Journal profile · GEOGRAPHY
Journal of Geographical Systems
ISSN 1435-5930 · eISSN 1435-5949 · Springer Nature · 4 issues per year
Journal of Geographical Systems: CAS Zone 2 · Earth Sciences (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.81; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,490; median 294 days to acceptance (59 articles, last 24 months); 31 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Journal of Geographical Systems is published by Springer Nature 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 Spatial and Panel Data Analysis, Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis and Urban Transport and Accessibility, together about 33.4% of its articles. Its main subfields are Economics and Econometrics and Transportation. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The Journal of Geographical Systems (JGS) is an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed academic journal that aims to encourage and promote high-quality scholarship on new theoretical or empirical results, models and methods in the social sciences. It solicits original papers with a spatial dimension that can be of interest to social scientists. Coverage includes regional science, economic geography, spatial economics, regional and urban economics, GIScience and GeoComputation, big data and machine learning. Spatial analysis, spatial econometrics and statistics are strongly represented. One of the distinctive features of the journal is its concern for the interface between modeling, statistical techniques and spatial issues in a wide spectrum of related fields. An important goal of the journal is to encourage a spatial perspective in the social sciences that emphasizes geographical space as a relevant dimension to our understanding of socio-economic phenomena. Contributions should be of high-quality, be technically well-crafted, make a substantial contribution to the subject and contain a spatial dimension. The journal also aims to publish, review and survey articles that make recent theoretical and methodological developments more readily accessible to the audience of the journal. All papers of this journal have undergone rigorous double-blind peer-review, based on initial editor screening and with at least two peer reviewers. Officially cited as J Geogr Syst
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): GEOGRAPHY
Editor-in-chief Somayeh DodgePublisher website
Editorial board by country: 1 in mainland China (about 3%); most named United States 14, United Kingdom 6, Spain 3, Austria 3, France 2 (38 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Spatial and Panel Data AnalysisEconomics, Econometrics and Finance16.6%
- Regional Economics and Spatial AnalysisEconomics, Econometrics and Finance9%
- Urban Transport and AccessibilitySocial Sciences7.8%
- Geographic Information Systems StudiesSocial Sciences7.6%
- Land Use and Ecosystem ServicesEnvironmental Science7.4%
- Data Management and AlgorithmsComputer Science5%
- Economic and Environmental ValuationEconomics, Econometrics and Finance5%
- Data-Driven Disease SurveillanceMedicine5%
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 | Geography | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Earth Sciences Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Earth Sciences | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Geography | Zone 3 |
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 | Geography | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SSCIScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
SCIEINSPECDBLPEconLitCurrent ContentsPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, EBSCO, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, Baidu, Astrophysics Data System, Naver, OCLC, Portico, CLOCKSS, RePEc
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
- 2.81LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.8Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 3Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.9LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.8LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.05LetPub ·
- h-index
- 77OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 411OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.21OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 3.6%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 40.91%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 24LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 144,900Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 678 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 38 | 21 | 9 |
| 2025 | 31 | 15 | 157 |
| 2024 | 22 | 9 | 126 |
| 2023 | 29 | 18 | 247 |
| 2022 | 35 | 21 | 499 |
| 2021 | 26 | 17 | 467 |
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
294 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 198 days – 406 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 35 days (59 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 353 days
- Sample
- 59 articles with submission and acceptance dates (71 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
- Submission to first decision
- 22 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 3,490 / EUR 2,790 / GBP 2,490 | — | — |
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)
- Colour charges
- 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)
What to prepare4 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- 150–250 words
- Keywords
- ≥ 4
- Reference style
- Author–date
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
Article types accepted1
- editorialCover letters are not mandatory, however, may be supplied at the author’s discretion. An efficient writing style with selective use of tables and figures is app…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Authorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review
- AI use Generative AI Images
LLMs do not satisfy authorship criteria; use must be documented. 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 Journal of Geographical Systems, including information on fees, funding and licences, visit our Open access publishing page. Back to top
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review
Double-blind peer review process. Model summary
JGS uses a double-blind reviewing process. Referees are not informed of the name or institution of the authors of submitted manuscripts, and the authors are not informed of the names of referees.
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 Nature
- Frequency
- 4 issues per year
- ISSN
- 1435-5930
- Electronic ISSN
- 1435-5949
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 28, Issue 3 (July 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Journal of Geographical Systems
What CAS zone is Journal of Geographical Systems in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Journal of Geographical Systems is in Zone 2 of Earth Sciences, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Geography. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Earth Sciences. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Journal of Geographical Systems?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.81; CiteScore 5.9, h-index 77.
How long does peer review take at Journal of Geographical Systems?
Based on the dates recorded on 59 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 294 days (interquartile range 198–406 days). 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 Journal of Geographical Systems?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: 150–250 words; Keywords: ≥ 4; Reference style: Author–date; Suggested reviewers: 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 Journal of Geographical Systems based?
Of the 38 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 1 (about 3%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (14), United Kingdom (6) and Spain (3). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Journal of Geographical Systems?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Journal of Geographical Systems is indexed in SSCI and Scopus. The journal's website also lists SCIE, INSPEC, DBLP, EconLit and Current Contents; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Journal of Geographical Systems open access, and what is the APC?
Journal of Geographical Systems is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,490.
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: .