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Social Science · 2,215 journals ranked · top 40 listed

Best open-access journals for Social Science

The top 40 of 2,215 Social Science journals, open-access only, 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 — the date our venue index was last rebuilt from OpenAlex and Scimago.

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AllBest open-access journals
  1. 1
    Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
    8.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  2. 2
    Big Data & Society
    7.2 cites/paper · Q1 · SAGE Publishing
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  3. 3
    PNAS Nexus
    7.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Oxford University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  4. 4
    Australasian Journal of Educational Technology
    7.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  5. 5
    Language learning & technology
    6.4 cites/paper · Q1 · University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  6. 6
    Social Media + Society
    5.8 cites/paper · Q1 · SAGE Publishing
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  7. 7
    International Journal of Qualitative Methods
    5.7 cites/paper · Q1 · SAGE Publishing
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  8. 8
    Journal of Global Information Management
    5.6 cites/paper · Q1 · IGI Global
    Open AccessScopusWeb of Science
  9. 9
    Science and Engineering Ethics
    5.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  10. 10
    BMC Medical Research Methodology
    5.4 cites/paper · Q1 · BioMed Central
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  11. 11
    Education Sciences
    5.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  12. 12
    International Journal for Equity in Health
    5.3 cites/paper · Q1 · BioMed Central
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  13. 13
    Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
    5.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Palgrave Macmillan
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  14. 14
    CBE—Life Sciences Education
    5.3 cites/paper · Q1 · American Society for Cell Biology
    Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  15. 15
    Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice
    5.3 cites/paper · Q1 · University of Wollongong
    Open AccessScopusWeb of Science
  16. 16
    Computers in Human Behavior Reports
    5.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  17. 17
    Cogent Education
    4.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Taylor & Francis
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  18. 18
    Online Learning
    4.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Online Learning Consortium
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  19. 19
    Physical Review Physics Education Research
    4.2 cites/paper · Q1 · American Physical Society
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  20. 20
    Frontiers in Education
    4.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  21. 21
    SSM - Population Health
    4.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  22. 22
    ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information
    4.0 cites/paper · Q1 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  23. 23
    Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation
    4.0 cites/paper · Q1 · University of Surrey
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  24. 24
    First Monday
    3.9 cites/paper · Q1 · University of Illinois at Chicago
    Open AccessScopus
  25. 25
    Campbell Systematic Reviews
    3.9 cites/paper · Q1 · The Campbell Collaboration
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  26. 26
    British Journal of Political Science
    3.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Cambridge University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  27. 27
    Media and Communication
    3.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Cogitatio
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  28. 28
    Vysshee Obrazovanie v Rossii
    3.7 cites/paper · Q1
    Open AccessDOAJScopus
  29. 29
    European Journal of Political Research
    3.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  30. 30
    Urban Science
    3.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  31. 31
    Politics and Governance
    3.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Cogitatio
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  32. 32
    SAGE Open
    3.3 cites/paper · Q1 · SAGE Publishing
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  33. 33
    Heritage
    3.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  34. 34
    European Journal of Risk Regulation
    3.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Cambridge University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  35. 35
    Socius Sociological Research for a Dynamic World
    3.0 cites/paper · Q1 · SAGE Publishing
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  36. 36
    Teoría de la Educación Revista Interuniversitaria
    2.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  37. 37
    Demography
    2.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
    Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  38. 38
    Demographic Research
    2.9 cites/paper · Q1 · Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  39. 39
    Journal of Public Policy
    2.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Cambridge University Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  40. 40
    Social Sciences & Humanities Open
    2.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusPubMed

“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

Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Big Data & Society, PNAS Nexus, Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, Language learning & technology lead this list, drawn from a 17,500-venue index. The top 40 of 2,215 ranked venues are listed on this page; all 40 are Scimago Q1. 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 (16 of the 2,215 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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