Journal profile · POLYMER SCIENCE
RSC Applied Polymers
ISSN 2755-371X
RSC Applied Polymers: impact factor 5.1 (journal website); fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; median 93 days to acceptance (17 articles, last 24 months); 146 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, RSC Applied Polymers's largest topics are Conducting polymers and applications, Polymer composites and self-healing and Advanced Polymer Synthesis and Characterization, together about 23.6% of its articles. Its main subfields are Polymers and Plastics. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
RSC Applied Polymers is a leading international journal for the application of polymers, including experimental and computational studies on both natural and synthetic systems. The journal is a premier cross-disciplinary publishing home for scientific research that leverages polymeric materials in a range of applications, welcoming high-impact advances made possible with polymers across materials, biology, energy applications, and beyond. Polymer researchers across chemistry, materials science, biology, and engineering, are all welcome to share timely and impactful contributions, connecting fundamental scientific insights to performance-related metrics. The journal welcomes research on the application of polymers in different areas, and the relationship to structure and/or composition, as afforded by synthesis and/or processing. Topics include but are not limited to: Materials: inks, packaging, coatings, membranes, textiles, dyes/pigments, flame retardants, reprocessable/recyclable, etc.Biology: bioinspired/biomimicking, biointerfacing, bioresponsive, therapeutic, etc.Energy: harvesting, storage, interconversion, management, separations, etc. UN Sustainable Development GoalsConsistent with the vision and values of the RSC, the journal welcomes and celebrates research that supports the advancement of several UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including but not limited to SDG3: good health and well-being, SDG6: clean water and sanitation, SDG7: affordable and clean energy, and SDG12: including responsible production and consumption. RSC Applied Polymers will be the leading international journal for the latest advances made possible with polymers, from energy harvesting and management to payload delivery, and beyond. The journal will promote the advancement of science by publishing timely and impactful cross-disciplinary research that connects fundamental insights to performance-related metrics.Emily Pentzer, Editor-in-Chief, RSC Applied Polymers
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): POLYMER SCIENCE
Editor-in-chief Emily PentzerPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Conducting polymers and applicationsMaterials Science8.6%
- Polymer composites and self-healingMaterials Science7.9%
- Advanced Polymer Synthesis and CharacterizationChemistry7.2%
- Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting MaterialsEngineering6%
- Hydrogels: synthesis, properties, applicationsBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5.6%
- biodegradable polymer synthesis and propertiesMaterials Science5.6%
- Synthesis and properties of polymersMaterials Science5.4%
- Diverse Scientific and Economic StudiesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance5.1%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
Database indexing
ESCIDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Web of ScienceScopusINSPECPublisher 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 (publisher) 2025
- 5.1Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 23OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 80OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 4.56OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 3.9%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 123LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 455 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 129 | 129 | 113 |
| 2025 | 146 | 146 | 569 |
| 2024 | 131 | 131 | 1,168 |
| 2023 | 49 | 49 | 783 |
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
93 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 68 days – 118 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 2 days (17 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 99 days
- Sample
- 17 articles with submission and acceptance dates (19 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
- Submission to first decision
- 18 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 13 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Single anonymous peer review, Open 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 2,200 | No | CC BY, CC BY-NC | |
| 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 websiteData availability, Open access
- Data availability Data sharing
Data sharing / experimental reporting guidance for reproducibility. Model summary
We want our authors and readers to trust the research that is published in our journals. Follow our guidance for best practice and reproducibility of experimental data, including recommended repositories. Find out more
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Front cover Open Access
RSC Appl. Polym. (2026) 4 (4): 1149–1150. https://doi.org/10.1039/D6LP90015A Abstract View articletitled, Front cover Open the PDF for Front cover in another window
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
- ISSN
- 2755-371X
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗DOAJ
- Aims & Scope ↗DOAJ
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗DOAJ
- Editorial board ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about RSC Applied Polymers
What is the impact factor of RSC Applied Polymers?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 5.1 (2025); this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; h-index 23.
How long does peer review take at RSC Applied Polymers?
Based on the dates recorded on 17 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 93 days (interquartile range 68–118 days). 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 Applied Polymers?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, RSC Applied Polymers is indexed in ESCI and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Web of Science, Scopus and INSPEC; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is RSC Applied Polymers open access, and what is the APC?
RSC Applied Polymers 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 2026-08-30). Last updated: .