ImpaQ Ecosystem•Clarivate, Scopus & CORE Data
Clarivate WoS 2024 / 2025 Data
IMPAQ
WoS SCIE Q1Scopus Q1SCImago #1,359Top JournalHybrid

Higher Education

Acronym:high
•
Identifier (ISSN):0018-1560(Print)/1573-174X(Online)
•
Publisher:Springer Nature
Clarivate JCR Index Advisory: Active (SSCI)
Clarivate IF (2026)
4.3↓ -0.3
Journal Impact Factor
IF Trend↓
WoS Quartile
Q1
WoS SCIETop Tier
Clarivate WoS JCR
WoS Categories↓
JCR Release Date: 2026-06-17

Impact Factor Trend (2022–2026)

Clarivate IF trend for Higher Education

WoS Q1
24573.952022520233.620244.620254.32026
Annual Impact Factor Metric
Current (2026):4.3
Scopus SJR & RankScopus Q1
2.059
#1,359

SCImago Journal Rank citation prestige weighting

Scopus Year: 2025
H-Index (2025)
150

150 papers with at least that number of citations each

WoS: SCIE / JCRTop Tier
Self-Citation Rate8.3%
Safe Level (< 15%)Warning Level (> 20%)
Self-citation below 15% indicates strong scholarly independence.
Volume & Open AccessHybrid
126articles/year
59.23% Gold OA•95.51% Original Research

Aims & Scope

Higher Education is recognised as the leading international journal of Higher Education studies, publishing twelve separate numbers each year. Since its establishment in 1972, Higher Education has followed educational developments throughout the world in universities, polytechnics, colleges, and vocational and education institutions. It has actively endeavoured to report on developments in both public and private Higher Education sectors. Contributions have come from leading scholars from different countries while articles have tackled the problems of teachers as well as students, and of planners as well as administrators. While each Higher Education system has its own distinctive features, common problems and issues are shared internationally by researchers, teachers and institutional leaders. Higher Education offers opportunities for exchange of research results, experience and insights, and provides a forum for ongoing discussion between experts. Higher Education publishes authoritative overview articles, comparative studies and analyses of particular problems or issues. All contributions are peer reviewed.

Topics Covered (Recognized by AI)
Political science98.1%Law97.8%Economics97.5%Economic growth95.7%Higher education94.2%Psychology79.3%Sociology68.3%Mathematics54.7%Pedagogy42.3%Mathematics education40.2%Philosophy36%Computer science33.5%Medicine27.7%Biology22.9%Physics22.5%Geography22.5%Business21.3%Epistemology20.2%
Primary Research Areas

WoS Categories & Quartiles

Detailed JCR / JCI category rankings and quartile breakdown from Clarivate

Clarivate JCR & JCI
JCRSSCI2026

EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

Q1
Rank61/760
IndexSSCI
JCISSCI2026

EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

Q1
Rank56/762
IndexSSCI

Annual Historical Statistics & Publications

Track annual publication volume, total citations, and Impact Factor evolution

12 year
2026Latest
IF4.3
Articles / Year119
Total Citations28
2025
IF4.6
Articles / Year217
Total Citations550
2024
IF3.6
Articles / Year220
Total Citations1,821
2023
IF5
Articles / Year172
Total Citations2,456
2022
IF3.947
Articles / Year200
Total Citations5,477

SCImago & Scopus Journal Intelligence

Global SCImago ranking, SJR prestige index, Scopus coverage, and societal policy impact

Rank #1,359Scopus Q1SCImago Profile
Scopus Coverage:1972-2026
Scopus Broad Areas:Social Sciences
Scopus Citation Rank (SJR)Q1
2.059

Weighted prestige citation metric per document indexed in the Scopus database.

Quartile: Scopus Q1
Citations / Doc (2 years)
7.99

Average citations received per document published in the 2-year window.

2-Year Citation Window
Estimated Publication Fee (APC)
$3,780 USD

Estimated Article Processing Charge for Open Access publication.

Estimated cost / article

Scopus 3-Year Publication & Citation Window

3-Year Citations4,236
3-Year Documents501
Citable Documents500

Aggregated from Scopus database across the 3-year SJR evaluation window.

Societal Impact & Inclusivity (SCImago)

Policy Citations (Overton)7

Citations in government and international policy documents

Female Author Rate53.8%

Percentage of female authors published in the journal

Real-world societal policy reach and author gender diversity tracked by SCImago.

Scopus Subject Categories

EducationQ1
LawQ1
Academic Metric Intelligence

Journal Metrics & Citation Visualizations

Total Cites vs Self-Cites

Evaluation of scholarly independence and citation reach

Total citations steady growth
Self-citation: 8.3%

Citations per Document

Citation metric windows across 2, 3, and 4 years

Cites / Doc (4 years)Cites / Doc (3 years)Cites / Doc (2 years)

Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Classification

Major / minor zone classification and CAS Early Warning List history

Major Category (Broad Field):
1区 (Zone 1)Education
Minor Category (Specific Field):
1区EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
CAS Early Warning List History:
Updated annually: 2020 – 2024
2020
Not warned
2021
Not warned
2022
Not warned
2023
Not warned
2024
Not warned

Academic Intelligence Overview & Context

ImpaQ Analysis

Higher Education (acronym: high, ISSN: 0018-1560) is a peer-reviewed international scholarly journal in the field of EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH, published by Springer Nature in Netherlands. The periodical holds a Journal Impact Factor (JIF) of 4.30, ranking in quartile Q1 of Web of Science (SCIE), a Scopus SJR indicator of 2.059 (Q1), an H-index of 150.

The journal enforces rigorous peer evaluation with a publication frequency of 12 issues per year, an annual output of approximately 126 scientific articles. In terms of accessibility and author fees, it operates under the Hybrid model with an estimated APC of $3,780 USD. It serves as a benchmark publication platform for academics, researchers, and doctoral candidates seeking global research visibility.

Publishing & Editorial Information

Detailed publisher, peer-review turnaround, and publication cycle specifications

Open Access Model
Hybrid
Publisher
Springer Nature
Publication Language
English
Frequency
12 issues per year
Indexing & Databases
SSCIScopusPubMed

Similar Journals in Discipline

Journals in the same research field with comparable impact metrics

Record UUID: 3319a925-8e64-45c7-881e-2b8d5bc6a846
Database Updated: 2026-10-01