Journal profile · Paleontology
Acta Palaeontologica Polonica
ISSN 0567-7920 · eISSN 1732-2421 · Polska Akademia Nauk · POLAND · Quarterly · Founded 1956
Acta Palaeontologica Polonica: CAS Zone 3 · Earth Sciences (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.49; fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; review about 12.5 months (community reports); community-reported acceptance: about 50%; 57 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Acta Palaeontologica Polonica is published by Polska Akademia Nauk and is in Zone 3 of Earth Sciences in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Evolution and Paleontology Studies, Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology and Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils, together about 50.1% of its articles. Its main subfields are Paleontology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Journal is an international quarterly journal publishing papers of general interest from all areas of paleontology. Since its founding by Roman Kozłowski in 1956, various currents of modern paleontology have been represented in the contents of the journal, especially those rooted in biologically oriented paleontology, an area he helped establish. In-depth studies of all kinds of fossils, of the mode of life of ancient organisms and structure of their skeletons are welcome, as those offering stratigraphically ordered evidence of evolution. Work on vertebrates and applications of fossil evidence to developmental studies, both ontogeny and astogeny of clonal organisms, have a long tradition in our journal. Evolution of the biosphere and its ecosystems, as inferred from geochemical evidence, has also been the focus of studies published in the journal. The language of the journal is English.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Paleontology
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named Poland 5, Germany 2, United States 1, Brazil 1 (9 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Evolution and Paleontology StudiesEarth and Planetary Sciences17.1%
- Paleontology and Evolutionary BiologyEarth and Planetary Sciences16.9%
- Paleontology and Stratigraphy of FossilsEarth and Planetary Sciences16.1%
- Ichthyology and Marine BiologyEnvironmental Science7%
- Geology and Paleoclimatology ResearchEarth and Planetary Sciences5.9%
- Geological Formations and Processes ExplorationEarth and Planetary Sciences5.1%
- Marine Biology and Ecology ResearchEarth and Planetary Sciences5%
- Botany and Plant Ecology StudiesAgricultural and Biological Sciences2.6%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Earth Sciences Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Earth Sciences | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Paleontology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Earth Sciences Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Earth Sciences | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Paleontology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Earth Sciences Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Earth Sciences | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Paleontology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
GeoRefCurrent ContentsPublisher website
Other: AGRO Poznan, Biological Abstracts, BIOSIS Previews, Geological Abstracts, Index Copernicus, Petroleum Abstracts, VINITI RAN, SciSearch, Zoological Record
As the journal's website lists them, not checked against each database; for Web of Science editions the records above apply.
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
- 1.49LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 2.11Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 2.31Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 2.6LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.62LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.82LetPub ·
- h-index
- 47LetPub ·
- h-index
- 62OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 994OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 19.83OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 5.6%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 94.16%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 56LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,859 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 46 | 46 | 2,820 |
| 2025 | 57 | 57 | 78 |
| 2024 | 49 | 49 | 116 |
| 2023 | 54 | 54 | 191 |
| 2022 | 54 | 54 | 330 |
| 2021 | 74 | 74 | 536 |
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
- Average review time (community reports)
- about 12.5 monthsLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- 50%LetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 16 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Unspecified peer reviewDOAJ
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
Fully open accessDOAJ
Every article is open access; authors usually pay an article processing charge (APC).
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | EUR 22 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | EUR 22 | — | — | |
| LetPub | EUR 22 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
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)
What to prepare1 items from the author guidelines
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted10, with length limits
- articlesArticles consist of a title, abstract, keywords, authors’ mail and e-mail addresses, ORCID digital identifier number, introduction, main text, conclusions, ackn…Length not stated
- book reviewords, ca. 6 double-spaced pages), Paper/Book reviews, Prefaces (500-1500 words, ca. 3 double-spaced pages). ). Monographs (50 000-75 000 wmain text ≤ 1,500 words
- brief reportions, acknowledgements, and references. Brief reports (2000-3000 words, ca. 12 double-spaced pages including illustrations). Briefmain text ≤ 3,000 words
- brief reportsBrief reports (2000-3000 words, ca. 12 double-spaced pages including illustrations).Length not stated
- commentsComments, Discussions (1000-1500 words, ca. 6 double-spaced pages), Paper/Book reviews, Prefaces (500-1500 words, ca. 3 double-spaced pages).Length not stated
- discussionsComments, Discussions (1000-1500 words, ca. 6 double-spaced pages), Paper/Book reviews, Prefaces (500-1500 words, ca. 3 double-spaced pages).Length not stated
- editors' choiceEditors' choice. This heading will receive papers of wide topical interest significantly increasing the knowledge of the fossil record and/or evolutionary proce…Length not stated
- monographsMonographs (50 000-75 000 words, ca. 300 double-spaced pages including illustrations) published as a supplement to APP (under Palaeontologia Polonica subtitle).Length not stated
- paper/book reviewsComments, Discussions (1000-1500 words, ca. 6 double-spaced pages), Paper/Book reviews, Prefaces (500-1500 words, ca. 3 double-spaced pages).Length not stated
- prefacesComments, Discussions (1000-1500 words, ca. 6 double-spaced pages), Paper/Book reviews, Prefaces (500-1500 words, ca. 3 double-spaced pages).Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteData availability, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Plagiarism
- Data availability
Joint Data Archiving Policy Model summary
Acta Palaeontologica Polonica requires, as a condition for publication, that all of the data underlying or supporting the results in the paper should either be made available as Supplementary Online Material (see section 5), or be archived in an appropriate public archive, such as Dryad (http://www.datadryad.org/), MorphoBank (www.morphobank.org) or GenBank (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/).
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics
Burmese amber policy Model summary
Following the recommendation of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology we decided that until the human rights situation in Myanmar is resolved, we will not publish papers on Burmese amber collected from 2017 onwards.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright
Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) for articles. Model summary
Acta Palaeontologica Polonica articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Plagiarism
Plagiarism screening Model summary
APP uses the iThenticate software to detect instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts.
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
- Polska Akademia Nauk
- Country or region
- POLAND
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Quarterly
- Founded
- 1956
- ISSN
- 0567-7920
- Electronic ISSN
- 1732-2421
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Fee waivers ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗LetPub
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Acta Palaeontologica Polonica
What CAS zone is Acta Palaeontologica Polonica in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica is in Zone 3 of Earth Sciences, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Paleontology. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Earth Sciences. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Acta Palaeontologica Polonica?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 1.49; CiteScore 2.6, h-index 62.
How long does peer review take at Acta Palaeontologica Polonica?
Authors report an average review time of about 12.5 months; the community-reported acceptance is “about 50%”. 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.
Where are the editorial board members of Acta Palaeontologica Polonica based?
Of the 9 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Poland (5), Germany (2) and United States (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Acta Palaeontologica Polonica?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists GeoRef and Current Contents; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Acta Palaeontologica Polonica open access, and what is the APC?
Acta Palaeontologica Polonica is a fully open-access journal. APC charged, amount not published.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, Publisher website, DOAJ; 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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .