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

Quartiles divide journals in a subject category into four equal groups based on their citation rate 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 citation rates 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 citation rate 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 22 ranked journals grouped into quartiles by citation rate. Use the subject filter below to narrow down by research field.

Data last refreshed: Aug 03, 2026

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Q1 — Top 25%

6 journals

Journal	IF
Basic Research in Cardiology Springer Nature	7.76
Journal of the American Heart Association Wiley	4.54
JACC. Cardiovascular imaging Elsevier BV	4.52
European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Springer Science+Business Media	4.08
European Radiology Springer Science+Business Media	3.89
Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography Elsevier BV	3.61

Q2 — 50th-75th Percentile

5 journals

Journal	IF
BMC Cardiovascular Disorders BioMed Central	2.34
JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions Elsevier BV	2.17
Clinical Cardiology Wiley	2.09
Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine Frontiers Media	2.05
Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Wiley	2.03

Q3 — 25th-50th Percentile

6 journals

Journal	IF
Circulation Lippincott Williams & Wilkins	1.96
Journal of Nuclear Cardiology Springer Science+Business Media	1.27
Echocardiography Wiley	1.20
Cardiovascular revascularization medicine Elsevier BV	1.09
Canadian Journal of Cardiology Elsevier BV	1.03
Journal of Electrocardiology Elsevier BV	0.94

Q4 — Bottom 25%

5 journals

Journal	IF
Revista Española de Cardiología (English Edition) Elsevier BV	0.91
Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions Wiley	0.85
Indian Heart Journal Elsevier BV	0.60
Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance BioMed Central	0.50
Heart Lung and Circulation Elsevier BV	0.31

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 citation rate (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 citation rate.