Best Physiology 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 Physiology journals
| # | Journal | h-index | Citations/paper (2 yr) | Tier | Access | Indexed in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nature Metabolism Nature Portfolio | 147 | 17.26 | Flagship | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 2 | Ageing Research Reviews Elsevier BV | 225 | 16.17 | Flagship | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 3 | Nature Aging Nature Portfolio | 100 | 15.92 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 4 | Annual Review of Nutrition Annual Reviews | 244 | 9.09 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 5 | Journal of Cachexia Sarcopenia and Muscle Springer Science+Business Media | 151 | 6.91 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC $4,680 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 6 | Molecular Metabolism Elsevier BV | 140 | 6.59 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC $3,630 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 7 | Aging Cell Wiley | 219 | 5.89 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC $3,190 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 8 | Clinical Nutrition Elsevier BV | 225 | 5.87 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 9 | Aging Clinical and Experimental Research Springer Science+Business Media | 123 | 5.55 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 10 | The journal of nutrition health & aging Springer Science+Business Media | 123 | 4.85 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC $4,290 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 11 | Mechanisms of Ageing and Development Elsevier BV | 173 | 4.68 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 12 | Pain Lippincott Williams & Wilkins | 401 | 4.61 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 13 | International Journal of Obesity Springer Nature | 304 | 4.59 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 14 | Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics Elsevier BV | 133 | 4.59 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 15 | Biogerontology Springer Science+Business Media | 110 | 4.23 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 16 | Nutrition & Metabolism BioMed Central | 129 | 3.88 | Solid specialist | Open access · APC $3,090 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 17 | Experimental Gerontology Elsevier BV | 195 | 3.84 | Solid specialist | Open access · APC $2,800 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 18 | The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry Elsevier BV | 189 | 3.84 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 19 | Current Opinion in Pharmacology Elsevier BV | 175 | 3.81 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 20 | Obesity Wiley | 234 | 3.8 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 21 | Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews Lippincott Williams & Wilkins | 159 | 3.68 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 22 | American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism American Physiological Society | 280 | 3.59 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 23 | Neurobiology of Aging Elsevier BV | 267 | 3.55 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 24 | Clinical Interventions in Aging Dove Medical Press | 137 | 3.43 | Solid specialist | Open access · APC $2,836 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 25 | The Journals of Gerontology Series A Oxford University Press | 277 | 3.28 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 26 | Annals of Behavioral Medicine Oxford University Press | 186 | 3.07 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 27 | Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) De Gruyter | 151 | 3.03 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 28 | Nitric Oxide Elsevier BV | 126 | 2.98 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 29 | Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine American Academy of Sleep Medicine | 155 | 2.95 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 30 | Journal of Thermal Biology Elsevier BV | 111 | 2.92 | Solid specialist | 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.

