Journal profile · Social Sciences-Geography, Planning and Development
Sustainable Cities and Society
ISSN 2210-6707 · eISSN 2210-6715 · Elsevier BV · NETHERLANDS
Sustainable Cities and Society: CAS Zone 1 · Engineering (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal); impact factor 13.2; hybrid open access; APC about USD 4,870; review about 139 days (submission to acceptance, publisher); 977 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Sustainable Cities and Society is published by Elsevier BV and is in Zone 1 of Engineering in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Urban Heat Island Mitigation, Building Energy and Comfort Optimization and Urban Green Space and Health, together about 33.9% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Sustainable Cities and Society (SCS) is an international journal focusing on fundamental and applied research aimed at designing, understanding, and promoting environmentally sustainable and socially resilient cities. We encourage submission of cross-cutting, multi-disciplinary research in the areas of,Smart cities and resilient environments;Alternative/clean energy sources, energy distribution, distributed energy generation, and energy demand reduction/management;Monitoring and improving air quality in built environment and cities (e.g., healthy built environment and air quality management);Energy efficient, low/zero carbon, and green buildings/communities;Climate change mitigation and adaptation in urban environments;Green infrastructure and BMPs;Environmental Footprint accounting and management;Urban agriculture and forestry;ICT, smart grid and intelligent infrastructure;Urban design/planning, regulations, legislation, certification, economics, and policy;Social aspects, impacts and resiliency of cities;Behavior monitoring, analysis and change within urban communities;Health monitoring and improvement;Nexus issues related to sustainable cities and societies;Smart city governance;Decision Support Systems for trade-off and uncertainty analysis for improved management of cities and society;Big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence applications and case studies;Critical infrastructure protection, including security, privacy, forensics, and reliability issues of cyber-physical systems.Water footprint reduction and urban water distribution, harvesting, treatment, reuse and management;Waste reduction and recycling;Wastewater collection, treatment and recycling;Smart, clean and healthy transportation systems and infrastructure;We support a wide range of methodological and technical approaches including experimental, observational, monitoring and management studies and policy analysis. In addition to fundamental and applied papers, review articles on important developments will be considered.Please follow and tag the journal on one of our Social media accounts if you are sharing a link to your paper on ScienceDirect: Twitter (@SustainableCit8); LinkedIn and WeChat: SCSwechat2022.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Social Sciences-Geography, Planning and Development
Editor-in-chief Enrico FabrizioPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 11 in mainland China (about 11%); most named United States 18, Mainland China 11, Canada 11, Italy 6, Hong Kong, China 4 (101 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Urban Heat Island MitigationEnvironmental Science14.6%
- Building Energy and Comfort OptimizationEngineering10.9%
- Urban Green Space and HealthEnvironmental Science8.4%
- Land Use and Ecosystem ServicesEnvironmental Science8%
- Urban Transport and AccessibilitySocial Sciences6.1%
- Smart Grid Energy ManagementEngineering4.9%
- Wind and Air Flow StudiesEnvironmental Science4.4%
- Noise Effects and ManagementHealth Professions3.7%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Engineering Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Engineering | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Construction & Building Technology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Energy & Fuels | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Green & Sustainable Science & Technology | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Engineering Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Engineering | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Construction & Building Technology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Green & Sustainable Science & Technology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Energy & Fuels | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Engineering Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Engineering | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Construction & Building Technology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Energy & Fuels | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Green & Sustainable Science & Technology | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusLetPub
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
- 13.2LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 13.3Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 22.3LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 22.3Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 2.98LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 2.49LetPub ·
- h-index
- 34LetPub ·
- h-index
- 212OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 5,927OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 13.47OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 15.8%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 21.18%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 935LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 7,817 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 838 | 262 | 973 |
| 2025 | 977 | 269 | 10,705 |
| 2024 | 934 | 266 | 25,348 |
| 2023 | 771 | 255 | 31,761 |
| 2022 | 672 | 209 | 37,643 |
| 2021 | 925 | 338 | 58,877 |
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
Publisher-reported review time from the journal's website
139 dayssubmission to acceptance
The publisher's own definition applies; dates from this journal's articles in the last 24 months are not available yet, so the publisher's figure is used.
Figures by source
- Submission to first decision
- 2 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review
- 50 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 139 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 2 daysPublisher website ·
- Peer review
- Double anonymous peer reviewPublisher website
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
Hybrid open accessLetPub
A subscription journal in which authors can pay to publish their article open access.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAlex | USD 4,870 / EUR 4,560 / GBP 3,900 / JPY 604,030 | — | — | |
| Publisher website | USD 4,780 | — | — |
A hybrid journal charges the APC only when the author chooses open access; publishing under the subscription model is usually free.
