Question 1

What are the best open-access journals for Ecology?

Accepted Answer

The ISME Journal, Ecological Informatics, FEMS Microbiology Ecology, Records of the Australian Museum, Ecography lead this list, drawn from a 17,500-venue index. The top 40 of 216 ranked venues are listed on this page; all 40 are Scimago Q1. Journals are placed by two independent classifications, OpenAlex's and Scimago's, plus any documented corrections. A journal both place under Ecology ranks ahead, within its Scimago quartile, of one only OpenAlex places there — because Scimago does not cover it, files it as Multidisciplinary, or files it under a neighbouring subject or only under a broad “(miscellaneous)” category (which counts as agreement when Ecology is the journal's main OpenAlex subfield). 2 journals OpenAlex files under Ecology are left out because OpenAlex's main field for them and Scimago's categories both place them in another discipline. By Scimago quartile first (Q1 → Q4, then venues without one). Within a quartile, journals both sources place under Ecology come first, then venues whose main OpenAlex subfield is Ecology 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 Ecology — fewer than a quarter of the venues filed under that subfield (or fewer than five) are also filed under Ecology — 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 (4 of the 216 journals ranked here are below that floor; none of them is among the 40 shown). Here “Ecology” spans three OpenAlex subfields — Ecology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; and Nature and Landscape Conservation — treated as one. 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).

Question 2

Do these rankings use Journal Impact Factor (JIF)?

Accepted Answer

No. We don't compute or license Clarivate's Journal Impact Factor. These rankings use the Scimago SJR quartile (Q1–Q4) and OpenAlex cites/paper over a 2-year window — both transparent, openly-sourced signals. For Ecology, the highest-ranked venues by this method include The ISME Journal, Ecological Informatics, FEMS Microbiology Ecology.

Question 3

How do I find the best journal for my specific Ecology paper?

Accepted Answer

Paste your title and abstract into the Journal Finder — it returns a shortlist matched to your paper from the same index, with open-access status and predatory flags. A free account starts with 25 welcome credits; each run costs 15.

Best open-access journals for Ecology

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