Scopus subject area

Best Drug Discovery journals

161 Scopus-active journals are ranked in Drug Discovery. The top 100 by CiteScore percentile are listed below — 40 of them sit in quartile Q1. Every title links to a full profile with Scopus, Web of Science, ABDC, DOAJ and open-access details.

# Journal CiteScore Percentile Quartile WoS ABDC OA
1 Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 159.2 99th Q1 SCIE No
2 Medicinal Research Reviews 29.1 99th Q1 SCIE No
3 Protein and Cell 22.6 98th Q1 SCIE Yes
4 Natural Product Reports 21.2 97th Q1 SCIE No
5 Molecular Therapy 17.9 97th Q1 SCIE No
6 Drug Discovery Today 16.8 96th Q1 SCIE No
7 Emerging Microbes and Infections 14.1 95th Q1 SCIE Yes
8 Archives of Pharmacal Research 13.6 95th Q1 SCIE No
9 Cell Chemical Biology 13.6 94th Q1 SCIE No
10 Phytomedicine 13.2 94th Q1 SCIE No
11 MedComm 12.5 93th Q1 ESCI Yes
12 Pharmaceutical Biology 12.4 92th Q1 SCIE Yes
13 Current Opinion in Pharmacology 12.2 92th Q1 SCIE No
14 Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis 12 91th Q1 SCIE Yes
15 Journal of Enzyme Inhibition and Medicinal Chemistry 11.9 90th Q1 SCIE Yes
16 NEJM Evidence 11.7 90th Q1 ESCI No
17 Marine Drugs 11.6 89th Q1 SCIE Yes
18 Medicine in Drug Discovery 11.5 89th Q1 Yes
19 Nucleic Acid Therapeutics 11.4 88th Q1 SCIE No
20 EPMA Journal 11.4 87th Q1 SCIE No
21 Journal of Ethnopharmacology 11.2 87th Q1 SCIE No
22 Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 11.1 86th Q1 SCIE No
23 Molecular Therapy Nucleic Acids 10.8 86th Q1 SCIE Yes
24 European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 10.8 85th Q1 SCIE No
25 International Journal of Nanomedicine 10.6 84th Q1 SCIE Yes
26 Molecules 10.3 84th Q1 SCIE Yes
27 Expert Opinion on Drug Discovery 9.9 83th Q1 SCIE No
28 Expert Review of Vaccines 9.9 82th Q1 SCIE Yes
29 Pharmaceuticals 9 82th Q1 SCIE Yes
30 Biotechnology and Applied Biochemistry 8.9 81th Q1 SCIE No
31 Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets 8.6 81th Q1 SCIE No
32 Journal of Molecular Medicine 8.6 80th Q1 SCIE No
33 EXCLI Journal 8.6 79th Q1 SCIE Yes
34 Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Patents 8.3 79th Q1 SCIE No
35 Molecular Diversity 7.9 78th Q1 SCIE No
36 Current Molecular Pharmacology 7.8 77th Q1 SCIE No
37 PPAR Research 7.8 77th Q1 SCIE Yes
38 Chinese Journal of Natural Medicines 7.7 76th Q1 SCIE No
39 Vaccines 7.7 76th Q1 SCIE Yes
40 Molecular Pharmaceutics 7.6 75th Q1 SCIE No
41 ACS Bio and Med Chem Au 7.5 74th Q2 ESCI Yes
42 Mini-Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry 7.5 74th Q2 SCIE No
43 Journal of Applied Research on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants 7.4 73th Q2 SCIE No
44 Open Medicinal Chemistry Journal 7.3 72th Q2 No
45 Drug Development Research 7 72th Q2 SCIE No
46 Bioorganic Chemistry 6.9 71th Q2 SCIE No
47 Drug Design, Development and Therapy 6.9 71th Q2 SCIE Yes
48 Molecular Informatics 6.8 70th Q2 SCIE No
49 Current Gene Therapy 6.7 69th Q2 SCIE No
50 Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry 6.6 69th Q2 SCIE No
