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Aerospace Engineering · 64 journals ranked · top 40 listed

Best open-access journals for Aerospace Engineering

The top 40 of 64 Aerospace Engineering journals, open-access only, ranked by Scimago quartile, then by whether OpenAlex and Scimago agree on the subject and how central Aerospace Engineering is to each journal, then OpenAlex cites/paper (2-year window), leaving out journals both place in another discipline, drawn from a 17,500-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).

Data as of — the date our venue index was last rebuilt from OpenAlex and Scimago.

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AllBest open-access journals
  1. 1
    Drones
    6.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  2. 2
    NAVIGATION Journal of the Institute of Navigation
    2.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  3. 3
    Electromagnetic waves
    7.0 cites/paper · Q1
    Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  4. 4
    Wind energy science
    4.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Copernicus Publications
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  5. 5
    Defence Technology
    4.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  6. 6
    IEEE Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation
    3.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  7. 7
    Aerospace
    2.9 cites/paper · Q2 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  8. 8
    International Journal of Aerospace Engineering
    1.7 cites/paper · Q2 · Hindawi Publishing Corporation
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  9. 9
    Wind Energy
    3.4 cites/paper · Q2 · Wiley
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  10. 10
    Nuclear Engineering and Technology
    2.8 cites/paper · Q2 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  11. 11
    IET Radar Sonar & Navigation
    1.4 cites/paper · Q2 · Institution of Engineering and Technology
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  12. 12
    Defence Science Journal
    0.8 cites/paper · Q2 · Defence Scientific Information and Documentation Centre
    Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  13. 13
    Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
    1.2 cites/paper · Q3
    Open AccessScopusWeb of Science
  14. 14
    TRANSACTIONS OF THE JAPAN SOCIETY FOR AERONAUTICAL AND SPACE SCIENCES
    0.8 cites/paper · Q3
    Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  15. 15
    Xibei Gongye Daxue Xuebao/Journal of Northwestern Polytechnical University
    0.5 cites/paper · Q3 · EDP Sciences
    Open AccessDOAJScopus
  16. 16
    Tuijin Jishu/Journal of Propulsion Technology
    0.4 cites/paper · Q3 · Zhongguo Hangtian Gongye Zonggongsi
    Open AccessScopus
  17. 17
    Progress In Electromagnetics Research B
    2.7 cites/paper · Q3 · The Electromagnetics Academy
    Open AccessScopusPubMed
  18. 18
    Progress In Electromagnetics Research M
    2.5 cites/paper · Q3 · The Electromagnetics Academy
    Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  19. 19
    International Journal of Antennas and Propagation
    2.0 cites/paper · Q3 · Hindawi Publishing Corporation
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  20. 20
    IET Microwaves Antennas & Propagation
    1.5 cites/paper · Q3 · Institution of Engineering and Technology
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  21. 21
    Progress In Electromagnetics Research C
    1.0 cites/paper · Q3 · The Electromagnetics Academy
    Open AccessScopusPubMed
  22. 22
    Advanced Electromagnetics
    0.1 cites/paper · Q3 · Advanced Electromagnetics
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  23. 23
    Progress In Electromagnetics Research Letters
    1.5 cites/paper · Q4 · The Electromagnetics Academy
    Open AccessScopusWeb of Science
  24. 24
    Mechanical Engineering
    0.1 cites/paper · Q4 · ASM International
    Open AccessScopusPubMed
  25. 25
    Journal of Systems Engineering and Electronics
    1.9 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile · Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
    Open AccessWeb of Science
  26. 26
    Reports on Geodesy and Geoinformatics
    1.5 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile · De Gruyter Open
    Open AccessDOAJWeb of Science
  27. 27
    INCAS BULLETIN
    0.8 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile · National Institute for Aerospace Research “Elie Carafoli” - INCAS
    Open AccessDOAJ
  28. 28
    Civil Aviation High TECHNOLOGIES
    0.4 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile · Moscow State Technical University of Civil Aviation
    Open AccessDOAJ
  29. 29
    Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
    0.4 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile
    Open Access
  30. 30
    RADIOISOTOPES
    0.3 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile · Japan Radioisotope Association
    Open AccessPubMed
  31. 31
    The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
    0.3 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile · The Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
    Open Access
  32. 32
    Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
    0.3 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile
    Open Access
  33. 33
    VESTNIK of Samara University Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
    0.2 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile
    Open AccessDOAJ
  34. 34
    Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
    0.2 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile · Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
    Open Access
  35. 35
    Journal of Radio Electronics
    0.2 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile · V.A. Kotelnikov Institute of Radio-engineering and Electronics
    Open Access
  36. 36
    Aerospace technic and technology
    0.2 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile · National Aerospace University – Kharkiv Aviation Institute
    Open AccessDOAJ
  37. 37
    Electronics and Control Systems
    0.2 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile · National Aviation University
    Open Access
  38. 38
    IEICE ESS FUNDAMENTALS REVIEW
    0.2 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile
    Open Access
  39. 39
    Science-based technologies
    0.2 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile · National Aviation University
    Open Access
  40. 40
    Journal of the Japan society of photogrammetry and remote sensing
    0.0 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile
    Open Access

“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.

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Frequently asked

Drones, NAVIGATION Journal of the Institute of Navigation, Electromagnetic waves, Wind energy science, Defence Technology lead this list, drawn from a 17,500-venue index. The top 40 of 64 ranked venues are listed on this page; 6 are Scimago Q1, 6 Q2, 10 Q3, 2 Q4 and 16 have no Scimago quartile. Journals are placed by two independent classifications, OpenAlex's and Scimago's, plus any documented corrections. A journal both place under Aerospace Engineering 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 Aerospace Engineering is the journal's main OpenAlex subfield). 6 journals OpenAlex files under Aerospace Engineering 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 Aerospace Engineering come first, then venues whose main OpenAlex subfield is Aerospace Engineering 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 Aerospace Engineering — fewer than a quarter of the venues filed under that subfield (or fewer than five) are also filed under Aerospace Engineering — is listed after all the others. Only open-access venues are included. Venues OpenAlex files only under its catch-all triple of Aerospace Engineering, Sociology and Political Science and Transportation are excluded: that triple is where it puts work it could not place. Cites/paper is a transparent citation rate, not a licensed Impact Factor, and journals flagged as predatory are excluded. For a match to your specific paper use the Journal Finder (15 credits; free account starts with 25).

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