Best Orthopedics and Sports Medicine 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 Orthopedics and Sports Medicine journals

#Journalh-indexCitations/paper (2 yr)TierAccessIndexed in
1Journal of sport and health science/Journal of Sport and Health Science
Elsevier BV
1069.8Leading field journalOpen access · APC —PubMed · DOAJ · Core
2Current Osteoporosis Reports
Springer Science+Business Media
1048.81Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
3Sports Medicine
Springer Science+Business Media
3178.15Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
4British Journal of Sports Medicine
BMJ
3116.05Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
5Journal of Bone and Mineral Research
Oxford University Press
3325.24Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
6International Journal of Sports Medicine
Thieme Medical Publishers (Germany)
1794.73Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
7Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports
Wiley
1913.82Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
8Osteoporosis International
Springer Science+Business Media
2423.51Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
9Bone
Elsevier BV
2713.39Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
10Journal of Sports Sciences
Taylor & Francis
2152.97Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
11Calcified Tissue International
Springer Science+Business Media
2002.95Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
12Journal of Bone and Mineral Metabolism
Springer Science+Business Media
1002.92Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
13European Journal of Sport Science
Taylor & Francis
1092.9Solid specialistOpen access · APC —PubMed · DOAJ · Core
14International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance
Human Kinetics
1262.83Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
15Sports Health A Multidisciplinary Approach
SAGE Publishing
982.65Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
16European Journal of Applied Physiology
Springer Science+Business Media
2222.57Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
17Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology
Elsevier BV
1472.29Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core
18Foot & Ankle International
SAGE Publishing
1672.19Accessible & legitimateSubscriptionPubMed · Core
19The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
2172.17Accessible & legitimateSubscriptionPubMed · Core
20Journal of science and medicine in sport
Elsevier BV
1642.02Accessible & legitimateSubscriptionPubMed · Core
21Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport
Taylor & Francis
1551.62Accessible & legitimateSubscriptionPubMed · Core
22Journal of Clinical Densitometry
Elsevier BV
971.59Accessible & legitimateSubscriptionPubMed · Core
23Pediatric Exercise Science
Human Kinetics
991.52Accessible & legitimateSubscriptionPubMed · Core
24Journal of Athletic Training
National Athletic Trainers' Association
1341.48Accessible & legitimateOpen access · APC —PubMed · Core
25The Journal of Foot & Ankle Surgery
Elsevier BV
981.09Accessible & legitimateSubscriptionPubMed · Core
26Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
1451.01Accessible & legitimateSubscriptionPubMed · Core
27Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
3620.48Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
28Foot & Ankle
SAGE Publishing
1110Accessible & legitimateSubscriptionPubMed

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.