What are the best journals for Accounting?

From a 17,782-venue index, the highest-ranked Accounting journals include Journal of Accounting Research, Accounting Organizations and Society, Review of Accounting Studies, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Critical Perspectives on Accounting. The top 40 of 171 ranked venues are listed on this page; all 40 are Scimago Q1. Each shows its open-access status and indexing, and predatory venues are excluded. For a shortlist matched to your specific paper, use the Journal Finder (15 credits; free account starts with 25).

How were these Accounting journals ranked?

Journals are placed by two independent classifications, OpenAlex's and Scimago's, plus any documented corrections. A journal both place under Accounting ranks ahead, within its Scimago quartile, of one only OpenAlex places there — because Scimago does not cover it, files it as Multidisciplinary, or files it under a neighbouring subject or only under a broad “(miscellaneous)” category (which counts as agreement when Accounting is the journal's main OpenAlex subfield). 4 journals OpenAlex files under Accounting are left out because OpenAlex's main field for them and Scimago's categories both place them in another discipline. By Scimago quartile first (Q1 → Q4, then venues without one). Within a quartile, journals both sources place under Accounting come first, then venues whose main OpenAlex subfield is Accounting come before those that list it second or third, and ties go to OpenAlex cites/paper over a 2-year window. A venue whose main subfield is unrelated to Accounting — fewer than a quarter of the venues filed under that subfield (or fewer than five) are also filed under Accounting — is listed after all the others. Cites/paper is a transparent citation rate, not a licensed Impact Factor, and journals flagged as predatory are excluded.

Why don't all Accounting journals show a quartile?

Scimago doesn't cover every journal — many strong regional and open-access venues are absent from it. We show "no Scimago quartile" for those rather than hide them; it's a coverage gap, not a quality judgement.

How do I find the best journal for my specific Accounting paper?

Paste your title and abstract into the Journal Finder — it returns a shortlist matched to your paper's topic from the same index, with acceptance-fit signals, open-access status, and predatory flags. A free account starts with 25 welcome credits; each run costs 15.

Accounting · 171 journals ranked · top 40 listed

Best journals for Accounting

The top 40 of 171 Accounting journals, ranked by Scimago quartile, then by whether OpenAlex and Scimago agree on the subject and how central Accounting is to each journal, then OpenAlex cites/paper (2-year window), leaving out journals both place in another discipline, drawn from a 17,782-venue index. Predatory venues are excluded; the FAQ below gives the exact ranking rule. These are field-wide rankings — for a shortlist matched to your specific paper, paste your title and abstract into the Journal Finder (a free account starts with 25 welcome credits).

Match journals to your paper →

All Best open-access journals

1
Journal of Accounting Research
9.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
ScopusWeb of Science
2
Accounting Organizations and Society
6.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of Science
3
Review of Accounting Studies
6.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
4
Journal of Accounting and Economics
5.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of Science
5
Critical Perspectives on Accounting
5.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of Science
6
The British Accounting Review
4.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of Science
7
The Accounting Review
4.8 cites/paper · Q1 · American Accounting Association
ScopusWeb of Science
8
Corporate Governance
3.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Emerald Publishing Limited
ScopusWeb of Science
9
Contemporary Accounting Research
3.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
10
Managerial Auditing Journal
3.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Emerald Publishing Limited
ScopusWeb of Science
11
Australian Journal of Management
3.0 cites/paper · Q1 · SAGE Publishing
ScopusWeb of Science
12
Accounting Education
2.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Taylor & Francis
ScopusWeb of Science
13
Financial Management
2.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
14
Accounting and Business Research
2.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Taylor & Francis
ScopusWeb of Science
15
European Accounting Review
2.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Routledge
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
16
Journal of Accounting and Public Policy
2.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of Science
17
Journal of Business Finance &amp Accounting
2.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
18
Accounting and Finance
1.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
ScopusWeb of Science
19
Auditing A Journal of Practice & Theory
1.5 cites/paper · Q1 · American Accounting Association
ScopusWeb of Science
20
Accounting Horizons
1.4 cites/paper · Q1 · American Accounting Association
ScopusWeb of Science
21
Journal of Accounting Auditing & Finance
1.3 cites/paper · Q1 · SAGE Publishing
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
22
Journal of the American Taxation Association
0.9 cites/paper · Q1 · American Accounting Association
ScopusWeb of Science
23
Accounting Historians Journal
0.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Academy of Accounting Historians
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
24
Intertax
0.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Nature
ScopusWeb of Science
25
EC Tax Review
0.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Nature
ScopusWeb of Science
26
The Journal of Finance
11.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
27
Review of Financial Studies
10.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Oxford University Press
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
28
Journal of Financial Economics
10.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
29
European Finance Review
8.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Oxford University Press
ScopusWeb of Science
30
Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis
2.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Cambridge University Press
ScopusWeb of Science
31
European Financial Management
2.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
ScopusWeb of Science
32
Journal of Financial Services Research
1.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
ScopusWeb of Science
33
Financial Analysts Journal
2.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Taylor & Francis
ScopusWeb of Science
34
Journal of Corporate Finance
5.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of Science
35
Corporate Governance An International Review
4.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
ScopusWeb of Science
36
Pacific-Basin Finance Journal
4.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of Science
37
International Journal of Emerging Markets
3.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Emerald Publishing Limited
ScopusWeb of Science
38
Journal of Management & Governance
2.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
39
Research in International Business and Finance
7.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
40
Global Finance Journal
5.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed

“Cites/paper” is the OpenAlex 2-year citation rate — a transparent signal, not a licensed Impact Factor. Many regional and open-access journals are strong but aren’t covered by Scimago, so they show “no Scimago quartile”; that’s a coverage gap, not a quality judgement.