Journal profile · Mathematics-Control and Optimization
Actuators
ISSN 2076-0825 · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) · SWITZERLAND
Actuators: CAS Zone 3 · Engineering (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.38; JCR Q2 (journal website); fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; review about 11 weeks (community reports); 630 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Actuators is published by Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) and is in Zone 3 of Engineering in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Soft Robotics and Applications, Hydraulic and Pneumatic Systems and Prosthetics and Rehabilitation Robotics, together about 25.5% of its articles. Its main subfields are Biomedical Engineering and Control and Systems Engineering. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Actuators covers studies related to all types of actuators and actuation technologies, actuator control systems, and their applications in the following areas: Land Transport This involves the primary function of transforming on-board energy into commands to wheels for land transport (motorcycles, cars, buses, trucks, trains, etc.). These wheel drives must be very durable (20,000 hours), very efficient (~85%), and independent to respond to command and to meet adverse operating conditions. Aircraft The dominant requirements are fault tolerance (no single point failures), torque/force density, and efficiency. Generally, distributed control with a minimum weight, volume, etc. and standardized interfaces for rapid repair and refreshment are essential. Medical Instruments Here, the question is reliability and miniaturization, especially in surgery or other invasive operations. It is useful also to have a high efficiency (low operating temperature and low noise), especially in rehabilitation systems. Robotics This has now become a very diverse field, from industrial manipulators to mobile platforms used to move packages in internet-based distribution centers. Durability and cost are the major measures of success. Manufacturing This involves two distinct application ranges. The first is the simple handling and preparation of product components for assembly (polishing, trimming, forming, painting, etc.). The other end of the spectrum involves high accuracy even under machining force disturbances. The first involves cost (system assembly, repair, and up-dates using standardized modules performed by a well-trained high school-level technician). The other end involves high value-added precision operations (machining, drilling, cutting, etc.), rejecting force disturbances using high-end sensor data and multi-criteria-based operating system software. Materials This involves a very wide range of choices. For transport, low weight/high stiffness could be an issue. In the medical field, the material must be lucent relative to measurement signals (MRI, x-ray) during surgery. Some material applications may require a high formability, high resistance to chemicals, low contact friction, etc. Power/Torque Density Increasingly, many high-level applications require a high output power or torque relative to the weight and volume. A prime mover may offer 1 ft-lb/lb. up to 6 ft-lb/lb. of torque. The prime mover may operate at a full range of speeds (say, from 1 to 50 k RPM) to offe
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Mathematics-Control and Optimization
Editor-in-chief Electrical EngineeringPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 4 in mainland China (about 13%); most named United States 6, Mainland China 4, Italy 4, Canada 4, Switzerland 2 (31 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Soft Robotics and ApplicationsEngineering10%
- Hydraulic and Pneumatic SystemsEngineering8.6%
- Prosthetics and Rehabilitation RoboticsEngineering7%
- Adaptive Control of Nonlinear SystemsEngineering6.2%
- Magnetic Bearings and Levitation DynamicsEngineering5.2%
- Vibration Control and Rheological FluidsEngineering5.1%
- Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting MaterialsEngineering4.9%
- Iterative Learning Control SystemsEngineering4.7%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Engineering Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Engineering | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Engineering, Mechanical | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Instruments & Instrumentation | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Engineering Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Engineering | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Engineering, Mechanical | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Instruments & Instrumentation | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Engineering Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Engineering | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Engineering, Mechanical | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Instruments & Instrumentation | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
JCR / CiteScore quartiles on the journal's website
- JCR Q2 · Engineering, Mechanical
- CiteScore Q1 · Control and Optimization
Publisher-reported: JCR figures are Clarivate's and CiteScore figures Scopus's to confirm; both are a different system from the CAS zones.Publisher website
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Web of ScienceINSPECPublisher website
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
- 2.38LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.4Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.5Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4.3LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 4.3Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.48LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.87LetPub ·
- h-index
- 55OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 837OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.9OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 12.5%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 99.82%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 640LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 3,304 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 493 | 493 | 163 |
| 2025 | 630 | 630 | 1,789 |
| 2024 | 526 | 526 | 2,823 |
| 2023 | 471 | 471 | 4,106 |
| 2022 | 390 | 390 | 4,250 |
| 2021 | 341 | 341 | 4,929 |
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 11 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 16.6 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 3.7 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 6 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Single anonymous 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 | CHF 2,400 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | CHF 2,400 | — | — | |
| LetPub | CHF 2,400 | 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 prepare6 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 200 words
- Reference style
- Author–date
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Suggested reviewers
