Journal profile · Multidisciplinary-Multidisciplinary
Fundamental Research
ISSN 2667-3258 · KeAi Communications Co. Ltd. · China
Fundamental Research: CAS Zone 2 · Multidisciplinary (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 7 (journal website); fully open access; APC about USD 980; median 147 days to acceptance (81 articles, last 24 months); 243 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Fundamental Research is an open access, peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary journal, which is supervised by the National Natural Science Foundation of...
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Multidisciplinary-Multidisciplinary
Editor-in-chief Qihuang GongPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 209 in mainland China (about 74%); most named Mainland China 209, United States 35, United Kingdom 7, Canada 6, Australia 6 (282 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Quantum Information and CryptographyComputer Science6.5%
- Electrocatalysts for Energy ConversionEnergy5.5%
- Advanced biosensing and bioanalysis techniquesBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5.5%
- Advanced Photocatalysis TechniquesEnergy4.8%
- Catalytic Processes in Materials ScienceMaterials Science4.8%
- Mechanical and Optical ResonatorsPhysics and Astronomy4.8%
- Perovskite Materials and ApplicationsEngineering4.4%
- Quantum Computing Algorithms and ArchitectureComputer Science4.4%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Multidisciplinary Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Multidisciplinary | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Multidisciplinary Sciences | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Multidisciplinary Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Multidisciplinary | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Multidisciplinary Sciences | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Multidisciplinary Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Multidisciplinary | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Multidisciplinary Sciences | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
ESCIScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
PubMedPublisher website
Other: Crossref
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)
- 7Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 11.5LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 11.5Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.22LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.43LetPub ·
- h-index
- 57OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 527OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 5.67OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 1.4%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 272LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,372 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 194 | 194 | 171 |
| 2025 | 243 | 243 | 858 |
| 2024 | 261 | 261 | 2,931 |
| 2023 | 214 | 214 | 3,341 |
| 2022 | 275 | 275 | 5,785 |
| 2021 | 184 | 184 | 5,711 |
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 PubMed · to
147 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 109 days – 208 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 13 days (81 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 168 days
- Sample
- 81 articles with submission and acceptance dates (601 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
- Average review time (community reports)
- about 9 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 17 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 | USD 980 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 0 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 980 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | USD 980 | — | — |
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)
What to prepare3 items from the author guidelines
- Reference style
- Numbered, in order of citation
- Highlights
- Optional
- Graphical abstract
- Optional
Article types accepted7, with length limits
- commentaryContributions falling into the following categories will be considered for publication. Article Specification List About Fundamental Research Previously publish…main text ≤ 2,000 words
- editorialContributions falling into the following categories will be considered for publication. Article Specification List About Fundamental Research Previously publish…Length not stated
- full articleContributions falling into the following categories will be considered for publication. Article Specification List About Fundamental Research Previously publish…Length not stated
- lettermajor impact on current basic research. Letters should not exceed 1,500 words (2-3 printed pages) with a maximum of 10 references and 1 fmain text ≤ 1,500 words
- perspectiveContributions falling into the following categories will be considered for publication. Article Specification List About Fundamental Research Previously publish…main text ≤ 2,000 words
- reviewContributions falling into the following categories will be considered for publication. Article Specification List About Fundamental Research Previously publish…main text ≤ 12,000 words
- surveyContributions falling into the following categories will be considered for publication. Article Specification List About Fundamental Research Previously publish…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- Authorship Author contributions
For transparency, we require corresponding authors to provide co-author contributions to the manuscript using the relevant CRediT roles. The CRediT taxonomy includes 14 different roles describing each contributor's specific contribution to the scholarly output. The roles are: Conceptualization; Data curation; Formal analysis; Funding acquisition; Investigation; Methodology; Project administration;…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Declaration of interest
All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential competing interests include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. Authors must disclose any interests in two places:…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Copyright
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'License Agreement' (see more information on this). Permitted third party reuse of open access articles is determined by the author's choice of user license. Author rights As an author you (or your employer or institution) have certain rights to reuse your work. More information.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open access
Every peer-reviewed research article appearing in this journal will be published open access. This means that the article is universally and freely accessible via the internet in perpetuity, in an easily readable format immediately after publication. To provide open access, this journal has an open access fee (also known as an Article Processing Charge, APC) which needs to be paid by the authors o…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review
This journal operates a double-blind review process. All contributions are sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor's decision is final. For more information on the types of peer review, please visit: https://www.elsevier.com/reviewe…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprint references
Where a preprint has subsequently become available as a peer-reviewed publication, the formal publication should be used as the reference. If there are preprints that are central to your work or that cover crucial developments in the topic, but are not yet formally published, these may be referenced. Preprints should be clearly marked as such, for example by including the word preprint, or the nam…
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
- KeAi Communications Co. Ltd.
- Country or region
- China
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2667-3258
- Print ISSN
- 2096-9457
- 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 Fundamental Research
What CAS zone is Fundamental Research in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Fundamental Research is in Zone 2 of Multidisciplinary, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Multidisciplinary Sciences. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Multidisciplinary. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Fundamental Research?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 7; this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 11.5, h-index 57.
How long does peer review take at Fundamental Research?
Based on the dates recorded on 81 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 147 days (interquartile range 109–208 days); authors report an average review time of about 9 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 are the manuscript requirements of Fundamental Research?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Reference style: Numbered, in order of citation; Highlights: Optional; Graphical abstract: Optional. 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.
Where are the editorial board members of Fundamental Research based?
Of the 282 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 209 (about 74%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Mainland China (209), United States (35) and United Kingdom (7). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Fundamental Research?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Fundamental Research is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists PubMed; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Fundamental Research open access, and what is the APC?
Fundamental Research is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 980.
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: .