Best Epidemiology 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 Epidemiology journals
| # | Journal | h-index | Citations/paper (2 yr) | Tier | Access | Indexed in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clinical Microbiology Reviews American Society for Microbiology | 421 | 16.91 | Flagship | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 2 | The Lancet Public Health Elsevier BV | 155 | 16.23 | Flagship | Open access · APC $5,780 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 3 | Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology Nature Portfolio | 259 | 14.98 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 4 | The Lancet. Gastroenterology & hepatology Elsevier BV | 171 | 11.89 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 5 | International Journal of Stroke SAGE Publishing | 133 | 7.9 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 6 | Eurosurveillance European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control | 174 | 7.8 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC — | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 7 | Autophagy Taylor & Francis | 240 | 7.17 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 8 | Journal of Infection Elsevier BV | 178 | 6.68 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC $4,000 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 9 | Clinical Infectious Diseases Oxford University Press | 486 | 5.57 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 10 | Expert Review of Vaccines Informa | 130 | 5.25 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC — | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 11 | PLoS Pathogens Public Library of Science | 318 | 5.13 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC $2,655 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 12 | Journal of Virology American Society for Microbiology | 422 | 4.35 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC — | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 13 | Antiviral Research Elsevier BV | 179 | 4.12 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 14 | Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics Taylor & Francis | 130 | 4.09 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC $3,175 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 15 | Virology Journal BioMed Central | 131 | 4.02 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC $3,090 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 16 | International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents Elsevier BV | 187 | 3.95 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 17 | Annals of Medicine Informa | 164 | 3.95 | Solid specialist | Open access · APC $2,557 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 18 | Infection Springer Science+Business Media | 119 | 3.93 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 19 | Clinical Epidemiology Dove Medical Press | 103 | 3.91 | Solid specialist | Open access · APC $2,836 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 20 | Medical Mycology Oxford University Press | 136 | 3.9 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 21 | The Journal of Infectious Diseases Oxford University Press | 372 | 3.81 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 22 | Virus Research Elsevier BV | 185 | 3.68 | Solid specialist | Open access · APC $2,650 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 23 | Addiction Wiley | 278 | 3.64 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 24 | International Journal of Drug Policy Elsevier BV | 130 | 3.6 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 25 | Mycoses Wiley | 112 | 3.6 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 26 | Addictive Behaviors Elsevier BV | 210 | 3.51 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 27 | Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases Lippincott Williams & Wilkins | 141 | 3.41 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 28 | Journal of Clinical Virology Elsevier BV | 151 | 3.38 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 29 | Journal of Medical Virology Wiley | 199 | 3.31 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 30 | Journal of General Virology Microbiology Society | 251 | 3.25 | 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.

