Top 20 Journals

Special Topic: Planetary Exploration> Top 20 Journals

Published May 2011

Authors | Institutions | Journals | Nations

It comes as no surprise to see Icarus at the top of journals ranked by citations received (11,209) and papers published (920) but its citations-per-paper factor places it at 19. From its very first issue in 1962 Icarus has been the astronomical journal of choice for planetary scientists. Nor is it surprising that Science and Nature come in at positions 2 and 3 by citations. Science has devoted special issues to some planetary exploration missions, and that may boost citation rates. A relatively new journal, Astrobiology, makes place 19 ranked by numbers of papers. That achievement may reflect the astrobiologists' enduring interest in Mars as a possible abode of life.

Of the 34 unique journals in the rankings, 28 are among the top 50% in their fields in Essential Science IndicatorsSM from Thomson Reuters. Nineteen of these 28 journals rank in the top 20 in their fields, and three of these journals rank at #1 in their fields (Astrophysical Journal in Space Science, Geophysical Research Letters in Geosciences, and Physical Review Letters in Physics).

Citations
Papers
Citations Per Paper
About the Journals
Overall General Information
Additional Information

Citations

Rank	Journal	Citations	Papers	Cites per paper
1	ICARUS	11,209	920	12.18
2	SCIENCE	7,152	176	40.64
3	NATURE	5,931	155	38.26
4	ASTROPHYS J	5,596	275	20.35
5	PLANET SPACE SCI	4,845	510	9.50
6	J GEOPHYS RES-SPACE	4,100	403	10.17
7	J GEOPHYS RES-PLANET	3,835	323	11.87
8	GEOPHYS RES LETT	3,641	369	9.87
9	SPACE SCI REV	2,430	198	12.27
10	ASTRON ASTROPHYS	2,054	217	9.47
11	ASTRON J	1,144	84	13.62
12	ADV SPACE RES	998	213	4.69
13	PHYS PLASMAS	716	39	18.36
14	MON NOT R ASTRON SOC	618	72	8.58
15	EARTH PLANET SC LETT	587	46	12.76
16	ANN GEOPHYS-GERMANY	554	72	7.69
17	PHYS REV LETT	526	21	25.05
18	AIP CONF PROC	467	289	1.62
19	ASTROBIOLOGY	464	56	8.29
20	CELEST MECH DYN ASTR	409	43	9.51

Papers

Rank	Journal	Citations	Papers	Cites per paper
1	ICARUS	11,209	920	12.18
2	PLANET SPACE SCI	4,845	510	9.50
3	J GEOPHYS RES-SPACE	4,100	403	10.17
4	GEOPHYS RES LETT	3,641	369	9.87
5	J GEOPHYS RES-PLANET	3,835	323	11.87
6	AIP CONF PROC	467	289	1.62
7	ASTROPHYS J	5,596	275	20.35
8	ASTRON ASTROPHYS	2,054	217	9.47
9	ADV SPACE RES	998	213	4.69
10	P SOC PHOTO-OPT INS	221	210	1.05
11	SPACE SCI REV	2,430	198	12.27
12	ESA SP PUBL	163	196	0.83
13	SCIENCE	7,152	176	40.64
14	NATURE	5,931	155	38.26
15	AEROSP CONF PROC	11	143	0.08
16	ADV ASTRONAUT SCI	18	124	0.15
17	ACTA ASTRONAUT	155	98	1.58
18	ASTRON J	1,144	84	13.62
19	ANN GEOPHYS-GERMANY	554	72	7.69
20	MON NOT R ASTRON SOC	618	72	8.58

Cites Per Paper (>= 5 paper threshold)

Rank	Journal	Citations	Papers	Cites per paper
1	SCIENCE	7,152	176	40.64
2	NATURE	5,931	155	38.26
3	REP PROG PHYS	169	5	33.80
4	ANNU REV EARTH PL SC	229	7	32.71
5	PHYS REV LETT	526	21	25.05
6	PHYS LETT A	360	16	22.50
7	PLASMA SOURCES SCI T	102	5	20.40
8	ASTROPHYS J	5,596	275	20.35
9	PHYS PLASMAS	716	39	18.36
10	OPT EXPRESS	354	21	16.86
11	METEORIT PLANET SCI	316	19	16.63
12	GEOLOGY	205	13	15.77
13	ASTRON J	1,144	84	13.62
14	PHOTOGRAMM ENG REM S	68	5	13.60
15	EARTH PLANET SC LETT	587	46	12.76
16	INT J MOD PHYS D	102	8	12.75
17	ENANTIOMER	75	6	12.50
18	SPACE SCI REV	2,430	198	12.27
19	ICARUS	11,209	920	12.18
20	J GEOPHYS RES-PLANET	3,835	323	11.87

About the Journals

The resulting database contained 1,574 journals. Ranked by three separate measures: citations, papers, and citations per paper. Source dates: January 1, 2001-March 18, 2011. *Unless otherwise specified, all rankings have a >= 5 paper threshold for all measures.

Look for complelte threshold information for the Special Topic of Planetary Exploration in the "Methodology & Threshold" tab of the opening page for this topic.

Overall General Information

Top 20 Scientists, Institutions, Journals, & Nations

Citation tables allow us to map compelling trends:

Are there particular nations or institutions that might be expected to dominate research in the Topic area, and do the numbers bear out these expectations, or are there surprises?
Who are the leading scientists and where are they located?

While these tables cannot offer a complete picture, the number of trends and anomalies that can be spotlighted or connected across categories is striking. The tables often lead to renewed perspectives to further explore and validate.

What are Special Topics?

Special Topics, from ScienceWatch.com, is designed to complement Essential Science IndicatorsSM from Clarivate in providing citation analyses and commentary for selected scientific research areas that have experienced notable recent advances or are of special current interest.

Read about the overall methodology for Special Topics in the "What are Special Topics?" page.

EMAIL | BACK TO TOP

Planetary Exploration

The Hubble Space Telescope stands tall in the cargo bay of the space shuttle Atlantis following its capture on Wednesday, May 13, 2009. Photo from NASA, and HUBBLESITE. NASA Images: http://www.nasaimages.org/index.html. HUBBLESITE: http://hubblesite.org/gallery/spacecraft/05/.

HOME PAGE OF TOPIC

Top 20: Authors | Institutions | Journals | Nations
Papers: 10-Year | 2-Year
Time Series Graphs
Field Distribution
Interviews

Featured Image

The Hubble Space Telescope stands tall in the cargo bay of the space shuttle Atlantis following its capture on Wednesday, May 13, 2009. Photo from NASA, and HUBBLESITE.