About the numbers in this article: The Journal Metrics Score is the two-year mean citedness of a journal, computed from OpenAlex (CC0) data: citations received in the most recent complete year to works published in the two prior years, divided by the number of those works. Quartiles rank journals within each OpenAlex subfield by score. Values below reflect the August 2026 snapshot; for live current values, use our homepage search tool. Data source: OpenAlex (CC0).
Quick Answer
A "good" citation score varies significantly by field. In general: 10+ is excellent,5-10 is very good, 3-5 is good, and 1-3 is average. However, these benchmarks differ dramatically between disciplines.
The question "what is a good score?" doesn't have a simple answer, because two-year citation averages vary dramatically across academic fields — a lesson researchers first learned from the legacy proprietary-metric era of journal evaluation. What's considered excellent in mathematics might be average in molecular biology. Let's explore how to evaluate journal quality properly.
Top Journals by Journal Metrics Score (2026)
Multidisciplinary Science
Specialized Journals
Good Journal Metrics Scores by Academic Field
Life Sciences & Medicine
Physical Sciences & Engineering
Mathematics & Computer Science
Social Sciences & Humanities
Understanding Journal Quartiles
Quartiles — computed by ranking journals within each subject subfield by score — provide a more reliable way to assess journal quality within specific fields:
Why Quartiles Matter More Than Raw Scores
- • Field-normalized: Compares journals within the same subfield
- • Relative ranking: Shows position among peer journals
- • More stable: Less affected by outlier highly-cited papers
- • Fairer comparison: Accounts for different citation practices across fields
Beyond the Score: Other Quality Indicators
Journal Reputation Factors
- • Editorial board quality: Renowned experts in the field
- • Peer review rigor: Thorough and fair review process
- • Publication speed: Time from submission to publication
- • Indexing: Coverage in major databases (PubMed, Scopus)
- • Open access policies: Accessibility and sharing options
Alternative Metrics
- • CiteScore: Scopus-based citation metric
- • h-index: Journal's h-index over time
- • Eigenfactor: Weighted citation influence
- • SNIP: Source Normalized Impact per Paper
- • Altmetrics: Social media and news mentions
Practical Advice for Researchers
Choosing Where to Publish
⚠️ Common Misconceptions
- • Higher is always better: A good fit matters more than a raw citation average
- • Score = article quality: Individual articles vary widely within journals
- • Cross-field comparisons: Never compare citation averages across different disciplines
- • Only metric that matters: Consider multiple factors when evaluating journals
Find Journal Metrics Scores for Your Field
Search our comprehensive database to find Journal Metrics Scores, subfield quartiles, and rankings for journals in your specific field.
Search Journal Metrics ScoresWritten by Dr. Meng Zhao
Physician-Scientist · Founder, LabCat AI
MD · Former Neurosurgeon · Medical AI Researcher
Dr. Meng Zhao is a former neurosurgeon turned medical-AI researcher. After years in the operating room, he moved into applied AI for clinical workflows and now leads LabCat AI, a medical-AI company working on decision support and research tooling for clinicians. He built Journal Metrics as a free resource for researchers who need reliable journal metrics without paid database subscriptions.