Journal profile · GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY-WATER RESOURCES
Groundwater
ISSN 0017-467X · eISSN 1745-6584 · Wiley-Blackwell · UNITED STATES
Groundwater: CAS Zone 4 · Earth Sciences (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.34; hybrid open access; APC about USD 4,100; median 159 days to acceptance (77 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: fairly easy; 87 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Groundwater is published by Wiley-Blackwell and is in Zone 4 of Earth Sciences in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Groundwater flow and contamination studies, Groundwater and Isotope Geochemistry and Hydraulic Fracturing and Reservoir Analysis, together about 50.2% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Groundwater® is the leading international journal focused exclusively on groundwater. Since 1963, Groundwater has published a dynamic mix of papers on topics related to groundwater including groundwater flow and well hydraulics, hydrogeochemistry and contaminant hydrogeology, application of geophysics, groundwater management and policy, and history of groundwater hydrology. This is the journal you can count on to bring you the practical applications in groundwater hydrology. Scope: Successful manuscripts accepted for publication in Groundwater describe or illustrate new or innovative theories, approaches, techniques, methods, or insights of interest to our broad international readership. Manuscripts that simply report technical data or describe the hydrogeology of a single site or region are generally not accepted unless the results are new discoveries or have clear implications for the larger groundwater community.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY-WATER RESOURCES
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Groundwater flow and contamination studiesEnvironmental Science29%
- Groundwater and Isotope GeochemistryEarth and Planetary Sciences12.8%
- Hydraulic Fracturing and Reservoir AnalysisEngineering8.4%
- Geophysical and Geoelectrical MethodsEarth and Planetary Sciences6.9%
- Hydrology and Watershed Management StudiesEnvironmental Science5.1%
- Soil and Unsaturated FlowEngineering4.4%
- Reservoir Engineering and Simulation MethodsEngineering4.3%
- Water Quality and Resources StudiesEnvironmental Science3.6%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Earth Sciences Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Earth Sciences | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Geosciences, Multidisciplinary | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Water Resources | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Earth Sciences Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Earth Sciences | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Geosciences, Multidisciplinary | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Water Resources | Zone 4 |
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 | Geosciences, Multidisciplinary | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Water Resources | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
MEDLINEPubMedINSPECCASCAB AbstractsGeoRefCurrent ContentsPublisher website
Other: EBSCO, ProQuest, AGRICOLA
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
- 2.34LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 2.6Publisher website ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.6Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4.6LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 4.6Publisher website ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 4.6Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.82LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.99LetPub ·
- h-index
- 83LetPub ·
- h-index
- 158OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 3,124OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.53OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 7.7%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 39.11%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 56LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher) 2025
- 69Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 261,640Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 7,779 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 75 | 51 | 11 |
| 2025 | 87 | 46 | 117 |
| 2024 | 83 | 50 | 246 |
| 2023 | 121 | 78 | 725 |
| 2022 | 117 | 35 | 872 |
| 2021 | 105 | 32 | 1,202 |
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
159 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 92 days – 216 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 18 days (84 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 186 days
- Sample
- 77 articles with submission and acceptance dates (169 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)
- 12–24 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly easyLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 30%Publisher website ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher) 2025
- 30%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 7 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 7 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance 2025
- 139 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 16 daysPublisher 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 4,100 / EUR 3,470 / GBP 2,730 | — | — |
A hybrid journal charges the APC only when the author chooses open access; publishing under the subscription model is usually free.
The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 0017-467X
- Electronic ISSN
- 1745-6584
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 64, Issue 5 (October 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Groundwater
What CAS zone is Groundwater in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Groundwater is in Zone 4 of Earth Sciences, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Geosciences, Multidisciplinary / Water Resources. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 4 of Earth Sciences. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Groundwater?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.34; CiteScore 4.6, h-index 158.
How long does peer review take at Groundwater?
Based on the dates recorded on 77 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 159 days (interquartile range 92–216 days); authors report an average review time of 12–24 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly easy”; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 30% (2025). 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.
Which databases index Groundwater?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Groundwater is indexed in SCIE and Scopus. The journal's website also lists MEDLINE, PubMed, INSPEC, CAS, CAB Abstracts, GeoRef and Current Contents; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Groundwater open access, and what is the APC?
Groundwater is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 4,100.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, OpenAlex; 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: .