Journal profile · sustainability research
Discover Sustainability
ISSN 2662-9984 · Springer Nature · Switzerland
Discover Sustainability: CAS Zone 4 · Environmental Science & Ecology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 5.2 (journal website); fully open access; APC about USD 1,790; median 129 days to acceptance (194 articles, last 24 months); 1,640 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Discover Sustainability is published by Springer Nature and is in Zone 4 of Environmental Science & Ecology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Environmental Sustainability in Business, Energy, Environment, Economic Growth and Sustainable Supply Chain Management, together about 29.4% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Discover Sustainability is part of the Discover journal series committed to providing a streamlined submission process, rapid review and publication, and a high level of author service at every stage. It is a multi-disciplinary, open access, community-focused journal publishing results from across all fields relevant to sustainability research and practice. We need more integrated approaches to social, environmental and technological systems to address some of the challenges to the sustainability of life on Earth. Discover Sustainability aims to support multi-disciplinary research and policy developments addressing all 17 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The journal is intended to help researchers, policy-makers, practitioners and the general public understand how we can ensure the well-being of current and future generations within the limits of the natural world by sustaining planetary and human health. It will achieve this by publishing open access research from across all fields relevant to sustainability, including theory and practice. Submissions to Discover Sustainability should seek to challenge existing orthodoxies and practices and contribute to real-world change by taking a multi-disciplinary approach. Aside from theoretical deliberations, we welcome submissions which seek to provide demonstrable solutions to the challenges of sustainability, as well as concrete suggestions for practical implementation, such as how research can be operationalised and how the results may be used within a wide socio-technical system. Topics Discover Sustainability covers topics including (but not limited to) agriculture and food security, artificial intelligence, biodiversity conservation, circular economy, cities and urbanisation, climate change, cultural diversity, ecosystems, education, energy efficiency and renewable energy, environmental education and behaviour, environmental degradation, disaster management, environmental law and economics, ethics, floods and drought, globalization, governance and regulation, hazards and risks, health and environment, human population, industrial development, infrastructure systems, innovation, land use and misuse, life cycle assessment and management, measuring and monitoring sustainability, natural capital, natural resources management, patterns of production and consumption, policy, pollution, poverty, safety and security, social sustainability, supply chain, sustainable chemistry, waste, water–
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): sustainability research
Editor-in-chief Walter LealPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Environmental Sustainability in BusinessBusiness, Management and Accounting12.1%
- Energy, Environment, Economic GrowthEconomics, Econometrics and Finance10.9%
- Sustainable Supply Chain ManagementBusiness, Management and Accounting6.4%
- Agricultural Innovations and PracticesAgricultural and Biological Sciences5.2%
- Corporate Social Responsibility ReportingBusiness, Management and Accounting5%
- Climate change impacts on agricultureAgricultural and Biological Sciences4.8%
- Environmental Education and SustainabilityEnvironmental Science4.8%
- Sustainability in Higher EducationSocial Sciences4.2%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Environmental Science & Ecology Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Environmental Science & Ecology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Environmental Sciences | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Environmental Studies | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Green & Sustainable Science & Technology | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Environmental Science & Ecology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Environmental Science & Ecology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Green & Sustainable Science & Technology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Environmental Sciences | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Environmental Studies | 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
CAB AbstractsPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, EBSCO, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, Baidu, Astrophysics Data System, Naver, OCLC, Portico, CLOCKSS
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
- 5.2Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 5.1Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 3.3LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.82LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.26LetPub ·
- h-index
- 55OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 711OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 4.59OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 11.5%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 99.91%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 1,615LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 2,025Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 4,200,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 4,543 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 2,201 | 2,201 | 846 |
| 2025 | 1,640 | 1,640 | 10,767 |
| 2024 | 535 | 535 | 8,467 |
| 2023 | 55 | 55 | 899 |
| 2022 | 45 | 45 | 755 |
| 2021 | 59 | 59 | 1,918 |
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 Crossref · to
129 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 97 days – 172 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 14 days (194 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 154 days
- Sample
- 194 articles with submission and acceptance dates (3,981 in the window); the latest was accepted on
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".
