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2. Using the Website

diegoharta edited this page Feb 10, 2026 · 14 revisions
Wiki page Description
About the Project Goals, motivations and journal inclusion criteria
Using the Website Column definitions and how to filter journals
The Data Data sources and processing pipeline
Contributing How to add journals, edit data, report issues, or contribute code

I. Fields

Journals in the database are organized into ten scientific fields based on their aims and scope. This classification is admittedly subjective, as many journals span multiple disciplines.

Field Description
Generalist Broad-scope journals publishing across multiple life science disciplines
Anatomy & Physiology Structure and function of organisms
Cancer Oncology and cancer biology
Development Developmental biology and embryology
Ecology & Evolution Ecological and evolutionary sciences
Genetics & Genomics Heredity, gene function, and genome-scale analyses
Immunology Immune system biology
Molecular & Cellular Biology Molecular mechanisms and cell biology
Neurosciences Nervous system biology
Plants Plant sciences and botany
All Fields Complete database (merged from all categories, deduplicated)

Select a field using the buttons at the top of the page. The All Fields option loads the complete database (~2,000+ journals).


II. Filtering journals

1. By Publisher Type

Filter journals based on who publishes them:

  • Non-profit: Society, government, or non-profit organization-owned journals whose revenues serve the scientific community.
  • For-profit: Private companies making profit from journal publishing.
  • University Press: University-affiliated publishers.

Note: "For-profit" and "University Press" journals may be associated with a society or institution — meaning a scientific society oversees editorial content but delegates publishing to a commercial entity.

2. By Business Model

Filter by how the journal generates revenue:

  • Subscription: Revenue comes from reader/library subscriptions. Authors typically pay no APC.
  • Hybrid: Revenue from both subscriptions and optional author payments for open access. Authors can choose to pay an APC to make their article freely accessible.
  • OA (Open Access): Articles are freely accessible to readers. Authors typically pay an APC. Includes both Gold OA (immediate open access on the journal website) and Green OA (author self-archiving permitted).
  • OA Diamond: Articles are freely accessible to readers and free for authors (no APC). Revenue comes from institutions, governments, or foundations.

3. By APC range

Use the APC slider to filter journals by their Article Processing Charges (in euros). Drag the handles to set minimum and maximum values. The histogram above the slider shows the distribution of APCs across currently displayed journals.


III. Column definitions

1. Journal

The name of the journal. Official names may differ slightly from those in our database.

2. Field (Subfield)

The scientific field(s) of the journal. When a journal appears in multiple field categories, fields are listed separated by semicolons. This classification is based on the journal's stated aims and scope.

3. Publisher

The company or organization that publishes the journal. Note that in some cases, societies or institutions are in charge of editorial content but delegate publishing and archiving to a (often for-profit) publishing company. In those cases, the publisher column shows the publishing company, while the institution is listed separately.

4. Publisher Type

  • For-profit: A private company profiting from the journal.
  • Non-profit: A society, government, or non-profit organization whose revenues serve the community.
  • University Press: A university-affiliated publisher.

These can be further qualified as "Associated with a society" or "Associated with a university or government institution" to indicate relationships where the publisher handles production but an institution maintains editorial oversight.

5. Business Model

The journal's revenue model (see Filtering by Business Model above for detailed definitions).

6. APC (€)

Article Processing Charges in euros. This is the average APC from the last 3–5 years, based on data from the OpenAPC database. Journals with no APC (subscription-only or diamond OA) show €0.

7. Country (Publisher)

The country where the publisher is headquartered.

8. Institution

The scientific society, university, or government institution associated with the journal, if any. For-profit journals may or may not be associated with an institution.

9. Institution Type

The type of associated institution:

  • Society/Association: A scientific or learned society
  • University/Government: A university or government agency
  • Museum: A natural history museum or similar institution

10. Website

Link to the journal's official website.

11. Scimago Rank

The SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) indicator. A journal with SJR > 1.0 has above-average citation potential; SJR < 1.0 indicates below-average citation potential. The SJR is calculated by dividing weighted citations over three years by the number of citable publications.

12. Scimago Quartile

The journal's ranking within its field according to Scimago, displayed as Q1 (top 25%), Q2, Q3, or Q4 (bottom 25%). The specific field categories used for quartile calculation are shown in parentheses.

13. H Index

The journal's H-index: a journal with H-index h has published h papers that have each been cited at least h times. Retrieved from the Scimago database.

14. PCI Partner

Indicates whether the journal is a partner of Peer Community In (PCI).

PCI is a non-profit organization that provides free, transparent peer review of preprints. PCI-recommended preprints can then be published in "PCI-friendly" journals — often with expedited review or direct acceptance. This represents an alternative to traditional journal-based peer review, separating the evaluation of scientific quality from the publishing venue. PCI also publishes its own journals in various fields, see here.

15. Impact Factor (IF)

If you were looking for Impact Factor (IF), it is not included on purpose because it is a flawed metric that is often misused to classify researchers and journals. For more information, please see https://sfdora.org.


IV. Report a bug or suggest a feature

Found an error on the website? Have an idea for improvement that you would like to share?

👉 Open an issue on GitHub

Please include:

  • A clear description of the bug or feature request
  • Steps to reproduce (for bugs)
  • The browser and device you're using (for display issues)

Found an error in the database?

👉 Please refer to Contributing