Journal profile · chemical sciences
RSC Advances
ISSN 2046-2069 · Royal Society of Chemistry · England · Continuously updated · Founded 2011
RSC Advances: CAS Zone 3 · Chemistry (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 6.08; fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; median 56 days to acceptance (191 articles, last 24 months); 3,814 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
RSC Advances is published by Royal Society of Chemistry and is in Zone 3 of Chemistry in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques, Advancements in Battery Materials and Supercapacitor Materials and Fabrication, together about 20% of its articles. Its main subfields are Materials Chemistry. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
RSC Advances papers should provide an insight that advances the chemistry field. Papers that contain little or no chemistry and are not considered to be of interest or relevance to the chemistry community are not within the scope of the journal. The criteria for publication are that the work must be high quality, well conducted and advance the development of the field. Articles submitted to the journal are evaluated by our international team of associate editors and reviewers for the overall quality and accuracy of the science presented. Please ensure you have considered the following points before submitting your manuscript. Does the work present an advance over the existing literature?Have you provided sufficient evidence/data to support your conclusions?Have you provided adequate characterisation data for your materials/compounds? (Please check the supporting information section to ensure that the necessary requirements have been met and copies of relevant spectra have been provided where necessary)Are the results discussed in the context of the literature?Are the references relevant and do they appropriately reflect the existing literature? Additional informationA small number of topic areas have their own additional requirements:Molecular docking studies should include some physical or experimental validation. Studies that screen a molecule against a set of receptors with no link to physical or experimental data are not suitable for publication.Purely computational studies on the properties of materials not yet experimentally characterized should include a discussion of the reasons why these materials are potentially interesting for the chemistry community, as well as commenting on their synthetic feasibility. Calculations demonstrating synthetic feasibility should be performed where possible.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): chemical sciences
Editor-in-chief Fabienne DumoulinPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Advanced Photocatalysis TechniquesEnergy8%
- Advancements in Battery MaterialsEngineering6.1%
- Supercapacitor Materials and FabricationMaterials Science5.9%
- Conducting polymers and applicationsMaterials Science5.4%
- Advanced biosensing and bioanalysis techniquesBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.9%
- Graphene research and applicationsMaterials Science4.8%
- Catalytic Processes in Materials ScienceMaterials Science4.8%
- Nanomaterials for catalytic reactionsChemistry4.8%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Chemistry Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Chemistry | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Chemistry, Multidisciplinary | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Chemistry Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Chemistry | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Chemistry, Multidisciplinary | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Chemistry Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Chemistry | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Chemistry, Multidisciplinary | 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 SciencePubMedPublisher website
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
- 6.08LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 6.1Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 8.7LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.86LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.12LetPub ·
- h-index
- 113LetPub ·
- h-index
- 286OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 57,629OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 7.44OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 4.9%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 99.93%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 3,723LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 83,796 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 3,908 | 3,908 | 4,707 |
| 2025 | 3,814 | 3,814 | 29,183 |
| 2024 | 3,491 | 3,491 | 49,494 |
| 2023 | 3,256 | 3,256 | 61,549 |
| 2022 | 3,550 | 3,550 | 70,986 |
| 2021 | 4,112 | 4,112 | 93,840 |
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 PubMed · to
56 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 39 days – 85 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 13 days (191 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 73 days
- Sample
- 191 articles with submission and acceptance dates (8,437 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 2.1 monthsLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 17 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 8 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 2,100 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC | |
| OpenAlex | GBP 850 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 2,200 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 2,200 | — | — |
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)
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteOpen access
- Open access Publish open access
Choosing to publish open access is easy and straightforward – and it is possible in every Royal Society of Chemistry journal.
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
- Royal Society of Chemistry
- Country or region
- England
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Continuously updated
- Founded
- 2011
- ISSN
- 2046-2069
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- 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 RSC Advances
What CAS zone is RSC Advances in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, RSC Advances is in Zone 3 of Chemistry, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Chemistry, Multidisciplinary. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Chemistry. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of RSC Advances?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 6.08; CiteScore 8.7, h-index 286.
How long does peer review take at RSC Advances?
Based on the dates recorded on 191 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 56 days (interquartile range 39–85 days); authors report an average review time of about 2.1 months. 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.
Which databases index RSC Advances?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, RSC Advances is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Web of Science and PubMed; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is RSC Advances open access, and what is the APC?
RSC Advances 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: .