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Education · 476 journals ranked · top 40 listed

Best open-access journals for Education

The top 40 of 476 Education journals, open-access only, ranked by Scimago quartile, then by whether OpenAlex and Scimago agree on the subject and how central Education is to each journal, then OpenAlex cites/paper (2-year window), leaving out journals both place in another discipline, 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 — the date our venue index was last rebuilt from OpenAlex and Scimago.

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AllBest open-access journals
  1. 1
    Australasian Journal of Educational Technology
    8.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  2. 2
    The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning
    7.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Athabasca University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  3. 3
    Education Sciences
    5.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  4. 4
    CBE—Life Sciences Education
    5.2 cites/paper · Q1 · American Society for Cell Biology
    Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  5. 5
    Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice
    5.0 cites/paper · Q1 · University of Wollongong
    Open AccessScopusWeb of Science
  6. 6
    Cogent Education
    4.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Taylor & Francis
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  7. 7
    Online Learning
    4.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Online Learning Consortium
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  8. 8
    Physical Review Physics Education Research
    4.1 cites/paper · Q1 · American Physical Society
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  9. 9
    Frontiers in Education
    3.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  10. 10
    Teoría de la Educación Revista Interuniversitaria
    2.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  11. 11
    Social Sciences & Humanities Open
    2.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusPubMed
  12. 12
    The Qualitative Report
    2.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Nova Southeastern University
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  13. 13
    Revista Interuniversitaria de Formación del Profesorado Continuación de la antigua Revista de Escuelas Normales
    0.6 cites/paper · Q1 · University of Murcia
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  14. 14
    Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales Niñez y Juventud
    4.2 cites/paper · Q2 · Universidad de Manizales
    Open AccessDOAJScopus
  15. 15
    Eurasia Journal of Mathematics Science and Technology Education
    3.6 cites/paper · Q2 · Modestum Limited
    Open AccessScopus
  16. 16
    European Journal of Educational Research
    3.3 cites/paper · Q2 · RU Publications
    Open AccessScopus
  17. 17
    Discover Education
    2.8 cites/paper · Q2 · Springer Science+Business Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusPubMed
  18. 18
    AJP Advances in Physiology Education
    2.5 cites/paper · Q2 · American Physical Society
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  19. 19
    Journal of Baltic Science Education
    2.4 cites/paper · Q2 · Scientia Socialis Ltd
    Open AccessScopusWeb of Science
  20. 20
    International Journal of Learning Teaching and Educational Research
    2.3 cites/paper · Q2 · Tresorix Ltd
    Open AccessScopus
  21. 21
    International Journal of Information and Education Technology
    2.3 cites/paper · Q2 · International Journal of Information and Education Technology
    Open AccessScopusPubMed
  22. 22
    Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education
    1.9 cites/paper · Q2 · Anadolu University
    Open AccessScopusWeb of ScienceTR-Dizin
  23. 23
    Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education
    1.3 cites/paper · Q2 · American Society for Microbiology
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  24. 24
    Education Policy Analysis Archives
    1.2 cites/paper · Q2 · Arizona State University
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  25. 25
    Revista Latinoamericana de Psicología
    1.1 cites/paper · Q2 · Konrad Lorenz Fundación Universitaria
    Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  26. 26
    Revista Española de Pedagogía
    1.0 cites/paper · Q2 · International University of La Rioja
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  27. 27
    Pedagogia Social Revista Interuniversitaria
    1.0 cites/paper · Q2 · Sociedad Iberoamericana de Pedagogía Social
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  28. 28
    The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education
    1.0 cites/paper · Q2 · Cambridge University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  29. 29
    Educar
    0.9 cites/paper · Q2 · Autonomous University of Barcelona
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  30. 30
    Estudios sobre Educación
    0.8 cites/paper · Q2 · University of Navarre
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  31. 31
    The Australian journal of teacher education
    0.6 cites/paper · Q2 · Edith Cowan University
    Open AccessScopusWeb of Science
  32. 32
    Russian Psychological Journal
    0.5 cites/paper · Q2
    Open AccessDOAJScopus
  33. 33
    Cadernos de Pesquisa
    0.4 cites/paper · Q2 · Fundação Carlos Chagas
    Open AccessDOAJScopusPubMed
  34. 34
    Educação & Realidade
    0.2 cites/paper · Q2 · Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
    Open AccessDOAJScopusPubMed
  35. 35
    Revista Argentina de Ciencias del Comportamiento ( RACC )
    0.4 cites/paper · Q2
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  36. 36
    Knygotyra
    0.1 cites/paper · Q2 · Vilnius University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  37. 37
    South African Journal of Education
    8.9 cites/paper · Q3 · Education Association of South Africa
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  38. 38
    Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology
    2.2 cites/paper · Q3 · Canadian Network for Innovation in Education
    Open AccessDOAJScopus
  39. 39
    TEM Journal
    1.5 cites/paper · Q3 · UIKTEN
    Open AccessScopusWeb of Science
  40. 40
    Perspectives in Education
    1.5 cites/paper · Q3 · University of Pretoria
    Open AccessDOAJScopus

“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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Frequently asked

Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, Education Sciences, CBE—Life Sciences Education, Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice lead this list, drawn from a 17,500-venue index. The top 40 of 476 ranked venues are listed on this page; 13 are Scimago Q1, 23 Q2 and 4 Q3. Journals are placed by two independent classifications, OpenAlex's and Scimago's, plus any documented corrections. A journal both place under Education 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 Education is the journal's main OpenAlex subfield). 5 journals OpenAlex files under Education 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 Education come first, then venues whose main OpenAlex subfield is Education 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 Education — fewer than a quarter of the venues filed under that subfield (or fewer than five) are also filed under Education — 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 (2 of the 476 journals ranked here are below that floor; none of them is among the 40 shown). 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).

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