What are the best journals for Geophysics?

From a 17,782-venue index, the highest-ranked Geophysics journals include Reviews of Geophysics, Earth-Science Reviews, Geoscience Frontiers, Economic Geology, Surveys in Geophysics. The top 40 of 144 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 Geophysics journals ranked?

Journals are placed by two independent classifications, OpenAlex's and Scimago's, plus any documented corrections. A journal both place under Geophysics 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 Geophysics is the journal's main OpenAlex subfield). 3 journals OpenAlex files under Geophysics 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 Geophysics come first, then venues whose main OpenAlex subfield is Geophysics 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 Geophysics — fewer than a quarter of the venues filed under that subfield (or fewer than five) are also filed under Geophysics — is listed after all the others. Cites/paper is a transparent citation rate, not a licensed Impact Factor, and journals flagged as predatory are excluded.

Why don't all Geophysics 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 Geophysics 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.

Geophysics · 144 journals ranked · top 40 listed

Best journals for Geophysics

The top 40 of 144 Geophysics journals, ranked by Scimago quartile, then by whether OpenAlex and Scimago agree on the subject and how central Geophysics is to each journal, then OpenAlex cites/paper (2-year window), leaving out journals both place in another discipline, drawn from a 17,782-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).

Match journals to your paper →

All Best open-access journals

1
Reviews of Geophysics
17.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
2
Earth-Science Reviews
9.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
3
Geoscience Frontiers
6.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
4
Economic Geology
5.1 cites/paper · Q1
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
5
Surveys in Geophysics
4.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
6
Science China Earth Sciences
4.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
7
Mineralium Deposita
4.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
8
Journal of Earth Science
4.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
ScopusWeb of Science
9
Earth and Planetary Science Letters
4.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
10
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America
3.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Seismological Society of America
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
11
American Journal of Science
3.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Yale University
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
12
Journal of Petrology
3.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Oxford University Press
ScopusWeb of Science
13
Journal of Geophysical Research Solid Earth
3.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
14
Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems
3.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
15
Geophysics
2.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Society of Exploration Geophysicists
ScopusWeb of Science
16
Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology
2.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
ScopusWeb of Science
17
Tectonics
2.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
18
Seismological Research Letters
2.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Seismological Society of America
ScopusWeb of Science
19
Geophysical Journal International
2.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Oxford University Press
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
20
Solid Earth
2.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Copernicus Publications
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
21
Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research
2.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of Science
22
Tectonophysics
1.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
23
Physics of The Earth and Planetary Interiors
1.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of Science
24
American Mineralogist
1.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Mineralogical Society of America
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
25
New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics
1.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Taylor & Francis
ScopusWeb of Science
26
Gondwana Research
5.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
27
Computers & Geosciences
4.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
28
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
3.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
29
Geology
3.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Geological Society of America
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
30
Ore Geology Reviews
3.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
31
Chemical Geology
2.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of Science
32
Precambrian Research
2.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
33
Geological Society of America Bulletin
2.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Geological Society of America
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
34
Journal of Structural Geology
2.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
35
Earth Planets and Space
2.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Nature
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
36
Bulletin of Volcanology
2.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
37
Journal of the Geological Society
2.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Geological Society of London
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
38
Journal of Metamorphic Geology
2.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
39
Basin Research
2.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
ScopusWeb of Science
40
Journal of Asian Earth Sciences
1.9 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.