Journal profile · Social Sciences-Urban Studies
City and Environment Interactions
ISSN 2590-2520 · Elsevier · United Kingdom
City and Environment Interactions: CAS Zone 3 · Engineering (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 5.3 (journal website); fully open access; APC about USD 2,550; review about 130 days (submission to acceptance, publisher); 103 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
City and Environment Interactions is published by Elsevier 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 Urban Heat Island Mitigation, Urban Green Space and Health and Land Use and Ecosystem Services, together about 41.7% of its articles. Its main subfields are Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Climate – Sustainability – ResilienceCity and Environment Interactions is an international and interdisciplinary rapid open access forum focusing on the interactions between cities and related environmental and climatic pressures. The outcome-related research we publish should tackle the challenges that densely-populated cities (and their wider regions) face in a changing world, as increasing populations live in conurbations.We welcome full research papers, review articles, and are also keen to consider short communications that present original material for rapid dissemination. For more details, please see below for our different Article Types.City and Environment Interactions also welcomes research on the urban environment from both the natural and social sciences, especially if it demonstrates the interface with urban policy making and other important stakeholders. It is important to note that the journal aims be useful reading not just for academics, but stakeholders within industry, urban government, and policymakers etc.What topics will the journal cover?Pressures from pollution, climate and the environment add to the demand cities place on resources, and difficult decisions are inevitable in making cities efficient, enjoyable and healthy places to live. The United Nations places great hope in local, city and regional governments taking responsibility to drive sustainable development.Multi-disciplinary research from across both the natural and social sciences is urgently needed to inform the decision making required for better and more sustainable cities.Our subject scope sits at the nexus of how the science of cities and regions (i.e. networks; processes and interactions; communities; and systems) interact with sustainability, resilience, resource limitation, pollution, climate/climate change, and global atmosphere and warming.Some examples of potential topics in this field could be:Environmental pressures on cities and their regionsClimate threats such as water shortages, urban runoff, urban heat island etc.Urban greenhouse gas emission and decarbonisation in cities.Impact of extreme weather in cities.Poor air quality and population exposureAir pollutant sensors and community monitoringTransport networks and pollution or climate changeProblems of water supplyEnvironmental issues surrounding recycling and solid wasteIntegrative concerns: electricity; food; water and waste; medicine; securityCross-disciplinary studies; cities as complex systemsCommun
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Social Sciences-Urban Studies
Editor-in-chief Riccardo BuccolieriPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 6 in mainland China (about 18%); most named Mainland China 6, Italy 6, Japan 4, United States 3, United Kingdom 2 (33 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Urban Heat Island MitigationEnvironmental Science15.8%
- Urban Green Space and HealthEnvironmental Science13.5%
- Land Use and Ecosystem ServicesEnvironmental Science12.5%
- Air Quality and Health ImpactsEnvironmental Science5.2%
- Urban Transport and AccessibilitySocial Sciences4.3%
- Climate Change and Health ImpactsEnvironmental Science4.3%
- Building Energy and Comfort OptimizationEngineering3.4%
- Flood Risk Assessment and ManagementEnvironmental Science3.4%
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 | Environmental Sciences | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Environmental Studies | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Engineering Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Engineering | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Environmental Sciences | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Environmental Studies | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences | 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
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)
- 5.3Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 6.3LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 6.3Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.18LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.78LetPub ·
- h-index
- 32OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 108OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.82OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 5.7%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 95LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 458 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 190 | 190 | 113 |
| 2025 | 103 | 103 | 489 |
| 2024 | 47 | 47 | 696 |
| 2023 | 39 | 39 | 631 |
| 2022 | 19 | 19 | 517 |
| 2021 | 21 | 21 | 596 |
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 PubMed · to
Too few articlesOnly 1 articles from the last 24 months carry both submission and acceptance dates, too few for a median
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".
