Guides · 6 min read
Journal Quartiles Explained: What Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 Really Mean
When someone says a paper is “in a Q1 journal,” they mean the journal sits in the top quarter of its field by a ranking metric. Quartiles are a quick way to gauge a journal's relative standing — but only if you know exactly what they measure and where they mislead.
What a quartile is
The quartiles you see most often come from SCImago ↗, which ranks journals using SJR (SCImago Journal Rank), a metric built on Scopus ↗ data. Within each subject category, journals are sorted by SJR and split into four equal groups:
- Q1 — the top 25% of journals in the category.
- Q2 — the 25–50% band.
- Q3 — the 50–75% band.
- Q4 — the bottom 25%.
So a quartile is relative, not absolute: Q1 means “better than most journals in this field,” not “good in some universal sense.”
What SJR itself measures
SJR is a prestige-weighted citation metric. Rather than counting every citation equally, it gives more weight to citations that come from influential journals — similar in spirit to how a link from a well-known site counts for more. Formally, it is the average number of weighted citations a journal received in a year per document it published over the previous three years (SCImago, SJR help ↗).
Why one journal can be in two quartiles
Quartiles are assigned per subject category, and many journals are classified in more than one. A journal can be Q1 in a niche category and Q3 in a broader one at the same time. That is why a “best quartile” badge (the highest across a journal's categories) can look more flattering than its standing in your specific field. Always check the quartile for the category that matches your paper.
Quartile ≠ Impact Factor
SJR quartiles (Scopus) are not the same as the Journal Impact Factor, which is a different number from Clarivate's Journal Citation Reports ↗ (Web of Science). Clarivate also publishes its own JIF-based quartiles. A journal can land in different quartiles under the two systems because they use different databases and formulas — so always note whichquartile you're quoting.
How to read a quartile sensibly
- Use it as a rough signal of standing in a field, not a verdict on a single paper's quality.
- Match the quartile to your subject category, not the journal's best one.
- Pair it with fit, indexing and ethics checks — a Q1 badge does not by itself rule out a poor match or a hijacked title.
PubScope brings the public signals together for tens of thousands of journals: Web of Science / Scopus / DOAJ indexing, SJR quartile, APC, a 0–100 Trust Score and predatory-risk flags — each linking out so you can confirm it at the source.