Journal profile · PALEONTOLOGY
Fossil Record
ISSN 2193-0066 · eISSN 2193-0074 · Wiley-VCH Verlag · GERMANY
Fossil Record: CAS Zone 2 · Earth Sciences (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.97; fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; review about 14 weeks (community reports); 32 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Fossil Record is published by Wiley-VCH Verlag and is in Zone 2 of Earth Sciences in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution and Paleontology Studies and Ichthyology and Marine Biology, together about 45.4% of its articles. Its main subfields are Paleontology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Fossil Record is the international, peer-reviewed palaeontological journal of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. This journal was founded in 1998 under the name Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Geowissenschaftliche Reihe and appears with two issues each year. It publishes original papers in all areas of palaeontology including the taxonomy and systematics of fossil organisms, biostratigraphy, palaeoecology, and evolution. All taxonomic groups are treated, including invertebrates, microfossils, plants, and vertebrates. Fossil Record publishes specimen-based research if the results are placed in a wider context or analysis and particularly encourages publication of studies applying analytical methods in the field of palaeobiology. With the above objective, Fossil Record covers the following fields: taxonomy and biodiversity; evolutionary (palaeo-)biology; changes in taxonomic diversity and morphological disparity; phylogeny; evolution and development; biogeochemistry; biomineralization; Earth system sciences and global change.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): PALEONTOLOGY
Editorial board by country: 1 in mainland China (about 13%); most named Germany 3, Switzerland 2, Mainland China 1, United Kingdom 1, France 1 (8 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Paleontology and Evolutionary BiologyEarth and Planetary Sciences19.3%
- Evolution and Paleontology StudiesEarth and Planetary Sciences15%
- Ichthyology and Marine BiologyEnvironmental Science11.2%
- Paleontology and Stratigraphy of FossilsEarth and Planetary Sciences10.2%
- Fossil Insects in AmberAgricultural and Biological Sciences6.3%
- Geology and Paleoclimatology ResearchEarth and Planetary Sciences4.9%
- Fish biology, ecology, and behaviorEnvironmental Science3.1%
- Plant Diversity and EvolutionAgricultural and Biological Sciences2.7%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Earth Sciences Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Earth Sciences | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Paleontology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Earth Sciences Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Earth Sciences | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Paleontology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Earth Sciences Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Earth Sciences | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Paleontology | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview 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
- 1.97LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 2Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 3.3LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 3.3Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.69LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.01LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher)
- 1.01Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 17LetPub ·
- h-index
- 34OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 232OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.19OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 5%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 96.88%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 27LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 792 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 35 | 35 | 4 |
| 2025 | 32 | 32 | 41 |
| 2024 | 46 | 46 | 89 |
| 2023 | 13 | 13 | 77 |
| 2022 | 21 | 21 | 155 |
| 2021 | 31 | 31 | 208 |
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 14 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 14 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 1,150 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | EUR 1,150 | — | — | |
| LetPub | EUR 550 | 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)
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Authorship, Conflicts of interest, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- AI use Use of AI
Authors must be transparent about the use of Artificial Intelligence tools such as ChatGPT and other large language models in the manuscript preparation, and disclose details of how the AI tool was used within the "Materials and Methods" section.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Authorship Authorship/Contributorship
Some journals are integrated with Contributor Role Taxonomy (CRediT), in order to recognise individual author input within a publication, thereby ensuring professional and ethical conduct, while avoiding authorship disputes, gift / ghost authorship and similar pressing issues in academic publishing. During manuscript submission, the submitting author is strongly recommended to specify a contributo…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Conflict of interest
During the editorial process, the following relationships between editors and authors are considered conflicts of interest: Colleagues currently working in the same research group or department, recent co-authors, and doctoral students for which the editor served as committee chair. During the submission process, the authors are kindly advised to identify possible conflicts of interest with the jo…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement
GeneralThe publishing ethics and malpractice policies follow the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (joint statement by COPE, DOAJ, WAME, and OASPA), the NISO Recommended Practices for the Presentation and Identification of E-Journals (PIE-J), and, where relevant, the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright License and Copyright Agreement
In submitting the manuscript to any of Pensoft’s journals, authors certify that: They are authorized by their co-authors to enter into these arrangements. The work described has not been published before (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review or thesis); it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; its publication has been approved by all author(s)…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open Access
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer Review
This journal uses a single-blind peer review process. This means that the names of reviewers are hidden from the authors (the author does not know the identity of the reviewer, but the reviewer knows the identity of the author). Notwithstanding that, the reviewers are encouraged to disclose their identities, if they wish to do so. Each article is reviewed by at least two independent experts, with …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
This journal allows posting preprints of the manuscripts submitted for peer-review. Authors are strongly encouraged to use the ARPHA Preprints server for that as an option available during the submission process, which will save a double effort in manuscript submission and allows the preprint to be directly linked to the published article and vice versa. Manuscripts that contain nomenclatural acts…
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
- Wiley-VCH Verlag
- Country or region
- GERMANY
- Language
- German, English
- ISSN
- 2193-0066
- Electronic ISSN
- 2193-0074
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- 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 Fossil Record
What CAS zone is Fossil Record in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Fossil Record is in Zone 2 of Earth Sciences, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Paleontology. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Earth Sciences. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Fossil Record?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 1.97; CiteScore 3.3, h-index 34.
How long does peer review take at Fossil Record?
Authors report an average review time of about 14 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 Fossil Record based?
Of the 8 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 1 (about 13%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Germany (3), Switzerland (2) and Mainland China (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Fossil Record?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Fossil Record is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Fossil Record open access, and what is the APC?
Fossil Record 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: .