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
| # | Journal | h-index | Citations/paper (2 yr) | Tier | Access | Indexed in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CA A Cancer Journal for Clinicians Wiley | 268 | 231.99 | Flagship | Open access · APC — | PubMed · Core |
| 2 | Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology Nature Portfolio | 286 | 26.6 | Flagship | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 3 | Nature Cancer Nature Portfolio | 132 | 16.34 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 4 | 癌症:英文版 | 125 | 11.93 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC — | PubMed · DOAJ |
| 5 | Cancer and Metastasis Reviews Springer Science+Business Media | 216 | 11.75 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 6 | The Lancet Oncology Elsevier BV | 522 | 11.52 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 7 | Trends in cancer Elsevier BV | 139 | 10.32 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 8 | Seminars in Cancer Biology Elsevier BV | 227 | 10.14 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 9 | Cancer Treatment Reviews Elsevier BV | 206 | 9.37 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 10 | Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer BMJ | 184 | 9.07 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC $2,490 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 11 | JAMA Oncology American Medical Association | 247 | 7.92 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 12 | Cancer Discovery American Association for Cancer Research | 304 | 7.18 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 13 | Modern Pathology Elsevier BV | 213 | 7.12 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 14 | British Journal of Cancer Springer Nature | 346 | 6.42 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 15 | Current Oncology Reports Springer Science+Business Media | 102 | 6.19 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 16 | JNCI Monographs Oxford University Press | 108 | 5.55 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 17 | Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology Elsevier BV | 181 | 5.54 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 18 | Epidemiologic Reviews Oxford University Press | 179 | 5.53 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 19 | Breast Cancer Research BioMed Central | 210 | 5.29 | Solid specialist | Open access · APC $3,890 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 20 | Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network National Comprehensive Cancer | 203 | 5.1 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 21 | Cancers Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute | 221 | 4.93 | Solid specialist | Open access · APC $2,895 | PubMed · Core |
| 22 | Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology Springer Science+Business Media | 137 | 4.72 | Solid specialist | Open access · APC $4,190 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 23 | Medical Oncology Springer Science+Business Media | 111 | 4.42 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 24 | JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute Oxford University Press | 492 | 4.33 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 25 | Cancer Wiley | 474 | 4.24 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 26 | International Journal of Cancer Wiley | 328 | 4.11 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 27 | Clinical & Experimental Metastasis Springer Science+Business Media | 127 | 4.07 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 28 | Investigational New Drugs Springer Science+Business Media | 115 | 3.86 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 29 | Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology Elsevier BV | 100 | 3.83 | Solid specialist | Open access · APC $2,750 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 30 | BMC Cancer BioMed Central | 205 | 3.76 | Solid specialist | Open access · APC $2,990 | PubMed · 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.
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.

