Best Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics 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 Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journals

#Journalh-indexCitations/paper (2 yr)TierAccessIndexed in
1Annual Review of Ecology Evolution and Systematics
Annual Reviews
2429.83Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
2Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences
Royal Society
4249.23Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
3The Botanical Review
Springer Science+Business Media
1744.68Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
4Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences
Royal Society
4033.84Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
5Biology Letters
Royal Society
1743.54Leading field journalOpen access · APC —PubMed · DOAJ · Core
6Systematic Entomology
Wiley
992.9Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
7Cladistics
Wiley
1492.76Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
8Hormones and Behavior
Elsevier BV
2032.74Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
9Journal of Comparative Physiology B
Springer Science+Business Media
1282.73Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
10The American Naturalist
University of Chicago Press
4232.64Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
11Evolution
Oxford University Press
3752.62Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
12Journal of Evolutionary Biology
Oxford University Press
1822.57Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
13American Journal of Botany
Wiley
2412.47Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
14Behavioral Ecology
Oxford University Press
1762.38Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
15Perspectives in Plant Ecology Evolution and Systematics
Elsevier BV
1042.38Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
16Journal of Experimental Biology
The Company of Biologists
2822.2Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
17Animal Cognition
Springer Science+Business Media
1212.08Solid specialistOpen access · APC $3,390PubMed · DOAJ · Core
18Animal Behaviour
Elsevier BV
3002.07Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
19Ecological Entomology
Wiley
1342.07Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
20Pedobiologia
Elsevier BV
1092.05Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
21Australian Journal of Botany
CSIRO Publishing
1131.85Solid specialistSubscriptionCore
22Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society
Oxford University Press
1171.74Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
23Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
Springer Science+Business Media
2131.7Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
24Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
Oxford University Press
1841.58Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
25Plant Systematics and Evolution
Springer Science+Business Media
1131.58Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
26Die Naturwissenschaften
Springer Science+Business Media
1781.55Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
27Behavioural Processes
Elsevier BV
1311.31Accessible & legitimateSubscriptionPubMed · Core
28Evolutionary Ecology
Springer Science+Business Media
1351.28Accessible & legitimateSubscriptionPubMed · Core
29Taxon
Wiley
2021.24Accessible & legitimateSubscriptionPubMed · Core
30Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden
Missouri Botanical Garden
1471.21Accessible & legitimateSubscriptionPubMed · 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 Search

Data: 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.