What Is a Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 Journal? Quartile Rankings Explained (2026)
Almost every tenure file, fellowship application, and promotion dossier you write will at some point ask the question: was this paper in a Q1 journal? Most early-career researchers answer it without quite understanding what Q1 means, where the number comes from, or why the same journal sometimes appears as Q1 on one site and Q2 on another. This guide is the working researcher's version of that explanation, with the practical edge cases that actually matter when you're deciding where to submit and what to claim on your CV.
The basic definition: Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 in one paragraph
A quartile is a relative position within a subject category. Take every journal in a category, rank them top-to-bottom by an impact metric, and split the ranked list into four equal groups. The top 25% are Q1. The next 25% are Q2. The third 25% are Q3, and the bottom 25% are Q4. That is the whole formula. Everything else is detail.
The details are where it gets interesting. Three of them decide which quartile a journal actually lands in: which impact metric you use, which subject category you rank within, and which database is doing the calculation. Get those three right and the quartile becomes meaningful. Skip them and "Q1 journal" is a marketing line, not a fact.
How SCImago (Scopus) calculates quartiles
SCImago Journal & Country Rank (scimagojr.com) is the free public version of Scopus-derived quartile data. SCImago uses the SJR (SCImago Journal Rank) score, which weights citations by the prestige of the citing journal. A citation from Nature counts more than a citation from a low-tier title. The scoring is recursive (a journal's prestige depends on the prestige of the journals citing it, which depends on...), modelled on Google's PageRank algorithm.
SCImago organises journals into 313 ASJC (All Science Journal Classification) sub-categories within 27 broad areas. A single journal can sit in multiple categories and get a different quartile in each. Pharmacology and Toxicology might be one bucket; "Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics (miscellaneous)" might be another, smaller bucket. The same SJR score positions the journal differently in each.
SCImago updates annually, usually around March or April of the year after the data year (so SJR 2024 was released in mid-2025). Coverage is free, downloadable, and citable, which is part of why it has become the de facto reference for quartiles in many parts of the world.
How JCR (Web of Science) calculates quartiles
Clarivate's Journal Citation Reports uses the Journal Impact Factor (JIF). JIF = (citations in year Y to articles published in Y-1 and Y-2) / (citable items published in Y-1 and Y-2). It is simpler than SJR, more controversial, and the historical default in US biomedical sciences.
JCR puts journals into about 250 categories. Quartile is calculated within each category by ranking JIF scores top to bottom and splitting in fourths. JCR also publishes JIF percentile (more granular than quartile, sometimes more useful when comparing within Q1) and the JIF without self-citations (a sanity check for journals with inflated self-citation rates).
JCR is released annually in June. It is behind a paywall, but most universities have institutional access and a free Master Journal List provides title-level lookup (without the impact factor).
Worked example: when SJR and JIF disagree
Take Heliyon, a multidisciplinary OA megajournal. In recent years its JIF has hovered around 4 and its SJR around 0.6. Within JCR it tends to sit in Q1 of "Multidisciplinary Sciences" (a small category dominated by Nature, Science, PNAS). Within SCImago it tends to land in Q1 or Q2 of broader "Multidisciplinary" depending on the year. Both labels are defensible. Citing both ("Q1 JCR / Q2 Scopus, 2023") is more honest than picking the friendlier one.
Or take a specialty journal like the European Heart Journal. Cardiovascular subspecialists know it as the top Q1 cardiology title. SCImago and JCR agree, and both place it firmly in Q1 of "Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine." The agreement is normal for top-tier journals where the impact is unambiguous. Disagreement clusters in the middle ranks, especially for journals that sit close to a quartile boundary or appear in categories with very different sizes between Scopus and WoS.
Why universities care about quartiles
The quartile label is convenient because it abstracts away the messy detail of comparing journals across fields. A dean evaluating a candidate's paper does not need to know whether IF 4.2 is good for that field; they need a label. Q1 means "top 25% in the field," which is interpretable even by reviewers outside the discipline.
The downside is that "top 25% in the field" is defined by which field. A dermatologist publishing in a Q1 dermatology journal is doing well by the field's own standards. The same paper in a Q1 multidisciplinary journal would feel different to a generalist committee. The label hides the comparison.
