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Cognitive Neuroscience · 52 journals ranked · top 40 listed

Best open-access journals for Cognitive Neuroscience

The top 40 of 52 Cognitive Neuroscience journals, open-access only, ranked by Scimago quartile, then by how central Cognitive Neuroscience is to each journal, then OpenAlex cites/paper (2-year window), 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
    Translational Psychiatry
    6.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Nature
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  2. 2
    IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering
    6.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  3. 3
    Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
    5.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  4. 4
    Human Brain Mapping
    4.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  5. 5
    Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience
    4.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  6. 6
    Brain Communications
    4.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Oxford University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  7. 7
    NeuroImage
    4.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  8. 8
    NeuroImage Clinical
    3.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  9. 9
    Frontiers in Psychology
    3.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  10. 10
    Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
    3.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  11. 11
    Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
    3.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  12. 12
    Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience
    3.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  13. 13
    Acta Psychologica
    3.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  14. 14
    eNeuro
    3.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Society for Neuroscience
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  15. 15
    Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
    3.2 cites/paper · Q1 · University of Oxford
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  16. 16
    Neural Plasticity
    2.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Hindawi Publishing Corporation
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  17. 17
    Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience
    1.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  18. 18
    Frontiers in Neuroanatomy
    3.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  19. 19
    Frontiers in Neural Circuits
    3.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  20. 20
    Neuroscience Research
    2.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  21. 21
    Frontiers in Neuroinformatics
    5.3 cites/paper · Q2 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  22. 22
    Frontiers in Neuroscience
    4.3 cites/paper · Q2 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  23. 23
    Brain Sciences
    4.1 cites/paper · Q2 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  24. 24
    Journal of Integrative Neuroscience
    4.0 cites/paper · Q2 · Imperial College Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  25. 25
    BMC Neuroscience
    4.0 cites/paper · Q2 · BioMed Central
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  26. 26
    Imaging Neuroscience
    3.9 cites/paper · Q2 · The MIT Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  27. 27
    Behavioural Neurology
    3.4 cites/paper · Q2 · Hindawi Publishing Corporation
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  28. 28
    Learning & Memory
    3.1 cites/paper · Q2 · Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
    Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  29. 29
    Brain and Behavior
    2.6 cites/paper · Q2 · Wiley
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  30. 30
    CoDAS
    0.5 cites/paper · Q2 · Brazilian Society of Speech Therapy
    Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  31. 31
    Journal of Vision
    0.4 cites/paper · Q2 · Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  32. 32
    Nature and Science of Sleep
    3.3 cites/paper · Q2 · Dove Medical Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  33. 33
    SLEEP Advances
    1.1 cites/paper · Q2 · Oxford University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  34. 34
    Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience
    4.4 cites/paper · Q3 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  35. 35
    i-Perception
    1.1 cites/paper · Q3 · SAGE Publishing
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  36. 36
    Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis
    1.3 cites/paper · Q3 · Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology
    Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  37. 37
    The Japanese journal of psychology
    0.4 cites/paper · Q4 · The Japanese Psychological Association
    Open AccessScopusPubMed
  38. 38
    Frontiers for Young Minds
    0.2 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessPubMed
  39. 39
    The Brain & Neural Networks
    0.1 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile
    Open Access
  40. 40
    Higher Brain Function Research
    0.1 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile · Japan Society for Higher Brain Dysfunction
    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

Translational Psychiatry, IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Human Brain Mapping, Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience lead this list, drawn from a 17,500-venue index. The top 40 of 52 ranked venues are listed on this page; 20 are Scimago Q1, 13 Q2, 3 Q3, 1 Q4 and 3 have no Scimago quartile. By Scimago quartile first (Q1 → Q4, then venues without one). Within a quartile, venues whose main OpenAlex subfield is Cognitive Neuroscience 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 Cognitive Neuroscience — fewer than a quarter of the venues filed under that subfield (or fewer than five) are also filed under Cognitive Neuroscience — is listed after all the others. 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 (1 of the 52 journals ranked here is below that floor; it is not among the 40 shown). Only open-access venues are included. 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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