Journal profile · Environmental Sciences
Natural Resources Forum
ISSN 0165-0203 · eISSN 1477-8947 · Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd · ENGLAND · Quarterly · Founded 1976
Natural Resources Forum: CAS Zone 4 · Sociology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 4.5; hybrid open access; APC about USD 2,900; median 488 days to acceptance (90 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: easy; 65 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE, SSCI and Scopus; flagged on an early-warning list or for an indexing change: check before submitting.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Natural Resources Forum is published by Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd and is in Zone 4 of Sociology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Energy, Environment, Economic Growth, Water resources management and optimization and Energy and Environment Impacts, together about 24.2% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Natural Resources Forum, a United Nations Sustainable Development Journal, focuses on international, multidisciplinary issues related to sustainable development, with an emphasis on developing countries. The journal seeks to address gaps in current knowledge and stimulate policy discussions on the most critical issues associated with the sustainable development agenda, by promoting research that integrates the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. Contributions that inform the global policy debate through pragmatic lessons learned from experience at the local, national, and global levels are encouraged. The Journal considers articles written on all topics relevant to sustainable development. Articles must be based on original research and must be relevant to policy-making. Criteria for selection of submitted articles include:1) Relevance and importance of the topic discussed to sustainable development in general, both in terms of policy impacts and gaps in current knowledge being addressed by the article;2) Treatment of the topic that incorporates social, economic and environmental aspects of sustainable development, rather than focusing purely on sectoral and/or technical aspects;3) Articles must contain original applied material drawn from concrete projects, policy implementation, or literature reviews; purely theoretical papers are not entertained. BOOK REVIEWS NRF welcomes reviews of recently published books with a focus on sustainable development. Reviews should range between 800-1,200 words. Queries or comments can be directed at nrf.office@wiley.com
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Environmental Sciences
Editor-in-chief Lyubov Ginzburg DivisionPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United States 6, Spain 1 (7 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Energy, Environment, Economic GrowthEconomics, Econometrics and Finance10.2%
- Water resources management and optimizationEngineering7.1%
- Energy and Environment ImpactsEnvironmental Science7%
- Mining and Resource ManagementEngineering6.5%
- Natural Resources and Economic DevelopmentEconomics, Econometrics and Finance6.4%
- Energy, Environment, and Transportation PoliciesEnergy6.1%
- Global Energy and Sustainability ResearchEnergy5.7%
- Climate Change Policy and EconomicsEconomics, Econometrics and Finance5%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Sociology Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Environmental Sciences | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Environmental Studies | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Sociology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Environmental Sciences | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Environmental Studies | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Sociology Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Environmental Sciences | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Environmental Studies | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIESSCIScopusLetPub
Early warning / risk: CAS Early Warning Journal List: listed in the 2025 edition (paper mill); not listed in the other 5 editions.LetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
INSPECCAB 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
- 4.5LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 4.7Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 6.5LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 6.5Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.85LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.95LetPub ·
- h-index
- 43LetPub ·
- h-index
- 80OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 676OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 6.91OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 4.3%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 15.56%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 57LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher) 2025
- 57Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 138,623Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 2,434 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 49 | 14 | 18 |
| 2025 | 65 | 22 | 177 |
| 2024 | 203 | 102 | 1,997 |
| 2023 | 120 | 65 | 1,331 |
| 2022 | 29 | 5 | 326 |
| 2021 | 37 | 6 | 574 |
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
488 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 327 days – 712 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 17 days (90 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 505 days
- Sample
- 90 articles with submission and acceptance dates (131 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)
- over 36 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- EasyLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher) 2025
- 8%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 120 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance 2025
- 440 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 21 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 2,900 / EUR 2,450 / GBP 1,930 | — | — |
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.
Submission
Article types and submission policies (journal website)
Article types accepted2, with length limits
- book reviewNRF welcomes reviews of recently published books with a focus on sustainable development. Reviews should range between 800-1200 words.Selected book reviews will…main text ≤ 800 words
- reviewith a focus on sustainable development. Reviews should range between 800-1200 words. Selected book reviews will appear in the “Book Reviews” semain text ≤ 1,200 words
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Authorship, Data availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- AI use Generative AI
Artificial Intelligence Generated Content (AIGC) tools—such as ChatGPT and others based on large language models (LLMs)—cannot be considered capable of initiating an original piece of research without direction by human authors. They also cannot be accountable for a published work or for research design, which is a generally held requirement of authorship (as discussed in the previous section), no…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Authorship Authorship
All listed authors should have contributed to the manuscript substantially and have agreed to the final submitted version. Review editorial standards and scroll down for a description of authorship criteria.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data Sharing and Data Availability
This journal expects data sharing. Review Wiley’s Data Sharing policy where you will be able to see and select the data availability statement that is right for your submission.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Reproduction of Copyright Material
If excerpts from copyrighted works owned by third parties are included, all sources must be credited and shown in the manuscript. At minimum, the title and author should be provided. It is the author’s responsibility to also obtain written permission for reproduction from the copyright owners. For more information visit Wiley’s Copyright Terms & Conditions FAQ. The corresponding author is responsi…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open Access
This journal is a subscription journal that offers an open access option. You'll have the option to choose to make your article open access after acceptance, which will be subject to an APC, unless a waiver applies. For more information on this journal’s APCs, please see the Open Access page. Read more about APCs here.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review 1. Submission and Peer Review Process
New submissions should be made via the Research Exchange submission portal https://authors.wiley.com/journal/NRF. You may check the status of your submission at any time by logging on to submission.wiley.com and clicking the “My Submissions” button. For technical help with the submission system, please review our FAQs or contact submissionhelp@wiley.com. The Editorial Office may be contacted on nr…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprint Policy
Please find the Wiley preprint policy here. This journal accepts articles previously published on preprint servers. The journal will consider for review articles previously available as preprints. You may also post the submitted version of a manuscript to a preprint server at any time. You are requested to update any pre-publication versions with a link to the final published article. This Journal…
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
- Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd
- Country or region
- ENGLAND
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Quarterly
- Founded
- 1976
- ISSN
- 0165-0203
- Electronic ISSN
- 1477-8947
- Society / sponsor
- United Nations
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 50, Issue 3 (August 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Natural Resources Forum
What CAS zone is Natural Resources Forum in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Natural Resources Forum is in Zone 4 of Sociology, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Environmental Sciences / Environmental Studies. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Sociology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Natural Resources Forum?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 4.5; CiteScore 6.5, h-index 80.
How long does peer review take at Natural Resources Forum?
Based on the dates recorded on 90 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 488 days (interquartile range 327–712 days); authors report an average review time of over 36 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Easy”; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 8% (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.
Where are the editorial board members of Natural Resources Forum based?
Of the 7 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (6) and Spain (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Natural Resources Forum?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Natural Resources Forum is indexed in SCIE, SSCI and Scopus. The journal's website also lists INSPEC, CAB Abstracts, GeoRef and Current Contents; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Natural Resources Forum open access, and what is the APC?
Natural Resources Forum is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 2,900.
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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .