Journal profile · Materials Science-General Materials Science
Granular Matter
ISSN 1434-7636 · Springer Berlin Heidelberg · UNITED STATES · Quarterly · Founded 1998
Granular Matter: CAS Zone 3 · Engineering (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 3.09; hybrid open access; APC about USD 2,590; median 145 days to acceptance (109 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: easy; 106 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Granular Matter is published by Springer Berlin Heidelberg and is in Zone 3 of Engineering in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Granular flow and fluidized beds, Landslides and related hazards and Geotechnical Engineering and Soil Mechanics, together about 52% of its articles. Its main subfields are Civil and Structural Engineering. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Granular Matter provides the premier forum for the communication of basic research on the complex behavior of granular materials, a subject area that cuts across a wide range of disciplines in fundamental science as well as engineering.The journal serves as a platform for disseminating research advances in experiment and contributions that feature modern tools from statistical mechanics/physics, micro-macro mechanics, or computational science.Different approaches to understanding, characterizing, modeling or controlling the behavior of granular materials are typically found scattered throughout the literature. As a result, researchers from the sciences are often unaware of the work published by engineers - and vice versa. This journal aims to gather these different approaches under a single, transdisciplinary roof, thereby helping to establish a common language. As Granular Matter focuses on basic research, highly applied or technical work is beyond the scope of the journal.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Materials Science-General Materials Science
Editor-in-chief Hans J. HerrmannPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 9 in mainland China (about 20%); most named Mainland China 9, United States 7, France 6, United Kingdom 4, Australia 3 (45 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Granular flow and fluidized bedsEngineering26.8%
- Landslides and related hazardsEnvironmental Science13.6%
- Geotechnical Engineering and Soil MechanicsEngineering11.6%
- Geotechnical Engineering and Underground StructuresEngineering5.4%
- Material Dynamics and PropertiesMaterials Science4.6%
- Particle Dynamics in Fluid FlowsEngineering4.5%
- Soil and Unsaturated FlowEngineering3.9%
- Rock Mechanics and ModelingEngineering3.8%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Engineering Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Engineering | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Mechanics | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Physics, Applied | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Engineering Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Engineering | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Mechanics | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Physics, Applied | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Engineering Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Engineering | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Materials Science, Multidisciplinary | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Mechanics | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Physics, Applied | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
EI CompendexINSPECCASCurrent ContentsPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, EBSCO, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, Baidu, Naver, OCLC, Portico, CLOCKSS
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
- 3.09LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 3Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 3.1Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.1LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.79LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.24LetPub ·
- h-index
- 49LetPub ·
- h-index
- 97OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,114OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.04OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 6.7%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 23.53%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 105LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 323,300Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,919 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 97 | 23 | 29 |
| 2025 | 106 | 31 | 214 |
| 2024 | 114 | 47 | 720 |
| 2023 | 85 | 31 | 806 |
| 2022 | 103 | 36 | 1,209 |
| 2021 | 124 | 41 | 1,781 |
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 Crossref · to
145 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 99 days – 236 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 21 days (109 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 169 days
- Sample
- 109 articles with submission and acceptance dates (222 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 acceptance (community reports)
- EasyLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 15 daysPublisher website ·
- Peer review
- Double anonymous peer reviewPublisher website
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
Hybrid open accessLetPub
A subscription journal in which authors can pay to publish their article open access.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAlex | USD 2,590 / EUR 3,890 | — | — |
A hybrid journal charges the APC only when the author chooses open access; publishing under the subscription model is usually free.
