Best Oncology 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 Oncology journals

#Journalh-indexCitations/paper (2 yr)TierAccessIndexed in
1CA A Cancer Journal for Clinicians
Wiley
268231.99FlagshipOpen access · APC —PubMed · Core
2Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology
Nature Portfolio
28626.6FlagshipSubscriptionPubMed · Core
3Nature Cancer
Nature Portfolio
13216.34Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
4癌症:英文版12511.93Leading field journalOpen access · APC —PubMed · DOAJ
5Cancer and Metastasis Reviews
Springer Science+Business Media
21611.75Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
6The Lancet Oncology
Elsevier BV
52211.52Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
7Trends in cancer
Elsevier BV
13910.32Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
8Seminars in Cancer Biology
Elsevier BV
22710.14Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
9Cancer Treatment Reviews
Elsevier BV
2069.37Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
10Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer
BMJ
1849.07Leading field journalOpen access · APC $2,490PubMed · DOAJ · Core
11JAMA Oncology
American Medical Association
2477.92Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
12Cancer Discovery
American Association for Cancer Research
3047.18Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
13Modern Pathology
Elsevier BV
2137.12Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
14British Journal of Cancer
Springer Nature
3466.42Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
15Current Oncology Reports
Springer Science+Business Media
1026.19Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
16JNCI Monographs
Oxford University Press
1085.55Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
17Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology
Elsevier BV
1815.54Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
18Epidemiologic Reviews
Oxford University Press
1795.53Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
19Breast Cancer Research
BioMed Central
2105.29Solid specialistOpen access · APC $3,890PubMed · DOAJ · Core
20Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network
National Comprehensive Cancer
2035.1Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
21Cancers
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
2214.93Solid specialistOpen access · APC $2,895PubMed · Core
22Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology
Springer Science+Business Media
1374.72Solid specialistOpen access · APC $4,190PubMed · DOAJ · Core
23Medical Oncology
Springer Science+Business Media
1114.42Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
24JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute
Oxford University Press
4924.33Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
25Cancer
Wiley
4744.24Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
26International Journal of Cancer
Wiley
3284.11Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
27Clinical & Experimental Metastasis
Springer Science+Business Media
1274.07Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
28Investigational New Drugs
Springer Science+Business Media
1153.86Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
29Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology
Elsevier BV
1003.83Solid specialistOpen access · APC $2,750PubMed · DOAJ · Core
30BMC Cancer
BioMed Central
2053.76Solid specialistOpen access · APC $2,990PubMed · DOAJ · 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.

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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.