Journal profile · GEOGRAPHY, PHYSICAL
Research in Cold and Arid Regions
ISSN 2097-1583 · eISSN 2949-7302 · KeAi Communications Co.
Research in Cold and Arid Regions: CAS Zone 4 · Earth Sciences (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 3.5 (journal website); fully open access; APC about USD 1,000; 75 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Research in Cold and Arid Regions is published by KeAi Communications Co. and is in Zone 4 of Earth Sciences in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Climate change and permafrost, Cryospheric studies and observations and Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics, together about 45.9% of its articles. Its main subfields are Atmospheric Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Research in Cold and Arid Regions is a peer-reviewed, international and interdisciplinary research journal, which focuses on the latest research on...
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): GEOGRAPHY, PHYSICAL
Editor-in-chief Qi FengPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 40 in mainland China (about 77%); most named Mainland China 40, United States 3, Australia 3, Canada 2, Germany 1 (52 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Climate change and permafrostEarth and Planetary Sciences22.4%
- Cryospheric studies and observationsEarth and Planetary Sciences17.8%
- Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamicsEarth and Planetary Sciences5.7%
- Landslides and related hazardsEnvironmental Science5.2%
- Land Use and Ecosystem ServicesEnvironmental Science4.6%
- Soil and Unsaturated FlowEngineering3.9%
- Remote Sensing in AgricultureEnvironmental Science3.4%
- Geology and Paleoclimatology ResearchEarth and Planetary Sciences3.1%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Earth Sciences Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Earth Sciences | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Geography, Physical | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Earth Sciences Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Earth Sciences | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Geography, Physical | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Earth Sciences Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Earth Sciences | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Geography, Physical | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
ESCIScopusDOAJLetPub
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 (publisher)
- 3.5Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 3.6LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 3.6Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.52LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.73LetPub ·
- h-index
- 12OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 23OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.17OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 2.9%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 98.99%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 38LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 215 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 42 | 42 | 3 |
| 2025 | 75 | 75 | 134 |
| 2024 | 47 | 47 | 219 |
| 2023 | 31 | 31 | 246 |
| 2022 | 20 | 20 | 130 |
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
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 20 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
Fully open accessDOAJ
Every article is open access; authors usually pay an article processing charge (APC).
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | USD 1,000 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 0 | — | — | |
| Publisher website | USD 1,000 | — | — |
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 prepare1 items from the author guidelines
- Reference style
- Author–date
Article types accepted7
- discussionsContributions falling into the following categories will be considered for publication: Original research papers, review articles, discussions and editorials.Length not stated
- editorialContributions falling into the following categories will be considered for publication: Original research papers, review articles, discussions and editorials. P…Length not stated
- editorialsContributions falling into the following categories will be considered for publication: Original research papers, review articles, discussions and editorials.Length not stated
- original research paperContributions falling into the following categories will be considered for publication: Original research papers, review articles, discussions and editorials. P…Length not stated
- original research papersContributions falling into the following categories will be considered for publication: Original research papers, review articles, discussions and editorials.Length not stated
- review articleContributions falling into the following categories will be considered for publication: Original research papers, review articles, discussions and editorials. P…Length not stated
- review articlesContributions falling into the following categories will be considered for publication: Original research papers, review articles, discussions and editorials.Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Data availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Plagiarism
- Authorship Author contributions
Maximum of 6 keywords Model summary
For transparency, we encourage corresponding authors to provide co-author contributions to the manuscript using the relevant CRediT roles. The CRediT taxonomy includes 14 different roles describing each contributor's specific contribution to the scholarly output. The roles are: Conceptualization; Data curation; Formal analysis; Funding acquisition; Investigation; Methodology; Project administratio…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability
Supports Mendeley Data repository Model summary
This journal supports Mendeley Data, enabling you to deposit any research data (including raw and processed data, video, code, software, algorithms, protocols, and methods) associated with your manuscript in a free-to-use, open access repository.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Copyright
CC user license upon author choice Model summary
This journal is a peer reviewed, fully open access journal owned by Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources retains copyright of the overall compiled journal and the compiled issues. For open access publishing, this journal uses a licensing agreement. For the single article, Authors will transfer copyri…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open Access
Fully open access journal Model summary
Every peer-reviewed research article appearing in this journal will be published open access. This means that the article is universally and freely accessible via the internet in perpetuity, in an easily readable format immediately after publication. To provide open access, this journal has an open access fee (also known as an Article Processing Charge, APC) which needs to be paid by the authors o…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review
Double blind peer review Model summary
This journal operates a double blind review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor's dec…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Plagiarism
iThenticate CrossCheck plagiarism screening; high similarity papers desk rejected Model summary
Submissions to KeAi journals are automatically screened using iThenticate's CrossCheck within the editorial system to detect plagiarism issues including instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts. Details can be found here. High similarity papers will be desk rejected.
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
- KeAi Communications Co.
- ISSN
- 2097-1583
- Electronic ISSN
- 2949-7302
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗DOAJ
- Aims & Scope ↗DOAJ
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Fee waivers ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗DOAJ
- Editorial board ↗DOAJ
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Research in Cold and Arid Regions
What CAS zone is Research in Cold and Arid Regions in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Research in Cold and Arid Regions is in Zone 4 of Earth Sciences, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Geography, Physical. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Earth Sciences. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Research in Cold and Arid Regions?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 3.5; this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 3.6, h-index 12.
Where are the editorial board members of Research in Cold and Arid Regions based?
Of the 52 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 40 (about 77%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Mainland China (40), United States (3) and Australia (3). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Research in Cold and Arid Regions?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Research in Cold and Arid Regions is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Research in Cold and Arid Regions open access, and what is the APC?
Research in Cold and Arid Regions is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 1,000.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, DOAJ, Publisher website; 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: .