Best open-access journals for Computer Science

1. 1
   Journal Of Big Data

   11.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media

   Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
2. 2
   Computational Linguistics

   10.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Association for Computational Linguistics

   Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
3. 3
   npj Digital Medicine

   10.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio

   Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
4. 4
   PRX Quantum

   9.9 cites/paper · Q1 · American Physical Society

   Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
5. 5
   Journal of Statistical Software

   9.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Foundation for Open Access Statistics

   Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
6. 6
   Physical Review X

   8.5 cites/paper · Q1 · American Physical Society

   Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
7. 7
   npj Quantum Information

   6.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio

   Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
8. 8
   The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning

   5.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Athabasca University Press

   Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
9. 9
   BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making

   5.2 cites/paper · Q1 · BioMed Central

   Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
10. 10
    IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society

    5.1 cites/paper · Q1 · IEEE Communications Society

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
11. 11
    Emerging Science Journal

    5.1 cites/paper · Q1

    Open AccessScopus
12. 12
    Future Internet

    5.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
13. 13
    Applied Artificial Intelligence

    4.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Taylor & Francis

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
14. 14
    IEEE Access

    4.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
15. 15
    Drones

    4.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
16. 16
    Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence

    4.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
17. 17
    Big Data and Cognitive Computing

    4.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
18. 18
    Virtual Reality

    4.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
19. 19
    Digital Discovery

    4.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Royal Society of Chemistry

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
20. 20
    Australasian Journal of Educational Technology

    4.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
21. 21
    JMIR Medical Informatics

    4.3 cites/paper · Q1 · JMIR Publications

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
22. 22
    Computers

    4.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
23. 23
    Journal of King Saud University - Computer and Information Sciences

    4.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
24. 24
    Technologies

    4.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
25. 25
    International Journal of Computational Intelligence Systems

    4.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Nature

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
26. 26
    Sensors

    4.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
27. 27
    ICT Express

    4.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
28. 28
    Complex & Intelligent Systems

    4.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
29. 29
    Education Sciences

    3.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
30. 30
    Language learning & technology

    3.5 cites/paper · Q1 · University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
31. 31
    Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research

    3.5 cites/paper · Q1 · AI Access Foundation

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
32. 32
    Tsinghua Science & Technology

    3.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Tsinghua University Press

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
33. 33
    Applied System Innovation

    3.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
34. 34
    Physical Review Research

    3.4 cites/paper · Q1 · American Physical Society

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
35. 35
    Journal of Pathology Informatics

    3.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV

    Open AccessDOAJScopusPubMed
36. 36
    Online Learning

    3.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Online Learning Consortium

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
37. 37
    Digital Communications and Networks

    3.2 cites/paper · Q1 · KeAi

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
38. 38
    Discover Artificial Intelligence

    3.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Nature

    Open AccessDOAJScopusPubMed
39. 39
    Robotics

    3.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute

    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
40. 40
    Measurement Sensors

    3.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV

    Open AccessDOAJScopusPubMed

“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.