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Political Science and International Relations · 262 journals ranked · top 40 listed

Best open-access journals for Political Science and International Relations

The top 40 of 262 Political Science and International Relations journals, open-access only, ranked by Scimago quartile, then by how central Political Science and International Relations is to each journal, then OpenAlex cites/paper (2-year window), 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
    European Journal of Political Research
    3.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  2. 2
    British Journal of Political Science
    3.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Cambridge University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  3. 3
    Politics and Governance
    3.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Cogitatio
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  4. 4
    European Journal of Risk Regulation
    3.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Cambridge University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  5. 5
    Journal of Public Policy
    2.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Cambridge University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  6. 6
    Government and Opposition
    2.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Cambridge University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  7. 7
    Intereconomics
    2.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusPubMed
  8. 8
    European Political Science
    2.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Palgrave Macmillan
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  9. 9
    Revista de ciencia política
    2.0 cites/paper · Q1
    Open AccessScopusWeb of Science
  10. 10
    Frontiers in Political Science
    1.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  11. 11
    German Law Journal
    1.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Cambridge University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  12. 12
    Leiden Journal of International Law
    1.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Cambridge University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  13. 13
    Colombia Internacional
    1.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Universidad de Los Andes
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  14. 14
    International Review of the Red Cross
    0.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Cambridge University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  15. 15
    MGIMO Review of International Relations
    0.8 cites/paper · Q1 · MGIMO University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  16. 16
    Latin American Research Review
    0.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Cambridge University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  17. 17
    Revista de Derecho Político
    0.6 cites/paper · Q1 · National University of Distance Education
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  18. 18
    Comparative Southeast European Studies
    0.5 cites/paper · Q1 · De Gruyter
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  19. 19
    Araucaria
    0.4 cites/paper · Q1 · University of Seville
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  20. 20
    Revista Española de Derecho Constitucional
    0.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Center for Political and Constitutional Studies
    Open AccessScopusWeb of Science
  21. 21
    AMÉRICA LATINA HOY
    0.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  22. 22
    Revista de Estudios de la Administración Local y Autonómica
    0.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Instituto Nacional de Administración Pública (Spain)
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  23. 23
    Teoría y Realidad Constitucional
    0.3 cites/paper · Q1
    Open AccessScopusWeb of Science
  24. 24
    Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta Serija 4 Istorija Regionovedenie Mezhdunarodnye otnoshenija
    0.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Volgograd State University
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  25. 25
    Quaestio Rossica
    0.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Ural Federal University
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  26. 26
    Вестник Санкт-Петербургского университета. Серия 2. История
    0.2 cites/paper · Q1
    Open AccessScopusWeb of Science
  27. 27
    Czech Journal of International Relations
    0.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Institute of International Relations Prague
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  28. 28
    DOXA Cuadernos de Filosofía del Derecho
    0.2 cites/paper · Q1
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  29. 29
    BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review
    0.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals (Publishing Services)
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  30. 30
    European Societies
    2.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Routledge
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  31. 31
    Politics and Religion
    2.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Cambridge University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  32. 32
    Refuge Canada s Journal on Refuge
    1.0 cites/paper · Q1 · York University
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  33. 33
    RUDN Journal of Russian History
    0.3 cites/paper · Q1
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  34. 34
    A&C - Revista de Direito Administrativoe & Constitucional
    0.1 cites/paper · Q1
    Open AccessScopusWeb of Science
  35. 35
    International Labour Review
    17.3 cites/paper · Q2 · Wiley
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  36. 36
    Íconos - Revista de Ciencias Sociales
    1.3 cites/paper · Q2 · Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Sede Ecuador
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  37. 37
    Derecho PUCP
    0.7 cites/paper · Q2 · Pontifical Catholic University of Peru
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  38. 38
    Białostockie Studia Prawnicze
    0.6 cites/paper · Q2 · University of Białystok
    Open AccessDOAJScopus
  39. 39
    Revista de Estudios Políticos
    0.4 cites/paper · Q2 · Centro de Estudios Constitucionales
    Open AccessScopusWeb of Science
  40. 40
    Acta Poloniae Historica
    0.4 cites/paper · Q2 · Polska Akademia Nauk
    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

European Journal of Political Research, British Journal of Political Science, Politics and Governance, European Journal of Risk Regulation, Journal of Public Policy lead this list, drawn from a 17,500-venue index. The top 40 of 262 ranked venues are listed on this page; 34 are Scimago Q1 and 6 Q2. By Scimago quartile first (Q1 → Q4, then venues without one). Within a quartile, venues whose main OpenAlex subfield is Political Science and International Relations 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 Political Science and International Relations — fewer than a quarter of the venues filed under that subfield (or fewer than five) are also filed under Political Science and International Relations — 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 262 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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