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Water Science and Technology · 81 journals ranked · top 40 listed

Best open-access journals for Water Science and Technology

The top 40 of 81 Water Science and Technology journals, open-access only, ranked by Scimago quartile, then by whether OpenAlex and Scimago agree on the subject and how central Water Science and Technology is to each journal, then OpenAlex cites/paper (2-year window), leaving out journals both place in another discipline, 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
    Hydrology and earth system sciences
    8.7 cites/paper · Q1 · Copernicus Publications
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  2. 2
    Applied Water Science
    7.4 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Nature
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  3. 3
    Environmental Technology & Innovation
    6.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  4. 4
    Water
    4.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
    Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  5. 5
    Frontiers in Water
    4.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Frontiers Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  6. 6
    Hydrology research
    3.6 cites/paper · Q1 · IWA Publishing
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  7. 7
    Hydrology
    3.3 cites/paper · Q1 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  8. 8
    Journal of Hydrology Regional Studies
    2.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  9. 9
    Water Resources Research
    7.2 cites/paper · Q1 · Wiley
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  10. 10
    Case Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering
    9.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusPubMed
  11. 11
    Chemical Engineering Journal Advances
    4.5 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  12. 12
    Adsorption Science & Technology
    2.5 cites/paper · Q1 · SAGE Publishing
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  13. 13
    Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances
    4.8 cites/paper · Q1 · Elsevier BV
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  14. 14
    Discover Environment
    4.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Springer Science+Business Media
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  15. 15
    Environments
    4.1 cites/paper · Q1 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
    Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  16. 16
    Desalination and Water Treatment
    8.7 cites/paper · Q2 · Taylor & Francis
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  17. 17
    Journal of Water and Health
    3.5 cites/paper · Q2 · UWA Publishing
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  18. 18
    Water Policy
    2.4 cites/paper · Q2 · UWA Publishing
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  19. 19
    Journal of Water Sanitation and Hygiene for Development
    2.4 cites/paper · Q2 · IWA Publishing
    Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  20. 20
    U.S. Geological Survey Circular
    2.0 cites/paper · Q2 · United States Geological Survey
    Open AccessScopus
  21. 21
    Journal of Water and Land Development
    1.2 cites/paper · Q2 · De Gruyter Open
    Open AccessDOAJScopus
  22. 22
    Water Science & Technology
    4.3 cites/paper · Q2 · Pergamon Press
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  23. 23
    Journal of Hydroinformatics
    5.0 cites/paper · Q2 · IWA Publishing
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  24. 24
    Environmental Engineering Research
    3.9 cites/paper · Q2 · Korean Society of Environmental Engineering
    Open AccessScopusWeb of Science
  25. 25
    Journal of Ecological Engineering
    1.8 cites/paper · Q2 · Polish Society of Ecological Engineering
    Open AccessScopusWeb of Science
  26. 26
    Sains Malaysiana
    0.8 cites/paper · Q2 · Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
    Open AccessScopusWeb of Science
  27. 27
    Revista Brasileira de Recursos Hídricos
    1.4 cites/paper · Q3 · Brazilian Association of Water Resources
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  28. 28
    Water SA
    1.0 cites/paper · Q3 · Water Research Commission
    Open AccessDOAJScopusWeb of Science
  29. 29
    Ambiente e Agua - An Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Science
    0.8 cites/paper · Q3 · Instituto de Pesquisas Ambientais em Bacias Hidrográficas (IPABHi)
    Open AccessDOAJScopus
  30. 30
    Polish Journal of Environmental Studies
    1.8 cites/paper · Q3 · HARD Publishing Company
    Open AccessScopusWeb of Science
  31. 31
    Nature Environment and Pollution Technology
    1.5 cites/paper · Q3
    Open AccessDOAJScopus
  32. 32
    Moroccan Journal of chemistry
    0.9 cites/paper · Q3
    Open AccessScopusWeb of Science
  33. 33
    Vietnam Journal of Science and Technology/Science and Technology
    0.8 cites/paper · Q4 · Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology
    Open AccessScopus
  34. 34
    International Journal of Environmental Science and Development
    0.6 cites/paper · Q4
    Open AccessScopus
  35. 35
    Fact sheet
    0.5 cites/paper · Q4 · United States Geological Survey
    Open AccessScopus
  36. 36
    Revista Brasileira de Geografia Física
    0.5 cites/paper · Q4 · Federal University of Pernambuco
    Open AccessScopus
  37. 37
    Journal of Groundwater Hydrology
    0.4 cites/paper · Q4
    Open AccessScopus
  38. 38
    Environmental Engineering and Management Journal
    0.7 cites/paper · Q4 · Polytechnic Institute of Iasi
    Open AccessScopusWeb of SciencePubMed
  39. 39
    Engenharia Sanitaria e Ambiental
    0.6 cites/paper · Q4 · Brazilian Association of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering
    Open AccessScopusWeb of Science
  40. 40
    Geociências
    0.2 cites/paper · Q4
    Open AccessScopus

“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

Hydrology and earth system sciences, Applied Water Science, Environmental Technology & Innovation, Water, Frontiers in Water lead this list, drawn from a 17,500-venue index. The top 40 of 81 ranked venues are listed on this page; 15 are Scimago Q1, 11 Q2, 6 Q3 and 8 Q4. Journals are placed by two independent classifications, OpenAlex's and Scimago's, plus any documented corrections. A journal both place under Water Science and Technology ranks ahead, within its Scimago quartile, of one only OpenAlex places there — because Scimago does not cover it, files it as Multidisciplinary, or files it under a neighbouring subject or only under a broad “(miscellaneous)” category (which counts as agreement when Water Science and Technology is the journal's main OpenAlex subfield). 10 journals OpenAlex files under Water Science and Technology are left out because OpenAlex's main field for them and Scimago's categories both place them in another discipline. By Scimago quartile first (Q1 → Q4, then venues without one). Within a quartile, journals both sources place under Water Science and Technology come first, then venues whose main OpenAlex subfield is Water Science and Technology 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 Water Science and Technology — fewer than a quarter of the venues filed under that subfield (or fewer than five) are also filed under Water Science and Technology — 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 (1 of the 81 journals ranked here is below that floor; it is not 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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