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)
Open calls for papers4, by deadline
- Governing Heat Transitions: Claims, Conflicts, and Policy ImplicationsDeadline
- Synergizing Sustainability, Health Equity, and AI-Empowered Wellbeing: A New Paradigm for Future CitiesDeadline
- Next-Generation Urban Systems for Sustainability and Resilience: From Data to Decision IntelligenceDeadline
- SolarEV Cities and Sustainable Societies: Integrating Rooftop Solar, Electric Mobility, Distributed Storage, Governance, and EquityDeadline
What to prepare5 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 250 words
- Keywords
- 1–7
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 10,000 words
- Reference style
- Numbered, in order of citation
- Highlights
- Optional
Article types accepted8, with length limits
- book reviewsBook reviews Text accompanying figures should be reasonably brief and not extensive.Length not stated
- discussionsDiscussions: Any comment on or discussion of a published paper should be emailed directly to the Editor, NOT submitted via the electronic submission system.Length not stated
- original papernd WeChat: SCSwechat2022. Article types Original papers The total length should be less than 10,000 words that includes tables and figures, but not the referenc…main text ≤ 10,000 words
- original papersOriginal papers The total length should be less than 10,000 words that includes tables and figures, but not the references.Length not stated
- review articlees and figures, but not the references. Review articles The maximum length should not exceed 12,000 words, not including references. Short communications Less t…main text ≤ 12,000 words
- review articlesReview articles The maximum length should not exceed 12,000 words, not including references.Length not stated
- short communication12,000 words, not including references. Short communications Less than 2,500 words with typically up to 15 references. Book reviews Text accommain text ≤ 2,500 words · references ≤ 15
- short communicationsShort communications Less than 2,500 words with typically up to 15 references.Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Authorship, Conflicts of interest, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- AI use Declaration of generative AI use
Authors must declare the use of generative AI tools in the manuscript preparation process upon submission of the paper.Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies (“AI tools”) have been rapidly adopted in research and scholarly publishing, offering significant benefits while requiring clear standards for responsible and transparent use.Authors preparing a manuscript for this journal may use AI tool…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Authorship Group authorship
Group authorship refers to the attribution of an article to a defined and named group of authors whose members have contributed to the work. Examples include research consortia, clinical trial groups, collaborative networks, task forces or working groups, expert panels or consensus groups, and participatory research groups. Group authorship must be declared on the title page at submission. When av…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Declaration of competing interests
All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias their work. Examples of potential competing interests include:EmploymentConsultanciesStock ownershipHonorariaPaid expert testimonyPatent applications or registrationsGrants or any other fundingAffiliation with the journal as an Editor or Advisory Board …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics
Publishing ethics policy Model summary
Authors must follow ethical guidelines stated in Elsevier's Publishing Ethics Policy.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright License options
Authors will be offered open access user license options which will determine how you, and third parties, can reuse your open access article. We advise that you review these options and any funding body license requirements before selecting a license option.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open access
We refer you to our open access information page to learn about open access options for this journal.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review
Double anonymized peer review Model summary
This journal follows a double anonymized review process. Your submission will initially be assessed by our editors. If your submission is deemed suitable, it will typically be sent to be reviewed by a minimum of two reviewers for an independent expert assessment of the scientific quality. The decision as to whether your article is accepted or rejected for publication will be made by our editors.Re…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
Preprint sharing allowed Model summary
Preprint sharingAuthors may share preprints in line with Elsevier's article sharing policy. Sharing preprints, such as on a preprint server, will not count as prior publication.We advise you to read our policy on multiple, redundant or concurrent publication. In support of Open Science, this journal offers its authors a free preprint posting service on SSRN, Elsevier’s preprint and early research …
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
- Elsevier BV
- Country or region
- NETHERLANDS
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2210-6707
- Electronic ISSN
- 2210-6715
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Sustainable Cities and Society
What CAS zone is Sustainable Cities and Society in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Sustainable Cities and Society is in Zone 1 of Engineering, and in Zone 1 of the minor category Construction & Building Technology / Energy & Fuels / Green & Sustainable Science & Technology; it is a Top journal. 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 Sustainable Cities and Society?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 13.2; CiteScore 22.3, h-index 212.
How long does peer review take at Sustainable Cities and Society?
The publisher reports about 139 days (submission to acceptance). 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 Sustainable Cities and Society?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 250 words; Keywords: 1–7; Manuscript length: ≤ 10,000 words; Reference style: Numbered, in order of citation; Highlights: 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 Sustainable Cities and Society based?
Of the 101 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 11 (about 11%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (18), Mainland China (11) and Canada (11). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Sustainable Cities and Society?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Sustainable Cities and Society is indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Is Sustainable Cities and Society open access, and what is the APC?
Sustainable Cities and Society is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 4,870.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, OpenAlex; 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: .