International Journal of Coal Geology

International Journal of Coal Geology is published by Elsevier and is in Zone 2 of Engineering in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Hydrocarbon exploration and reservoir analysis, Coal Properties and Utilization and Coal and Its By-products, together about 49.1% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)

The International Journal of Coal Geology deals with fundamental and applied aspects of the geology, petrology, geochemistry and mineralogy of coal, coal-bearing strata, oil/gas source rocks, organic matter-rich shales, and geologically relevant carbonaceous materials, including biochar, biocarbon, and biomass-derived carbon materials. The journal aims to advance the environmentally sustainable exploration, characterization, and utilization of these resources, as well as the advancement of geologically related engineering and technology for effective resource management towards net-zero carbon goals.The scope of the journal encompasses basic research, computational and laboratory studies, technology development, and field studies in:Geology, geochemistry, mineralogy, and petrology of coal and related carbonaceous materialsformation of coal, coal seams, and coal-bearing sedimentary basins, including studies of coal-forming processes, environments, and geodynamic settingsmetamorphism of coal and dispersed organic matter in source rocksmagmatic and hydrothermal processes influencing coal, organic-rich sedimentary successions and associated ore depositsother geologic aspects of coal measures, oil- and gas-source rocks, organic-rich sedimentary successions and associated ore depositspetrology, mineralogy, geochemistry, and petrophysics of coal, coal seams, coal combustion and gasification products, organic matter-rich shales, and other related carbonaceous materials.Exploration and development of coal, associated carbonaceous resources, and unconventional resourcesformation, transport, sequestration, and storage of carbon related to coal geology; energy gases in coals and shales including coalbed methane and abandoned mine methane; geological aspects of carbon capture, storage and utilization (CCUS); and hydrogen where closely related to the journal core scopeunconventional petroleum systems, mainly focusing on studies of shale gas and oil shales, as well as closely related subsurface geoenergy systemsgeology, exploration, and resource evaluation of critical minerals and critical materials in coal, coal-bearing sequences, organic-rich deposits, acid-mine drainage, coal combustion and gasification products, mine wastes and waters, and other fossil fuel materials; modes of occurrence, enrichment, environmental behavior, and recovery of critical minerals and critical materials from coal-based resources and associated carbonaceous resources.Environmental aspects of exploration and utilization of coal, associated carbonaceous materials, and unconventional resourcesgeologically related impacts of coal mining, acid-mine drainage, mine wastes, and exploitation of unconventional geoenergy resourcescoal combustion and non-combustion uses related to geology and constituents of coal, coal-derived materials and productsgeological and geochemical aspects of engineering and technology for carbon emission reduction, capture, storage, and utilization, and broader decarbonization pathways within the journal’s core scopegeological and environmental aspects of coal fires, underground coal gasification, and their environmental remediation.Application of computational and digital methods for geology and engineering of coal, unconventional critical minerals, carbonaceous materials, and related energy resource managementapplication of big data and artificial intelligence (AI) including, but not limited to, machine learning, automated reasoning and inference, case-based reasoning, computer vision, knowledge representation, remote sensing, spatial statistics and uncertainty evaluation, digital geology, and data integration for the topics covered within the scope of the journaldevelopment and application of analytical methods for geochemistry, mineralogy, petrology and pore systems of coal, carbonaceous materials, and unconventional critical minerals, and related energy systemsapplication of numerical modeling methods, preferably validated by experimental or

From the journal's Aims & Scope

Research area (LetPub): Geosciences, Multidisciplinary

Editor-in-chief Shifeng DaiPublisher website

Editorial board by country: 6 in mainland China (about 17%); most named United States 10, Australia 7, Mainland China 6, United Kingdom 2, Canada 1 (35 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website · 2026-10-01

CAS Journal Ranking

Database indexing

SCIEScopusLetPub

International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub

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.

Impact

Impact factor

7.29LetPub · 2026-09-13

Impact factor (publisher)

7.3Publisher website · 2026-10-01

CiteScore 2026-06

11.9LetPub · 2026-09-13

CiteScore (publisher)

11.9Publisher website · 2026-10-01

SJR 2026-06

1.82LetPub · 2026-09-13

SNIP 2026-06

1.71LetPub · 2026-09-13

h-index

114LetPub · 2026-09-13

h-index

198OpenAlex · 2026-10-01

i10-index

3,252OpenAlex · 2026-10-01

2-year mean citedness

5.72OpenAlex · 2026-10-01

Self-citation rate

11%LetPub · 2026-09-13

Share of gold OA articles

30.87%LetPub · 2026-09-13

Volume

Articles per year

126LetPub · 2026-09-13

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.

Figures by source

Average review time (community reports)

about 3 monthsLetPub · 2026-09-13

Average acceptance (community reports)

EasyLetPub · 2026-09-13

Submission to first decision

2 daysPublisher website · 2026-10-01

First decision after review

37 daysPublisher website · 2026-10-01

Submission to acceptance

84 daysPublisher website · 2026-10-01

Acceptance to publication

2 daysPublisher website · 2026-10-01

Peer review

Single 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.

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.

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.

Publisher

Elsevier

Country or region

NETHERLANDS

Language

English

Frequency

Monthly

ISSN

0166-5162

Electronic ISSN

1872-7840

Official links

• Journal homepage ↗LetPub
• Submission system ↗Publisher website
• Special issues ↗Publisher website