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 18 ranked journals grouped into quartiles by citation rate. Use the subject filter below to narrow down by research field.

Data last refreshed: Jul 31, 2026

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Q1 — Top 25%

5 journals

Journal	IF
American Economic Review American Economic Association	12.91
Econometrica Wiley	6.40
Journal of Political Economy University of Chicago Press	5.42
The Review of Economics and Statistics The MIT Press	3.92
The Economic Journal Oxford University Press	3.65

Q2 — 50th-75th Percentile

4 journals

Journal	IF
Economic Modelling Elsevier BV	3.35
European Economic Review Elsevier BV	2.66
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization Elsevier BV	2.35
Economica Wiley	2.32

Q3 — 25th-50th Percentile

5 journals

Journal	IF
Journal of money credit and banking Wiley	2.00
Economics Letters Elsevier BV	1.88
Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control Elsevier BV	1.65
Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications Springer Science+Business Media	1.38
Journal of Economic Theory Elsevier BV	1.27

Q4 — Bottom 25%

4 journals

Journal	IF
Southern Economic Journal Wiley	0.90
Journal of Economic Issues Taylor & Francis	0.80
Revue économique Sciences Po	0.32
Recherches économiques de Louvain	—

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.