Biology · 3,403 journals indexed

Best journals for Biology

The top Biology journals ranked by Scimago quartile, then cites/paper (OpenAlex, 2-year window), drawn from a 17,786-venue index. Predatory venues are excluded. 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).

  1. 1
    Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology
    40.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  2. 2
    Cell
    37.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Cell Press
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  3. 3
    Nature Reviews Microbiology
    30.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  4. 4
    Pharmacological Reviews
    25.9 cites/paper · Q1 · American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  5. 5
    Molecular Cancer
    25.8 cites/paper · Q1 · BioMed Central
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  6. 6
    Nature reviews. Cancer
    22.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  7. 7
    Nature Methods
    20.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  8. 8
    Nature Protocols
    18.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  9. 9
    Journal of Extracellular Vesicles
    18.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Taylor & Francis
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  10. 10
    Physiological Reviews
    18.3 cites/paper · Q1 · American Physiological Society
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  11. 11
    Cell stem cell
    17.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  12. 12
    Nature Genetics
    16.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  13. 13
    Nature Neuroscience
    16.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  14. 14
    Nature Communications
    15.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  15. 15
    Nature Reviews Genetics
    15.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  16. 16
    Nature Microbiology
    15.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  17. 17
    Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience
    15.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Canadian Medical Association
    Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  18. 18
    Nature Cell Biology
    15.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  19. 19
    Nature Aging
    14.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  20. 20
    Nucleic Acids Research
    14.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Oxford University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  21. 21
    Gut Microbes
    14.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Landes Bioscience
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  22. 22
    Nature reviews. Neuroscience
    14.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  23. 23
    Microbiome
    13.4 cites/paper · Q1 · BioMed Central
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  24. 24
    Experimental & Molecular Medicine
    13.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Nature
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  25. 25
    Trends in Food Science & Technology
    13.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  26. 26
    Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety
    13.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  27. 27
    Nature Human Behaviour
    12.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  28. 28
    International Journal of Oncology
    12.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Spandidos Publishing
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  29. 29
    Molecular Cell
    12.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  30. 30
    Nature Biomedical Engineering
    12.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  31. 31
    Progress in Lipid Research
    12.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  32. 32
    Neuron
    12.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Cell Press
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  33. 33
    Redox Biology
    12.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  34. 34
    Soil Biology and Biochemistry
    12.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  35. 35
    Cell Discovery
    12.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Nature
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  36. 36
    FEMS Microbiology Reviews
    12.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Oxford University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  37. 37
    Nature Biotechnology
    12.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  38. 38
    Science Advances
    11.8 cites/paper · Q1 · American Association for the Advancement of Science
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  39. 39
    Food Hydrocolloids
    11.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  40. 40
    Nature Food
    11.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    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.

Narrower fields within Biology

Best journals in other disciplines

Frequently asked

From a 17,786-venue index, the highest-ranked Biology journals (by Scimago quartile then OpenAlex cites/paper) include Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, Cell, Nature Reviews Microbiology, Pharmacological Reviews, Molecular Cancer. Predatory venues are excluded. The full ranked list with open-access and indexing details is on this page; for a shortlist matched to your specific paper, use the Journal Finder (15 credits; free account starts with 25).

Command palette

Jump anywhere, run any action.