Journal profile · POLYMER SCIENCE
Polymers
ISSN 2073-4360 · MDPI (Basel, Switzerland) · SWITZERLAND · Founded 2009
Polymers: CAS Zone 3 · Engineering (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 5.74; JCR Q1 (journal website); fully open access; APC about USD 3,258; median 33 days to acceptance (200 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: fairly easy; 3,420 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus; flagged on an early-warning list or for an indexing change: check before submitting.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Polymers is published by MDPI (Basel, Switzerland) and is in Zone 3 of Engineering in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are biodegradable polymer synthesis and properties, Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing Technologies and Electrospun Nanofibers in Biomedical Applications, together about 24% of its articles. Its main subfields are Polymers and Plastics and Biomaterials. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Polymer Chemistry: novel synthetic and polymerization methods; reactions and chemistry of polymers; polymerization mechanisms and kinetics; synthesis of functional polymers; catalytic applications in polymerization Polymer Analysis and Characterization: studies, methodologies, instrumentation, and applications involving the characterization and analysis of polymers, polymeric materials, polymer additives and polymerization mechanism; measurement of molecular weight, size, conformation, structure, properties and behavior of polymers; separation, spectroscopy, and scattering techniques; structure–property–processing relationships; degradation ageing and fire retardancy of polymer systems Polymer Physics and Theory: theoretical, computational, and experimental studies of the physico-chemical properties of polymeric systems: the development of multiscale modeling methodologies, constitutive equations, and new theories; the implementation of efficient algorithms and machine learning schemes for structure–property relationship quantification; and experimental studies for the preparation and characterization of new polymeric materials, including instrumentation and development of new measuring devices Polymer Processing and Engineering: shaping, synthesis, transformation, compounding, functionalization, and stabilization of polymeric materials, including extrusion, film blowing, wire-coating, injection molding, blow molding, thermoforming, calendaring, mixing, compression and transfer molding, rotational molding, plastic foam molding, reactive polymer processing, fiber spinning, additive manufacturing and 3D printing Polymer Applications: all kinds of applications (from sensors to actuators, from biomedical engineering to space engineering, and from the macro scale down to the nano scale) with polymeric materials, proof of concept, structural/system design, performance verification and characterization Biobased and Biodegradable Polymers: polymers of biological origin produced by living organisms, including polyesters, polyamides, etc.; polymers from renewable resources and biodegradable polymers Circular and Green Polymer Science: design and development of green polymer systems; mechanical and chemical recycling and energy recovery of polymer and biopolymer-based systems; polymer synthesis using renewable resources and employing green methods for polymer synthesis Polymer Composites and Nanocomposites: design of polymer composites and nanocomposites, fiber-reinf
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): POLYMER SCIENCE
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- biodegradable polymer synthesis and propertiesMaterials Science11%
- Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing TechnologiesEngineering6.7%
- Electrospun Nanofibers in Biomedical ApplicationsMaterials Science6.3%
- Natural Fiber Reinforced CompositesMaterials Science6.1%
- Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting MaterialsEngineering5.7%
- Polymer Nanocomposites and PropertiesMaterials Science5.1%
- Polymer composites and self-healingMaterials Science5%
- Conducting polymers and applicationsMaterials Science4.8%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Engineering Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Engineering | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Polymer Science | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Engineering Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Engineering | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Polymer Science | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Engineering Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Engineering | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Polymer Science | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
JCR / CiteScore quartiles on the journal's website
- JCR Q1 · Polymer Science
- CiteScore Q1 · Polymers and Plastics
Publisher-reported: JCR figures are Clarivate's and CiteScore figures Scopus's to confirm; both are a different system from the CAS zones.Publisher website
Database indexing
SCIEScopusLetPub
Early warning / risk: CAS Early Warning Journal List: listed in the 2020 edition (low risk); not listed in the other 5 editions.LetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
EI CompendexWeb of SciencePMCPubMedINSPECCASPublisher website
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
- 5.74LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 5.8Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 6.1Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 11LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 11Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.93LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.29LetPub ·
- h-index
- 53LetPub ·
- h-index
- 237OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 19,597OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 7.58OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 8.6%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 99.97%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 3,415LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 32,703 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 2,256 | 2,256 | 1,895 |
| 2025 | 3,420 | 3,420 | 22,769 |
| 2024 | 3,576 | 3,576 | 45,438 |
| 2023 | 4,658 | 4,658 | 90,316 |
| 2022 | 5,640 | 5,640 | 142,556 |
| 2021 | 4,502 | 4,502 | 153,186 |
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
33 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 25 days – 43 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 3 days (200 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 37 days
- Sample
- 200 articles with submission and acceptance dates (6,452 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 acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly easyLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 13.4 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 2.7 daysPublisher website ·
- Peer review
- Anonymous peer reviewLetPub
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 accessOpenAlex
Every article is open access; authors usually pay an article processing charge (APC).
