Journal profile · GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARYMETEOROLOGY-METEOROLOGY & ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES
Earth System Science Data
ISSN 1866-3508 · eISSN 1866-3516 · Copernicus Publications · GERMANY
Earth System Science Data: CAS Zone 1 · Earth Sciences (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal); impact factor 12.68; fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; review about 35 weeks (community reports); 338 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Earth System Science Data is published by Copernicus Publications and is in Zone 1 of Earth Sciences in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Cryospheric studies and observations, Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics and Climate variability and models, together about 23.9% of its articles. Its main subfields are Atmospheric Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Earth System Science Data (ESSD) is an international, interdisciplinary journal for the publication of articles on original research data (sets), furthering the reuse of high-quality data of benefit to Earth system sciences. The editors encourage submissions on original data or data collections which are of sufficient quality and have the potential to contribute to these aims. The journal maintains sections for regular-length articles, brief communications (e.g. on additions to data sets) and commentaries, as well as review articles and special issues. Articles in the data section may pertain to the planning, instrumentation, and execution of experiments or collection of data. Any interpretation of data is outside the scope of regular articles. Articles on methods describe nontrivial statistical and other methods employed (e.g. to filter, normalize, or convert raw data to primary published data) as well as nontrivial instrumentation or operational methods. Any comparison to other methods is beyond the scope of regular articles. Review articles may compare methods or relative merits of data sets, the fitness of individual methods or data sets for specific purposes, or how combinations might be used as more complex methods or reference data collections. Earth System Science Data has an innovative two-stage publication process involving the scientific discussion forum Earth System Science Data Discussions (ESSDD), which has been designed to do the following: foster scientific discussion; maximize the effectiveness and transparency of scientific quality assurance; enable rapid posting of new scientific results; make scientific publications freely accessible. In the first stage, papers that pass a rapid peer review are immediately posted on the Earth System Science Data Discussions (ESSDD) website. They are then subject to an interactive public discussion, during which the referees' comments (anonymous or attributed), additional short comments by other members of the scientific community (attributed), and the authors' replies are also posted in ESSDD. In the second stage, the peer-review process is completed and, if accepted, the final revised papers are published in ESSD. To ensure publication precedence for authors, and to provide a lasting record of scientific discussion, ESSDD and ESSD are both ISSN-registered, permanently archived, and fully citable. Earth System Science Data also offers an efficient new way of publishing special issues, in which the indiv
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARYMETEOROLOGY-METEOROLOGY & ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES
Editor-in-chief Tobias GerkenPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 2 in mainland China (about 4%); most named Hong Kong, China 4, Denmark 4, Sweden 3, Mainland China 2, United States 2 (45 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Cryospheric studies and observationsEarth and Planetary Sciences9.2%
- Atmospheric and Environmental Gas DynamicsEnvironmental Science8%
- Climate variability and modelsEnvironmental Science6.7%
- Climate change and permafrostEarth and Planetary Sciences6%
- Atmospheric chemistry and aerosolsEarth and Planetary Sciences5.8%
- Marine and coastal ecosystemsEarth and Planetary Sciences5.5%
- Meteorological Phenomena and SimulationsEarth and Planetary Sciences5.4%
- Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamicsEarth and Planetary Sciences5%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Earth Sciences Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Earth Sciences | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Geosciences, Multidisciplinary | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Earth Sciences Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Earth Sciences | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Geosciences, Multidisciplinary | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Earth Sciences Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Earth Sciences | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Geosciences, Multidisciplinary | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
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
- 12.68LetPub ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 19.2LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 19.2Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 7.2LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 5.57LetPub ·
- h-index
- 38LetPub ·
- h-index
- 174OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,485OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 11.75OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 3.7%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 334LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 50Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 2,405 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 311 | 311 | 395 |
| 2025 | 338 | 338 | 3,869 |
| 2024 | 262 | 262 | 6,440 |
| 2023 | 265 | 265 | 11,330 |
| 2022 | 270 | 270 | 16,387 |
| 2021 | 290 | 290 | 27,896 |
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 35 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 35 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Open 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 1,400 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | EUR 1,400 | — | — | |
| LetPub | EUR 1,400 | 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)
Article types accepted6
- brief communicationsBrief communicationsLength not stated
- commentariescommentariesLength not stated
- data description papersData description papersLength not stated
- ess visionsESS VisionsLength not stated
- regular articlesRegular articlesLength not stated
- review articlesReview articlesLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Code availability, License & copyright
- AI use
AI usage must be described in Methods or Acknowledgements. Model summary
Should you have used AI tools to generate (parts of) your manuscript, please describe the usage either in the Methods section or the Acknowledgements.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Code availability
Software and model code should be deposited in FAIR-aligned repositories, cited via DOI, and a "Code availability" or "Code and data availability" section included. Model summary
Authors are encouraged to deposit software, algorithms, and model code in FAIR-aligned repositories/archives whenever possible. These research outputs are then cited in the manuscript using the received DOI and included in the reference list. The manuscript must then include a section entitled "Code availability" or, in the case of data and code, "Code and data availability".
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright
Authors must agree to comply with the general terms, article processing charges, licence and copyright agreement, and general obligations for authors. Model summary
to agree and comply with the general terms and the article processing charges; to agree and comply with the licence and copyright agreement; to agree and comply with the general obligations for authors
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
- Copernicus Publications
- Country or region
- GERMANY
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1866-3508
- Electronic ISSN
- 1866-3516
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- Author guidelines ↗DOAJ
- 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 Earth System Science Data
What CAS zone is Earth System Science Data in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Earth System Science Data is in Zone 1 of Earth Sciences, and in Zone 1 of the minor category Geosciences, Multidisciplinary / Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences; it is a Top journal. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 1 of Earth Sciences. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Earth System Science Data?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 12.68; CiteScore 19.2, h-index 174.
How long does peer review take at Earth System Science Data?
Authors report an average review time of about 35 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.
Where are the editorial board members of Earth System Science Data based?
Of the 45 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 2 (about 4%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Hong Kong, China (4), Denmark (4) and Sweden (3). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Earth System Science Data?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Earth System Science Data is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Earth System Science Data open access, and what is the APC?
Earth System Science Data is a fully open-access journal. APC charged, amount not published.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, Publisher website, 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: .