What does Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 mean for academic journals?

Quartiles divide journals in a subject category into four equal groups based on their impact factor or SJR score. Q1 contains the top 25% (highest impact), Q2 the next 25%, Q3 the third quartile, and Q4 the bottom 25%.

Is a Q1 journal always better than a Q2 journal?

Q1 journals have higher impact factors within their subject category, but 'better' depends on your research scope, audience, and field norms. Some specialized Q2 journals are more appropriate venues than broad Q1 journals.

How are these rankings calculated?

Rankings are derived from the latest impact factor data for each journal in our database. When official quartile data is available we use it directly; otherwise quartiles are computed by ranking journals within the selected subject category.

Journal Rankings 2026 — Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4

Browse 6 ranked journals grouped into quartiles by impact factor. Use the subject filter below to narrow down by research field.

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Q1 — Top 25%

2 journals

Journal	IF
Nature Springer Nature	69.50
Science American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)	63.70

Q2 — 50th-75th Percentile

1 journals

Journal	IF
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences	54.05

Q3 — 25th-50th Percentile

2 journals

Journal	IF
Nature Communications Springer Nature	17.70
Journal of the American Chemical Society American Chemical Society	16.30

Q4 — Bottom 25%

1 journals

Journal	IF
Physical Review Letters American Physical Society	9.10

Understanding Journal Quartile Rankings

Quartile rankings (Q1-Q4) are a standard way to categorize academic journals within a subject. They're calculated by ordering all journals in a category by their impact factor (or SJR score) and dividing them into four equal groups.

Q1 — Top 25%, highest impact in the field
Q2 — 50th to 75th percentile
Q3 — 25th to 50th percentile
Q4 — Bottom 25%

Note: When official Scopus/JCR quartile data is available we use it. Otherwise quartiles are approximated by ranking journals within the selected subject by their latest impact factor.