Figures by source
- Average review time (community reports)
- about 12 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 5 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review
- 48 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 130 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 5 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 20 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 | USD 2,550 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 2,500 / EUR 2,340 / GBP 2,000 / JPY 310,080 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 1,580 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | USD 2,700 | — | — |
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)
Open calls for papers2, by deadline
Publisher websiteWhat to prepare5 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 250 words
- Keywords
- 1–7
- Reference style
- Author–date
- Highlights
- Optional
- Graphical abstract
- Optional
Article types accepted15, with length limits
- invited viewpointInvited Viewpoint articles: Short papers ~ 2500-3000 words in main text (though longer can be possible in some cases. Discuss with the Editor-in Chief).Length not stated
- letters to the editorship. We also publish a small number of Letters to the Editor, and Opinion Pieces: maximum 2000 words. This journal welcomes contributions that support and adva…main text ≤ 2,000 words
- opinionOriginal Research Papers: no word limitOriginal Review Papers: no word limitShort Communications: not normally more than 3000 words of main text, making a timel…Length not stated
- opinion piecesWe also publish a small number of Letters to the Editor, and Opinion Pieces: maximum 2000 words.Length not stated
- original researchOriginal Research Papers: no word limitOriginal Review Papers: no word limitShort Communications: not normally more than 3000 words of main text, making a timel…Length not stated
- original research paperOriginal Research Papers: no word limitOriginal Review Papers: no word limitShort Communications: not normally more than 3000 words of main text, making a timel…main text ≤ 3,000 words
- original research papersOriginal Research Papers: no word limitLength not stated
- original review papersOriginal Review Papers: no word limitLength not stated
- policy forumPolicy Forum: (maximum 1500 words) present analyses of the policy implications of recent scientific results or studies or discuss the intersection of science an…Length not stated
- research articleOriginal Research Papers: no word limitOriginal Review Papers: no word limitShort Communications: not normally more than 3000 words of main text, making a timel…Length not stated
- reviewOriginal Research Papers: no word limitOriginal Review Papers: no word limitShort Communications: not normally more than 3000 words of main text, making a timel…Length not stated
- short communicationOriginal Research Papers: no word limitOriginal Review Papers: no word limitShort Communications: not normally more than 3000 words of main text, making a timel…Length not stated
- short communicationsShort Communications: not normally more than 3000 words of main text, making a timely and significant contribution to the Journal and deserving of rapid publica…Length not stated
- technical commentTechnical Comment: (maximum 1500 words) present critical technical comments made on a recently published research article in the jLength not stated
- viewpointOriginal Research Papers: no word limitOriginal Review Papers: no word limitShort Communications: not normally more than 3000 words of main text, making a timel…main text ≤ 3,000 words
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Authorship, Conflicts of interest, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints, Self-archiving
- AI use Declaration of generative AI use
Authors must declare the use of generative AI tools in the manuscript preparation process upon submission of the paper.Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies (“AI tools”) have been rapidly adopted in research and scholarly publishing, offering significant benefits while requiring clear standards for responsible and transparent use.Authors preparing a manuscript for this journal may use AI tool…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Authorship Group authorship
All authors accountable for all aspects of the work. Model summary
Group authorship refers to the attribution of an article to a defined and named group of authors whose members have contributed to the work. Examples include research consortia, clinical trial groups, collaborative networks, task forces or working groups, expert panels or consensus groups, and participatory research groups. Group authorship must be declared on the title page at submission. When av…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Declaration of competing interests
All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias their work. Examples of potential competing interests include:EmploymentConsultanciesStock ownershipHonorariaPaid expert testimonyPatent applications or registrationsGrants or any other fundingAffiliation with the journal as an Editor or Advisory Board …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics
Follow Elsevier's Publishing Ethics Policy. Model summary
Authors must follow ethical guidelines stated in Elsevier's Publishing Ethics Policy.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright License options
Authors will be offered open access user license options which will determine how you, and third parties, can reuse your open access article. We advise that you review these options and any funding body license requirements before selecting a license option.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open access
We refer you to our open access information page to learn about open access options for this journal.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review
Single anonymized review process. Model summary
This journal follows a single anonymized review process. Your submission will initially be assessed by our editors. If your submission is deemed suitable, it will typically be sent to be reviewed by a minimum of two reviewers for an independent expert assessment of the scientific quality. The decision as to whether your article is accepted or rejected for publication will be made by our editors.Re…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
Preprint sharing allowed; does not count as prior publication. Model summary
Preprint sharingAuthors may share preprints in line with Elsevier's article sharing policy. Sharing preprints, such as on a preprint server, will not count as prior publication.We advise you to read our policy on multiple, redundant or concurrent publication. In support of Open Science, this journal offers its authors a free preprint posting service on SSRN, Elsevier’s preprint and early research …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Self-archiving
Supports and advances the UN's sustainable development goals, in particular SDG 7 (Affordable and clean energy) and SDG 13 (Climate Action) Model summary
This journal welcomes contributions that support and advance the UN's sustainable development goals, in particular SDG 7 (Affordable and clean energy) and SDG 13 (Climate Action)
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
- Elsevier
- Country or region
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2590-2520
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗DOAJ
- Aims & Scope ↗DOAJ
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Fee waivers ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗DOAJ
- Editorial board ↗DOAJ
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about City and Environment Interactions
What CAS zone is City and Environment Interactions in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, City and Environment Interactions is in Zone 3 of Engineering, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Environmental Sciences / Environmental Studies / Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Engineering. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of City and Environment Interactions?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 5.3; this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 6.3, h-index 32.
How long does peer review take at City and Environment Interactions?
The publisher reports about 130 days (submission to acceptance); authors report an average review time of about 12 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 City and Environment Interactions?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 250 words; Keywords: 1–7; Reference style: Author–date; Highlights: Optional; Graphical abstract: 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 City and Environment Interactions based?
Of the 33 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 6 (about 18%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Mainland China (6), Italy (6) and Japan (4). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index City and Environment Interactions?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, City and Environment Interactions is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is City and Environment Interactions open access, and what is the APC?
City and Environment Interactions is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 2,550.
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 2026-08-30). Last updated: .