Top 20 Neuroscience Journals of 2022

Whether you are trying to decide where to publish your research findings, searching for a thought-provoking publication to share at journal club, or simply interested in exploring the latest literature, this article is likely to help you to achieve your aims. We have outlined the rankings of the best journals from the field of Neuroscience according to impact factor, Google’s h5-index, and the scoring system of the research group SCImago.

Note that this article focuses on the “general” rankings of scientific journals related to Neuroscience. If you would prefer to consider the rankings of journals dedicated to particular sub-topics within the field, such as cognitive or developmental neuroscience, then this article may not satisfy your needs.

If the accessibility of a journal is of importance to you, keep in mind that the journals we have listed may not have open access status.

Historically, quantitative metrics such as impact factor have provided an objective method for comparing the relative influence and prestige of competing journals. However, the quality of a journal should be assessed holistically and not be based on metrics alone.

In addition to considering the data in this article, we encourage you to visit the website of each journal where you can learn about its purpose and scope, editorial board and practices, and detailed metrics beyond impact factor, which will better inform your search.

Google ranks scientific journals using the h5-index, an index that considers publications in the journal over the past 5 years and that is intended to take into account both the number and quality of publications.

Google’s h5-index value is calculated to maximize both the number of published papers and the number of citations. According to wikipedia, the “h-index is defined as the maximum value of h such that the given author/journal has published h papers that have each been cited at least h times.”

SCImago, a data science and visualization research group from Spain, has also ranked the top journals in Neuroscience. Their most recent release is for the year 2021.

The SCImago Journal Ranking (SJR) considers not only the number of citations but also the relative prestige of the citation sources, with greater rank enhancement provided by citations from high prestige journals. The SJR is normalized to 1 with an SJR greater than 1 indicating “above average” citation potential.

Data regarding the impact factor of each journal represents the current two-year impact factor as identified by the Journal Citation Reports. Check out our article on the history, definition, and implications of impact factor for more information on the metric.

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Top 20 Neuroscience Journals Ranked by SCImago (2021)

1. Nature Neuroscience – Journal Ranking: 12.017
2. Nature Reviews Neuroscience – Journal Ranking: 7.944
3. Neuron – Journal Ranking: 7.556
4. Annual Review of Neuroscience – Journal Ranking: 7.269
5. EMBO Journal – Journal Ranking: 5.633
6. eLife – Journal Ranking: 4.752
7. Trends in Neurosciences – Journal Ranking: 4.068
8. PLoS Biology – Journal Ranking: 3.928
9. Current Opinion in Neurobiology – Journal Ranking: 3.563
10. Stroke – Journal Ranking: 3.245
11. Progress in Neurobiology – Journal Ranking: 3.052
12. Current Biology – Journal Ranking: 2.905
13. Journal of Neuroscience – Journal Ranking: 2.691
14. Brain Stimulation – Journal Ranking: 2.352
15. Journal of Neuroinflammation – Journal Ranking: 2.286
16. Open Biology – Journal Ranking: 2.237
17. Neuroscientist – Journal Ranking: 1.961
18. DMM Disease Models and Mechanisms – Journal Ranking: 1.874
19. Brain Pathology – Journal Ranking: 1.775
20. Network Neuroscience – Journal Ranking: 1.713

Top 20 Neuroscience Journals Ranked by Google (2022)

1. Neuron – h5-index: 157
2. Nature Neuroscience – h5-index: 156
3. The Lancet Neurology – h5-index: 133
4. NeuroImage – h5-index: 123
5. Nature Reviews Neuroscience – h5-index: 122
6. Neurology – h5-index: 114
7. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews – h5-index: 110
8. Brain – h5-index: 109
9. Journal of Neuroscience – h5-index: 107
10. Nature Reviews Neurology – h5-index: 101
11. JAMA Neurology – h5-index: 101
12. Acta Neuropathologica – h5-index: 96
13. Annals of Neurology – h5-index: 90
14. Frontiers in Neuroscience – h5-index: 89
15. Movement Disorders – h5-index: 84
16. Cerebral Cortex – h5-index: 83
17. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease – h5-index: 81
18. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry – h5-index: 79
19. Molecular Neurobiology – h5-index: 79
20. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience – h5-index: 76

Top 50 Neuroscience Journals Ranked by Impact Factor (2022)

1. The Lancet Neurology – Impact Factor: 44.182
2. Nature Reviews Neurology – Impact Factor: 42.937
3. Nature Reviews Neuroscience – Impact Factor: 34.87
4. Nature Neuroscience – Impact Factor: 24.884
5. Neuron – Impact Factor: 17.173
6. Acta Neuropathologica – Impact Factor: 17.088
7. JAMA Neurology – Impact Factor: 18.302
8. Trends in Neurosciences – Impact Factor: 13.837
9. Brain – Impact Factor: 13.501
10. Annual Review of Neuroscience – Impact Factor: 12.449
11. Progress in Neurobiology – Impact Factor: 11.685
12. EMBO Journal – Impact Factor: 11.598
13. Current Biology – Impact Factor: 10.834
14. Annals of Neurology – Impact Factor: 10.422
15. Movement Disorders – Impact Factor: 10.338
16. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry – Impact Factor: 10.154
17. Neurology – Impact Factor: 9.91
18. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews – Impact Factor: 8.989
19. Brain Stimulation – Impact Factor: 8.955
20. eLife – Impact Factor: 8.14
21. PLoS Biology – Impact Factor: 8.029
22. Stroke – Impact Factor: 7.914
23. Journal of Neuroinflammation – Impact Factor: 7.573
24. Neuroscientist – Impact Factor: 7.519
25. Current Opinion in Neurobiology – Impact Factor: 6.627
26. NeuroImage – Impact Factor: 6.556
27. Brain Pathology – Impact Factor: 6.508
28. Journal of Neuroscience – Impact Factor: 6.167
29. Open Biology – Impact Factor: 5.934
30. DMM Disease Models and Mechanisms – Impact Factor: 5.758
31. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences – Impact Factor: 5.691
32. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience – Impact Factor: 5.639
33. Molecular Neurobiology – Impact Factor: 5.59
34. Cerebral Cortex – Impact Factor: 5.357
35. Autism Research – Impact Factor: 5.216
36. Neuroscience Bulletin – Impact Factor: 5.203
37. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences – Impact Factor: 5.188
38. Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports – Impact Factor: 5.081
39. Neurobiology of Aging – Impact Factor: 4.673
40. Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology – Impact Factor: 4.511
41. Frontiers in Neuroscience – Impact Factor: 4.501
42. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease – Impact Factor: 4.472
43. Psychophysiology – Impact Factor: 4.016
44. Frontiers in Neuroanatomy – Impact Factor: 3.856
45. Frontiers in Neural Circuits – Impact Factor: 3.477
46. eNeuro – Impact Factor: 3.443
47. Brain Structure and Function – Impact Factor: 3.27
48. Journal of Comparative Neurology – Impact Factor: 3.215
49. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience – Impact Factor: 3.203
50. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience – Impact Factor: 3.169

Interested in learning about the rankings of journals from other fields? Consider checking out our other journal rankings.

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