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAlex | CHF 2,700 | — | — | |
| LetPub | CHF 2,700 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
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 prepare7 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 200 words
- Reference style
- Author–date
- Templates
- LaTeX and Word
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Suggested reviewers
- Required
- Graphical abstract
- Optional
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted20
- articleArticle: These are original research manuscripts. The work should report scientifically sound experiments and provide a substantial amount of new information.Length not stated
- book reviewAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
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- conference reportAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
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- letterAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- opinionAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
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- registered reportAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- reviewAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- scoping reviewA Scoping Review type can be submitted as a Review.Length not stated
- systematic reviewAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- technical noteAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- tutorialAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- viewpointAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- Authorship Authorship
MDPI follows the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines which state that, in order to qualify for authorship of a manuscript, the following criteria should be observed: Make substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; Draft the work or review it critically for important intel…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Conflicts of Interest
According to The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, “Authors should avoid entering into agreements with study sponsors, both for-profit and non-profit, that interfere with authors’ access to all of the study’s data or that interfere with their ability to analyze and interpret the data and to prepare and publish manuscripts independently when and where they choose.” All authors mus…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data availability statements
Data availability statements are required for all articles published with MDPI. During the peer review and editorial decision process, authors can be asked to share existing datasets or raw data that have been analyzed in the manuscript, and whether they will be made available to other researchers following publication. Authors will also be asked for the details of any existing datasets that have …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics Publication Ethics Statement
Polymers is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). We fully adhere to its Code of Conduct and to its Best Practice Guidelines. The editors of this journal enforce a rigorous peer review process together with strict ethical policies and standards to ensure to add high quality scientific works to the field of scholarly publication. Unfortunately, cases of plagiarism, data falsificat…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Copyright / Open Access
Articles published in Polymers will be Open-Access articles distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The copyright is retained by the author(s). MDPI will insert the following note at the end of the published text: © 2026 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and c…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open access publication fees
If you transfer your manuscript to another open access (OA) journal, you will be charged an Article Processing Charge (APC) if your article is accepted for publication. The APC for each journal can be found on the individual journal’s website. For more information about APCs, please see here.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Editorial Process and Peer Review
All submissions are thoroughly peer-reviewed by experts within the field and undergo a structured editorial workflow designed to ensure quality, transparency, and scientific integrity. The full editorial procedure is available on the Editorial Process page and is also provided below. Pre-check Pre-check consists of a technical pre-check performed by the Editorial Office and an editorial pre-check …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints and Conference Papers
Polymers accepts submissions that have previously been made available as preprints provided that they have not undergone peer review. A preprint is a draft version of a paper made available online before submission to a journal. MDPI operates Preprints, a preprint server to which submitted papers can be uploaded directly after completing journal submission. Note that Preprints operates independent…
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
- MDPI (Basel, Switzerland)
- Country or region
- SWITZERLAND
- Language
- English
- Founded
- 2009
- ISSN
- 2073-4360
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 18 (2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- Peer review process ↗LetPub
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Polymers
What CAS zone is Polymers in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Polymers is in Zone 3 of Engineering, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Polymer Science. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Engineering. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Polymers?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 5.74; CiteScore 11, h-index 237.
How long does peer review take at Polymers?
Based on the dates recorded on 200 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 33 days (interquartile range 25–43 days); 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 JCR quartile is Polymers in?
The journal's website gives JCR Q1; by category, Polymer Science Q1. JCR quartiles are Clarivate's to confirm and a different system from the CAS zones; in the CAS ranking the journal is in Zone 3 of Engineering.
What are the manuscript requirements of Polymers?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 200 words; Reference style: Author–date; Templates: LaTeX and Word; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; Suggested reviewers: Required; Graphical abstract: Optional; 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.
Which databases index Polymers?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Polymers is indexed in SCIE and Scopus. The journal's website also lists EI Compendex, Web of Science, PMC, PubMed, INSPEC and CAS; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Polymers open access, and what is the APC?
Polymers is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 3,258.
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: .