Journal profile · Engineering-Architecture
Buildings Cities
ISSN 2632-6655 · Ubiquity Press · United Kingdom
Buildings Cities: CAS Zone 3 · Engineering (2026 Xinrui edition); impact factor 3.7 (journal website); fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; review about 25 weeks (community reports); 63 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Buildings Cities is published by Ubiquity Press and is classed under Engineering in the CAS Journal Ranking. By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Building Energy and Comfort Optimization, Sustainable Building Design and Assessment and Environmental Impact and Sustainability, together about 34% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
BUILDINGS & CITIES is an international, open access, peer-reviewed, academic journal publishing high-quality research and analysis on the interplay between the different scales of the built environment: buildings, blocks, neighbourhoods, cities, national building stocks and infrastructures. The journal focuses on built environment policy, practices and outcomes and the range of economic, environmental, political, social and technological issues occurring over the full life cycle. It provides a platform for new ideas, innovative approaches and research-based insights that can help improve the built environment. BUILDINGS & CITIES aims to make research accessible and relevant to academics, policymakers, practitioners, clients, and occupants. Our wide scope embraces: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGs) & CLIMATE CHANGE ENERGY POLICY PRACTICE, PERFORMANCE, OUTCOMES & IMPACTS SOCIETAL DEMANDS & CAPABILITIES The full list of topics covered within the journal's scope can be found on the B&C Community Site. Papers are published in the following formats: Research articles (up to 8,000 words) present the latest research. Synthesis articles (up to 8,500 words) critically review the state of knowledge in key areas of interest. Methods articles (up to 5,000 words) describe the development of innovative research methods and practices; new ways of understanding research. Replication articles (up to 4,000 words) test previous findings and validate existing data sets. This can report on "failure" results. Registered reports are a submission option for replication studies, with peer review of the research design prior to the data collection. Policy Analysis articles (up to 3,000 words) put forward evidence-based analysis of particular policy approaches. Briefing Notes (up to 2,500 words) make research results and their implications on key built environment topics accessible to the end users of research: policymakers, practitioners, clients or occupants.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Engineering-Architecture
Editor-in-chief Richard LorchPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 3 in mainland China (about 4%); most named United Kingdom 20, United States 7, Germany 7, Australia 4, Mainland China 3 (68 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Building Energy and Comfort OptimizationEngineering14.9%
- Sustainable Building Design and AssessmentEngineering11.4%
- Environmental Impact and SustainabilityEnvironmental Science7.7%
- Facilities and Workplace ManagementPsychology7.2%
- Sustainability and Climate Change GovernanceEnvironmental Science5%
- Innovative Approaches in Technology and Social DevelopmentBusiness, Management and Accounting4.7%
- Urban Transport and AccessibilitySocial Sciences3.9%
- Urban Green Space and HealthEnvironmental Science3.8%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Engineering Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Engineering | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Construction & Building Technology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
Database indexing
ESCIScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Web of ScienceERIH PLUSPublisher website
Other: EBSCO, ProQuest, CNKI, J-Gate, OCLC, CLOCKSS, Crossref, Sherpa Romeo
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 (publisher) 2025
- 3.7Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.2LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 5.2Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.83LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.33LetPub ·
- h-index
- 34OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 148OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.27OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 5.4%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 63LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 936,249Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 383 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 58 | 58 | 28 |
| 2025 | 63 | 63 | 183 |
| 2024 | 44 | 44 | 328 |
| 2023 | 57 | 57 | 695 |
| 2022 | 63 | 63 | 966 |
| 2021 | 55 | 55 | 1,494 |
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 25 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 25 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Double 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 | GBP 1,400 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | GBP 950 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 1,200 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 1,450 / GBP 1,325 / GBP 585 | — | — |
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 prepare7 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 200 words
- Keywords
- ≤ 6
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 8,000 words
- Templates
- Word
- Highlights
- Required
- Graphical abstract
- Required
- Cover letter
- Optional
Article types accepted6, with length limits
- methods articleicability within the body of the paper. Methods articles should be no longer than 5,000 words in length, including references and citations. This sectionmain text ≤ 5,000 words
- policy analysisPolicy analysis should put forward evidence-based analysis of particular policy approaches. Policy analysis articles should be no longer than 3,000 words in len…main text ≤ 3,000 words
- replicationReplication articles should test previous findings and validate existing data. This can also report of “failure” results. Registered reports are a submission op…main text ≤ 4,000 words
- researchResearch articles must describe the outcomes and application of unpublished original research. These should make a substantial contribution to knowledge and und…main text ≤ 8,000 words
- research articleby relevant figures and tabulated data. Research articles should be no more than 8,000 words in length, including references and citations. This sectionmain text ≤ 8,000 words
- synthesisSynthesis articles must provide a critical review of the state of knowledge in key areas of interest. Synthesis articles should be no more than 8,500 words in l…main text ≤ 8,500 words
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteConflicts of interest, Data availability, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review
- Conflicts of interest Competing interests
If any of the authors have any competing or conflicting interests then these must be declared, this includes membership of the B&C editorial team. A short paragraph should be placed before the references. Guidelines for competing interests can be found here. If there are no competing interests to declare then the following statement should be present: The author(s) has/have no competing interests …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data Availability
Data availability statement required prior to the reference list. Model summary
A 'Data availability statement' must be supplied prior to the reference list providing information on how readers can access the data (but without URLs and institutional information at this point to enable a double-blind review process), or information on why it has not been made public. If data, structured methods or code used in the research project have been made openly available, a statement s…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics
Ethics: research involving human subjects must comply with the Declaration of Helsinki and be approved by an appropriate ethics committee. Model summary
Research involving human subjects, human material, or human data, must have been performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Where applicable, studies must have been approved by an appropriate ethics committee and the authors should include a statement within the article text detailing this approval, including the name of the ethics committee and reference number of the approval.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Copyright Notice
Copyright: Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication, with the work licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. Model summary
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms (if a submission is rejected or withdrawn prior to publication, all rights return to the author(s)): Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open Access Policy
APC waivers/discounts available on request. Model summary
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. There is no embargo on the journal’s publications. Submission and acceptance dates, along with publication dates, are made available on the PDF format for each paper. Authors of articles published remain the copyright holde…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review
Peer review: double-blind review process. Model summary
Please ensure that your manuscript files do not contain your name and organisation in the metadata (i.e. in the document’s properties section under summary or description). This is to ensure anonymity in the double-blind review process.
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
- Ubiquity Press
- Country or region
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2632-6655
- 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 Buildings Cities
What CAS zone is Buildings Cities in?
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 Buildings Cities?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 3.7 (2025); this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 5.2, h-index 34.
How long does peer review take at Buildings Cities?
Authors report an average review time of about 25 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 are the manuscript requirements of Buildings Cities?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 200 words; Keywords: ≤ 6; Manuscript length: ≤ 8,000 words; Templates: Word; Highlights: Required; Graphical abstract: Required; Cover letter: Optional. 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 Buildings Cities based?
Of the 68 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 3 (about 4%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (20), United States (7) and Germany (7). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Buildings Cities?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Buildings Cities is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Web of Science and ERIH PLUS; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Buildings Cities open access, and what is the APC?
Buildings Cities 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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .