Journal profile · Computer Science, Software Engineering
ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology
ISSN 1049-331X · eISSN 1557-7392 · Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) · UNITED STATES · Quarterly
ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology: CAS Zone 1 · Computer Science (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal); impact factor 6.38; hybrid open access; median 232 days to acceptance (117 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: fairly easy; 374 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology is published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and is in Zone 1 of Computer Science in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Software Engineering Research, Software Testing and Debugging Techniques and Software Reliability and Analysis Research, together about 46% of its articles. Its main subfields are Artificial Intelligence. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Designing and building a large, complex software system is a tremendous challenge. ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM) publishes papers on all aspects of that challenge: specification, design, development and maintenance. It covers tools and methodologies, languages, data structures, and algorithms. TOSEM also reports on successful efforts, noting practical lessons that can be scaled and transferred to …
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Computer Science, Software Engineering
Editor-in-chief Abhik RoychoudhuryPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Software Engineering ResearchComputer Science22.1%
- Software Testing and Debugging TechniquesComputer Science15.6%
- Software Reliability and Analysis ResearchComputer Science8.4%
- Software System Performance and ReliabilityComputer Science7.3%
- Advanced Malware Detection TechniquesComputer Science6.7%
- Advanced Software Engineering MethodologiesComputer Science5.3%
- Software Engineering Techniques and PracticesComputer Science5.2%
- Formal Methods in VerificationComputer Science3.3%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Computer Science Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Computer Science | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Computer Science, Software Engineering | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Computer Science Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Computer Science | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Computer Science, Software Engineering | Zone 1 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Computer Science Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Computer Science | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Computer Science, Software Engineering | Zone 1 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Editions, and major and minor categories, are shown separately and never merged into one zone; check which edition your institution uses before you submit or report.
Metrics
Impact metrics and publication volume
Impact
- Impact factor
- 6.38LetPub ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 11.6LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.59LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 2.3LetPub ·
- h-index
- 70LetPub ·
- h-index
- 123OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 902OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 7.81OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 8.7%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 20.9%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 231LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 2,015 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 379 | 166 | 470 |
| 2025 | 374 | 180 | 2,606 |
| 2024 | 271 | 160 | 4,917 |
| 2023 | 159 | 139 | 3,296 |
| 2022 | 152 | 95 | 4,699 |
| 2021 | 79 | 39 | 2,985 |
Sources count differently and were observed at different times, so each source's own value is kept; "publisher" marks figures from the journal's website.
Review & acceptance
Review time and acceptance
Review time from article dates manuscript dates registered with Crossref · to
232 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 187 days – 288 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 73 days (117 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 344 days
- Sample
- 117 articles with submission and acceptance dates (925 in the window); the latest was accepted on
Only articles that were accepted and published are counted, not the time spent on rejected manuscripts, so this usually runs longer than a publisher's "time to first decision".
Other sources
- Average review time (community reports)
- over 12 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly easyLetPub ·
Community reports come from authors' own submissions (confidence 0.5) and are not a promise from the journal; for publisher figures, the journal's own definitions apply.
Fees & open access
APC and open-access policy
Hybrid open accessLetPub
A subscription journal in which authors can pay to publish their article open access.
No source has fee information yet; check the journal's website.
A hybrid journal charges the APC only when the author chooses open access; publishing under the subscription model is usually free.
The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.
Submission
Article types and submission policies (journal website)
Article types accepted1
- research-articleresearch-article A Research Roadmap for Augmenting Software Engineering Processes and Software Products with Generative AILength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use
- AI use LLM-as-a-Judge for Software Engineering: Literature Review, Vision, and the Road Ahead
Junda He,Jieke Shi,Terry Yue Zhuo, + 5 August 2026Article No.: 266 pp 1-30 https://doi.org/10.1145/3797276
Source ↗Publisher website ·
Excerpts are quoted from the journal's website; "model summary" lines are written by Workers AI and checked against the text. The journal's website is authoritative.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Quarterly
- ISSN
- 1049-331X
- Electronic ISSN
- 1557-7392
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 35, Issue 9 (September 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology
What CAS zone is ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology is in Zone 1 of Computer Science, and in Zone 1 of the minor category Computer Science, Software Engineering; it is a Top journal. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Computer Science. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 6.38; CiteScore 11.6, h-index 123.
How long does peer review take at ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology?
Based on the dates recorded on 117 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 232 days (interquartile range 187–288 days); authors report an average review time of over 12 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly easy”. Article statistics cover accepted papers only, publisher figures follow the journal's own definitions, and community reports come from authors' own submissions; none is a promise from the journal.
Which databases index ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology is indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Is ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology open access, and what is the APC?
ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology is a hybrid journal. Fee information is not available yet; check the journal's website.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, Publisher website; every figure is tagged with its source and the date it was observed, and conflicting values are kept per source. LetPub source page: view ↗ (archived 2026-08-24). Last updated: .