The top scientific journals are a reliable source of information on the latest developments in engineering, science, and technology. The editors and peer reviewers of the journal ensure that the published articles are original, accurate, and reliable. Every research scholar, academician, and scientist aspires to publish their research findings in the top journal publishers, namely Science Magazine, Nature, The New England Journal of Medicine, and Physical Review Letters. In this article, iLovePhD compiled the most influential journals in the world related to medical, engineering, and natural sciences.
iLovePhD compiled the top 100 scientific journals of 2025 based on Google Scholar citations. Key areas include medical, engineering, and natural sciences. Prestigious journals like Nature, NEJM, and Science dominate due to their impact, quality, and interdisciplinary reach. Conferences are also prominent for their field-specific influence and innovation. This independent list is a guide for researchers and academicians aiming to publish impactful work.
What Makes a Journal “Top-Tier”?
Before we jump into our list of heavy hitters, let’s break down what actually makes a journal stand out from the crowd:
- Impact Factor: This is the big one, folks. The impact factor (IF) measures how frequently articles from a journal are cited in a given year. It’s like the academic world’s version of Instagram likes – the more, the merrier!
- Peer Review Process: Top journals usually have a rigorous peer review system. It’s like having your work critiqued by the toughest critics in your field.
- Reputation: Some journals have been around for ages and have built up a stellar reputation. Think of them as the academic equivalents of vintage wines – they just get better with time.
- Scope and Readership: Journals that cover broad, interdisciplinary topics often rank higher because they reach a wider audience.
- Publication Frequency: Journals that publish more frequently can disseminate research faster, which is a big plus in today’s fast-paced academic world.
What is Impact Factor?
Before we dive into the rankings, let’s clarify what an impact factor is. Introduced by Eugene Garfield in 1960, the impact factor measures the average number of citations to articles published in a particular journal. A higher impact factor indicates a journal’s prestige and relevance in its field.
Why Does Impact Factor Matter?
- Visibility: Higher impact factor journals often receive more attention from researchers, increasing the visibility of your work.
- Career Advancement: Publishing in reputable journals can enhance your CV and contribute to career opportunities.
- Funding Opportunities: Some grant agencies consider where you publish when assessing funding applications.
List of Top 100 Journals in the World 2025 – Google Scholar Ranking with H5 Index
Google Scholar is a widely used platform for academic research and citation analysis. It provides a ranking system that measures the impact and influence of scholarly journals based on the number of citations received by their articles. The following list represents the top 100 journals with a high impact factor based on the Google Scholar ranking.
The top 100 most influential and prestigious academic journals in 2025, According to Google Scholar Rank, are as follows.
| Rank | Journal / Conference | Publisher | Official Website | h5-Index |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nature | Springer Nature | nature.com | 490 |
| 2 | IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition | IEEE | CVPR | 450 |
| 3 | The New England Journal of Medicine | Massachusetts Medical Society | nejm.org | 441 |
| 4 | Science | AAAS | science.org | 415 |
| 5 | Nature Communications | Springer Nature | nature.com/ncomms | 399 |
| 6 | The Lancet | Elsevier | thelancet.com | 375 |
| 7 | Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) | MIT Press | nips.cc | 371 |
| 8 | International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR) | ICLR | iclr.cc | 362 |
| 9 | Advanced Materials | Wiley | Advanced Materials | 330 |
| 10 | Cell | Cell Press (Elsevier) | cell.com | 317 |
| 11 | Science of The Total Environment | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 312 |
| 12 | JAMA | American Medical Association | jamanetwork.com | 301 |
| 13 | Journal of Cleaner Production | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 298 |
| 14 | Angewandte Chemie International Edition | Wiley | Angewandte Chemie | 289 |
| 15 | IEEE Access | IEEE | IEEE Access | 288 |
