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
| # | Journal | h-index | Citations/paper (2 yr) | Tier | Access | Indexed in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy Springer Nature | 280 | 48.89 | Flagship | Open access · APC $3,190 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 2 | Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology Nature Portfolio | 626 | 41.91 | Flagship | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 3 | Cell Cell Press | 1231 | 39.48 | Flagship | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 4 | Nature Reviews Microbiology Nature Portfolio | 493 | 33.23 | Flagship | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 5 | Cancer Cell Cell Press | 487 | 32.37 | Flagship | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 6 | Cell Metabolism Cell Press | 452 | 28.3 | Flagship | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 7 | Molecular Cancer BioMed Central | 292 | 27.29 | Flagship | Open access · APC $4,890 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 8 | Pharmacological Reviews American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics | 351 | 26.88 | Flagship | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 9 | Nature reviews. Cancer Nature Portfolio | 600 | 24.74 | Flagship | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 10 | Annual Review of Pathology Mechanisms of Disease Annual Reviews | 184 | 22.67 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 11 | Nature Methods Nature Portfolio | 514 | 21.48 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 12 | Physiological Reviews American Physiological Society | 564 | 21.09 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 13 | Journal of Extracellular Vesicles Taylor & Francis | 171 | 19.48 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC $4,200 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 14 | Nature Protocols Nature Portfolio | 391 | 19.4 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 15 | Bone Research Springer Nature | 105 | 18.67 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC $3,090 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 16 | Cell stem cell Elsevier BV | 376 | 18.17 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 17 | Nature Genetics Nature Portfolio | 789 | 17.62 | Flagship | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 18 | Nature Reviews Genetics Nature Portfolio | 532 | 16.9 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 19 | Nature Communications Nature Portfolio | 749 | 16.88 | Flagship | Open access · APC $6,290 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 20 | Nature Microbiology Nature Portfolio | 230 | 16.54 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 21 | Nucleic Acids Research Oxford University Press | 881 | 15.84 | Flagship | Open access · APC $3,630 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 22 | Nature Cell Biology Nature Portfolio | 489 | 15.84 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 23 | Gut Microbes Landes Bioscience | 171 | 15.83 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC $3,060 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 24 | Drug Resistance Updates Elsevier BV | 161 | 14.85 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 25 | Cell Host & Microbe Cell Press | 316 | 14.64 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 26 | Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews Elsevier BV | 431 | 14.42 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 27 | Microbiome BioMed Central | 235 | 14.38 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC $4,590 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 28 | Progress in Lipid Research Elsevier BV | 221 | 14.2 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 29 | Nature Reviews Drug Discovery Nature Portfolio | 479 | 13.99 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 30 | Annual Review of Physiology Annual Reviews | 330 | 13.94 | 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.

