What are the best journals for Earth Science?

From a 17,500-venue index, the highest-ranked Earth Science journals include Environmental Chemistry Letters, Nature Sustainability, Reviews of Geophysics, Nature Climate Change, Earth system science data. The top 40 of 1,280 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 Earth Science journals ranked?

Journals are listed when both OpenAlex and Scimago file them under Earth Science, plus any documented corrections; a journal Scimago does not cover is listed on OpenAlex's word alone. 467 journals OpenAlex files under Earth Science 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 Earth Science 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 (13 of the 1,280 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 Earth Science 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 Earth Science 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.

Earth Science · 1,280 journals ranked · top 40 listed

Best journals for Earth Science

The top 40 of 1,280 Earth Science 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
Environmental Chemistry Letters
32.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
2
Nature Sustainability
22.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
3
Reviews of Geophysics
21.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
4
Nature Climate Change
14.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
5
Earth system science data
13.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Copernicus Publications
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
6
Water Research
13.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
7
Journal of Cleaner Production
13.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
8
Petroleum Exploration and Development
13.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
9
Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology
13.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Taylor & Francis
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
10
Nature Geoscience
12.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
11
Sustainable Production and Consumption
12.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
12
The Science of The Total Environment
12.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusPubMed
13
Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry
11.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
14
Remote Sensing of Environment
11.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
15
Nature Ecology & Evolution
11.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
16
Resources Conservation and Recycling
11.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
17
Environment International
11.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
18
Environmental Science & Technology
11.4 cites/paper · Q1 · American Chemical Society
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
19
Chemical Engineering Journal
11.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
20
Global Change Biology
11.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
21
ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
11.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
22
Landscape and Urban Planning
10.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
23
One Earth
10.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
24
Chemosphere
10.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusPubMed
25
Journal of Hazardous Materials
10.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
26
Desalination
10.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
27
Earth-Science Reviews
10.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
28
Reviews in Aquaculture
10.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
29
Journal of Environmental Management
10.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
30
Environmental Impact Assessment Review
9.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
31
Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering
9.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Higher Education Press
ScopusPubMed
32
Ecological Indicators
9.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
33
Global Environmental Change
9.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
34
Archives of Toxicology
9.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
35
Engineering Geology
9.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
36
Case Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering
9.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
Open AccessDOAJScopusPubMed
37
npj Climate and Atmospheric Science
8.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
38
Communications Earth & Environment
8.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
39
Hydrology and earth system sciences
8.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Copernicus Publications
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
40
Ecosystem Services
8.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
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.