Best Food Science 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 Food Science journals
| # | Journal | h-index | Citations/paper (2 yr) | Tier | Access | Indexed in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety Wiley | 237 | 14.15 | Flagship | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 2 | Trends in Food Science & Technology Elsevier BV | 337 | 14.08 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 3 | Food Hydrocolloids Elsevier BV | 277 | 12.47 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 4 | Carbohydrate Polymers Elsevier BV | 342 | 12.13 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 5 | Annual Review of Food Science and Technology Annual Reviews | 122 | 12.02 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 6 | Food Chemistry Elsevier BV | 398 | 9.52 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 7 | Current Opinion in Food Science Elsevier BV | 121 | 9.09 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 8 | Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition Taylor & Francis | 302 | 8.73 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 9 | International Journal of Biological Macromolecules Elsevier BV | 272 | 8.57 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 10 | LWT Elsevier BV | 221 | 6.9 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC $2,250 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 11 | Food Research International Elsevier BV | 279 | 6.81 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 12 | Food Control Elsevier BV | 206 | 6.78 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 13 | Foods Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute | 182 | 6.64 | Solid specialist | Open access · APC $2,673 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 14 | Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry American Chemical Society | 417 | 6.18 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 15 | Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies Elsevier BV | 176 | 5.89 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 16 | Food Bioscience Elsevier BV | 103 | 5.64 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 17 | Journal of Food Engineering Elsevier BV | 259 | 5.47 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 18 | Food and Bioprocess Technology Springer Science+Business Media | 146 | 5.33 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 19 | International Journal of Food Microbiology Elsevier BV | 268 | 4.97 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 20 | Food Reviews International Taylor & Francis | 137 | 4.94 | Solid specialist | Subscription | Core |
| 21 | Food Microbiology Elsevier BV | 177 | 4.81 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 22 | International Journal of Food Science & Technology Wiley | 158 | 4.8 | Solid specialist | Open access · APC $3,550 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 23 | Food Quality and Preference Elsevier BV | 200 | 4.7 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 24 | Food and Bioproducts Processing Elsevier BV | 120 | 4.48 | Solid specialist | Subscription | Core |
| 25 | International Journal of Food Properties Marcel Dekker | 107 | 4.26 | Solid specialist | Open access · APC $2,306 | DOAJ · Core |
| 26 | Food Science & Nutrition Wiley | 105 | 4.21 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 27 | Journal of Food Science Wiley | 251 | 3.81 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 28 | Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture Wiley | 239 | 3.76 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 29 | Journal of Food Protection Elsevier BV | 198 | 3.75 | Accessible & legitimate | Open access · APC $2,000 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 30 | British Food Journal Emerald Publishing Limited | 139 | 3.66 | 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.

