Journal profile · Earth and Planetary Sciences-Geology
Rock Mechanics Bulletin
ISSN 2773-2304 · KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. · China
Rock Mechanics Bulletin: CAS Zone 4 · Engineering (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 8 (journal website); fully open access; APC about USD 1,200; review about 10 weeks (community reports); 82 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Rock Mechanics Bulletin is published by KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. and is in Zone 4 of Engineering in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Rock Mechanics and Modeling, Landslides and related hazards and Hydraulic Fracturing and Reservoir Analysis, together about 40.8% of its articles. Its main subfields are Mechanics of Materials. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Rock Mechanics Bulletin is a multi-disciplinary open access journal on the broad field of geomechanics and rock engineering. The journal covers a...
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Earth and Planetary Sciences-Geology
Editor-in-chief Manchao HePublisher website
Editorial board by country: 50 in mainland China (about 51%); most named Mainland China 50, United States 8, Australia 6, Japan 5, France 4 (98 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Rock Mechanics and ModelingEngineering26.4%
- Landslides and related hazardsEnvironmental Science7.8%
- Hydraulic Fracturing and Reservoir AnalysisEngineering6.6%
- Geotechnical Engineering and AnalysisEngineering6.2%
- Drilling and Well EngineeringEngineering6%
- Geotechnical and Geomechanical EngineeringEngineering5%
- Tunneling and Rock MechanicsEngineering4.3%
- Geophysical Methods and ApplicationsEngineering3.9%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Engineering Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Engineering | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Engineering, Geological | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Engineering Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Engineering | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Engineering, Geological | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
Database indexing
ESCIScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
PubMedPublisher website
Other: Crossref
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)
- 8Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 10.9LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 10.9Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.67LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 2.05LetPub ·
- h-index
- 24OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 77OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 5.55OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 6.2%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 43LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 2Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 231 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 56 | 56 | 24 |
| 2025 | 82 | 82 | 330 |
| 2024 | 41 | 41 | 639 |
| 2023 | 35 | 35 | 833 |
| 2022 | 17 | 17 | 437 |
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
- Average review time (community reports)
- about 10 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 10 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
Fully open accessDOAJ
Every article is open access; authors usually pay an article processing charge (APC).
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | USD 1,200 | Yes | CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 0 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 1,200 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | USD 1,200 | — | — |
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
- Reference style
- Numbered, in order of citation
- Highlights
- Required
- Graphical abstract
- Optional
Article types accepted7
- editorialFull-length/ Research Article A complete report on original research A structured abstract is required. A clear structure is required, which should contain but …Length not stated
- full-length/ research articleFull-length/ Research Article A complete report on original researchLength not stated
- original researchFull-length/ Research Article A complete report on original research A structured abstract is required. A clear structure is required, which should contain but …Length not stated
- perspectiveFull-length/ Research Article A complete report on original research A structured abstract is required. A clear structure is required, which should contain but …Length not stated
- research articleFull-length/ Research Article A complete report on original research A structured abstract is required. A clear structure is required, which should contain but …Length not stated
- review articleFull-length/ Research Article A complete report on original research A structured abstract is required. A clear structure is required, which should contain but …Length not stated
- short communicationFull-length/ Research Article A complete report on original research A structured abstract is required. A clear structure is required, which should contain but …Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Plagiarism, Preprints
- Authorship Author contributions
For transparency, we require 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 administration;…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Declaration of competing interest
All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. Authors should complete the declaration of compe…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Copyright
Copyright transfer to Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering Model summary
This journal is a peer reviewed, fully open access journal owned by Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering. This journal uses a copyright transfer agreement. Authors will transfer copyright to Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering, but will have the right to share their article in the same ways permitted to third parties under the relevant user license, as well as certain …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open Access
APC waived for papers submitted before 31 December 2026 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 publishing charge APC) which needs to be paid by the authors or…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review
Single-blind peer review Model summary
This journal operates a single-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 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 instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts.High similarity papers will be desk rejected.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
Please note that preprints can be shared anywhere at any time, in line with Elsevier's sharing policy. Sharing your preprints e.g. on a preprint server will not count as prior publication (see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' for more information).
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., Ltd.
- Country or region
- China
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2773-2304
- Print ISSN
- 2097-4671
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Fee waivers ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗LetPub
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Rock Mechanics Bulletin
What CAS zone is Rock Mechanics Bulletin in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Rock Mechanics Bulletin is in Zone 4 of Engineering, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Engineering, Geological. 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 Rock Mechanics Bulletin?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 8; this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 10.9, h-index 24.
How long does peer review take at Rock Mechanics Bulletin?
Authors report an average review time of about 10 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 Rock Mechanics Bulletin?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Reference style: Numbered, in order of citation; Highlights: Required; Graphical abstract: Optional. 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 Rock Mechanics Bulletin based?
Of the 98 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 50 (about 51%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Mainland China (50), United States (8) and Australia (6). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Rock Mechanics Bulletin?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Rock Mechanics Bulletin is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists PubMed; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Rock Mechanics Bulletin open access, and what is the APC?
Rock Mechanics Bulletin is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 1,200.
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 2026-08-24). Last updated: .