Best Molecular Biology 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 Molecular Biology journals

#Journalh-indexCitations/paper (2 yr)TierAccessIndexed in
1Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy
Springer Nature
28048.89FlagshipOpen access · APC $3,190PubMed · DOAJ · Core
2Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology
Nature Portfolio
62641.91FlagshipSubscriptionPubMed · Core
3Cell
Cell Press
123139.48FlagshipSubscriptionPubMed · Core
4Nature Reviews Microbiology
Nature Portfolio
49333.23FlagshipSubscriptionPubMed · Core
5Cancer Cell
Cell Press
48732.37FlagshipSubscriptionPubMed · Core
6Cell Metabolism
Cell Press
45228.3FlagshipSubscriptionPubMed · Core
7Molecular Cancer
BioMed Central
29227.29FlagshipOpen access · APC $4,890PubMed · DOAJ · Core
8Pharmacological Reviews
American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
35126.88FlagshipSubscriptionPubMed · Core
9Nature reviews. Cancer
Nature Portfolio
60024.74FlagshipSubscriptionPubMed · Core
10Annual Review of Pathology Mechanisms of Disease
Annual Reviews
18422.67Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
11Nature Methods
Nature Portfolio
51421.48Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
12Physiological Reviews
American Physiological Society
56421.09Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
13Journal of Extracellular Vesicles
Taylor & Francis
17119.48Leading field journalOpen access · APC $4,200PubMed · DOAJ · Core
14Nature Protocols
Nature Portfolio
39119.4Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
15Bone Research
Springer Nature
10518.67Leading field journalOpen access · APC $3,090PubMed · DOAJ · Core
16Cell stem cell
Elsevier BV
37618.17Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
17Nature Genetics
Nature Portfolio
78917.62FlagshipSubscriptionPubMed · Core
18Nature Reviews Genetics
Nature Portfolio
53216.9Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
19Nature Communications
Nature Portfolio
74916.88FlagshipOpen access · APC $6,290PubMed · DOAJ · Core
20Nature Microbiology
Nature Portfolio
23016.54Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
21Nucleic Acids Research
Oxford University Press
88115.84FlagshipOpen access · APC $3,630PubMed · DOAJ · Core
22Nature Cell Biology
Nature Portfolio
48915.84Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
23Gut Microbes
Landes Bioscience
17115.83Leading field journalOpen access · APC $3,060PubMed · DOAJ · Core
24Drug Resistance Updates
Elsevier BV
16114.85Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
25Cell Host & Microbe
Cell Press
31614.64Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
26Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews
Elsevier BV
43114.42Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
27Microbiome
BioMed Central
23514.38Leading field journalOpen access · APC $4,590PubMed · DOAJ · Core
28Progress in Lipid Research
Elsevier BV
22114.2Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
29Nature Reviews Drug Discovery
Nature Portfolio
47913.99Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
30Annual Review of Physiology
Annual Reviews
33013.94Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · 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

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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.