Other sources
- Submission to first decision
- 17 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 9 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 | EUR 1,490 / USD 1,790 / GBP 1,290 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 1,390 / EUR 1,090 / GBP 990 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 940 / USD 1,340 / EUR 1,040 | Yes | — |
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 papers3, by deadline
- Healthy Cities and Urban Resilience: Transformative Planning, Evaluation, and Sustainable TransitionsDeadline
- Behavioural Pathways Towards Environmental Sustainability in TourismDeadline
- Safe, Sustainable and Low-Carbon Mobility: Road Safety, Policy, Electrification, Micromobility and Digital InnovationDeadline
What to prepare3 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 250 words
- Reference style
- Numbered, in order of citation
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted14
- brief reportWhen you first submit in Snapp you will need to choose the correct article type.This journal accepts the following article types: Research Research articles pre…Length not stated
- case studyWhen you first submit in Snapp you will need to choose the correct article type.This journal accepts the following article types: Research Research articles pre…Length not stated
- commentComment articles can focus on policy, science and society, or purely scientific issues. They should be of immediate interest to a broad readership and should be…Length not stated
- data noteWhen you first submit in Snapp you will need to choose the correct article type.This journal accepts the following article types: Research Research articles pre…Length not stated
- full research articleWhen you first submit in Snapp you will need to choose the correct article type.This journal accepts the following article types: Research Research articles pre…Length not stated
- matters arisingMatters Arising articles are interesting and timely scientific or academic comments and clarifications on original research papers published in the journal.Length not stated
- methodologyMethodologies should present a new experimental or computational method, test or procedure. The method described may either be completely new, or may offer a be…Length not stated
- original paperWhen you first submit in Snapp you will need to choose the correct article type.This journal accepts the following article types: Research Research articles pre…Length not stated
- original research paperWhen you first submit in Snapp you will need to choose the correct article type.This journal accepts the following article types: Research Research articles pre…Length not stated
- perspectiveA Perspective is a scholarly review and discussion of the primary research literature that does not meet the criteria for a review articleLength not stated
- registered reportRegistered Reports are a publication format in which the research question and the quality of methodology are peer reviewed before the data are collected and an…Length not stated
- researchResearch articles present new scientific results within the scope of the journal that have not been published previously and are not being considered for public…Length not stated
- research articleWhen you first submit in Snapp you will need to choose the correct article type.This journal accepts the following article types: Research Research articles pre…Length not stated
- reviewReview articles provide critical accounts and comprehensive surveys of topics of major current interest within the scope of the journal.Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review
- Authorship
Funding statement mandatory Model summary
You need to include a statement which declares whether this work received funding or not.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Quantified environmental sustainability disclosures shape consumer perceptions and brand equity
Competing interests declaration Model summary
Hari Susanta NugrahaWidayanto WidayantoMelandrio Fauzaan Zuhdi Research Open access 14 September 2026
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability
Data availability statement required Model summary
All authors must include a data availability statement in their submission.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics
Ethics statement if required Model summary
You will need to include an ethics declaration if your work reports research involving human or animal subjects, their data and/or biological materials.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Step 4 - Understand your copyright
If your submission is accepted for publication, you will need to sign a licence agreement with Springer Nature to allow us to publish your article. According to this agreement:authors of articles published in this journal retain the copyright of their articles.authors grant Springer Nature a licence to publish the article and identify itself as the original publisher.authors retain full re-use rig…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open access publishing
Open access publishing Model summary
To find out more about publishing your work Open Access in Discover Sustainability, including information on fees, funding and licences, visit our Open access publishing page. Back to top Did you find what you were looking for? Share feedback.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Step 3 - Understand the peer review policy
Single-anonymous peer review Model summary
This journal follows a single-anonymous peer review procedure, where the reviewers are aware of the names and affiliations of the authors, but the reviewer reports provided to authors are anonymous. Peer review process All manuscripts undergo technical checks upon submission. Manuscripts that pass technical checks undergo suitability checks by our in-house editorial team. Eligible manuscripts are …
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
- Springer Nature
- Country or region
- Switzerland
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2662-9984
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- 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 Discover Sustainability
What CAS zone is Discover Sustainability in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Discover Sustainability is in Zone 4 of Environmental Science & Ecology, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Environmental Sciences / Environmental Studies / Green & Sustainable Science & Technology. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Environmental Science & Ecology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Discover Sustainability?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 5.2 (2025); this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 3.3, h-index 55.
How long does peer review take at Discover Sustainability?
Based on the dates recorded on 194 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 129 days (interquartile range 97–172 days). 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 Discover Sustainability?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 250 words; Reference style: Numbered, in order of citation; 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.
Which databases index Discover Sustainability?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Discover Sustainability is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists CAB Abstracts; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Discover Sustainability open access, and what is the APC?
Discover Sustainability is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 1,790.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, DOAJ, Publisher website; 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: .