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Should I use Scimagojr (SCImago Journal & Country Rank)?

SCImago Journal & Country Rank portal - scimagojr.com

Worth it. Use it if you are choosing, ranking, or vetting academic journals — it is free and widely referenced by universities. It is not software you buy, and its quartiles are not Clarivate impact factors.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~40 public sources. Scimago is a free reference portal, not commercial software, so no review-platform ratings or pricing tiers apply.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support qualityNo support evidence in sources
  • Security posture

Pricing

Free

Public portal

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes

Best for

  • Researchers choosing where to submit
  • Librarians building journal lists
  • Authors vetting unfamiliar journals
  • Institutions tracking country research output

Not for

  • Tenure or grant committees that require Clarivate JIF, not SJR quartiles
  • Anyone treating a listing as proof a journal is legitimate
  • Businesses shopping for CRM or analytics software — this is an academic database
  • Guess: users needing author-level metrics — coverage is journals and countries only

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

SJR quartile is not the Journal Impact Factor; don't swap them in tenure or grant documents.

high

Questionable journals cite their Scimago rank to look credible; verify the journal independently.

medium

Open Bug Bounty lists a cross-site scripting disclosure for.

low

No published security page; disclosure and patch transparency are unclear.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Free and publicly available journal rankings
  • Ranks journals into Q1–Q4 quartiles
  • Shows h-index, ranking, and rating per journal
  • Full dataset freely downloadable for R analysis
  • Studied in peer-reviewed metric comparisons since 2008

Cons

  • Frequently confused with Clarivate's Journal Impact Factor
  • No dedicated security page found on the site
  • Has a disclosed cross-site scripting vulnerability report
  • Ranking links used by channels promoting paid Scopus placements

Sources & method

Analyzed 10/01/2026 - 12 sources - One disclosed XSS via Open Bug Bounty; no dedicated security page found.

official x2review x7security x2news x1
  • Cross-site scripting disclosure, Open Bug Bounty report OBB-440957 for.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • Free

    Starting price

  • 12

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Completely free, no paywall
  • Ease of use: 4/5. Library guides recommend it for quick checks
  • Feature depth: 3/5. Journal and country ranks, quartiles, h-index only
  • Support quality. No support evidence in sources
  • Security posture: 2/5. Disclosed XSS; no security page found
  • Free Price SJR is a publicly available portal
  • Q1–Q4 Ranking system Journal quartile tiers per subject area
  • 2008 In literature since Compared against Journal Impact Factor in a FASEB study

Pricing

Public portal

Free

  • Journal and country rankings
  • Quartiles and h-index per journal
  • Downloadable datasets

Security

One disclosed XSS via Open Bug Bounty; no dedicated security page found.

  • Cross-site scripting disclosureOpen Bug Bounty report OBB-440957 for.⁴

What users say

Academics and librarians routinely recommend Scimago as a quick, free first check of journal standing.

Companies that use it

  • Rutgers University Libraries10
  • University of Southern California Libraries
  • Creighton University Libraries
  • Mahidol University (Stang Library)
Full analysis

Based on ~40 public sources. Scimago is a free reference portal, not commercial software, so no review-platform ratings or pricing tiers apply.

Free, widely cited journal-rank database. Great for vetting venues; not software you buy and no substitute for impact factor.

Methodology

Based on ~40 public sources. Scimago is a free reference portal, not commercial software, so no review-platform ratings or pricing tiers apply.

Sources

  1. Scimago Journal & Country Rankscimagojr.com
    official
  2. SJR: Scientific Journal Rankingsscimagojr.com
    official
  3. SJR is a publicly available portal (Muck Rack)muckrack.com
    news
  4. scimagojr.com XSS vulnerability reportopenbugbounty.org
    security
  5. Security page lookup — no security page foundscimagojr.com.atlaq.com
    security
  6. Comparison of SCImago journal rank indicator with journal impact factorfaseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
    review
  7. Is SCImago SJR and Thomson Reuters JCR an alternative to each other?researchgate.net
    review
  8. Guide to Journal Rankings: Q1–Q4 Quartileseditage.us
    review
  9. sjrdata: All scimagojr.com data wrapped for Rgithub.com
    review
  10. Rutgers Libraries — SJR database pagelibraries.rutgers.edu
    review
  11. Reddit r/AskAcademia — judging journal reputationreddit.com
    review
  12. Academia StackExchange — scam journal invitationacademia.stackexchange.com
    review

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