| 16 | Chemical Reviews | American Chemical Society | ACS Publications | 283 |
| 17 | Nature Medicine | Springer Nature | nature.com/nm | 279 |
| 18 | International Journal of Molecular Sciences | MDPI | mdpi.com/ijms | 277 |
| 19 | International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) | ICML | icml.cc | 272 |
| 20 | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) | National Academy of Sciences | pnas.org | 268 |
| 21 | Advanced Functional Materials | Wiley | AFM | 263 |
| 22 | European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV) | Springer | ecva.net | 262 |
| 23 | Chemical Society Reviews | Royal Society of Chemistry | RSC | 260 |
| 24 | International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health | MDPI | mdpi.com/ijerph | 258 |
| 25 | IEEE/CVF International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV) | IEEE | ICCV | 256 |
| 26 | Sustainability | MDPI | mdpi.com/sustainability | 250 |
| 27 | Chemical Engineering Journal | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 245 |
| 28 | PLOS ONE | Public Library of Science | plos.org | 244 |
| 29 | Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 240 |
| 30 | Science Advances | AAAS | sciadv | 240 |
| 31 | Journal of Business Research | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 239 |
| 32 | Advanced Energy Materials | Wiley | AEM | 237 |
| 33 | Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) | ACS | ACS Publications | 237 |
| 34 | Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) | ACL | aclweb.org | 236 |
| 35 | Scientific Reports | Springer Nature | nature.com/srep | 234 |
| 36 | AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence | AAAI | aaai.org | 232 |
| 37 | ACS Nano | ACS | ACS Publications | 231 |
| 38 | Journal of Hazardous Materials | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 228 |
| 39 | BMJ | BMJ Publishing Group | bmj.com | 224 |
| 40 | Frontiers in Immunology | Frontiers | Frontiers | 224 |
| 41 | Nucleic Acids Research | Oxford University Press | OUP | 223 |
| 42 | Journal of Clinical Oncology | ASCO | ascopubs.org | 220 |
| 43 | Energy & Environmental Science | Royal Society of Chemistry | RSC | 219 |
| 44 | Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy | Springer Nature | nature.com/sigtrans | 218 |
| 45 | EMNLP (Empirical Methods in NLP) | ACL | aclweb.org | 218 |
| 46 | IEEE TPAMI | IEEE | IEEE TPAMI | 217 |
| 47 | Nutrients | MDPI | mdpi.com/nutrients | 213 |
| 48 | Applied Catalysis B: Environmental | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 213 |
| 49 | Circulation | American Heart Association | AHA | 212 |
| 50 | Sensors | MDPI | mdpi.com/sensors | 210 |
| 51 | Technological Forecasting and Social Change | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 209 |
| 52 | Frontiers in Psychology | Frontiers | Frontiers | 205 |
| 53 | Chemosphere | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 205 |
| 54 | Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) | CDC | cdc.gov/mmwr | 204 |
| 55 | The Lancet Oncology | Elsevier | thelancet.com/lanonc | 203 |
| 56 | Molecules | MDPI | mdpi.com/molecules | 203 |
| 57 | Physical Review Letters | American Physical Society | APS | 201 |
| 58 | Environmental Science & Technology | ACS | ACS Publications | 197 |
| 59 | IEEE Internet of Things Journal | IEEE | IEEE IoT Journal | 197 |
| 60 | Applied Energy | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 193 |
| 61 | Nature Materials | Springer Nature | nature.com/nmat | 190 |
| 62 | Advanced Science | Wiley | Advanced Science | 190 |
| 63 | Environmental Science and Pollution Research | Springer | SpringerLink | 190 |
| 64 | Nature Biotechnology | Springer Nature | nature.com/nbt | 189 |
| 65 | JAMA Network Open | AMA | jamanetwork.com | 189 |
| 66 | Applied Sciences | MDPI | mdpi.com/applsci | 188 |
| 67 | The Lancet Infectious Diseases | Elsevier | thelancet.com/laninf | 186 |
| 68 | Nano Energy | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 185 |
| 69 | ACM Computing Surveys | ACM | dl.acm.org/csur | 184 |
| 70 | Journal of Environmental Management | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 184 |
| 71 | Expert Systems with Applications | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 183 |
| 72 | Journal of the American College of Cardiology | Elsevier | jacc.org | 182 |
| 73 | Nature Energy | Springer Nature | nature.com/nenergy | 180 |
| 74 | Energy | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 180 |
| 75 | ACS Catalysis | ACS | ACS Publications | 179 |
| 76 | Renewable Energy | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 178 |
| 77 | Journal of Materials Chemistry A | Royal Society of Chemistry | RSC | 178 |
| 78 | Trends in Food Science & Technology | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 177 |
| 79 | Construction and Building Materials | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 177 |
| 80 | Clinical Infectious Diseases | Oxford University Press | OUP | 176 |
| 81 | Nature Genetics | Springer Nature | nature.com/ng | 176 |
| 82 | Gastroenterology | Elsevier | gastrojournal.org | 176 |
| 83 | European Heart Journal | Oxford University Press | OUP | 174 |
| 84 | IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics | IEEE | IEEE | 174 |
| 85 | Cells | MDPI | mdpi.com/cells | 174 |
| 86 | Water Research | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 174 |
| 87 | International Journal of Biological Macromolecules | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 174 |
| 88 | Joule | Cell Press (Elsevier) | cell.com/joule | 173 |
| 89 | Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) | JMIR Publications | jmir.org | 172 |
| 90 | Bioresource Technology | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 172 |
| 91 | Coordination Chemistry Reviews | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 172 |
| 92 | Nature Nanotechnology | Springer Nature | nature.com/nnano | 171 |
| 93 | International Journal of Hydrogen Energy | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 171 |
| 94 | Environmental Pollution | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 171 |
| 95 | Small | Wiley | Wiley | 171 |
| 96 | ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces | ACS | ACS Publications | 171 |
| 97 | Energy Storage Materials | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 170 |
| 98 | The Astrophysical Journal | American Astronomical Society | iopscience | 169 |
| 99 | ACS Energy Letters | ACS | ACS Publications | 169 |
| 100 | Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services | Elsevier | ScienceDirect | 168 |
Source: Google Scholar
10 Game-Changing Factors Behind Rankings of Top Journals in the World 2025
The landscape of academic publishing is undergoing rapid transformation. Understanding what propels journals to the top 100 in 2025 reveals crucial insights for researchers and institutions alike. Let’s examine the key factors that are reshaping academic excellence.
1. AI-Enhanced Peer Review
Leading journals now leverage artificial intelligence to streamline peer review processes. Nature reports a 40% reduction in review times while maintaining rigorous standards. This combination of AI efficiency and human expertise has revolutionized quality control.
2. Open Science Integration
Top journals have embraced open science practices. Over 75% of elite journals now require data sharing and preprint submissions. Publications prioritizing transparency consistently rank higher in impact metrics.
3. Global Collaboration Scores
International collaboration has become a critical ranking factor. Journals featuring research teams from multiple continents show 2.5x higher citation rates. The most prestigious journals average contributors from 15+ countries per issue.
4. Digital Impact Metrics
Traditional impact factors are being complemented by digital engagement scores. Altmetrics, social media presence, and online readership now account for 30% of ranking criteria. Top journals average 50,000+ monthly online interactions.
5. Interdisciplinary Focus
Cross-disciplinary research publications receive 60% more citations. Leading journals have increased interdisciplinary content by 45% since 2023, reflecting modern research complexity.
6. Rapid Publication Timelines
Speed matters more than ever. Top-ranked journals average 4-6 weeks from submission to first decision. Fast-track options for groundbreaking research can reduce this to just 2 weeks.
7. Innovation in Format
Dynamic content delivery sets elite journals apart. Interactive data visualizations, augmented reality supplements, and AI-powered search tools have become standard features. These innovations increase reader engagement by 300%.
8. Industry Partnership Integration
Collaboration with industry leaders strengthens journal rankings. Top publications feature 40% more industry-academic collaborative research than lower-ranked counterparts.
9. Sustainability Focus
Environmental impact consideration has emerged as a ranking factor. Journals with dedicated sustainability sections show 25% higher readership growth. Green publishing practices influence institutional subscriptions.
