Journal profile · Engineering-Building and Construction
Lean Construction Journal
ISSN 1555-1369 · Lean Construction Institute · United States
Lean Construction Journal: diamond open access (no APC); no APC; review about 12 weeks (community reports); acceptance rate 34% (journal website); 10 articles in 2025; indexed in Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Lean Construction Journal is published by Lean Construction Institute. By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are BIM and Construction Integration, Construction Project Management and Performance and Quality and Supply Management, together about 67.3% of its articles. Its main subfields are Strategy and Management and Building and Construction. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
LCJ aims to publish solid, original work that contributes to the body of knowledge with cases of novel thinking, enhancements, and implementations in one or more of the following themess: # Theme Explanation 1 Lean Theory Developing new theory; Challenges to current thinking (theory); Bringing in theory form other fields and contextualizing it for Lean Construction. 2 Research Methods How to do lean research; [ISO18404] 3 Lean and Green/Sustainability Research and experiences focused on the integration of lean and green, and how lean benefits the value proposition of green to owners by offsetting first costs. Moreover, this is such a critical symbiotic relationship that we believe every paper should have reflections/elements about green/sustainability, and climate change and environment in the implications part of the structured abstract. 4 Health, Safety, and Quality As the record shows, we injure and kill more people than any other industry. Is there any worse waste (unproductive use of resources) than this? It is first a humane imperative and secondarily an economic one. Quality, and we define it as doing the right things right the first time, is the most direct route to better and sustained safety, health and wellbeing (example of topics: lean and suicide reduction; lean and mental health; lean and occupational safety and health; lean ergonomic; lean human factors; safety engineering; resilience engineering, etc.); Quality is also the way to simultaneously reduce cost and improve productivity (e.g., lean and “fire-fighting”, lean as “fire-prevention”, etc). 5 People, Culture and Change Developing and maintaining a lean culture; research on how to manage the transition from the current dominant culture to a lean way of working; helping people blossom in the transition and in the lean way of working; labor/management training; linguistic action; lean leadership, lean governance; lean enterprise; strategy and implementation. 6 Learning & Teaching Lean Enhancing Lean Design and Construction teaching using educational simulations (games); Developing a lean curriculum. 7 The role of the customer in (lean) construction [customer = owner, client, employer, etc., depending on where in the world the conversation is] value from the point of view of the customer; the customer has many heads – the buyer, the user, the next-trade(or designer)-in-line, neighbors, society; value depends on the context and who is the customer; opinions in the “customer system” vary; th
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Engineering-Building and Construction
Editor-in-chief Farook HamzehPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United States 89, United Kingdom 26, Canada 9, Sweden 5, India 3 (165 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- BIM and Construction IntegrationEngineering31.2%
- Construction Project Management and PerformanceDecision Sciences27%
- Quality and Supply ManagementBusiness, Management and Accounting9%
- Value Engineering and ManagementBusiness, Management and Accounting7.5%
- Construction Management and SustainabilityEngineering3.6%
- Public-Private Partnership ProjectsBusiness, Management and Accounting3%
- Occupational Health and Safety ResearchHealth Professions2.7%
- Sustainable Building Design and AssessmentEngineering2.4%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CiteScore quartiles (Scopus, June 2026 release)
| Subject | Quartile | Rank | Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Building and Construction | Q3 | 165/258 | 36th |
| Civil and Structural Engineering | Q3 | 308/434 | 29th |
Scopus ranks journals by CiteScore within each subject: the 75th percentile and above is Q1, then a quartile every 25 points. A different system from the CAS zones.LetPub
Database indexing
ScopusDOAJLetPub
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
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 1.6LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.23LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.3LetPub ·
- h-index
- 25OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 40OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0.59OpenAlex ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 0%LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 123 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 26 | 26 | 116 |
| 2025 | 10 | 10 | 120 |
| 2024 | 10 | 10 | 126 |
| 2023 | 6 | 6 | 161 |
| 2022 | 12 | 12 | 158 |
| 2021 | 9 | 9 | 211 |
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
Too few articlesOnly 1 articles from the last 24 months carry both submission and acceptance dates, too few for a median