- Required, 3
- Graphical abstract
- Optional
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted18
- book reviewAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- brief communicationAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- brief reportAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- case reportAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- commentaryAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- conference reportAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- editorialAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- hypothesisAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- letterAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- opinionAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- perspectiveAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- protocolAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- registered reportAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- reviewAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- systematic reviewAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- technical noteAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- tutorialAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- viewpointAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- Authorship Authorship
MDPI follows the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines which state that, in order to qualify for authorship of a manuscript, the following criteria should be observed: Make substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; Draft the work or review it critically for important intel…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Conflicts of Interest
According to The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, “Authors should avoid entering into agreements with study sponsors, both for-profit and non-profit, that interfere with authors’ access to all of the study’s data or that interfere with their ability to analyze and interpret the data and to prepare and publish manuscripts independently when and where they choose.” All authors mus…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data availability statements
Data availability statements are required for all articles published with MDPI. During the peer review and editorial decision process, authors can be asked to share existing datasets or raw data that have been analyzed in the manuscript, and whether they will be made available to other researchers following publication. Authors will also be asked for the details of any existing datasets that have …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics Publication Ethics Statement
Actuators is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). We fully adhere to its Code of Conduct and to its Best Practice Guidelines. The editors of this journal enforce a rigorous peer review process together with strict ethical policies and standards to ensure to add high quality scientific works to the field of scholarly publication. Unfortunately, cases of plagiarism, data falsifica…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Copyright / Open Access
Articles published in Actuators will be Open-Access articles distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The copyright is retained by the author(s). MDPI will insert the following note at the end of the published text: © 2026 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open access publication fees
If you transfer your manuscript to another open access (OA) journal, you will be charged an Article Processing Charge (APC) if your article is accepted for publication. The APC for each journal can be found on the individual journal’s website. For more information about APCs, please see here.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Editorial Process and Peer Review
All submissions are thoroughly peer-reviewed by experts within the field and undergo a structured editorial workflow designed to ensure quality, transparency, and scientific integrity. The full editorial procedure is available on the Editorial Process page and is also provided below. Pre-check Pre-check consists of a technical pre-check performed by the Editorial Office and an editorial pre-check …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints and Conference Papers
Actuators accepts submissions that have previously been made available as preprints provided that they have not undergone peer review. A preprint is a draft version of a paper made available online before submission to a journal. MDPI operates Preprints, a preprint server to which submitted papers can be uploaded directly after completing journal submission. Note that Preprints operates independen…
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
- Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)
- Country or region
- SWITZERLAND
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2076-0825
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 15 (2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- 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 Actuators
What CAS zone is Actuators in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Actuators is in Zone 3 of Engineering, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Engineering, Mechanical / Instruments & Instrumentation. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Engineering. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Actuators?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.38; CiteScore 4.3, h-index 55.
How long does peer review take at Actuators?
Authors report an average review time of about 11 weeks. 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.
What JCR quartile is Actuators in?
The journal's website gives JCR Q2; by category, Engineering, Mechanical Q2. JCR quartiles are Clarivate's to confirm and a different system from the CAS zones; in the CAS ranking the journal is in Zone 3 of Engineering.
What are the manuscript requirements of Actuators?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 200 words; Reference style: Author–date; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; Suggested reviewers: Required, 3; Graphical abstract: Optional; Cover letter: Required. A model extracted these from the author guidelines and each was checked against the text; check the latest version on the journal's website before submitting.
Where are the editorial board members of Actuators based?
Of the 31 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 4 (about 13%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (6), Mainland China (4) and Italy (4). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Actuators?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Actuators is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Web of Science and INSPEC; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Actuators open access, and what is the APC?
Actuators is a fully open-access journal. APC charged, amount not published.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, OpenAlex, 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: .