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Earth Science · 577 journals indexed

Best open-access journals for Earth Science

The top Earth Science journals open-access only, ranked by Scimago quartile then cites/paper, drawn from an 88,000-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.

Match journals to your paper →
AllBest open-access journalsHighest-impact journals
  1. 1
    Microbiome
    11.5 cites/paper · Q1 · BioMed Central
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  2. 2
    Science Advances
    10.4 cites/paper · Q1 · American Association for the Advancement of Science
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  3. 3
    Energy Strategy Reviews
    10.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  4. 4
    Petroleum Exploration and Development
    9.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  5. 5
    FEMS Microbiology Reviews
    9.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Oxford University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  6. 6
    Earth system science data
    8.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Copernicus Publications
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  7. 7
    The Lancet Planetary Health
    8.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  8. 8
    Environment International
    8.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  9. 9
    The ISME Journal
    8.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Nature
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  10. 10
    National Science Review
    7.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Oxford University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  11. 11
    Ecological Indicators
    7.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  12. 12
    Case Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering
    7.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusPubMed
  13. 13
    Ecological Informatics
    6.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  14. 14
    Heliyon
    6.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  15. 15
    npj Climate and Atmospheric Science
    6.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  16. 16
    Communications Earth & Environment
    6.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  17. 17
    Environmental Sciences Europe
    6.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  18. 18
    Environmental Health Perspectives
    6.2 cites/paper · Q1 · National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  19. 19
    Earth s Future
    6.2 cites/paper · Q1 · American Geophysical Union
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  20. 20
    Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering
    6.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  21. 21
    Engineering
    5.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  22. 22
    Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
    5.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  23. 23
    Microbial Biotechnology
    5.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  24. 24
    Agricultural Water Management
    5.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  25. 25
    Geoderma
    5.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  26. 26
    Hydrology and earth system sciences
    5.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Copernicus Publications
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  27. 27
    Records of the Australian Museum
    5.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Australian Museum
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  28. 28
    Water Resources Research
    5.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  29. 29
    Applied Water Science
    5.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Nature
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  30. 30
    Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
    5.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  31. 31
    Cleaner Engineering and Technology
    5.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  32. 32
    Geomechanics and Geophysics for Geo-Energy and Geo-Resources
    5.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  33. 33
    Environmental Technology & Innovation
    5.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  34. 34
    Environmental Health
    4.9 cites/paper · Q1 · BioMed Central
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  35. 35
    Resources
    4.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  36. 36
    RSC Sustainability
    4.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Royal Society of Chemistry
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  37. 37
    Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances
    4.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  38. 38
    Drones
    4.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  39. 39
    mSystems
    4.7 cites/paper · Q1 · American Society for Microbiology
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  40. 40
    International Journal of Digital Earth
    4.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Taylor & Francis
    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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