Journal profile · Engineering-Aerospace Engineering
Drones
ISSN 2504-446X · Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) · Switzerland · Monthly · Founded 2017
Drones: CAS Zone 3 · Computer Science (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 5.19; JCR Q2 (journal website); fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; review about 11 weeks (community reports); 886 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Drones is published by Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) and is in Zone 3 of Computer Science in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are UAV Applications and Optimization, Robotic Path Planning Algorithms and Robotics and Sensor-Based Localization, together about 39.7% of its articles. Its main subfields are Aerospace Engineering. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Drones (ISSN 2504-446X) is an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal published monthly online. The journal focuses on the design and applications of drones, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs), and Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPASs), etc. Likewise, contributions based on unmanned marine/water/underwater drones, unmanned ground vehicles, fully autonomous driving, and space drones are also welcome. Special Requirements of Drones: The manuscript submitted must clearly and directly address topics related to unmanned platforms. If the manuscript is dealing with general theoretical aircraft design, it is recommended to validate the theoretical/numerical results with experimental data from a study of an unmanned platform, at least at a laboratory scale; Manuscripts related to military operations/applications or that have any explicit reference to military organizations must fully comply with MDPI's Dual Use Policy. 1. Design - onboard sensor design- airframe and structural design- power supply- geometric and radiometric sensors- sensor fusion- calibration of imageries- controlling system- signal/image processing- nano drones or nanotechnology 2. Development - performance- control system- mission planning- security systems- autonomy- navigation and position/orientation- autonomous take-off and landing- artificial intelligent- machine learning- simultaneous localization and mapping- controlled and non-controlled airspace- meteorology- GNSS outages- regulations, and economic impact 3. Applications - environments- agriculture- forestry- geosciences- urban area- logistics- disaster assistance- security and surveillance - architecture- monitoring, change detection- health- marine science- education
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Engineering-Aerospace Engineering
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- UAV Applications and OptimizationEngineering19.3%
- Robotic Path Planning AlgorithmsComputer Science11.1%
- Robotics and Sensor-Based LocalizationEngineering9.2%
- Distributed Control Multi-Agent SystemsComputer Science6.4%
- Remote Sensing and LiDAR ApplicationsEnvironmental Science6.2%
- Advanced Neural Network ApplicationsComputer Science4.2%
- 3D Surveying and Cultural HeritageEarth and Planetary Sciences4.2%
- Air Traffic Management and OptimizationEngineering4.2%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Computer Science Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Computer Science | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Remote Sensing | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Computer Science Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Computer Science | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Remote Sensing | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Earth Sciences Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Earth Sciences | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Remote Sensing | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
JCR / CiteScore quartiles on the journal's website
- JCR Q2 · Remote Sensing
- CiteScore Q1 · Aerospace Engineering
Publisher-reported: JCR figures are Clarivate's and CiteScore figures Scopus's to confirm; both are a different system from the CAS zones.Publisher website
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
EI CompendexWeb of ScienceINSPECPublisher website
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
- 5.19LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 5.2Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 5.3Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 10LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 10Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.05LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.63LetPub ·
- h-index
- 90OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,496OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 6.57OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 13.5%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 894LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 3,936 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 713 | 713 | 454 |
| 2025 | 886 | 886 | 5,339 |
| 2024 | 804 | 804 | 9,990 |
| 2023 | 690 | 690 | 14,185 |
| 2022 | 452 | 452 | 12,013 |
| 2021 | 158 | 158 | 5,373 |
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 11 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 21.1 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 2.9 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 6 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 | CHF 2,600 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | CHF 2,600 | — | — | |
| LetPub | CHF 2,600 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
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 papers9, by deadline
- Autonomy Challenges in Unmanned AviationDeadline
- UAVs and GeoAI for Natural Hazard Monitoring and ModelingDeadline
- Advanced Cross-Domain Unmanned Platform Command and Security Technology: 2nd EditionDeadline
- UAV Swarm Intelligent Control and Decision-MakingDeadline
- Optimizing MIMO Systems for UAV Communication NetworksDeadline
- IoT-Enabled UAV Networks for Secure CommunicationDeadline
- When Deep Learning Meets Geometry for Air-to-Ground Perception on Drones: 2nd EditionDeadline
- Path Planning, Trajectory Tracking and Guidance for UAVs: 4th EditionDeadline
- Navigation, Control and Mission Planning Advances for Safe, Efficient and Autonomous Drones: 2nd EditionDeadline
What to prepare7 items from the author guidelines
- Reference style
- Author–date
- Templates
- LaTeX and Word
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Suggested reviewers
- Required, 3
- Highlights
- Required
- Graphical abstract
- Optional
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted20
- articleArticle: These are original research manuscripts. The work should report scientifically sound experiments and provide a substantial amount of new information.Length not stated
- book reviewAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
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- opinionAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
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- scoping reviewA Scoping Review type can be submitted as a Review.Length not stated
- systematic reviewAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- technical noteAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- tutorialAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- viewpointAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Code availability, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- Authorship Authorship
MDPI follows the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines which state that, in order to qualify for authorship of a manuscript, the following criteria should be observed: Make substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; Draft the work or review it critically for important intel…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Code availability
Authors must clearly cite material taken from other sources and obtain permission where appropriate. Model summary
Authors should ensure that where material is taken from other sources (including their own published writing) the source is clearly cited and that where appropriate permission is obtained.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Conflicts of Interest
According to The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, “Authors should avoid entering into agreements with study sponsors, both for-profit and non-profit, that interfere with authors’ access to all of the study’s data or that interfere with their ability to analyze and interpret the data and to prepare and publish manuscripts independently when and where they choose.” All authors mus…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data availability statements
Data availability statements are required for all articles published with MDPI. Model summary
Data availability statements are required for all articles published with MDPI. During the peer review and editorial decision process, authors can be asked to share existing datasets or raw data that have been analyzed in the manuscript, and whether they will be made available to other researchers following publication. Authors will also be asked for the details of any existing datasets that have …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics Publication Ethics Statement
Drones is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). We fully adhere to its Code of Conduct and to its Best Practice Guidelines. The editors of this journal enforce a rigorous peer review process together with strict ethical policies and standards to ensure to add high quality scientific works to the field of scholarly publication. Unfortunately, cases of plagiarism, data falsificatio…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Copyright / Open Access
Articles published in Drones will be Open-Access articles distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The copyright is retained by the author(s). MDPI will insert the following note at the end of the published text: © 2026 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and con…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open access publication fees
If you transfer your manuscript to another open access (OA) journal, you will be charged an Article Processing Charge (APC) if your article is accepted for publication. The APC for each journal can be found on the individual journal’s website. For more information about APCs, please see here.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Editorial Process and Peer Review
All submissions are thoroughly peer-reviewed by experts within the field and undergo a structured editorial workflow designed to ensure quality, transparency, and scientific integrity. The full editorial procedure is available on the Editorial Process page and is also provided below. Pre-check Pre-check consists of a technical pre-check performed by the Editorial Office and an editorial pre-check …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints and Conference Papers
Drones accepts submissions that have previously been made available as preprints provided that they have not undergone peer review. A preprint is a draft version of a paper made available online before submission to a journal. MDPI operates Preprints, a preprint server to which submitted papers can be uploaded directly after completing journal submission. Note that Preprints operates independently…
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
- Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)
- Country or region
- Switzerland
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Monthly
- Founded
- 2017
- ISSN
- 2504-446X
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 10 (2026)
- 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 Drones
What CAS zone is Drones in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Drones is in Zone 3 of Computer Science, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Remote Sensing. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Computer Science. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Drones?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 5.19; CiteScore 10, h-index 90.
How long does peer review take at Drones?
Authors report an average review time of about 11 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 JCR quartile is Drones in?
The journal's website gives JCR Q2; by category, Remote Sensing Q2. JCR quartiles are Clarivate's to confirm and a different system from the CAS zones; in the CAS ranking the journal is in Zone 3 of Computer Science.
What are the manuscript requirements of Drones?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Reference style: Author–date; Templates: LaTeX and Word; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; Suggested reviewers: Required, 3; Highlights: Required; Graphical abstract: Optional; 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 Drones?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Drones is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists EI Compendex, Web of Science and INSPEC; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Drones open access, and what is the APC?
Drones is a fully open-access journal. APC charged, amount not published.
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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .