2019 Literary Magazine Ranking — Poetry

[To see the 2020 Literary Magazine Ranking for Poetry, go here.]

Below is the 2019 Perpetual Folly Literary Magazine Ranking for Poetry. Go here to read about the methodology.

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2019 Magazine 2018 2019 Score
1 Poetry 1 80
2 Kenyon Review 2 50.5
3 American Poetry Review 3 40
4 Threepenny Review 5 35.5
5 New England Review 6 35
6 Southern Review 4 32.5
7 Gettysburg Review 9 28.5
8 Poem-a-Day 9 26
9 Ploughshares 7 23.5
10 Sun 16 22
11 Copper Canyon Press 18 21
12 Cincinnati Review 13 20
13 Tin House 9 18.5
14 Paris Review 12 17.5
15 Field 14 17
16 Agni 19 16.5
16 Georgia Review 16 16.5
16 Spillway 15 15.5
19 Boston Review 20 15
20 Blackbird 23 14
21 Five Points 23 13.5
21 Rattle 23 13.5
23 Copper Nickel 30 13
24 Sugar House Review 20 12.5
24 Vallum: Contemporary Poetry 43 12.5
26 New Ohio Review 27 12
27 Poetry Review 8 11
27 The Journal 50 11
29 jubilat 31 10.5
30 Four Way Books 32 10
30 Lake Effect 32 10
30 Tupelo Press 32 10
33 Arroyo Literary Review 120 9.5
33 Michigan Quarterly Review 36 9.5
33 Southern Indiana Review 27 9.5
33 Virginia Quarterly Review 22 9.5
37 Massachusetts Review 38 9
38 Missouri Review 39 8.5
38 Sixth Finch 39 8.5
40 River Styx 41 8
41 Image 41 7.5
41 Literary Imagination 129 7.5
41 Ninth Letter 129 7.5
41 Pleiades 129 7.5
41 Smartish Pace 43 7.5
41 Yale Review 36 7.5
41 ZYZZYVA 32 7.5
48 BOA Editions 43 7
48 Hudson Review 27 7
48 Tar River 50 7
51 Adroit Journal 66 6
51 American Scholar 50 6
51 Awl 50 6
51 Codex 50 6
51 Ecotone 50 6
51 Nepantla 50 6
51 Poetry Northwest 23 6
51 Prelude 50 6
51 Southeast Review 180 6
51 White Pine Press 66 6
61 Greensboro Review 59 5.5
61 Gulf Coast 59 5.5
61 Hopkins Review 59 5.5
61 Lana Turner 59 5.5
61 Little Star 50 5.5
61 New Criterion 125 5.5
61 Nimrod 236 5.5
61 Salmagundi 59 5.5
69 Account 66 5
69 Alaska Quarterly Review 66 5
69 Alice James Books 59 5
69 American Journal of Poetry 66 5
69 Benniington Review 66 5
69 Brick 66 5
69 Butcher’s Dog 66 5
69 Cave Wall 66 5
69 Conduit 66 5
69 Constellations 66 5
69 Crab Orchard Review 66 5
69 Foundry 66 5
69 Granta 66 5
69 Graywolf Press 66 5
69 Great River Review 66 5
69 Hawaii Pacific Review 66 5
69 I-70 Review 66 5
69 LSU Press 66 5
69 Malahat Review 66 5
69 Moonpie Press 66 5
69 Nerve Cowboy 66 5
69 New American Writing 59 5
69 New Orleans Review 66 5
69 Prism 66 5
69 Purple Passion Press 66 5
69 Quarterly West 66 5
69 Rhino 66 5
69 River Teeth 66 5
69 Salamander 120 5
69 Seneca Review 5
69 Storm Cellar 66 5
69 Summerset Review 66 5
69 Sycamore Review 66 5
69 TAB 66 5
69 Thrush 66 5
69 Tiger Bark Press 66 5
69 Tipton Poetry Journal 66 5
69 Tule Review 66 5
69 Volta 66 5
69 Willow Springs 43 5
69 Bettering American Poetry 5
69 Abstract Magazine TV 5
69 Kweli Journal 5
69 Plume 5
69 Saturnalia Books 5
69 Shade Journal 5
69 Wordtemple Press 5
69 LitMag 5
117 Denver Quarterly 49 4.5
117 Shenandoah 66 4.5
119 Hotel Amerika 117 4
119 Little Patuxent Review 117 4
119 North American Review 119 4
122 Crazyhorse 129 3.5
122 Epoch 120 3.5
122 Hunger Mountain 66 3.5
122 Indiana Review 120 3.5
122 Zone 3 129 3.5
127 Paterson Literary Review 125 3
127 Poetry International 125 3
127 Subtropics 125 3
130 5 a.m. © 129 2.5
130 Assaracus 66 2.5
130 Atlanta Review 129 2.5
130 Briar Cliff Review 66 2.5
130 Café Review 129 2.5
130 Collagist 66 2.5
130 Court Green © 129 2.5
130 Cypher Books 129 2.5
130 Dunes Review 66 2.5
130 Eleven Eleven 129 2.5
130 Fifth Wednesday 129 2.5
130 Forklift Ohio 66 2.5
130 Green Mountains Review 66 2.5
130 Harbour Publishing 66 2.5
130 Harvard Review 129 2.5
130 Ibbetson Street 66 2.5
130 Iowa Review 129 2.5
130 Manhattan Review 129 2.5
130 Margie © 129 2.5
130 Muzzle Magazine 66 2.5
130 Nebraska Poets Calendar (?) 129 2.5
130 New South 168 2.5
130 New South Books 129 2.5
130 New Verse News 129 2.5
130 Notre Dame Review 66 2.5
130 Orion 43 2.5
130 Parnassus: Poetry in Review 129 2.5
130 Pilot Light 129 2.5
130 Pleasure Boat Studio 129 2.5
130 Poems & Plays 129 2.5
130 Prairie Schooner 129 2.5
130 Quiddity 129 2.5
130 Southern Poetry Review 129 2.5
130 Spork 129 2.5
130 Think Journal 129 2.5
130 Treelight Books 66 2.5
130 Utah State University Press 129 2.5
130 Verse Wisconsin ©  129 2.5
130 Water-Stone Review 43 2.5
130 YesYes Books 66 2.5
170 Iron Horse Literary Review 168 2
170 Narrative 168 2
170 Upstreet 168 2
170 Verse Daily 168 2
170 World Literature Today 180 2
175 Believer 176 1.5
175 Birdfeast 168 1.5
175 Cimarron Review 176 1.5
175 Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review 176 1.5
175 Poet Lore 180 1.5
175 Raritan 168 1.5
175 Southwest Review 176 1.5
175 University of Pittsburgh Press 129 1.5
183 Academy of American Poets 180 1
183 Beloit Poetry Journal 168 1
183 Black Warrior Review 180 1
183 Bloom 180 1
183 Chinquapin Literary Magazine 180 1
183 Chiron Review 180 1
183 Cleveland State Univ. Poetry Ctr. 180 1
183 Clockhouse 180 1
183 Colorado Review 180 1
183 Construction 180 1
183 Cossack Review 180 1
183 Cutbank 1
183 Enizagam 180 1
183 Exit 7 180 1
183 Grub Street 180 1
183 Gun Powder Press 180 1
183 Heart 180 1
183 Hobart 180 1
183 Jai-Alai 180 1
183 Lake, The 180 1
183 Louisiana Literature 180 1
183 McNeese Review 180 1
183 Meadow 180 1
183 MIZNA 180 1
183 Offing 180 1
183 OmniVerse 180 1
183 One Throne 180 1
183 Paris American 180 1
183 Pinch 180 1
183 Pluck 180 1
183 Porkbelly Press 180 1
183 QWERTY 180 1
183 Radius 180 1
183 Raleigh Review 180 1
183 Rove 180 1
183 Rumpus 180 1
183 Saranac Review 180 1
183 Solstice 180 1
183 Springhouse 180 1
183 Tupelo Quarterly 180 1
183 Upstairs at Duroc (?) 180 1
183 Wave Books 120 1
183 Yarn 180 1
183 Bauhan Publshing 1
183 Birmingham Poetry Review 1
183 Great Weather for Media 1
183 Gulf Stream Literary Magazine 1
183 Poetry South 1
183 Scablands Books 1
232 A Public Space 180 0.5
232 Able Muse 236 0.5
232 Airlie Press 180 0.5
232 Autumn House 236 0.5
232 Barefoot Muse 236 0.5
232 Bellevue Literary Review 236 0.5
232 Blue Earth Review 236 0.5
232 Calyx 236 0.5
232 Cardinal Points 236 0.5
232 Chautauqua 180 0.5
232 Columbia Poetry Review 236 0.5
232 Connecticut Review 236 0.5
232 Evansville Review 180 0.5
232 Examined Life 236 0.5
232 Fort Hemlock Press © 236 0.5
232 Hanging Loose 236 0.5
232 Harpur Palate 236 0.5
232 Haven Chronicles (?) 236 0.5
232 Hayden’s Ferry 236 0.5
232 Healing Muse 180 0.5
232 Hollins Critic 236 0.5
232 InDigest (?) 236 0.5
232 Live Mag! 236 0.5
232 Long Island Quarterly 236 0.5
232 Lost Hills Books (?) 236 0.5
232 Main Street Rag 236 0.5
232 Make 236 0.5
232 New Haven Review 236 0.5
232 New Letters 180 0.5
232 New Madrid 180 0.5
232 Normal School 180 0.5
232 November3rdClub © 236 0.5
232 Persea Books 180 0.5
232 Silk Road 180 0.5
232 Sink Review 236 0.5
232 Specs 236 0.5
232 Spoon River Review 236 0.5
232 Valparaiso Poetry Review 236 0.5
232 Verse Magazine 180 0.5
232 Wordcraft of Oregon 236 0.5
232 Zephyr Press 180 0.5

