Current Opinion in Structural Biology

Current Opinion in Structural Biology is published by Elsevier Ltd and is in Zone 2 of Biology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Protein Structure and Dynamics, RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms and Enzyme Structure and Function, together about 39.1% of its articles. Its main subfields are Molecular Biology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)

Current Opinion in Structural Biology aims to stimulate scientifically grounded, interdisciplinary, multi-scale debate and exchange of ideas. It contains polished, concise and timely reviews and opinions, with particular emphasis on those articles published in the past two years. In addition to describing recent trends, the authors are encouraged to give their subjective opinion of the topics discussed.In COSB, we help the reader by providing in a systematic manner:1. The views of experts on current advances in their field in a clear and readable form. 2. Evaluations of the most interesting papers, annotated by experts, from the great wealth of original publications.COSB will serve as an invaluable source of information for researchers, lecturers, teachers, professionals, policy makers and students.Division of the subject into sectionsThe subject of Structural Biology is divided into thirteen themed sections, each of which is reviewed once a year. Folding, Binding, and Protein Design AI Methodologies in Structural Biology Theory and Simulation/Computational Methods Macromolecular Assemblies New Concepts in Drug Discovery Single Molecule and Macromolecular Dynamics 3D Genome and Subcellular Organization Membranes and Membrane Proteins Cryo-EM Biophysical Methods Protein-Nucleic Acid Interactions Catalysis and Regulation Single Cell and Cell-Cell Interactions Selection of topics to be reviewedGuest Editors, who are major authorities in the field, are appointed by the Editors of the journal. They divide their section into a number of topics, ensuring that the field is comprehensively covered and that all issues of current importance are emphasised. Guest Editors commission reviews from authorities on each topic that they have selected. The Editorial Board provides support to the Editors and the Guest Editors with their comments and suggestions on names and topics.Review articles in COSB are by invitation only. The journal does not accept manuscripts other from those invited by guest editors, appointed by Editors-in-Chief.Review ArticlesThe Current Opinion journals were developed out of the recognition that it is increasingly difficult for specialists to keep up to date with the expanding volume of information published in their subject. In the Current Opinion journals, we help the reader by providing in a systematic manner: (1) The views of experts on current advances in the field in a clear and readable form. (2) Evaluations of the most interesting papers, annotated by experts, from the great wealth of original publications. The aim of the manuscript is to review recent articles, with particular emphasis on those articles published in the past two years. In addition to describing recent trends, you are encouraged to give your subjective opinion of the topics discussed, although you should not concentrate unduly on your own research. Your review should be approximately 2000 words (not including references or reference notes), with approximately 50 references and, as such, the review is intended to be a concise view of the field as it is at the moment, rather than a comprehensive overview. Our audience ranges from student to professor, so articles must be accessible to a wide readership. Please avoid jargon, but do not oversimplify: be accurate and precise throughout. Occasionally, unpublished data can be referred to, but only when essential and should never be used to substantiate any significant point. Editorial OverviewSection Editors write a short overview at the beginning of the section to introduce the reviews and to draw the reader's attention to any particularly interesting developments. This successful format has made COSB one of the most highly regarded review journals in the field.Please see further information under writing and formatting – additional information.

From the journal's Aims & Scope

Research area (LetPub): Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Editor-in-chief Ruth NussinovPublisher website

Editorial board by country: 3 in mainland China (about 6%); most named United Kingdom 13, United States 12, Germany 5, Mainland China 3, Switzerland 3 (49 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

7.69LetPub · 2026-09-13

Impact factor (publisher)

7.8Publisher website · 2026-10-01

CiteScore 2026-06

13.7LetPub · 2026-09-13

CiteScore (publisher)

13.7Publisher website · 2026-10-01

SJR 2026-06

2.96LetPub · 2026-09-13

SNIP 2026-06

1.61LetPub · 2026-09-13

h-index

190LetPub · 2026-09-13

h-index

255OpenAlex · 2026-10-01

i10-index

3,531OpenAlex · 2026-10-01

2-year mean citedness

8.36OpenAlex · 2026-10-01

Self-citation rate

3.8%LetPub · 2026-09-13

Share of gold OA articles

55.11%LetPub · 2026-09-13

Volume

Articles per year

162LetPub · 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.

Other sources

Average review time (community reports)

6–12 weeksLetPub · 2026-09-13

Average acceptance (community reports)

Fairly hardLetPub · 2026-09-13

Submission to first decision

8 daysPublisher website · 2026-10-01

First decision after review

50 daysPublisher website · 2026-10-01

Submission to acceptance

91 daysPublisher website · 2026-10-01

Acceptance to publication

26 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 Ltd

Country or region

ENGLAND

Language

English

Frequency

Bimonthly

Founded

1991

ISSN

0959-440X

Electronic ISSN

1879-033X

Official links

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