Other charges and waivers (author guidelines)
- Other fees
- Charged; see the journal's website for the amount
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)
Open calls for papers1, by deadline
Publisher websiteWhat to prepare6 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- 150–250 words
- Keywords
- ≥ 4
- Reference style
- Numbered, in order of citation
- Templates
- LaTeX and Word
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
- Graphical abstract
- Required
Article types accepted8
- brief reportThe Journal publishes Regular Articles (Original Reports), Brief Reports and Invited Reviews Regular Articles (Original Reports) - the manuscript being submitte…Length not stated
- brief reportsBrief Reports - These papers communicate brief reports of data from original research that editors believe will be interesting to many researchers, and that wil…Length not stated
- editorialThe Journal publishes Regular Articles (Original Reports), Brief Reports and Invited Reviews Regular Articles (Original Reports) - the manuscript being submitte…Length not stated
- invited reviewsInvited Reviews - Reviews are submitted by invitation from the editorial board, and encompass recent important scientific discoveries.Length not stated
- original researchThe Journal publishes Regular Articles (Original Reports), Brief Reports and Invited Reviews Regular Articles (Original Reports) - the manuscript being submitte…Length not stated
- regular articleThe Journal publishes Regular Articles (Original Reports), Brief Reports and Invited Reviews Regular Articles (Original Reports) - the manuscript being submitte…Length not stated
- regular articles (original reports)Regular Articles (Original Reports) - the manuscript being submitted must consist of original research performed by the authors and the research must include ne…Length not stated
- reviewThe Journal publishes Regular Articles (Original Reports), Brief Reports and Invited Reviews Regular Articles (Original Reports) - the manuscript being submitte…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Authorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access
- AI use Generative AI Images
LLMs do not satisfy authorship criteria; use must be documented in Methods Model summary
Please check Springer’s policy on generative AI images and make sure your work adheres to the principles described therein. Back to top
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Authorship Authorship principles
These guidelines describe authorship principles and good authorship practices to which prospective authors should adhere to. Authorship clarified The Journal and Publisher assume all authors agreed with the content and that all gave explicit consent to submit and that they obtained consent from the responsible authorities at the institute/organization where the work has been carried out, before th…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Disclosures and declarations
Competing interests disclosure required Model summary
All authors are requested to include information regarding sources of funding, financial or non-financial interests, study-specific approval by the appropriate ethics committee for research involving humans and/or animals, informed consent if the research involved human participants, and a statement on welfare of animals if the research involved animals (as appropriate). The decision whether such …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data availability statements
Data availability statement required for all original research Model summary
All original research must include a data availability statement. This statement should explain how to access data supporting the results and analysis in the article, including links/citations to publicly archived datasets analysed or generated during the study. Please see our full policy here. If it is not possible to share research data publicly, for instance when individual privacy could be com…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics Compliance with Ethical Standards
To ensure objectivity and transparency in research and to ensure that accepted principles of ethical and professional conduct have been followed, authors should include information regarding sources of funding, potential conflicts of interest (financial or non-financial), informed consent if the research involved human participants, and a statement on welfare of animals if the research involved an…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Copyright
Open Choice articles do not require transfer of copyright as the copyright remains with the author. In opting for open access, the author(s) agree to publish the article under a Creative Commons license. Details of the OA licences offered to authors can be found on the individual journal website, in the journal's How to publish with us guide. Back to top
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open access publishing
To find out more about publishing your work Open Access in Granular Matter, including information on fees, funding and licences, visit our Open access publishing page. Back to top
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
- Springer Berlin Heidelberg
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Quarterly
- Founded
- 1998
- ISSN
- 1434-7636
- Print ISSN
- 1434-5021
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Granular Matter
What CAS zone is Granular Matter in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Granular Matter is in Zone 3 of Engineering, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Materials Science, Multidisciplinary / Mechanics / Physics, Applied. 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 Granular Matter?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 3.09; CiteScore 5.1, h-index 97.
How long does peer review take at Granular Matter?
Based on the dates recorded on 109 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 145 days (interquartile range 99–236 days); the community-reported acceptance is “Easy”. 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 Granular Matter?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: 150–250 words; Keywords: ≥ 4; Reference style: Numbered, in order of citation; Templates: LaTeX and Word; Suggested reviewers: Optional; Graphical abstract: Required. 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 Granular Matter based?
Of the 45 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 9 (about 20%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Mainland China (9), United States (7) and France (6). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Granular Matter?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Granular Matter is indexed in SCIE and Scopus. The journal's website also lists EI Compendex, INSPEC, CAS and Current Contents; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Granular Matter open access, and what is the APC?
Granular Matter is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 2,590.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, 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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .