Journal profile · TRANSPORTATION SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Railway Engineering Science
ISSN 2662-4745 · eISSN 2662-4753 · SpringerOpen · Germany · 4 issues per year
Railway Engineering Science: CAS Zone 2 · Engineering (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 5.2 (journal website); diamond open access (no APC); no APC; median 152 days to acceptance (89 articles, last 24 months); 52 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Railway Engineering Science is published by SpringerOpen and is in Zone 2 of Engineering in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Railway Engineering and Dynamics, Railway Systems and Energy Efficiency and Geotechnical Engineering and Underground Structures, together about 50.2% of its articles. Its main subfields are Mechanical Engineering and Civil and Structural Engineering. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Railway Engineering Science is an international, peer-reviewed, and free open-access journal that publishes original research articles and comprehensive reviews related to fundamental engineering science and emerging technologies in rail transit systems, focusing on the cutting-edge research in high-speed railway, heavy-haul railway, urban rail transit, maglev system, hyperloop transportation, etc. The main goal of the journal is to maintain high quality of publications, serving as a medium for railway academia and industry to exchange new ideas and share the latest achievements in scientific research, technical innovation and industrial development in railway science and engineering. The topics include but are not limited to Design theory and construction technology System dynamics and safety Electrification, signaling and communication Operation and maintenance System health monitoring and reliability Environmental impact and sustainability Cutting-edge technologies The publication costs for Railway Engineering Science are fully covered by Southwest Jiaotong University so authors do not need to pay any article-processing charges.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): TRANSPORTATION SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Editor-in-chief Wanming ZhaiPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 12 in mainland China (about 32%); most named Mainland China 12, United States 4, United Kingdom 3, Australia 3, Sweden 3 (38 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Railway Engineering and DynamicsEngineering30.1%
- Railway Systems and Energy EfficiencyEngineering13.1%
- Geotechnical Engineering and Underground StructuresEngineering7%
- Aerodynamics and Fluid Dynamics ResearchEngineering5.7%
- Mechanical stress and fatigue analysisEngineering5.7%
- Structural Health Monitoring TechniquesEngineering4%
- Electrical Contact Performance and AnalysisEngineering3.8%
- Civil and Geotechnical Engineering ResearchEngineering3.5%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Engineering Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Engineering | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Transportation Science & Technology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Engineering Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Engineering | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Transportation Science & Technology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Engineering Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Engineering | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Transportation Science & Technology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
ESCIScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
EI CompendexINSPECCASPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, EBSCO, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, Baidu, Astrophysics Data System, Naver, OCLC, Portico, CLOCKSS
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 (publisher) 2025
- 5.2Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 6.5Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 9.8LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 2Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.28LetPub ·
- SJR (publisher)
- 9.8Publisher website ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 2.65LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher)
- 1.28Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 34OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 119OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 4.58OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 7.7%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 49LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 592,100Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 253 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 49 | 49 | 45 |
| 2025 | 52 | 52 | 234 |
| 2024 | 33 | 33 | 335 |
| 2023 | 31 | 31 | 575 |
| 2022 | 28 | 28 | 806 |
| 2021 | 34 | 34 | 923 |
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
152 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 126 days – 205 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 75 days (89 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 239 days
- Sample
- 89 articles with submission and acceptance dates (105 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)
- about 15 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 7 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 15 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
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, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 0 | — | — | |
| LetPub | No APC | No | — |
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 prepare3 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- 150–250 words
- Keywords
- ≥ 4
- Reference style
- Numbered, in order of citation
Article types accepted9
- brief noteOriginal Article, Review, Case Report, Scientific Letter, Short Communication, Editorial, Brief Note, ErratumLength not stated
- case reportOriginal Article, Review, Case Report, Scientific Letter, Short Communication, Editorial, Brief Note, Erratum Back to topLength not stated
- editorialOriginal Article, Review, Case Report, Scientific Letter, Short Communication, Editorial, Brief Note, Erratum Back to topLength not stated
- erratumOriginal Article, Review, Case Report, Scientific Letter, Short Communication, Editorial, Brief Note, ErratumLength not stated
- letterOriginal Article, Review, Case Report, Scientific Letter, Short Communication, Editorial, Brief Note, Erratum Back to topLength not stated
- original articleOriginal Article, Review, Case Report, Scientific Letter, Short Communication, Editorial, Brief Note, Erratum Back to topLength not stated
- reviewOriginal Article, Review, Case Report, Scientific Letter, Short Communication, Editorial, Brief Note, Erratum Back to topLength not stated
- scientific letterOriginal Article, Review, Case Report, Scientific Letter, Short Communication, Editorial, Brief Note, ErratumLength not stated
- short communicationOriginal Article, Review, Case Report, Scientific Letter, Short Communication, Editorial, Brief Note, Erratum Back to topLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Conflicts of interest, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review
- AI use Generative AI Images
LLMs do not satisfy authorship criteria; AI-assisted copy editing need not be declared Model summary
Please check Springer’s policy on generative AI images and make sure your work adheres to the principles described therein. Back to top
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Competing Interests
Authors are requested to disclose interests that are directly or indirectly related to the work submitted for publication. Interests within the last 3 years of beginning the work (conducting the research and preparing the work for submission) should be reported. Interests outside the 3-year time frame must be disclosed if they could reasonably be perceived as influencing the submitted work. Disclo…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics
Competing interests disclosure required Model summary
Authors are required to disclose financial or non-financial interests that are directly or indirectly related to the work submitted for publication.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Copyright
Articles in Springer Nature open access journals do not require transfer of copyright as the copyright remains with the author. Details of the OA licences offered to authors can be found on the individual journal website, in the journal's How to publish with us guide. Back to top
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open access publishing
Copyright remains with the author (open access) Model summary
To find out more about publishing your work Open Access in Railway Engineering Science, including information on fees, funding and licences, visit our Open access publishing page. Back to top
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Single-blind peer review
Single-blind peer review Model summary
This journal follows a single-blind reviewing procedure. This journal also publishes special/guest-edited issues. The peer review process for these articles is the same as the peer review process of the journal in general. Additionally, if a guest editor authors an article in their issue/collection, they will not handle the peer review process. Back to top
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
- SpringerOpen
- Country or region
- Germany
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- 4 issues per year
- ISSN
- 2662-4745
- Electronic ISSN
- 2662-4753
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 34, Issue 3 (September 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗LetPub
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Railway Engineering Science
What CAS zone is Railway Engineering Science in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Railway Engineering Science is in Zone 2 of Engineering, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Transportation Science & Technology. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 1 of Engineering. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Railway Engineering Science?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 5.2 (2025); this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 9.8, h-index 34.
How long does peer review take at Railway Engineering Science?
Based on the dates recorded on 89 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 152 days (interquartile range 126–205 days); authors report an average review time of about 15 weeks. 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 Railway Engineering Science?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: 150–250 words; Keywords: ≥ 4; Reference style: Numbered, in order of citation. 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 Railway Engineering Science based?
Of the 38 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 12 (about 32%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Mainland China (12), United States (4) and United Kingdom (3). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Railway Engineering Science?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Railway Engineering Science is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists EI Compendex, INSPEC and CAS; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Railway Engineering Science open access, and what is the APC?
Railway Engineering Science 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, OpenAlex, Publisher website, 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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .