What are the best journals for Chemistry?

From a 17,500-venue index, the highest-ranked Chemistry journals include Chemical Reviews, Chemical Society Reviews, Progress in Polymer Science, Nature Reviews Chemistry, Advances in Colloid and Interface Science. The top 40 of 443 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 Chemistry journals ranked?

Journals are listed when both OpenAlex and Scimago file them under Chemistry, plus any documented corrections; a journal Scimago does not cover is listed on OpenAlex's word alone. 69 journals OpenAlex files under Chemistry are left out because Scimago files them only under other fields. They are ranked by Scimago quartile first (Q1 → Q4, then journals without one); within a quartile, journals Scimago places in Chemistry come before those it does not cover, and then OpenAlex cites/paper over a 2-year window decides. Where cites/paper decides, a journal with fewer than 30 papers in OpenAlex over the four most recent publication years is listed after those with more: a two-year average over so few papers can rest on a single article (2 of the 443 journals ranked here are below that floor; none of them is among the 40 shown). Cites/paper is a transparent citation rate, not a licensed Impact Factor, and journals flagged as predatory are excluded.

Why don't all Chemistry 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 Chemistry 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.

Chemistry · 443 journals ranked · top 40 listed

Best journals for Chemistry

The top 40 of 443 Chemistry journals, ranked by Scimago quartile, then OpenAlex cites/paper (2-year window), leaving out journals Scimago files only under other fields, 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 15 November 2026 — the date our venue index was last rebuilt from OpenAlex and Scimago.

Match journals to your paper →

All Best open-access journals

1
Chemical Reviews
57.7 cites/paper · Q1 · American Chemical Society
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
2
Chemical Society Reviews
45.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Royal Society of Chemistry
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
3
Progress in Polymer Science
25.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
4
Nature Reviews Chemistry
23.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
5
Advances in Colloid and Interface Science
22.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
6
Accounts of Chemical Research
21.1 cites/paper · Q1 · American Chemical Society
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
7
Coordination Chemistry Reviews
21.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
8
Nature Chemistry
19.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
9
Journal of the American Chemical Society
17.5 cites/paper · Q1 · American Chemical Society
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
10
CHINESE JOURNAL OF CATALYSIS (CHINESE VERSION)
15.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of Science
11
Angewandte Chemie International Edition
15.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
12
ACS Catalysis
14.8 cites/paper · Q1 · American Chemical Society
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
13
Nature Synthesis
14.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
14
TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry
13.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
15
Acta Physico-Chimica Sinica
12.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Peking University Press
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
16
Journal of macromolecular science. Part C, Reviews in macromolecular chemistry and physics/Journal of macromolecular science. Reviews in macromolecular chemistry and physics
12.5 cites/paper · Q1
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
17
Chem
12.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
18
Aggregate
11.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
19
Chemical Science
9.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Royal Society of Chemistry
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
20
Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface Science
9.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
21
ACS Central Science
9.0 cites/paper · Q1 · American Chemical Society
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
22
Sensors and Actuators B Chemical
8.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
23
Archives of Pharmacal Research
8.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Nature
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
24
JACS Au
8.1 cites/paper · Q1 · American Chemical Society
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
25
Chemical Physics Impact
8.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
26
Applied Spectroscopy Reviews
7.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Taylor & Francis
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
27
CCS Chemistry
7.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Chinese Chemical Society
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
28
Current Opinion in Chemical Biology
7.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
29
Science China Chemistry
7.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
30
The Chemical Record
7.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
31
RSC Advances
7.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Royal Society of Chemistry
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
32
Russian Chemical Reviews
7.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Institute of Physics
Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
33
Analytical Chemistry
7.3 cites/paper · Q1 · American Chemical Society
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
34
Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis
6.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
35
Talanta
6.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
36
Journal of Molecular Liquids
6.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusPubMed
37
European Polymer Journal
6.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
38
Molecules
6.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
39
Communications Chemistry
6.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
40
Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers
6.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Royal Society of Chemistry
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.