Journal profile · Multidisciplinary-Multidisciplinary
Royal Society Open Science
ISSN 2054-5703 · The Royal Society · ENGLAND
Royal Society Open Science: CAS Zone 3 · Multidisciplinary (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.94; fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; median 136 days to acceptance (51 articles, last 24 months); 674 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Royal Society Open Science is an open journal publishing high-quality original research on the basis of objective peer-review. The journal covers the entire range of science and mathematics and allows the Society to publish all the high-quality work it receives without the usual restrictions on scope, length or impact. Demonstrating its commitment to best practice in open access publishing, Royal Society Open Science has been awarded the DOAJ Seal. The journal has a number of distinguishing features: objective peer-review (publishing all articles which are scientifically sound and useful to the community) makes the reviewer reports, decision letter and associated author responses accessible alongside published articles, with referees having the option to sign their reports articles embody open data principles each article has a suite of article level metrics and we encourage post-publication comments the Editorial team consists entirely of practising scientists and draws upon the expertise of the Royal Society’s Fellowship in addition to direct submissions, it accepts for consideration articles referred from other Royal Society journals. Royal Society Open Science welcomes the submission of all high-quality science including articles which may usually be difficult to publish elsewhere, for example, replications or those that include negative findings. The journal covers life sciences, physical sciences, mathematics, engineering and computer science. Find out more about the scope of subject areas considered by the journal. Unfortunately, work that has a strong clinical focus, including but not limited to clinical psychology, will not be considered for publication, and any exceptions will be at the sole discretion of the Editor. Journal Diversity Statement: The Royal Society’s journals aim to foster inclusive science and scholarship that reflects the disciplinary, geographic and human diversity of the community. Submissions are encouraged and welcomed from all authors, regardless of their characteristics, protected or otherwise. We are committed to equal opportunity and work diligently to mitigate bias in our editorial review processes. We continually work toward identifying and implementing good practices for scientific publishing. Endorsed by journal Editor-in-Chief Wendy Hall. For more information on selection criteria, article types and submitting your article please visit the information for authors page.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Multidisciplinary-Multidisciplinary
Editor-in-chief Dame WendyPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named Hong Kong, China 7, United Kingdom 4, South Korea 1, France 1, Denmark 1 (17 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Animal Behavior and ReproductionAgricultural and Biological Sciences11.3%
- Plant and animal studiesAgricultural and Biological Sciences6.5%
- Marine animal studies overviewEnvironmental Science6.3%
- Primate Behavior and EcologyPsychology5.6%
- Animal Vocal Communication and BehaviorBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5.5%
- Wildlife Ecology and ConservationEnvironmental Science5.4%
- Evolution and Paleontology StudiesEarth and Planetary Sciences4.9%
- Insect and Arachnid Ecology and BehaviorBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.4%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Multidisciplinary Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Multidisciplinary | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Multidisciplinary Sciences | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Multidisciplinary Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Multidisciplinary | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Multidisciplinary Sciences | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Multidisciplinary Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Multidisciplinary | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Multidisciplinary Sciences | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Web of SciencePMCPublisher website
Other: Astrophysics Data System
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
- 2.94LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.2LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 5.2Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.79LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.17LetPub ·
- h-index
- 28LetPub ·
- h-index
- 131OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 4,128OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 4.04OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 3.3%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 99.95%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 665LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 7,545 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 519 | 519 | 185 |
| 2025 | 674 | 674 | 2,409 |
| 2024 | 659 | 659 | 4,884 |
| 2023 | 598 | 598 | 6,928 |
| 2022 | 565 | 565 | 9,612 |
| 2021 | 672 | 672 | 13,864 |
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
136 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 87 days – 183 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 40 days (51 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 169 days
- Sample
- 51 articles with submission and acceptance dates (1,336 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 14 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 14 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 | GBP 1,400 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | GBP 1,200 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 1,200 | Yes | — |
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
- Suggested reviewers
- Required, 4
- Cover letter
- Required
- Not considered
- monographs
Article types accepted11
- comment and invited replyRoyal Society Open Science publishes the following article types: research article, review, perspective, Registered Report, replication, Evidence Synthesis, Sci…Length not stated
- evidence synthesisRoyal Society Open Science publishes the following article types: research article, review, perspective, Registered Report, replication, Evidence Synthesis, Sci…Length not stated
- letterRoyal Society Open Science publishes the following article types: research article, review, perspective, Registered Report, replication, Evidence Synthesis, Sci…Length not stated
- perspectiveRoyal Society Open Science publishes the following article types: research article, review, perspective, Registered Report, replication, Evidence Synthesis, Sci…Length not stated
- protocolRoyal Society Open Science publishes the following article types: research article, review, perspective, Registered Report, replication, Evidence Synthesis, Sci…Length not stated
- registered reportRoyal Society Open Science publishes the following article types: research article, review, perspective, Registered Report, replication, Evidence Synthesis, Sci…Length not stated
- replicationRoyal Society Open Science publishes the following article types: research article, review, perspective, Registered Report, replication, Evidence Synthesis, Sci…Length not stated
- research articleRoyal Society Open Science publishes the following article types: research article, review, perspective, Registered Report, replication, Evidence Synthesis, Sci…Length not stated
- reviewRoyal Society Open Science publishes the following article types: research article, review, perspective, Registered Report, replication, Evidence Synthesis, Sci…Length not stated
- review articleRoyal Society Open Science publishes the following article types: research article, review, perspective, Registered Report, replication, Evidence Synthesis, Sci…Length not stated
- science, society and policyRoyal Society Open Science publishes the following article types: research article, review, perspective, Registered Report, replication, Evidence Synthesis, Sci…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteOpen access, Peer review
- Open access Open access
Open access licence required for all submissions. Model summary
All papers are made freely available under an open access model immediately on publication at the Royal Society Open Science website and are deposited in PubMed Central on behalf of the author. Under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), authors retain copyright for their article but allow anyone to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, and/or copy articles provided the origi…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Transparent peer review in Royal Society Open Science
Single-anonymized peer review policy. Model summary
Royal Society Open Science operates open peer review for all manuscripts, making the review process as transparent as possible. This is done so by making the reviewer reports, decision letters and associated author responses accessible alongside published articles as a PDF. The journal strictly maintains referee anonymity, so although we do encourage reviewers to sign their reports, this is volunt…
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
- The Royal Society
- Country or region
- ENGLAND
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2054-5703
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 13, Issue 9 (September 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- 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 Royal Society Open Science
What CAS zone is Royal Society Open Science in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Royal Society Open Science is in Zone 3 of Multidisciplinary, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Multidisciplinary Sciences. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Multidisciplinary. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Royal Society Open Science?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.94; CiteScore 5.2, h-index 131.
How long does peer review take at Royal Society Open Science?
Based on the dates recorded on 51 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 136 days (interquartile range 87–183 days); authors report an average review time of about 14 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 Royal Society Open Science?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Suggested reviewers: Required, 4; 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.
Where are the editorial board members of Royal Society Open Science based?
Of the 17 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Hong Kong, China (7), United Kingdom (4) and South Korea (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Royal Society Open Science?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Royal Society Open Science is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Web of Science and PMC; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Royal Society Open Science open access, and what is the APC?
Royal Society Open Science is a fully open-access journal. APC charged, amount not published.
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: .