About the author

Comments

  1. Notre Dame Review and Paris American? I beg to differ. Both magazines held work of mine for 8-9 months and never returned an email asking for a response to the submission. I finally withdrew both. That’s completely unprofessional as well as being rude to the writing community they depend on.

  2. I honestly don’t even comprehend the ratings. What, exactly, do they indicate? Is a high number better than a low one or vice versa? I understand the numbers that show where something was on the previous year’s list, but that is all I understand. Is it a percentage of the work that is published?

    1. At the top of the page is a link to an explanation of the methodology I use. The score at the far right–higher is better–is based on a formula that takes into account the number of Pushcart Prizes and Special Mentions received by the magazine over a 10-year period. I hope that helps.

      1. I am the editor of Canary, and we were highly ranked in your listing in 2016 (and have since completely disappeared from your rankings). To our knowledge, no one that we have nominated has ever been either a Pushcart Prize or Special Mention winner, so we were happy but confused in 2016. And now we are equally confused by our downfall in your listings. We have read your criteria and methods carefully. Can you explain our particular phenomenon?

        1. Gail, thank you for reaching out. My guess is that this is a case of mistaken identity (by me). A magazine called The Canary won 2 Pushcart Prizes in the 2008 volume for poems by Greta Wrolstad and Khaled Mattawa and a Special Mention in 2009 for a poem by John Asberry. The index to the 2008 volume gives a Kemah, TX address for the magazine. I guess that was a different magazine? I can find no trace of that magazine now, and when I added url links a few years ago I must have assumed your magazine was the same as The Canary. My apologies for that error. The reason it has disappeared from the list as that the “points” earned in 2008 and 2009 are now more than 10 years old and so drop out of my algorithm. Again, thank you for reaching out.

  3. Noticed that there are a number of defunct publications while a number of fine “active” journals don’t appear on the 2019 list:
    Blue Collar Review, Brilliant Corners, Hubbub, Interim, Laurel Review, Mantis (Stanford), Queen Mob’s Teahouse, Quiddity, Tampa Review,
    Witness. Just wondering why?
    Surely the Tampa Review rates higher than a Poets Calendar that has been defunct for seven years????

    1. I leave defunct magazines on the list (and if I know they’re defunct I add a symbol to indicate this) so we have a complete record. As for the other magazines you name, the methodology explains that only journals that have won a Pushcart Prize or Special Mention in the last 10 years are ranked.

      1. Thanks for the response. Now I understand. The list is not necessarily, “2019 LITERARY MAGAZINE RANKING — POETRY” based on audience, ranking in the literary world, quality, reputation, etc. . .but based on the number and frequency of the journal’s work only as it related to the Pushcart Prizes (how many poems were nominated. selected, won).

  4. Thanks for the response. Now I understand. The list is not necessarily, “2019 LITERARY MAGAZINE RANKING — POETRY” based on audience, ranking in the literary world, quality, reputation, etc. . .but based on the number and frequency of the journal’s work only as it related to the Pushcart Prizes (how many poems were nominated. selected, won).

    1. Well, yes. Which is what I say on the methodology page. (With one correction–the list has nothing to do with poems nominated, since there are thousands of those; it is based solely on the number of Pushcart Prizes and Special Mentions won over a ten-year period.) Also, I would argue that the list is a measure of quality, with the Pushcart index as a proxy, as objective as I can make it.

    1. Thank you. Last year at this time they said they were “on hiatus,” which isn’t quite the same as defunct, but it does start to look that way.

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