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Medicine · 2,306 journals ranked · top 40 listed

Best open-access journals for Medicine

The top 40 of 2,306 Medicine journals, open-access only, 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 — the date our venue index was last rebuilt from OpenAlex and Scimago.

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AllBest open-access journals
  1. 1
    CA A Cancer Journal for Clinicians
    227.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
    Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  2. 2
    Journal of Hematology & Oncology
    35.1 cites/paper · Q1 · BioMed Central
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  3. 3
    Molecular Cancer
    29.5 cites/paper · Q1 · BioMed Central
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  4. 4
    MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
    19.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
    Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  5. 5
    Molecular Neurodegeneration
    18.4 cites/paper · Q1 · BioMed Central
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  6. 6
    Cardiovascular Diabetology
    17.4 cites/paper · Q1 · BioMed Central
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  7. 7
    The Lancet Public Health
    17.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  8. 8
    Gut Microbes
    17.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Landes Bioscience
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  9. 9
    The Lancet Digital Health
    16.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  10. 10
    Journal of Biomedical Science
    15.2 cites/paper · Q1 · BioMed Central
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  11. 11
    Biomarker Research
    15.0 cites/paper · Q1 · BioMed Central
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  12. 12
    Experimental & Molecular Medicine
    14.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Nature
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  13. 13
    Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience
    14.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Canadian Medical Association
    Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  14. 14
    npj Digital Medicine
    13.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  15. 15
    Journal of Nanobiotechnology
    13.3 cites/paper · Q1 · BioMed Central
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  16. 16
    Cancer Communications
    13.1 cites/paper · Q1
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  17. 17
    Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research
    12.9 cites/paper · Q1 · BioMed Central
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  18. 18
    EClinicalMedicine
    12.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  19. 19
    JMIR Mental Health
    12.1 cites/paper · Q1 · JMIR Publications
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  20. 20
    The Lancet Planetary Health
    11.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  21. 21
    The Lancet Microbe
    11.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  22. 22
    British Journal of Biomedical Science
    11.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Taylor & Francis
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  23. 23
    The Lancet Global Health
    11.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  24. 24
    Implementation Science
    11.4 cites/paper · Q1 · BioMed Central
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  25. 25
    Cell Death Discovery
    11.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Nature
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  26. 26
    Pharmacological Research
    11.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  27. 27
    MedComm
    10.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  28. 28
    Journal of Sport and Health Science
    10.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  29. 29
    Journal of Clinical Investigation
    10.8 cites/paper · Q1 · American Society for Clinical Investigation
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  30. 30
    Journal of Neuroinflammation
    10.7 cites/paper · Q1 · BioMed Central
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  31. 31
    European Respiratory Review
    10.7 cites/paper · Q1 · European Respiratory Society
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  32. 32
    EBioMedicine
    10.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  33. 33
    International Journal of Biological Sciences
    10.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Ivyspring International Publisher
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  34. 34
    npj Biofilms and Microbiomes
    10.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  35. 35
    Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B
    10.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  36. 36
    International Journal of Nanomedicine
    10.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Dove Medical Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  37. 37
    Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer
    10.0 cites/paper · Q1 · BMJ
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  38. 38
    JAMA Network Open
    9.9 cites/paper · Q1 · American Medical Association
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  39. 39
    Cell Death and Disease
    9.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Nature
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  40. 40
    Immune Network
    9.5 cites/paper · Q1
    Open AccessScopusWeb 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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Frequently asked

CA A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, Journal of Hematology & Oncology, Molecular Cancer, MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Molecular Neurodegeneration lead this list, drawn from a 17,500-venue index. The top 40 of 2,306 ranked venues are listed on this page; all 40 are Scimago Q1. Journals are listed when both OpenAlex and Scimago file them under Medicine, plus any documented corrections; a journal Scimago does not cover is listed on OpenAlex's word alone. 131 journals OpenAlex files under Medicine 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 Medicine 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 (9 of the 2,306 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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