Different institutions weight quartiles differently. India's UGC-CARE relies on Scopus indexing as a baseline. Chinese CAS partition lists rank journals into Tiers 1–4 with their own logic, built on WoS data but with field-specific adjustments. Italian ASN uses tier classifications tied to quartiles. Brazil's Qualis system has been migrating to a quartile-based model. Check what your institution actually counts. The answer is rarely "just Q1 anywhere."
What "Q1 journal" means on a CV
The phrase "published in a Q1 journal" without further detail invites scepticism. Three pieces of context make it credible: the source database (Scopus SCImago or Web of Science JCR), the subject category the quartile was calculated in, and the year of the metric.
A line like "Published in Heliyon, Q1 (Scopus, Multidisciplinary, 2023; IF 4.0)" reads as careful. A line like "Published in 3 Q1 journals" reads as fluffed and gets discounted. The first format also protects you against the inevitable nitpicker on the hiring committee who pulls up the source to verify.
How to find Q1 journals for your manuscript
Several paths. Each has tradeoffs.
The slow path: browse SCImago by your subject area, filter for Q1, scroll through hundreds of titles, click into a candidate, open the journal homepage, read the aims-and-scope, repeat. It works. It also takes hours.
The publisher-locked path: use Elsevier Journal Finder or Wiley Journal Finder. They are fast but return only titles from that publisher's catalogue. You miss most of the field.
The multi-publisher path: paste your abstract into the free Scopus journal finder tool. Apply the Q1 filter chip on the results page. The tool returns Q1 Scopus and Web of Science indexed journals across all major publishers in seconds, with the source database, current category, and quartile on each card. From there, click into the publisher's site to read the aims-and-scope of the strongest matches.
Common mistakes with quartile claims
Three patterns to watch for:
- Quoting last year's quartile. SCImago and JCR both shift quartile boundaries annually as new journals enter and old ones exit. A Q1 journal in 2022 might be high Q2 in 2024 without anyone announcing it. Check the year of the data, not just the label on the journal's homepage.
- Picking the most generous category. Many journals appear in multiple categories with different quartiles in each. Picking the one that gives Q1 and quietly omitting the others is technically true but read as misleading. Cite the strongest, and disclose the others if asked.
- Confusing quartile with impact factor. "Q1" and "IF 12" are different facts. A journal can be Q1 in a small category with IF 2.5. Another can have IF 6 but sit in Q2 because its category is dominated by higher-impact giants. Quartile is relative; IF is absolute. Use both.
Frequently asked questions
What does Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 mean for a journal?
Quartiles divide all journals in a subject category into four equal groups by impact score. Q1 is the top 25%, Q2 the next 25%, Q3 the third quartile, and Q4 the bottom 25%. Quartile is always relative to a specific category and a specific database (Scopus/SJR or Web of Science/JIF), and a journal can fall in different quartiles in different categories.
Is Q1 calculated the same way in Scopus and Web of Science?
No. SCImago (Scopus) calculates quartiles using SJR scores in 313 ASJC sub-categories. JCR (Web of Science) uses JIF in about 250 categories. Different denominators and different metrics mean the same journal can be Q1 in one and Q2 in the other. Always cite the source: "Q1 (Scopus, Pharmacology, 2023)" or "Q1 (JCR, Pharmacology, 2023)." See Scopus vs Web of Science 2026 for the full comparison.
Can the same journal be Q1 in one field and Q3 in another?
Yes, and it is common. A clinical pharmacology journal might be Q1 in "Pharmacology (medical)" because the category is small, while sitting in Q3 of broader "Medicine (miscellaneous)." The label is meaningless without the category. Universities that demand Q1 publications without specifying category are leaving room for interpretation.
Do all Scopus indexed journals have a quartile?
Yes, every actively indexed Scopus journal has an SJR quartile in at least one subject category. SCImago updates this annually. Journals in their first year of Scopus indexing sometimes appear with a quartile shown as "TBD" until enough citation data accumulates. See how to find a Scopus indexed journal.
How do I filter for Q1 or Q2 journals on the Scientific Journal Finder?
After your abstract match runs, the filter bar at the top of the results page includes a Quartile group with chips for All, Q1, Q2, and Q3/Q4. Click Q1 to see only top-quartile matches; click Q2 to add second-quartile titles. The tool shows the source database (Scopus SJR or JCR) and the category on each card. Try it with your abstract at the free Scopus journal finder.