Journal profile · Multiple
Public Understanding of Science
ISSN 0963-6625 · eISSN 1361-6609 · SAGE
Public Understanding of Science: CAS Zone 2 · Literature (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal); impact factor 4.19; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,900; review about 304 days (submission to acceptance, publisher); acceptance rate 8.4% (journal website); 68 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI, AHCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Public Understanding of Science is published by SAGE and is in Zone 2 of Literature in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Climate Change Communication and Perception, Misinformation and Its Impacts and Risk Perception and Management, together about 46.9% of its articles. Its main subfields are Sociology and Political Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Public Understanding of Science is a fully peer-reviewed international journal covering all aspects of the inter-relationships between science (including technology … | View full journal description This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Multiple
Editorial board by country: 4 in mainland China (about 8%); most named United Kingdom 10, United States 9, Mainland China 4, Germany 3, Italy 3 (51 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Climate Change Communication and PerceptionSocial Sciences32%
- Misinformation and Its ImpactsSocial Sciences7.9%
- Risk Perception and ManagementSocial Sciences7%
- Media Studies and CommunicationSocial Sciences5.3%
- Science Education and PerceptionsPsychology5.2%
- Animal and Plant Science EducationPsychology4.7%
- Environmental Education and SustainabilityEnvironmental Science4.4%
- Social Media and PoliticsSocial Sciences3.8%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Literature Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Literature | Zone 2 |
| Minor | History & Philosophy Of Science | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Communication | Zone 3 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Literature Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Literature | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Communication | Zone 2 |
| Minor | History & Philosophy Of Science | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Literature Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Literature | Zone 2 |
| Minor | History & Philosophy Of Science | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Communication | Zone 3 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
Database indexing
SSCIAHCIScopusLetPub
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
- 4.19LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 4.3Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 4.9Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 7.2LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.15LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.75LetPub ·
- h-index
- 130OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,132OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.68OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 7%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 50%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 57LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,977 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 50 | 33 | 16 |
| 2025 | 68 | 43 | 187 |
| 2024 | 76 | 47 | 511 |
| 2023 | 73 | 49 | 962 |
| 2022 | 92 | 41 | 1,378 |
| 2021 | 81 | 31 | 1,934 |
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
Publisher-reported review time from the journal's website
304 dayssubmission to acceptance
The publisher's own definition applies; dates from this journal's articles in the last 24 months are not available yet, so the publisher's figure is used.
Figures by source
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 8.4%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 4 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 304 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 48 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 3,900 / GBP 2,859 | — | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
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)
What to prepare2 items from the author guidelines
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 8,000 words
- Reference style
- APA
Article types accepted6
- essayEssay (max. 4,000 words)Length not stated
- research articleNote: The acceptable manuscript lengths mentioned below include references and footnotes, but exclude title page, abstract, tables and figures. Types of submiss…Length not stated
- research noteResearch Note (max. 4,000 words and 5 figures or tables)Length not stated
- review articleNote: The acceptable manuscript lengths mentioned below include references and footnotes, but exclude title page, abstract, tables and figures. Types of submiss…Length not stated
- surveyNote: The acceptable manuscript lengths mentioned below include references and footnotes, but exclude title page, abstract, tables and figures. Types of submiss…Length not stated
- viewpointNote: The acceptable manuscript lengths mentioned below include references and footnotes, but exclude title page, abstract, tables and figures. Types of submiss…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Data availability, Publication ethics, Open access, Peer review, Plagiarism, Preprints, Trial registration / reporting guidelines
- Authorship Author contributions
You will be asked to list the contribution of each author as part of the submission process. Please include the Author Contributions heading within your submission after the Acknowledgements section. The information you give on submission will then show under the Author Contributions heading later at the proofing stage.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data availability
The Journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages. Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to: Share your research data in a relevant public data repository Include a data ava…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics Ethical considerations
Please include your ethics approval statements under this heading, even if you have already included ethics approval information in your methods section. If ethical approval was not required, you need to explicitly state this. All papers reporting studies involving human participants, human data or human tissue must state that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board approved th…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Publishing fees and open access
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this journal. Figures submitted in color will be published in color in the online version of the journal at no cost. If you wish to have color figures in the printed version, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article. Optional open access publishing is available for a fee via the Sage Choice p…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
Double anonymized peer review Model summary
The following summary describes the peer review process for this journal: Identity transparency:Double-anonymised Reviewer interacts with: Editor Review information published: None Your manuscript will undergo an initial evaluation. If it does not conform to the requirements laid out in these guidelines, it will be returned to you for amendments prior to peer review. Manuscripts may be desk reject…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Plagiarism Plagiarism
The journal and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. Please read Sage's complete policy on plagiarism and the actions we may take.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
The journal will consider submissions of manuscripts that have been posted on preprint servers. Please enter the preprint DOI in the designated field when submitting your manuscript. We advise that you inform the Journal Editorial office about your posted preprint at submission. Note that you should not post an updated version of your manuscript on a preprint server while it is being peer reviewed…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Trial registration / reporting guidelines Clinical trial registration
The journal conforms to the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first participant enrollment as a condition of consideration for publication. The trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.
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
- SAGE
- ISSN
- 0963-6625
- Electronic ISSN
- 1361-6609
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Public Understanding of Science
What CAS zone is Public Understanding of Science in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Public Understanding of Science is in Zone 2 of Literature, and in Zone 2 of the minor category History & Philosophy Of Science / Communication; it is a Top journal. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 1 of Literature. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Public Understanding of Science?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 4.19; CiteScore 7.2, h-index 130.
How long does peer review take at Public Understanding of Science?
The publisher reports about 304 days (submission to acceptance); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 8.4%. 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 Public Understanding of Science?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Manuscript length: ≤ 8,000 words; Reference style: APA. 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 Public Understanding of Science based?
Of the 51 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 4 (about 8%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (10), United States (9) and Mainland China (4). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Public Understanding of Science?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Public Understanding of Science is indexed in SSCI, AHCI and Scopus.
Is Public Understanding of Science open access, and what is the APC?
Public Understanding of Science is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,900.
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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .