21 free-to-publish journals published in Japan
21 peer-reviewed open access journals published in Japan charge no article processing charge and no other author fees, according to the DOAJ. 11 of them are indexed in Scopus and ranked by SCImago (4 in Q1 or Q2); the rest are listed too, Scopus-ranked journals first. Data snapshot: October 2026.
Of the Scopus-ranked journals here, 36% are Q1 or Q2 (site-wide: 40%). Their median self-reported time from submission to publication is 15 weeks. The largest subject areas are Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities and Environmental Science. 90% accept manuscripts in English and 24% accept at least one other language.
All 21 journals
Sorted by best SCImago quartile, then SJR. Click a column header to sort by it; click a second column to add a tiebreak. The search box narrows the list. Time to publish is the journal’s own DOAJ figure (average weeks from submission to publication).
| # | Journal | Quartile | SJR | Publisher | Languages | Time to publish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spine Surgery and Related Research 2432-261X | Q2 | 0.608 | The Japanese Society for Spine Surgery and Related Research | English | 15 wk |
| 2 | KONA Powder and Particle Journal 0288-4534 · 2187-5537 | Q2 | 0.497 | Hosokawa Powder Technology Foundation | English | 14 wk |
| 3 | IAFOR Journal of Education 2187-0594 | Q2 | 0.425 | The International Academic Forum | English | 4 wk |
| 4 | Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal 2185-3762 | Q2 | 0.281 | Kanda University of International Studies | English | 8 wk |
| 5 | APN Science Bulletin 2522-7971 | Q3 | 0.4 | Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research | English | 22 wk |
| 6 | Journal of Water and Environment Technology 1348-2165 | Q3 | 0.316 | Japan Society on Water Environment | English | 43 wk |
| 7 | Tribology Online 1881-218X · 1881-2198 | Q3 | 0.314 | Japanese Society of Tribologists | English | 23 wk |
| 8 | IAFOR Journal of Cultural Studies 2187-4905 | Q3 | 0.12 | The International Academic Forum | English | 10 wk |
| 9 | Antarctic Record 0085-7289 · 2432-079X | Q4 | 0.108 | National Institute of Polar Research | Japanese, English | 12 wk |
| 10 | IAFOR Journal of Literature & Librarianship 2187-0608 | Q4 | 0.101 | The International Academic Forum | English | 30 wk |
| 11 | Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 0304-1042 | Q4 | 0.101 | Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture, Nagoya | English | 8 wk |
| 12 | AAOS Transactions 2758-2795 | – | – | The Academic Association for Organizational Science | Japanese | 24 wk |
| 13 | Cuadernos CANELA 1344-9109 · 2189-9568 | – | – | CANELA (Confederación Académica Nipona, Española y Latinoamericana) | Spanish | 12 wk |
| 14 | Ebisu: Études Japonaises 2189-1893 | – | – | Institut français de recherche sur le Japon à la Maison franco-japonaise | Japanese, English, French | 52 wk |
| 15 | Environmental Monitoring and Contaminants Research 2435-7685 | – | – | Japan Society for Environmental Chemistry | English | 14 wk |
| 16 | IAFOR Journal of Arts & Humanities 2187-0616 | – | – | The International Academic Forum | English | 12 wk |
| 17 | Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 2436-259X | – | – | Japan Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery | English | 25 wk |
| 18 | Journal of Work Health and Safety Regulation 2758-4771 · 2758-4755 | – | – | The Japan Association of Occupational Health Law | English | 9 wk |
| 19 | Ludic Language Pedagogy 2435-2349 | – | – | James York | English | 26 wk |
| 20 | Nusa 0126-2874 · 2187-7297 | – | – | Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies | English | 20 wk |
| 21 | RPGgaku kenkyu 2434-9682 | – | – | Japanese Association for Role-Playing Game Studies | Japanese, English | 32 wk |
Where these journals come from
Top subject areas (Scopus-ranked)
Top publishers
- The International Academic Forum 4
- Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research 1
- CANELA (Confederación Académica Nipona, Española y Latinoamericana) 1
- Hosokawa Powder Technology Foundation 1
- Institut français de recherche sur le Japon à la Maison franco-japonaise 1
- James York 1
About this list
Country means the publisher’s country as recorded in the DOAJ, not the language or the authors’ origin: most journals accept submissions from anywhere. Community-verified journals were checked by hand against a short checklist (ISSN, peer review, no fees, recent issues) and are marked “Not in DOAJ”.
Diamond open access (also called Platinum) means the journal is free to read and free to publish in: the DOAJ records it with “APC: no” and “other fees: no”. Quartiles come from the latest SCImago edition: Q1 is the top 25% of journals in a subject category, Q4 the bottom 25%; the lists show a journal’s best quartile. Read more in our open access guide.
Before submitting, always confirm the journal on its own website and in the DOAJ, verify Scopus indexing by ISSN with the Scopus check rather than trusting claims on the journal’s site, and watch out for look-alike titles (see the predatory journal checklist).