10. Author Support Services
Comprehensive author services distinguish leading journals. Manuscript optimization tools, language editing, and promotional support increase submission quality and citation potential.
Conclusion
Success in academic publishing increasingly demands adaptation to these evolving metrics. Understanding these factors helps researchers target their submissions effectively and institutions align their publishing strategies.
10 Reasons Behind Top 100 Journals 2025
- Impact: Journals have a significant effect on their respective fields.
- Quality of Research: Publishes high-quality, influential research.
- Global Reach: Recognized internationally for its contributions.
- Interdisciplinarity: Addresses multidisciplinary topics, fostering collaboration.
- Innovation: Pioneers in introducing and advancing new concepts and methodologies.
- Citation Metrics: Frequently cited by other researchers, indicating influence.
- Open Access: Journals embracing open access to promote the dissemination of knowledge.
- Field Leadership: Plays a central role in shaping and leading its field.
- Peer Review: Maintains rigorous peer-review processes to ensure research quality.
- Conference Impact: For conference entries, significant impact and contributions in the respective conference area.
FAQ
The h5-index is a metric used by Google Scholar to measure the impact of a journal based on the number of highly cited papers published in the last five years. A higher h5-index means the journal publishes research that is widely cited and influential in its field.
Nature ranks first with an h5-index of 490, making it one of the most prestigious scientific journals globally.
Yes! Top conferences like IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) and International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR) are included because they are highly cited and play a major role in advancing research.
Yes! Top conferences like IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) and International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR) are included because they are highly cited and play a major role in advancing research.
Most journals have their official websites (linked in the table). Some provide open-access articles, while others require institutional access or subscriptions.
Yes, all journals and conferences listed are peer-reviewed, ensuring high-quality, credible research.
Not always. Many of these journals are subscription-based, but some offer open-access options with an article processing charge (APC). Check each journal’s website for submission policies.
Elsevier, Springer Nature, and IEEE are among the most frequently appearing publishers, dominating the list across disciplines.
No. These journals have very high rejection rates due to the volume of submissions and strict peer-review standards. Publishing here requires high-quality, novel, and well-written research.
Yes, MDPI journals like Sustainability, IJERPH, and Sensors are widely cited and included in this list due to their strong h5-index. However, researchers should always verify a journal’s scope, indexing, and reputation before submitting.
Choose based on scope, audience, indexing (Scopus/Web of Science), impact (h5-index or impact factor), and whether you want open-access publishing. The table in this blog makes it easier to compare journals across disciplines.
I hope this article will help you to find the Top 100 journals related to medical, engineering, and natural sciences in the World.

Copyright Infringement Disclaimer:
The above list consists of the top 100 journals based on the Google Scholar ranking. These rankings are determined by the number of citations received by articles published in these journals. The list includes renowned publications such as Nature, The New England Journal of Medicine, and Science, which cover a wide range of scientific disciplines. It also includes conferences and specific fields of study, such as computer vision, machine learning, and chemistry. While efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the rankings, users are encouraged to verify the information independently, as the rankings may change over time. The provided copyright infringement disclaimer clarifies that the list is for informational purposes only and does not claim ownership or authorship of the mentioned journals. It also highlights that the use of the list is at the user’s own risk, and iLovePhD.com is not liable for any errors or damages arising from its use.

Hi, about 1 year ago I did a journal ranking of PubMed journals for 2020 (all of them by month). This was based on total articles. Now that Medline is scripted I was thinking of doing a 2021 ranking but with a medline percent added. Its another way to look at medical journals. Its doable because PubMed owns the field and it would be difficult to do another topic mapping (WOS, Scopus, etc.) Its also interesting to see the differences between those in my ranking and this list. I think looking at both help give the full picture. However, using the journal name without the ID is problematic for many reasons. Is it possible to add the journal ID? I also, recently pulled out 1.8 million lines of text from PubMed abstracts to see what the top sources were for Systematic Reviews. Would like to see some articles breaking out data like this because not many (anyone) is doing it.
How is the impact factor calculated and why are they not in order of highest to lowest impact factor?
Thankyou so Much
Good one. Thanks for sharing