Best Cancer Research Journals (2026)
Paste your title and abstract to get 5 realistic matches from verified biomedical journals — every publisher, no predatory journals, and your abstract is never stored.
Type your field and pick it to see the top-ranked journals — every journal listed is indexed in PubMed, DOAJ, or a curated core source list.
Top Cancer Research journals
| # | Journal | h-index | Citations/paper (2 yr) | Tier | Access | Indexed in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Critical Reviews in Toxicology Taylor & Francis | 186 | 7.01 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 2 | Critical Reviews in Clinical Laboratory Sciences Taylor & Francis | 117 | 5.97 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 3 | Cancer Cell International BioMed Central | 117 | 5.9 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC $2,890 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 4 | Toxicological Sciences Oxford University Press | 239 | 5.5 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 5 | Pathology - Research and Practice Elsevier BV | 103 | 4.39 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 6 | Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology Elsevier BV | 154 | 3.52 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 7 | Medical Science Monitor International Scientific Information Inc. | 102 | 2.52 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 8 | Mutation Research/Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis Elsevier BV | 146 | 2.48 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 9 | Oncology Letters Spandidos Publishing | 105 | 2.07 | Solid specialist | Open access · APC — | PubMed · Core |
| 10 | OncoTargets and Therapy Dove Medical Press | 112 | 2.01 | Solid specialist | Open access · APC $2,836 | PubMed · Core |
| 11 | The Breast Journal Wiley | 101 | 1.6 | Accessible & legitimate | Open access · APC $2,175 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 12 | Disease Markers Hindawi Publishing Corporation | 98 | 1 | Accessible & legitimate | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 13 | Toxicology Letters Elsevier BV | 195 | 0.59 | Accessible & legitimate | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 14 | Cancer Research American Association for Cancer Research | 469 | 0.54 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 15 | Food and Cosmetics Toxicology Elsevier BV | 135 | 0 | Accessible & legitimate | Subscription | PubMed |
| 16 | Fundamental and Applied Toxicology Academic Press | 109 | 0 | Accessible & legitimate | Subscription | PubMed |
Frequently asked questions
How does the journal finder work?+
You paste your title and abstract; an AI model classifies the paper into biomedical subfields and honestly assesses its scope, then ranks a shortlist of verified journals from our dataset of 2,600+ biomedical journals. Every metric shown comes from the dataset — the AI can never invent a journal or a number.
Is it free?+
Yes — free, no signup, no hidden trial. There's a fair-use limit of 15 matches per day. Browsing ranked journals by field is unlimited.
How is this different from JANE or the Elsevier Journal Finder?+
Publisher tools like Elsevier's, Springer's, or Wiley's finders only recommend their own journals. JANE is cross-publisher but hasn't changed since 2007 and can surface journals of unverified quality from PubMed. This finder is cross-publisher, only shows journals verified in trusted indexes, and calibrates recommendations to your paper's realistic tier.
How do you keep predatory journals out?+
By construction: every journal in our dataset must be indexed in DOAJ, PubMed, or a curated core source list, with a real citation record. Journals with no verified quality signals simply never appear — we don't maintain accusatory blacklists.
Is my abstract stored or used to train AI?+
No. Your abstract is processed to generate recommendations and is not stored, logged, or used for model training. We know unpublished work is sensitive.
Which fields are covered?+
All of biomedicine and the life sciences: 38 subfields from molecular biology, immunology, and oncology to public health, pharmacology, neuroscience, plant science, and veterinary medicine.
Why don't you show impact factors?+
The Journal Impact Factor is proprietary to Clarivate and requires a paid license. We show open, verifiable alternatives instead: h-index and 2-year citations per paper from OpenAlex, plus each journal's percentile within its own field — which is more informative for comparing journals in the same specialty.
Where does the data come from?+
From open, verifiable sources: OpenAlex (CC0) for citation metrics, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's PubMed journal list, and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). Publishing in the wrong venue has real consequences — in 2019 a U.S. federal court ordered the publisher OMICS Group to pay $50.1 million for deceptive peer-review claims. When in doubt about any journal, use the Think. Check. Submit. checklist at thinkchecksubmit.org.
How do I find top-quartile journals in my field?+
Use the browse section: pick your subfield and the table ranks journals by 2-year citations per paper. Tier 1–2 journals roughly correspond to the top quartile of a field. Each row shows open-access status, publication fees (APC), and which trusted indexes list the journal.
See the actual papers these journals publish
Waffoo Search runs AI-powered literature discovery across 30+ biomedical databases — free.
Try Waffoo SearchData: OpenAlex (CC0) · U.S. National Library of Medicine · DOAJ. Quality signals are informational, refreshed periodically, and are not an endorsement or judgment about any journal; no endorsement by NLM/NIH is implied. Spotted an error? Contact us and we'll review it.