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)
- about 12 weeksLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 34%Publisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 12 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Double 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
Diamond open access (no APC)DOAJ
Every article is open access and authors pay no article processing charge.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | No APC | No | CC BY-NC-ND |
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)
Article types accepted12, with length limits
- advanced researchAdvanced Research – preferred limit is 5000 words.Length not stated
- book reviewEssays – preferred limit is 5000 words. Book Reviews – preferred limit is 2500 words. Downloads The Instructions & Template file (for papers, fomain text ≤ 2,500 words
- book reviewsBook Reviews – preferred limit is 2500 words.Length not stated
- case studiesCase Studies – preferred limit is 10000 words.Length not stated
- case studyNotes – preferred limit is 5000 words. Case Studies – preferred limit is 10000 words. Process Benchmark – preferred limit: 10,000 words. Discussmain text ≤ 10,000 words
- discussions, rejoinders, and closuresDiscussions, rejoinders, and closures – preferred limit is 2500 words.Length not stated
- forum essaysForum Essays – preferred limit is 5000 words.Length not stated
- full papereaders as a separate optional download. Full Papers – preferred limit is 10000 words. Technical Notes – preferred limit is 5000 words. Case Studmain text ≤ 10,000 words
- full papersFull Papers – preferred limit is 10000 words.Length not stated
- process benchmarkProcess Benchmark – preferred limit: 10,000 words.Length not stated
- technical noteapers – preferred limit is 10000 words. Technical Notes – preferred limit is 5000 words. Case Studies – preferred limit is 10000 words. Process Benmain text ≤ 5,000 words
- technical notesTechnical Notes – preferred limit is 5000 words.Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websitePublication ethics, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review
- Publication ethics (BASED COPE’S BEST PRACTICE GUIDELINES FOR JOURNAL EDITORS)
Submissions must not be under consideration elsewhere or already published. Model summary
LCJ is committed to ensuring ethics in publication and quality of articles. Conformance to standards of ethical behavior is therefore expected of all parties involved: Authors, Editors, Reviewers, and the Publisher. In particular, Authors – Authors should present an objective discussion of the significance of research work as well as sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate t…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Copyright
Authors transfer limited rights to the Lean Construction Institute Board of Directors prior to review. Model summary
Submission of a paper, forum essay, discussions, rejoinders, or closure to Lean Construction Journal (LCJ) is understood to mean: it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere? it is not already published? Author(s) are required to transfer limited rights to the Lean Construction Institute Board of Directors prior to the start of the review process. For more information, see the copyrigh…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access LCJ Open Access Statement
Online journal; papers published as soon as approved. Model summary
The Lean Construction Journal is committed to real and immediate open access for academic work. You are free to download and use all of the LCJ publications for personal research and study. The publications are free to access immediately from the date of publication. There are no author charges (commonly known as APCs) prior to publication, and no charge for any reader to download articles and rev…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review
Double-blind peer review by at least three reviewers; at least one reviewer will be a practitioner. Model summary
LCJ papers are double-blind peer-reviewed by at least three members of our expert review panel.
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
- Lean Construction Institute
- Country or region
- United States
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1555-1369
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Author guidelines ↗DOAJ
- Aims & Scope ↗DOAJ
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗DOAJ
- Editorial board ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Lean Construction Journal
How long does peer review take at Lean Construction Journal?
Authors report an average review time of about 12 weeks; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 34%. 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.
Where are the editorial board members of Lean Construction Journal based?
Of the 165 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (89), United Kingdom (26) and Canada (9). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Lean Construction Journal?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Lean Construction Journal is indexed in Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Lean Construction Journal open access, and what is the APC?
Lean Construction Journal is a diamond open-access journal (no APC). It charges no article processing charge.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, OpenAlex, DOAJ; 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: .