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Cognitive Neuroscience · 49 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 an17,538-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 free Journal Finder.

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AllBest open-access journalsHighest-impact journals
  1. 1
    Translational Psychiatry
    5.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Nature
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  2. 2
    IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering
    5.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  3. 3
    Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
    4.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  4. 4
    Human Brain Mapping
    3.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  5. 5
    Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience
    3.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  6. 6
    Brain Communications
    3.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Oxford University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  7. 7
    NeuroImage
    3.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  8. 8
    Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
    2.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  9. 9
    Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
    2.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  10. 10
    eNeuro
    2.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Society for Neuroscience
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  11. 11
    Frontiers in Psychology
    2.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  12. 12
    Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience
    2.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  13. 13
    NeuroImage Clinical
    2.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  14. 14
    Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
    2.6 cites/paper · Q1 · University of Oxford
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  15. 15
    Acta Psychologica
    2.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  16. 16
    Neural Plasticity
    1.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Hindawi Publishing Corporation
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  17. 17
    Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience
    1.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  18. 18
    Frontiers in Neuroinformatics
    3.8 cites/paper · Q2 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  19. 19
    Frontiers in Neuroscience
    3.4 cites/paper · Q2 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  20. 20
    BMC Neuroscience
    3.3 cites/paper · Q2 · BioMed Central
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  21. 21
    Journal of Integrative Neuroscience
    3.1 cites/paper · Q2 · Imperial College Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  22. 22
    Brain Sciences
    3.0 cites/paper · Q2 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  23. 23
    Learning & Memory
    2.6 cites/paper · Q2 · Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
    Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  24. 24
    Behavioural Neurology
    2.4 cites/paper · Q2 · Hindawi Publishing Corporation
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  25. 25
    Brain and Behavior
    2.0 cites/paper · Q2 · Wiley
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  26. 26
    Journal of Vision
    0.3 cites/paper · Q2 · Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  27. 27
    Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience
    3.7 cites/paper · Q3 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  28. 28
    Annals of Neurosciences
    1.4 cites/paper · Q3 · SAGE Publishing
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  29. 29
    i-Perception
    0.9 cites/paper · Q3 · SAGE Publishing
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  30. 30
    The Japanese journal of psychology
    0.3 cites/paper · Q4 · The Japanese Psychological Association
    Open AccessScopusPubMed
  31. 31
    Scholarpedia
    0.8 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile · Scholarpedia Corporation
    Open AccessDOAJPubMed
  32. 32
    Frontiers for Young Minds
    0.1 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessPubMed
  33. 33
    The Brain & Neural Networks
    0.1 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile
    Open Access
  34. 34
    Higher Brain Function Research
    0.0 cites/paper · no Scimago quartile
    Open Access
  35. 35
    Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience
    15.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Canadian Medical Association
    Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  36. 36
    PLoS Computational Biology
    3.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Public Library of Science
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  37. 37
    Frontiers in Neuroanatomy
    2.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  38. 38
    Frontiers in Neural Circuits
    2.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  39. 39
    eLife
    2.1 cites/paper · Q1 · eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  40. 40
    Neuroscience Research
    1.9 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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