Computational Materials Science

Computational Materials Science is published by Elsevier and is in Zone 3 of Materials Science in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Microstructure and mechanical properties, Graphene research and applications and Boron and Carbon Nanomaterials Research, together about 21.9% of its articles. Its main subfields are Materials Chemistry. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)

The aim of the journal is to publish papers that advance the field of computational materials science through the application of modern computational methods alone or in conjunction with experimental techniques to discover new materials and investigate existing inorganic materials, such as metals, ceramics, composites, semiconductors, nanostructures, 2D materials, metamaterials, and organic materials, such as polymers, liquid crystals, surfactants, emulsions, and also hybrid materials combining both inorganic and organic components such as polymer nanocomposites, nanocrystal superlattices or surfactant nanoparticle mixtures.Papers that report on the development of new methods, enhancement of existing approaches or significant technical computational advances are of interest.Papers with a focus on simulations must contain new conceptual or computational advances. For example, molecular dynamics using standard force fields, ordinary techniques and reporting conventional average quantities will be rejected without review. Validation of non-first-principles methods and transferability of methods must be included as part of each submission. In-depth discussion of impact, physical properties, and motivation for the system under study is strongly recommended.Studies including experimental data are of interest, but they must address a relevant theoretical/computational question. Papers that are deemed to be primarily experimental with some supporting theory will be returned without review.Data-driven techniques in materials research, including machine-learning enhanced simulations and materials informatics, have emerged as powerful techniques to complement traditional computational materials science. Consistent with established best practices in across data-driven science, it is important that studies proposing or applying data-driven techniques provide data and code that adhere to FAIR data principles- Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. FAIR data access also ensures a robust peer review process where results can be reproduced by referees. Papers that are deemed to be primarily methodological but do not provide FAIR data and code will be returned without review. In a few rare cases, some limitations may prevent the complete public sharing of code and data; for instance, when the data or code is subject to copyright or intellectual property. However, these cases should be rare and considered on a case-by-case basis. The scope of the journal includes:obtaining new or enhanced insights into material behavior, properties and phenomena,predicting structure-property relationships for new materials in conjunction with data informatics,novel capabilities of computational methods and algorithms, technical software and shareware, or cyberinfrastructures.Contributions are accepted in the form of critical reviews, articles, letters and perspectives. Occasional special issues will be organized around a particular theme and some of these will be guest edited.Not all topics that potentially fall under the category of computational materials science will be considered; to find out more please visit the Guide for Authors.Guide for Authors:Research articles will be assessed based on originality, uniqueness and scientific merit. Manuscripts with significant overlap with existing reported works are likely to be inadmissible.To be considered for publication in Computational Materials Science studies proposing or applying data-driven techniques must exhibit a high degree of novelty in application and interpretation, in addition to providing FAIR-compatible data and code to support their analysis. the data and code used to generate your models are not available. This is achievable in different ways, not limited to posting code on a publicly available GitHub repository and/or data on Zenodo, including the code and data as attachments to the manuscript, or as a docker container.Not all topics that potentially fall under the category of computa

From the journal's Aims & Scope

Research area (LetPub): Materials Science, Multidisciplinary

Editor-in-chief Susan SinnottPublisher website

Editorial board by country: 10 in mainland China (about 15%); most named United States 29, Mainland China 10, Canada 6, United Kingdom 4, Germany 3 (66 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website · 2026-10-01

CAS Journal Ranking

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.

Impact

Impact factor

3.68LetPub · 2026-09-13

Impact factor (publisher)

3.7Publisher website · 2026-10-01

CiteScore 2026-06

6.3LetPub · 2026-09-13

CiteScore (publisher)

6.3Publisher website · 2026-10-01

SJR 2026-06

0.72LetPub · 2026-09-13

SNIP 2026-06

1LetPub · 2026-09-13

h-index

97LetPub · 2026-09-13

h-index

175OpenAlex · 2026-10-01

i10-index

8,268OpenAlex · 2026-10-01

2-year mean citedness

4.12OpenAlex · 2026-10-01

Self-citation rate

5.4%LetPub · 2026-09-13

Share of gold OA articles

17.01%LetPub · 2026-09-13

Volume

Articles per year

702LetPub · 2026-09-13

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.

Figures by source

Average review time (community reports)

about 1.8 monthsLetPub · 2026-09-13

Average acceptance (community reports)

84%LetPub · 2026-09-13

Submission to first decision

3 daysPublisher website · 2026-10-01

First decision after review

24 daysPublisher website · 2026-10-01

Submission to acceptance

64 daysPublisher website · 2026-10-01

Acceptance to publication

9 daysPublisher website · 2026-10-01

Peer review

Single anonymous peer reviewPublisher website

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.

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.

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.

Publisher

Elsevier

Country or region

NETHERLANDS

Language

English

Frequency

Monthly

ISSN

0927-0256

Electronic ISSN

1879-0801

Official links

• Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
• Submission system ↗Publisher website
• Special issues ↗Publisher website