51 Expert Opinion on Biological Therapy 6.5 68th Q2 SCIE No
52 Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis 6.5 68th Q2 SCIE No
53 Archiv der Pharmazie 6.5 67th Q2 SCIE No
54 Current Medicinal Chemistry 6.5 66th Q2 SCIE No
55 Biomolecules and Therapeutics 6.4 66th Q2 SCIE No
56 Human Genomics 6.4 65th Q2 SCIE Yes
57 Journal of Natural Products 6.3 64th Q2 SCIE No
58 Chemical Biology and Drug Design 6.1 64th Q2 SCIE No
59 Current Drug Targets 6 63th Q2 SCIE No
60 Therapeutic Advances in Vaccines and Immunotherapy 6 63th Q2 Yes
61 Chirality 5.9 62th Q2 SCIE No
62 Current Pharmaceutical Design 5.8 61th Q2 SCIE No
63 Journal of the Indian Chemical Society 5.8 61th Q2 SCIE No
64 ChemMedChem 5.7 60th Q2 SCIE No
65 RSC Medicinal Chemistry 5.7 59th Q2 SCIE No
66 Recent Patents on Anti-Cancer Drug Discovery 5.6 59th Q2 SCIE No
67 ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters 5.6 58th Q2 SCIE No
68 Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry 5.6 58th Q2 SCIE No
69 International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics 5.3 57th Q2 SCIE No
70 Iranian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences 5.2 56th Q2 SCIE Yes
71 Journal of Natural Medicines 5.2 56th Q2 SCIE No
72 Phytochemical Analysis 5.2 55th Q2 SCIE No
73 Frontiers in Antibiotics 5 54th Q2 ESCI Yes
74 Frontiers in Drug Discovery 5 54th Q2 ESCI Yes
75 Current Opinion in Systems Biology 5 53th Q2 ESCI No
76 Medicinal Chemistry 5 53th Q2 SCIE No
77 Antibodies 4.9 52th Q2 ESCI Yes
78 International Journal of Cosmetic Science 4.8 51th Q2 SCIE No
79 Journal of Gene Medicine 4.8 51th Q2 SCIE No
80 DARU, Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 4.8 50th Q2 SCIE No
81 Journal of Basic and Clinical Physiology and Pharmacology 4.7 50th Q2 No
82 npj Systems Biology and Applications 4.7 49th Q3 SCIE Yes
83 Planta Medica 4.7 48th Q3 SCIE No
84 Journal of Antibiotics 4.6 48th Q3 SCIE No
85 Current Pharmacology Reports 4.6 47th Q3 ESCI No
86 Drug Research 4.6 46th Q3 ESCI No
87 Journal of Computer-Aided Molecular Design 4.6 46th Q3 SCIE No
88 Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters 4.5 45th Q3 SCIE No
89 SAR and QSAR in Environmental Research 4.4 45th Q3 SCIE No
90 Cancer Innovation 4.4 44th Q3 ESCI Yes
91 Future Medicinal Chemistry 4.4 43th Q3 SCIE No
92 Avicenna Journal of Phytomedicine 4.3 43th Q3 ESCI Yes
93 Journal of Medicinal and Chemical Sciences 4.3 42th Q3 No
94 Current Cancer Drug Targets 4.2 41th Q3 SCIE No
95 Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine 4.2 41th Q3 ESCI Yes
96 Medinformatics 4 40th Q3 No
97 Fitoterapia 3.9 40th Q3 SCIE No
98 Studies in Natural Products Chemistry 3.9 39th Q3 No
99 Assay and Drug Development Technologies 3.8 38th Q3 SCIE No
100 Journal of Peptide Science 3.8 38th Q3 SCIE No

Rank and percentile are within the Drug Discovery Scopus subject table (CiteScore 2025, dataset 2026-06-09). A journal can rank differently in its other subject areas — open its profile for the full picture.

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