Journal profile · Limnology
Water Resources Research
ISSN 0043-1397 · eISSN 1944-7973 · Wiley-Blackwell · UNITED STATES · Monthly · Founded 1965
Water Resources Research: CAS Zone 2 · Earth Sciences (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal); impact factor 6.3; fully open access; APC about USD 3,000; median 247 days to acceptance (125 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: 50%; 743 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Water Resources Research is published by Wiley-Blackwell and is in Zone 2 of Earth Sciences in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Groundwater flow and contamination studies, Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies and Soil and Unsaturated Flow, together about 38.1% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Water Resources Research publishes original research articles and commentaries on hydrology, water resources, and the social sciences of water and that provide a broad understanding of the role of water in Earth’s system.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Limnology
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Groundwater flow and contamination studiesEnvironmental Science15.9%
- Hydrology and Watershed Management StudiesEnvironmental Science14.6%
- Soil and Unsaturated FlowEngineering7.5%
- Hydrology and Sediment Transport ProcessesEnvironmental Science5.7%
- Flood Risk Assessment and ManagementEnvironmental Science5.1%
- Water resources management and optimizationEngineering5.1%
- Hydrology and Drought AnalysisEnvironmental Science4.7%
- Groundwater and Isotope GeochemistryEarth and Planetary Sciences4.3%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Earth Sciences Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Earth Sciences | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Limnology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Environmental Sciences | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Water Resources | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Earth Sciences Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Earth Sciences | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Environmental Sciences | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Limnology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Water Resources | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Earth Sciences Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Earth Sciences | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Limnology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Environmental Sciences | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Water Resources | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
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
- 6.3LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 6.3Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 9.2LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 9.2Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.78LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.66LetPub ·
- h-index
- 183LetPub ·
- h-index
- 427OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 17,598OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 7.05OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 7.9%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 84.23%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 684LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher) 2025
- 699Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 5,030,598Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 23,568 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 601 | 601 | 519 |
| 2025 | 743 | 743 | 4,018 |
| 2024 | 639 | 639 | 9,440 |
| 2023 | 595 | 559 | 10,395 |
| 2022 | 669 | 404 | 17,470 |
| 2021 | 686 | 359 | 22,197 |
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
247 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 197 days – 309 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 18 days (125 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 276 days
- Sample
- 125 articles with submission and acceptance dates (1,438 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 5.3 monthsLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- 50%LetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher) 2025
- 29%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 68 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance 2025
- 242 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 18 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 38 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 | EUR 2,600 / GBP 2,200 / USD 3,000 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 3,000 / EUR 2,600 / 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.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Monthly
- Founded
- 1965
- ISSN
- 0043-1397
- Electronic ISSN
- 1944-7973
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 62, Issue 9 (September 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- Author guidelines ↗DOAJ
- Aims & Scope ↗DOAJ
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Fee waivers ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗DOAJ
- Editorial board ↗DOAJ
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Water Resources Research
What CAS zone is Water Resources Research in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Water Resources Research is in Zone 2 of Earth Sciences, and in Zone 1 of the minor category Limnology / Environmental Sciences / Water Resources; it is a Top journal. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Earth Sciences. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Water Resources Research?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 6.3; CiteScore 9.2, h-index 427.
How long does peer review take at Water Resources Research?
Based on the dates recorded on 125 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 247 days (interquartile range 197–309 days); authors report an average review time of about 5.3 months; the community-reported acceptance is “50%”; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 29% (2025). 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 Water Resources Research?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Water Resources Research is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Water Resources Research open access, and what is the APC?
Water Resources Research is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 3,000.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, OpenAlex, 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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .