Journal profile · Social Sciences-Urban Studies
Frontiers in Built Environment
ISSN 2297-3362 · Frontiers Media S.A. · Switzerland
Frontiers in Built Environment: CAS Zone 4 · Engineering (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 3 (journal website); fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; review about 14 weeks (community reports); 352 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Frontiers in Built Environment is published by Frontiers Media S.A. and is in Zone 4 of Engineering in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Seismic Performance and Analysis, Structural Health Monitoring Techniques and BIM and Construction Integration, together about 26.2% of its articles. Its main subfields are Civil and Structural Engineering and Building and Construction. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Frontiers in Built Environment is a multidisciplinary journal that focuses on the development of smart and sustainable methodologies for the design, construction and management of resilient buildings and infrastructure. Led by Field Chief Editor Prof Izuru Takewaki (Kyoto Arts and Crafts University, Japan), the journal welcomes submissions in all areas of built environment research across all areas of civil engineering, within and beyond urban spaces. It is currently indexed in DOAJ, Scopus, and Web of Science (ESCI) among others. The journal covers the following subject areas: bridge engineering building information modelling (BIM) coastal and offshore engineering computational methods in structural engineering construction management construction materials earthquake engineering fire Resistant engineering geotechnical engineering indoor environment structural sensing, control, and asset management sustainable design and construction transportation and transit systems urban science wind engineering and science. In addition, submissions in the following areas are encouraged: computer simulation and data science for innovative design and construction damage-tolerant resilient infrastructure and buildings green building smart cities structural health monitoring and disaster prevention. In particular, the journal welcomes submissions which support and advance the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), notably SDG 9: industry, innovation, and infrastructure. Manuscripts that focus solely on climate change, human growth, education, or industry without a fundamental basis in the built environment are not suitable for publication in this journal. Additionally, studies that are purely engineering in nature, without considering the broader implications for the built environment, are also outside the journal's scope. Frontiers in Built Environment is committed to advancing developments in the field by communicating scientific knowledge to researchers and the public alike, to enable the scientific breakthroughs of the future. Frontiers in Built Environment is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Social Sciences-Urban Studies
Editorial board by country: 1 in mainland China (about 6%); most named United States 6, United Kingdom 3, Japan 2, Qatar 2, Mainland China 1 (17 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Seismic Performance and AnalysisEngineering10.5%
- Structural Health Monitoring TechniquesEngineering7.9%
- BIM and Construction IntegrationEngineering7.7%
- Building Energy and Comfort OptimizationEngineering6.1%
- Infrastructure Maintenance and MonitoringEngineering5.2%
- Wind and Air Flow StudiesEnvironmental Science4.7%
- Structural Engineering and Vibration AnalysisEngineering4.6%
- Construction Project Management and PerformanceDecision Sciences4.4%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Engineering Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Engineering | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Construction & Building Technology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Engineering, Civil | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Engineering Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Engineering | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Construction & Building Technology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Engineering, Civil | 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
Web of ScienceINSPECPublisher website
Other: EBSCO, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, CLOCKSS, Crossref, Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (BASE), CNPIEC, CNKI Scholar, Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Chinese Academy of Sciences GoOA, OpenAIRE, ResearchGate
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)
- 3Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.4LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 5.4Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.63LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.1LetPub ·
- h-index
- 61OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 809OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.21OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 3.3%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 99.87%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 334LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 2,319 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 424 | 424 | 185 |
| 2025 | 352 | 352 | 1,214 |
| 2024 | 247 | 247 | 1,882 |
| 2023 | 221 | 221 | 2,434 |
| 2022 | 307 | 307 | 4,516 |
| 2021 | 179 | 179 | 3,105 |
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 | CHF 1,950 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | CHF 1,950 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 2,125 | 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)
Article types accepted12
- brief research reportBrief Research Report, Correction, Editorial, FAIR² Data, Hypothesis and Theory, Methods, Mini Review, Opinion, Original Research, Perspective, Review, Systemat…Length not stated
- correctionBrief Research Report, Correction, Editorial, FAIR² Data, Hypothesis and Theory, Methods, Mini Review, Opinion, Original Research, Perspective, Review, Systemat…Length not stated
- editorialBrief Research Report, Correction, Editorial, FAIR² Data, Hypothesis and Theory, Methods, Mini Review, Opinion, Original Research, Perspective, Review, Systemat…Length not stated
- fair² dataBrief Research Report, Correction, Editorial, FAIR² Data, Hypothesis and Theory, Methods, Mini Review, Opinion, Original Research, Perspective, Review, Systemat…Length not stated
- hypothesis and theoryBrief Research Report, Correction, Editorial, FAIR² Data, Hypothesis and Theory, Methods, Mini Review, Opinion, Original Research, Perspective, Review, Systemat…Length not stated
- methodsBrief Research Report, Correction, Editorial, FAIR² Data, Hypothesis and Theory, Methods, Mini Review, Opinion, Original Research, Perspective, Review, Systemat…Length not stated
- mini reviewBrief Research Report, Correction, Editorial, FAIR² Data, Hypothesis and Theory, Methods, Mini Review, Opinion, Original Research, Perspective, Review, Systemat…Length not stated
- opinionBrief Research Report, Correction, Editorial, FAIR² Data, Hypothesis and Theory, Methods, Mini Review, Opinion, Original Research, Perspective, Review, Systemat…Length not stated
- original researchBrief Research Report, Correction, Editorial, FAIR² Data, Hypothesis and Theory, Methods, Mini Review, Opinion, Original Research, Perspective, Review, Systemat…Length not stated
- perspectiveBrief Research Report, Correction, Editorial, FAIR² Data, Hypothesis and Theory, Methods, Mini Review, Opinion, Original Research, Perspective, Review, Systemat…Length not stated
- reviewBrief Research Report, Correction, Editorial, FAIR² Data, Hypothesis and Theory, Methods, Mini Review, Opinion, Original Research, Perspective, Review, Systemat…Length not stated
- systematic reviewBrief Research Report, Correction, Editorial, FAIR² Data, Hypothesis and Theory, Methods, Mini Review, Opinion, Original Research, Perspective, Review, Systemat…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Conflicts of interest, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review
- AI use Use of AI to create written or visual content
Authors should not list a generative AI technology as a co-author or author of any submitted manuscript. Generative AI technologies cannot be held accountable for all aspects of a manuscript and consequently do not meet the criteria required for authorship. If the author of a submitted manuscript has used written or visual content produced by or edited using a generative AI technology, this use mu…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Safeguards against financial conflicts of interest
Only leading researchers acting as Associate Editors, who are not part of Frontiers' staff, can make acceptance decisions based on reviews performed by external experts acting as Community Reviewers or Reviewers. None have a financial incentive to accept articles, i.e. they are not paid for their role as Associate Editor or community Reviewer, and any award scheme is not linked to acceptances of m…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Open access and copyright
Figures, tables, and images are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY license; authors must obtain permission for copyrighted material from other sources. Model summary
All Frontiers' articles from July 2012 onwards are published with open access under the Creative Commons CC-BY license (the current version is CC-BY, version 4.0). This means that the author(s) retains copyright, but the content is free to download, distribute, and adapt for commercial or non-commercial purposes, given appropriate attribution to the original article. Upon submission, the author(s)…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open access and copyright
Articles are published open access under CC-BY version 4.0; authors retain copyright. Model summary
All Frontiers' articles from July 2012 onwards are published with open access under the Creative Commons CC-BY license (the current version is CC-BY, version 4.0). This means that the author(s) retains copyright, but the content is free to download, distribute, and adapt for commercial or non-commercial purposes, given appropriate attribution to the original article. Upon submission, the author(s)…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review
Our rigorous, transparent peer review process combines expert review and constructive dialogue to strengthen your manuscript.
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
- Frontiers Media S.A.
- Country or region
- Switzerland
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2297-3362
- 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 Frontiers in Built Environment
What CAS zone is Frontiers in Built Environment in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Frontiers in Built Environment is in Zone 4 of Engineering, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Construction & Building Technology / Engineering, Civil. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Engineering. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Frontiers in Built Environment?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 3; this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 5.4, h-index 61.
How long does peer review take at Frontiers in Built Environment?
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 Frontiers in Built Environment based?
Of the 17 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 1 (about 6%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (6), United Kingdom (3) and Japan (2). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Frontiers in Built Environment?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Frontiers in Built Environment is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Web of Science and INSPEC; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Frontiers in Built Environment open access, and what is the APC?
Frontiers in Built Environment 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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .