between #27 and #35 of 38Library Leadership & ManagementOAUnited States | 0.32Q4 | 0.41 0.15 down from 2024 | 51 | 100% | — | ||
Rank 34; likely between #30 and #36 of 38College & Research Libraries NewsOAAssociation of College and Research Libraries · United States | 0.27Q4 | 0.56 0.07 up from 2024 | 379 | 100% | — | ||
Rank 35; likely between #26 and #38 of 38The Southeastern LibrarianOAUnited States | 0.23Q4 | 0.32 0.09 down from 2024 | 138 | 100% | — | ||
Rank 36; likely between #34 and #38 of 38Maine policy reviewOAUnited States | 0.14Q4 | 0.30 0.16 up from 2024 | 103 | 100% | — | ||
Rank 37; likely between #35 and #38 of 38SLIS ConnectingOAUniversity of Southern Mississippi · United States | 0.10Q4 | 0.12 0.12 up from 2024 | 45 | 100% | — | ||
Rank 38; likely between #35 and #38 of 38Children and LibrariesOAAmerican Library Association · United States | 0.08Q4 | 0.06 0.07 down from 2024 | 144 | 100% | — |
0 Library and Information Sciences journals are labelled rising: their OJR moved up between 2022 and 2025 clearly faster than the median journal of their field or domain.
A journal is rising when its OJR grew from 2022 to 2025 faster than the median journal of its field (or domain, when the field is small), by two tests: the relative change is +10% or more, and it is at least 2 standard errors above zero. So the range of the change at 2 standard errors stays above zero, though not necessarily above +10%.
The bar is that range on a ratio scale; the shaded band, -9.1% to +10%, holds changes too small for a label. The list is ordered by the low end of the range, so the surest rises come first.
No rising journals in this list.
1 Library and Information Sciences journals are labelled falling: their OJR moved between 2022 and 2025 clearly behind the median journal of their field or domain.
A journal is falling when its OJR changed from 2022 to 2025 by less than the median journal of its field (or domain, when the field is small), by two tests: the relative change is -9.1% or less (rounded), and it is at least 2 standard errors below zero. So the range of the change at 2 standard errors stays below zero, though not necessarily below -9.1%.
The bar is that range on a ratio scale; the shaded band, -9.1% to +10%, holds changes too small for a label. The list is ordered by the high end of the range, so the surest falls come first.
- 1Library trendsJohns Hopkins University Press · United States-49% vs groupOJR 0.93 → 0.45range -68% to -20%
No-label zone, -9.1% to +10%Group median changeBar scale -69% to +227% (ratio scale)
Subfields of Social Sciences, with Library and Information Sciences highlighted.
- Sociology and Political Science1,388
- Education693
- Political Science and International Relations322
- Communication71
- Gender Studies65
- Safety Research61
- Urban Studies54
- Health53
- Transportation51
- Linguistics and Language50
- Public Administration49
- Law46
- Demography38
- Library and Information Sciences38
- Anthropology37
- Geography, Planning and Development34
- Cultural Studies8
- Development4
- General Social Sciences2
- Human Factors and Ergonomics1
- Life-span and Life-course Studies1
- Archeology0
Journals
The endpoints below each rank show its likely range. How rank ranges are calculated
Citations made in 2025. Corpus-wide, 84.3% of core-journal articles and reviews published that year have at least one matched reference; the share varies by journal and field.
10 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 2022–2024, 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: 2025. Publication window: 2022–2024. How these summaries are calculated
- Ranked journals
- 38
- Window papers (baseline)
- 4,152 -8.3% from indicator year 2022
- Median OJR
- 0.79 -16.2% from indicator year 2022
- Rising journals (2025)
- 0
Window papers are the baseline paper population: citable papers (articles, reviews and conference papers) from 2022–2024 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.