Journal profile · GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY
Geoscientific Model Development
ISSN 1991-959X · eISSN 1991-9603 · Copernicus Gesellschaft mbH · GERMANY
Geoscientific Model Development: CAS Zone 2 · Earth Sciences (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 4.96; fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; review 6–12 weeks (community reports); 448 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Geoscientific Model Development is published by Copernicus Gesellschaft mbH 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 Climate variability and models, Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations and Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols, together about 37.2% of its articles. Its main subfields are Global and Planetary Change and Atmospheric Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Geoscientific Model Development (GMD) is a not-for-profit international scientific journal dedicated to the publication and public discussion of the description, development, and evaluation of numerical models of the Earth system and its components. The following manuscript types can be considered for peer-reviewed publication: geoscientific model descriptions, from statistical models to box models to GCMs; development and technical papers, describing developments such as new parameterizations or technical aspects of running models such as the reproducibility of results; new methods for assessment of models, including work on developing new metrics for assessing model performance and novel ways of comparing model results with observational data; papers describing new standard experiments for assessing model performance or novel ways of comparing model results with observational data; model experiment descriptions, including experimental details and project protocols; full evaluations of previously published models. More details can be found in manuscript types and the journal editorial (compiled by the executive editors). "I believe that the time is ripe for significantly better documentation of programs, and that we can best achieve this by considering programs to be works of literature." (Donald E. Knuth, Literate Programming, 1984) "Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful." (George E. P. Box, Robustness in the strategy of scientific model building, 1979)
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY
Editorial board by country: 1 in mainland China (about 3%); most named Hong Kong, China 3, United Kingdom 3, Canada 3, Taiwan, China 2, Japan 2 (37 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Climate variability and modelsEnvironmental Science14.7%
- Meteorological Phenomena and SimulationsEarth and Planetary Sciences12.7%
- Atmospheric chemistry and aerosolsEarth and Planetary Sciences9.9%
- Atmospheric and Environmental Gas DynamicsEnvironmental Science9.7%
- Atmospheric Ozone and ClimateEarth and Planetary Sciences5.4%
- Atmospheric aerosols and cloudsEnvironmental Science5%
- Cryospheric studies and observationsEarth and Planetary Sciences4.7%
- Oceanographic and Atmospheric ProcessesEarth and Planetary Sciences4.4%
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 | Geosciences, Multidisciplinary | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Earth Sciences Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Earth Sciences | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Geosciences, Multidisciplinary | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Earth Sciences Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Earth Sciences | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Geosciences, Multidisciplinary | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Web of SciencePublisher website
Other: Google Scholar
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
- 4.96LetPub ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 8.8LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 8.8Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 2.13LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.76LetPub ·
- h-index
- 59LetPub ·
- h-index
- 205OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 2,680OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 4.59OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 8.2%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 99.91%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 429LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 4,289 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 380 | 380 | 354 |
| 2025 | 448 | 448 | 1,607 |
| 2024 | 408 | 408 | 3,713 |
| 2023 | 346 | 346 | 5,894 |
| 2022 | 398 | 398 | 12,295 |
| 2021 | 351 | 351 | 12,392 |
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)
- 6–12 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 14 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 1,980 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | EUR 1,600 | — | — | |
| LetPub | EUR 1,600 | 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
- development and technical papersdevelopment and technical papers, describing developments such as new parameterizations or technical aspects of running models such as the reproducibility of re…Length not stated
- full evaluations of previously published modelsfull evaluations of previously published modelsLength not stated
- geoscientific model descriptionsgeoscientific model descriptions, from statistical models to box models to GCMsLength not stated
- model experiment descriptionsmodel experiment descriptions, including experimental details and project protocolsLength not stated
- new methods for assessment of modelsnew methods for assessment of models, including work on developing new metrics for assessing model performance and novel ways of comparing model results with ob…Length not stated
- papers describing new standard experimentspapers describing new standard experiments for assessing model performance or novel ways of comparing model results with observational dataLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteLicense & copyright
- License & copyright
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License Model summary
All site content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
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 Gesellschaft mbH
- Country or region
- GERMANY
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1991-959X
- Electronic ISSN
- 1991-9603
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- 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 Geoscientific Model Development
What CAS zone is Geoscientific Model Development in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Geoscientific Model Development is in Zone 2 of Earth Sciences, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Geosciences, Multidisciplinary. 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 Geoscientific Model Development?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 4.96; CiteScore 8.8, h-index 205.
How long does peer review take at Geoscientific Model Development?
Authors report an average review time of 6–12 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 Geoscientific Model Development based?
Of the 37 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 1 (about 3%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Hong Kong, China (3), United Kingdom (3) and Canada (3). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Geoscientific Model Development?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Geoscientific Model Development is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Web of Science; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Geoscientific Model Development open access, and what is the APC?
Geoscientific Model Development 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: .