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Cognitive Neuroscience · 50 journals indexed

Best open-access journals for Cognitive Neuroscience

The top Cognitive Neuroscience journals open-access only, ranked by Scimago quartile then cites/paper, 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).

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AllBest open-access journals
  1. 1
    Translational Psychiatry
    6.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Nature
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  2. 2
    IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering
    5.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  3. 3
    Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
    4.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  4. 4
    Human Brain Mapping
    4.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  5. 5
    Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience
    4.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  6. 6
    Brain Communications
    3.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Oxford University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  7. 7
    NeuroImage
    3.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  8. 8
    NeuroImage Clinical
    3.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  9. 9
    eNeuro
    3.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Society for Neuroscience
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  10. 10
    Frontiers in Psychology
    3.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  11. 11
    Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
    3.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  12. 12
    Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience
    3.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  13. 13
    Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
    3.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  14. 14
    Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
    3.0 cites/paper · Q1 · University of Oxford
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  15. 15
    Acta Psychologica
    2.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  16. 16
    Neural Plasticity
    1.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Hindawi Publishing Corporation
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  17. 17
    Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience
    1.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  18. 18
    Frontiers in Neuroinformatics
    4.5 cites/paper · Q2 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  19. 19
    Frontiers in Neuroscience
    3.9 cites/paper · Q2 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  20. 20
    BMC Neuroscience
    3.8 cites/paper · Q2 · BioMed Central
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  21. 21
    Imaging Neuroscience
    3.6 cites/paper · Q2 · The MIT Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  22. 22
    Brain Sciences
    3.6 cites/paper · Q2 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  23. 23
    Journal of Integrative Neuroscience
    3.6 cites/paper · Q2 · Imperial College Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  24. 24
    Learning & Memory
    2.9 cites/paper · Q2 · Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
    Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  25. 25
    Behavioural Neurology
    2.9 cites/paper · Q2 · Hindawi Publishing Corporation
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  26. 26
    Brain and Behavior
    2.2 cites/paper · Q2 · Wiley
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  27. 27
    CoDAS
    0.4 cites/paper · Q2 · Brazilian Society of Speech Therapy
    Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  28. 28
    Journal of Vision
    0.4 cites/paper · Q2 · Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  29. 29
    Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience
    4.0 cites/paper · Q3 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  30. 30
    i-Perception
    0.9 cites/paper · Q3 · SAGE Publishing
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  31. 31
    The Japanese journal of psychology
    0.3 cites/paper · Q4 · The Japanese Psychological Association
    Open AccessScopusPubMed
  32. 32
    Scholarpedia
    0.8 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile · Scholarpedia Corporation
    Open AccessDOAJPubMed
  33. 33
    Frontiers for Young Minds
    0.1 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessPubMed
  34. 34
    The Brain & Neural Networks
    0.1 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile
    Open Access
  35. 35
    Higher Brain Function Research
    0.0 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile
    Open Access
  36. 36
    Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience
    15.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Canadian Medical Association
    Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  37. 37
    PLoS Computational Biology
    4.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Public Library of Science
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  38. 38
    Frontiers in Neuroanatomy
    3.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  39. 39
    Frontiers in Neural Circuits
    2.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  40. 40
    Neuroscience Research
    2.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb 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.

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Frequently asked

Translational Psychiatry, IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Human Brain Mapping, Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience are among the top results, ranked by Scimago quartile then OpenAlex cites/paper from a 17,786-venue index, predatory venues excluded. The full list is on this page; for a match to your specific paper use the Journal Finder (15 credits; free account starts with 25).

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