Physics · 527 journals indexed

Best journals for Physics

The top Physics journals ranked by Scimago quartile, then cites/paper (OpenAlex, 2-year window), drawn from a 17,786-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 Journal Finder (a free account starts with 25 welcome credits).

  1. 1
    Reviews of Modern Physics
    30.8 cites/paper · Q1 · American Physical Society
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  2. 2
    Nature Photonics
    23.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  3. 3
    Nature
    17.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  4. 4
    Physics Reports
    15.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  5. 5
    New Astronomy Reviews
    12.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    ScopusWeb of Science
  6. 6
    Nature Physics
    10.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  7. 7
    Physical Review X
    9.4 cites/paper · Q1 · American Physical Society
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  8. 8
    Reports on Progress in Physics
    9.1 cites/paper · Q1 · IOP Publishing
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  9. 9
    Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics
    9.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  10. 10
    The Astrophysical Journal Letters
    8.2 cites/paper · Q1 · IOP Publishing
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  11. 11
    Space Science Reviews
    8.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  12. 12
    Physical Review Letters
    8.0 cites/paper · Q1 · American Physical Society
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  13. 13
    Optica
    7.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Optica Publishing Group
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  14. 14
    Physics of the Dark Universe
    7.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    ScopusWeb of Science
  15. 15
    Nature Astronomy
    7.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  16. 16
    Science China Physics Mechanics and Astronomy
    6.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  17. 17
    SciPost Physics
    5.9 cites/paper · Q1 · SciPost.org
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  18. 18
    Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters
    5.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Oxford University Press
    ScopusPubMed
  19. 19
    Chaos Solitons & Fractals
    5.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  20. 20
    The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
    5.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Institute of Physics
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  21. 21
    Physical review. D.
    5.2 cites/paper · Q1 · American Physical Society
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  22. 22
    Communications Physics
    5.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  23. 23
    The Astrophysical Journal
    5.1 cites/paper · Q1 · IOP Publishing
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  24. 24
    Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation
    4.9 cites/paper · Q1 · American Chemical Society
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  25. 25
    Astronomy and Astrophysics
    4.7 cites/paper · Q1 · EDP Sciences
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  26. 26
    The European Physical Journal C
    4.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  27. 27
    The Astronomical Journal
    4.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Institute of Physics
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  28. 28
    Qualitative Theory of Dynamical Systems
    4.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Birkhäuser
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  29. 29
    Physics Letters B
    4.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  30. 30
    The Journal of Chemical Physics
    3.9 cites/paper · Q1 · American Institute of Physics
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  31. 31
    Nuclear Science and Techniques
    3.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Nature
    ScopusWeb of Science
  32. 32
    Nuclear Fusion
    3.8 cites/paper · Q1 · IOP Publishing
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  33. 33
    Physical Review Research
    3.7 cites/paper · Q1 · American Physical Society
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  34. 34
    Physical Review Applied
    3.7 cites/paper · Q1 · American Physical Society
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  35. 35
    Chinese Physics Letters
    3.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Institute of Physics
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  36. 36
    The Planetary Science Journal
    3.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Institute of Physics
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  37. 37
    Physical review. B.
    3.6 cites/paper · Q1 · American Physical Society
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  38. 38
    Chaos An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science
    3.5 cites/paper · Q1 · American Institute of Physics
    ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  39. 39
    Space Weather
    3.5 cites/paper · Q1 · American Geophysical Union
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  40. 40
    Fortschritte der Physik
    3.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
    ScopusWeb of Science

“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

From a 17,786-venue index, the highest-ranked Physics journals (by Scimago quartile then OpenAlex cites/paper) include Reviews of Modern Physics, Nature Photonics, Nature, Physics Reports, New Astronomy Reviews. Predatory venues are excluded. The full ranked list with open-access and indexing details is on this page; for a shortlist matched to your specific paper, use the Journal Finder (15 credits; free account starts with 25).

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