Skip to Main Content

Research Metrics Toolkit

Journal ranking lists

What

  • Journal ranking lists seek to rank selections of journals, often within discipline categories. The rank is usually determined by the journal impact indicator metrics, such as the JIF or SJR. The placement of a journal within a list is often used for evaluative purposes - eg. selecting to publish in a journal that appears in the first quartile of a list (Q1). Journal ranking lists can also be developed by a discipline community or representatives.

Why

  • To demonstrate the impact, rank, or prestige of a journal in the context of other journals in the same field

Applications

  • Academic promotions, grant applications, CV, when developing a publishing plan (researchers)

  • When evaluating a purchase or subscription (libraries)

Considerations

  • Ranking lists produced by publishers tend to only include journals that are indexed by their database

Common tools

  • Scimago Journal and Country Rank

  • Journal Citation Reports (SSCI and SCIE)

  • ABDC Journal Ranking List (Business Disciplines)

  • ERA 2015 (submitted journals list)


 

How to: Find journal rankings