Best Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience 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 Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience journals
| # | Journal | h-index | Citations/paper (2 yr) | Tier | Access | Indexed in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nature reviews. Neuroscience Nature Portfolio | 574 | 15.07 | Flagship | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 2 | Neuron Cell Press | 700 | 13.4 | Flagship | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 3 | Annual Review of Neuroscience Annual Reviews | 375 | 12.42 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 4 | Pharmacological Research Elsevier BV | 221 | 10.77 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC $3,500 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 5 | Trends in Neurosciences Elsevier BV | 442 | 7.57 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 6 | Life Sciences Elsevier BV | 288 | 6.17 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 7 | Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology Springer Science+Business Media | 127 | 5.49 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 8 | Neurochemistry International Elsevier BV | 171 | 5.25 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 9 | Current Opinion in Neurobiology Elsevier BV | 309 | 5.04 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 10 | Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience Frontiers Media | 176 | 5.04 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC $3,295 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 11 | Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience Frontiers Media | 145 | 4.83 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC $3,295 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 12 | Neuropsychopharmacology Springer Nature | 308 | 4.69 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 13 | European Journal of Pharmacology Elsevier BV | 277 | 4.42 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 14 | Glia Wiley | 234 | 4.33 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 15 | Progress in Neurobiology Elsevier BV | 324 | 4.32 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 16 | Reviews in the Neurosciences De Gruyter | 109 | 4.22 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 17 | Journal of Psychopharmacology SAGE Publishing | 169 | 4.13 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 18 | Molecular Brain BioMed Central | 99 | 4.06 | Solid specialist | Open access · APC $2,990 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 19 | Peptides Elsevier BV | 175 | 4.02 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 20 | Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience Elsevier BV | 173 | 3.99 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 21 | Journal of Neurochemistry Wiley | 350 | 3.96 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 22 | Journal of Neuroscience Society for Neuroscience | 656 | 3.95 | Flagship | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 23 | Pharmacological Reports Elsevier BV | 99 | 3.91 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 24 | Neuropharmacology Elsevier BV | 246 | 3.87 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 25 | Experimental Neurology Elsevier BV | 273 | 3.81 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 26 | Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences Wiley | 399 | 3.62 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 27 | Neurochemical Research Springer Science+Business Media | 164 | 3.62 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 28 | Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry Elsevier BV | 188 | 3.51 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 29 | Brain Research Bulletin Elsevier BV | 204 | 3.43 | Solid specialist | Open access · APC $2,700 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 30 | The Journal of Physiology Wiley | 484 | 3.34 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
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.

