Journal profile · Optics
Journal of Synchrotron Radiation
ISSN 0909-0495 · eISSN 1600-5775 · International Union of Crystallography · DENMARK · Bimonthly · Founded 1994
Journal of Synchrotron Radiation: CAS Zone 3 · Physics & Astronomy (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.78; fully open access; APC about USD 2,750; median 103 days to acceptance (92 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: fairly easy; 175 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Journal of Synchrotron Radiation is published by International Union of Crystallography and is in Zone 3 of Physics & Astronomy in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Advanced X-ray Imaging Techniques, X-ray Spectroscopy and Fluorescence Analysis and Crystallography and Radiation Phenomena, together about 44.1% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Synchrotron and XFEL instrumentation, methods and science Synchrotron radiation research is rapidly expanding with many new sources of radiation being created globally. Synchrotron radiation plays a leading role in pure science and in emerging technologies. Journal of Synchrotron Radiation is a fully open access journal and provides comprehensive coverage of the entire field of synchrotron radiation and X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) research including: instrumentation and experimental development supported by validated results beamline construction and operation theory, software and data analysis machine learning and artificial intelligence scientific applications in areas such as physics, chemistry, biology and medicine, nanoscience, materials science, environmental science and cultural heritage
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Optics
Editor-in-chief Andrew J. AllenNationalPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 1 in mainland China (about 3%); most named Germany 5, France 4, United States 3, United Kingdom 3, Japan 3 (32 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Advanced X-ray Imaging TechniquesPhysics and Astronomy22%
- X-ray Spectroscopy and Fluorescence AnalysisPhysics and Astronomy15.4%
- Crystallography and Radiation PhenomenaPhysics and Astronomy6.8%
- Particle Accelerators and Free-Electron LasersEngineering6.7%
- Enzyme Structure and FunctionMaterials Science6.4%
- Electron and X-Ray Spectroscopy TechniquesMaterials Science5.2%
- Advanced Electron Microscopy Techniques and ApplicationsBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5.2%
- X-ray Diffraction in CrystallographyMaterials Science5%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Physics & Astronomy Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Physics & Astronomy | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Instruments & Instrumentation | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Optics | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Physics, Applied | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Physics & Astronomy Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Physics & Astronomy | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Instruments & Instrumentation | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Optics | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Physics, Applied | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Physics & Astronomy Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Physics & Astronomy | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Instruments & Instrumentation | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Optics | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Physics, Applied | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
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.
Metrics
Impact metrics and publication volume
Impact
- Impact factor
- 2.78LetPub ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.1LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.94LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.51LetPub ·
- h-index
- 89LetPub ·
- h-index
- 133OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 2,635OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.56OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 10.7%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 99.78%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 158LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 5,385 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 149 | 149 | 46 |
| 2025 | 175 | 175 | 384 |
| 2024 | 208 | 208 | 932 |
| 2023 | 129 | 129 | 1,194 |
| 2022 | 196 | 196 | 2,244 |
| 2021 | 227 | 222 | 3,008 |
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 PubMed · to
103 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 79 days – 128 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 33 days (92 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 136 days
- Sample
- 92 articles with submission and acceptance dates (356 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)
- 4–8 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly easyLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 20 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Single anonymous 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 | USD 2,750 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | USD 3,180 / EUR 2,720 / GBP 2,330 | — | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
Other charges and waivers (author guidelines)
- Other fees
- No other fees
- Submission fee
- 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 prepare2 items from the author guidelines
- Reference style
- Author–date
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted7, with length limits
- beamline articlesbeamline articles: providing details of beamlines available to users at synchrotron and XFEL facilities around the worldLength not stated
- computer programscomputer programs: describing the purpose, strategy, computer language, machine requirements, input requirements and type of results obtainedLength not stated
- research articlesresearch articles: original research of significance appealing to the wide readership of the journalLength not stated
- research paperwide scientific audience in mind. 2.1. Research Papers Full-length Research Papers should not normally exceed the equivalent of about 10000 words. 2.2. Short Co…main text ≤ 10,000 words
- review articlesreview articles: feature articles, lead articles and topical reviews giving a concise and critical review of research areas of interest to the general readershi…Length not stated
- short communicationsshort communications: brief articles that present original material for rapid disseminationLength not stated
- teaching and educationteaching and education: covering all aspects of an educational nature related to the general field of synchrotron radiationLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access
- AI use 3.6. AI tools
Authors may make use of AI tools in preparing their articles. However, such tools may not be listed as an author, as they cannot be held accountable for the work. All co-authors of the text should carefully check for any errors introduced through the use of an AI tool. Authors who have employed an AI tool should document this use in the methods or acknowledgements sections.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics 3.5. Author's warranty and ethical considerations
The submission of an article is taken as an implicit guarantee that the work is original, that it is the author(s) own work, that all authors are aware of and concur with the submission, that all workers involved in the study are listed as authors or given proper credit in the acknowledgements, that the article has not already been published (in any language or medium), and that it is not being co…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright 3.8. Copyright
Authors will not be asked to transfer copyright to the IUCr, but will instead be asked to agree during article submission to an open-access licence. This licence is identical to the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) Licence. Details of author rights can be found at https://journals.iucr.org/services/authorrights.html.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access 7.5. Open access
Fully open access journal Model summary
Journal of Synchrotron Radiation is an open-access journal. The costs of peer review, of journal production, and of online hosting and archiving are met by charging an open-access fee to authors. Authors will be asked to pay an open-access fee upon acceptance of their article for publication. Authors from developing countries may apply for their open-access fees to be waived. Waiver requests shoul…
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
- International Union of Crystallography
- Country or region
- DENMARK
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Bimonthly
- Founded
- 1994
- ISSN
- 0909-0495
- Electronic ISSN
- 1600-5775
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- Author guidelines ↗DOAJ
- Aims & Scope ↗DOAJ
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Fee waivers ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗DOAJ
- Editorial board ↗DOAJ
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Journal of Synchrotron Radiation
What CAS zone is Journal of Synchrotron Radiation in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Journal of Synchrotron Radiation is in Zone 3 of Physics & Astronomy, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Instruments & Instrumentation / Optics / Physics, Applied. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Physics & Astronomy. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Journal of Synchrotron Radiation?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.78; CiteScore 5.1, h-index 133.
How long does peer review take at Journal of Synchrotron Radiation?
Based on the dates recorded on 92 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 103 days (interquartile range 79–128 days); authors report an average review time of 4–8 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly 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 Journal of Synchrotron Radiation?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Reference style: Author–date; Cover letter: 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 Journal of Synchrotron Radiation based?
Of the 32 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 1 (about 3%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Germany (5), France (4) and United States (3). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Journal of Synchrotron Radiation?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Journal of Synchrotron Radiation is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Journal of Synchrotron Radiation open access, and what is the APC?
Journal of Synchrotron Radiation is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 2,750.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, DOAJ, 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: .