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
| # | Journal | h-index | Citations/paper (2 yr) | Tier | Access | Indexed in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Annual Review of Ecology Evolution and Systematics Annual Reviews | 242 | 9.83 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 2 | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences Royal Society | 424 | 9.23 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 3 | The Botanical Review Springer Science+Business Media | 174 | 4.68 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 4 | Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences Royal Society | 403 | 3.84 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 5 | Biology Letters Royal Society | 174 | 3.54 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC — | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 6 | Systematic Entomology Wiley | 99 | 2.9 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 7 | Cladistics Wiley | 149 | 2.76 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 8 | Hormones and Behavior Elsevier BV | 203 | 2.74 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 9 | Journal of Comparative Physiology B Springer Science+Business Media | 128 | 2.73 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 10 | The American Naturalist University of Chicago Press | 423 | 2.64 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 11 | Evolution Oxford University Press | 375 | 2.62 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 12 | Journal of Evolutionary Biology Oxford University Press | 182 | 2.57 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 13 | American Journal of Botany Wiley | 241 | 2.47 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 14 | Behavioral Ecology Oxford University Press | 176 | 2.38 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 15 | Perspectives in Plant Ecology Evolution and Systematics Elsevier BV | 104 | 2.38 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 16 | Journal of Experimental Biology The Company of Biologists | 282 | 2.2 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 17 | Animal Cognition Springer Science+Business Media | 121 | 2.08 | Solid specialist | Open access · APC $3,390 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 18 | Animal Behaviour Elsevier BV | 300 | 2.07 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 19 | Ecological Entomology Wiley | 134 | 2.07 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 20 | Pedobiologia Elsevier BV | 109 | 2.05 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 21 | Australian Journal of Botany CSIRO Publishing | 113 | 1.85 | Solid specialist | Subscription | Core |
| 22 | Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society Oxford University Press | 117 | 1.74 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 23 | Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Springer Science+Business Media | 213 | 1.7 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 24 | Biological Journal of the Linnean Society Oxford University Press | 184 | 1.58 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 25 | Plant Systematics and Evolution Springer Science+Business Media | 113 | 1.58 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 26 | Die Naturwissenschaften Springer Science+Business Media | 178 | 1.55 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 27 | Behavioural Processes Elsevier BV | 131 | 1.31 | Accessible & legitimate | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 28 | Evolutionary Ecology Springer Science+Business Media | 135 | 1.28 | Accessible & legitimate | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 29 | Taxon Wiley | 202 | 1.24 | Accessible & legitimate | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 30 | Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden Missouri Botanical Garden | 147 | 1.21 | Accessible & legitimate | 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.

