What are the best journals for Social Science?

From a 17,500-venue index, the highest-ranked Social Science journals include Science, Nature, International Journal of Information Management, Nature Human Behaviour, ReCALL. The top 40 of 6,756 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 Social Science journals ranked?

Journals whose primary OpenAlex field is Social Science are ranked first, by Scimago quartile (Q1 → Q4, then journals without one) and then by OpenAlex cites/paper over a 2-year window; journals that list Social Science only as a secondary field come after them. 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 (34 of the 6,756 journals ranked here are below that floor; none of them is among the 40 shown). Cites/paper is a transparent citation rate, not a licensed Impact Factor, and journals flagged as predatory are excluded.

Why don't all Social Science 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 Social Science 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.

Social Science · 6,756 journals ranked · top 40 listed

Best journals for Social Science

The top 40 of 6,756 Social Science journals, ranked with primary-Social Science journals first, then by Scimago quartile and 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 15 November 2026 — the date our venue index was last rebuilt from OpenAlex and Scimago.

Match journals to your paper →

All Best open-access journals

1
Science
21.5 cites/paper · Q1 · American Association for the Advancement of Science
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
2
Nature
19.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
3
International Journal of Information Management
16.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
4
Nature Human Behaviour
15.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Nature Portfolio
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
5
ReCALL
14.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Cambridge University Press
ScopusWeb of Science
6
The Internet and Higher Education
13.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
7
Technology in Society
13.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of Science
8
Government Information Quarterly
12.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
9
Computers in Human Behavior
12.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
10
Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing
12.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Taylor & Francis
ScopusWeb of Science
11
Tourism Management
11.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
12
Ethics and Information Technology
10.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
13
Tourism Review
10.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Emerald Publishing Limited
ScopusWeb of Science
14
System
10.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of Science
15
Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education
10.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Taylor & Francis
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
16
Computer Assisted Language Learning
9.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Routledge
ScopusWeb of Science
17
Educational Research Review
9.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
18
Computers Environment and Urban Systems
9.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
19
Minds and Machines
9.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
20
European Journal of Information Systems
8.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Palgrave Macmillan
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
21
Information Systems Journal
8.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
ScopusWeb of Science
22
Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management
8.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of Science
23
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
8.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
24
Habitat International
8.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
25
Telematics and Informatics
8.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
26
MIS Quarterly
8.1 cites/paper · Q1 · MIS Quarterly
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
27
Studies in Higher Education
7.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Routledge
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
28
Journal of Travel Research
7.6 cites/paper · Q1 · SAGE Publishing
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
29
Computers & composition/Computers and composition
7.6 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
30
The International Journal of Management Education
7.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of Science
31
Annals of Tourism Research
7.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
32
Transport Reviews
7.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Taylor & Francis
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
33
Cities
7.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
34
Big Data & Society
7.2 cites/paper · Q1 · SAGE Publishing
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
35
Journal of Chinese Political Science
7.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
36
Journal of Vocational Behavior
7.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
37
Review of Educational Research
7.2 cites/paper · Q1 · SAGE Publishing
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
38
PNAS Nexus
7.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Oxford University Press
Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
39
Journal of Sustainable Tourism
7.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Taylor & Francis
ScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
40
Journal of Second Language Writing
7.1 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.