Fastest-accepting chemistry journals 2026

67 chemistry journals ranked by the median number of days from submission to acceptance, measured from the dates publishers deposit in PubMed for articles published 2024–2025. The interval includes peer review and revisions.

Journals: 67
Typical median: 81 d
Under 60 days: 10
Over 180 days: 3

Read this before using the ranking

Accepted papers only. Rejected manuscripts never receive an acceptance date, so these figures say nothing about desk-rejection speed, rejection rates or your chance of acceptance.
Not the time to a first decision. The interval runs from the “received” date to the “accepted” date the publisher deposits in PubMed. It includes editorial handling, peer review, every round of revision and the time authors spent revising.
Journals record dates differently. Some reset the received date when a revised manuscript arrives, and manuscripts transferred from another journal may keep or lose their earlier dates. Short medians are therefore not always comparable with long ones.
Past timelines are not a promise. Each figure comes from up to 100 recent articles published 2024–2025. Article types, special issues, editors and workload all change, and your paper may take much longer or much less time.
Fast is not the same as good. Check the journal’s scope, indexing, peer-review policy and editorial board before submitting. An unusually quick acceptance can be a warning sign of light peer review.

Journal Metrics is independent and is not affiliated with any journal or publisher listed. The figures are for information only, may contain errors and change as PubMed records are updated. Confirm current timelines on the journal’s own website. See how to spot predatory journals.

Chemistry journals by median days from submission to acceptance

Chemistry journals ranked by median days from submission to acceptance in PubMed
Rank	Journal	Median days	Middle half	Articles	Quartile	2026 score
1	CHIMIA	29†	13–47	60	Q4	0.9
2	Acta Crystallographica Section E-Crystallographic Communications	30	19–57	99	Q4	0.5
3	CHEMISTRY-A EUROPEAN JOURNAL	51	35–78	100	Q2	3.7
4	ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION	52	37–83	100	Q1	14.7
5	ACS Organic & Inorganic Au	55	38–76	100	Q1	4.2
6	ORGANOMETALLICS	57	40–74	86	Q3	2.1
6	Polymer Chemistry	57	29–91	24	Q2	3.3
8	JOURNAL OF FLUORESCENCE	58	48–75	100	Q1	3.6
8	ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION C-STRUCTURAL CHEMISTRY	58	41–89	100	Q4	0.9
10	JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR MODELING	59	38–91	99	Q1	3.3
11	MICROCHIMICA ACTA	60	51–75	100	Q1	5.4
11	Chemistry-An Asian Journal	60	45–84	100	Q2	3.2
13	ACS Polymers Au	62	50–78	100	Q1	4.3
13	TALANTA	62	50–91	100	Q1	6.5
15	JOURNAL OF CHROMATOGRAPHY A	63	43–84	100	Q1	3.9
16	ANALYTICAL AND BIOANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY	64	51–84	98	Q1	3.7
16	Chemical Science	64	44–97	100	Q1	8.3
18	Proteomes	65	46–87	100	Q1	4.0
18	RSC Medicinal Chemistry	65	49–91	100	Q1	4.1
18	MOLECULAR DIVERSITY	65	44–111	100	Q1	3.7
21	Analytica Chimica Acta	66	52–82	95	Q1	5.2
21	SOLID STATE NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE	66	41–90	55	Q3	1.4
21	BIOORGANIC & MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS	66	53–92	100	Q3	2.1
24	JOURNAL OF CHROMATOGRAPHY B-ANALYTICAL TECHNOLOGIES IN THE BIOMEDICAL AND LIFE SCIENCES	69	52–93	100	Q2	2.3
25	EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY	71	55–90	100	Q1	5.9
26	JOURNAL OF COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE	74	58–107	100	Q1	10.6
27	CURRENT ORGANIC SYNTHESIS	75	61–102	98	Q3	1.4
28	JOURNAL OF ANALYTICAL ATOMIC SPECTROMETRY	76	63–96	20	Q2	3.1
28	Analytical Science Advances	76	50–99	85	Q1	3.9
30	ANALYTICAL SCIENCES	77	59–100	100	Q2	2.8
30	MAGNETIC RESONANCE IN CHEMISTRY	77	59–106	100	Q3	1.3
30	CHIRALITY	77	52–128	100	Q3	1.7
33	CRYSTAL GROWTH & DESIGN	78	54–123	100	Q1	3.8
34	SPECTROCHIMICA ACTA PART A-MOLECULAR AND BIOMOLECULAR SPECTROSCOPY	81	54–105	100	Q1	4.9
35	ANALYTICAL BIOCHEMISTRY	82	54–130	62	Q2	3.3
36	Acta Crystallographica Section B-Structural Science Crystal Engineering and Materials	83	52–133	57	Q2	2.7
37	Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry	85	67–100	100	Q2	3.5
37	COMBINATORIAL CHEMISTRY & HIGH THROUGHPUT SCREENING	85	62–119	97	Q2	1.4
37	RAPID COMMUNICATIONS IN MASS SPECTROMETRY	85	57–121	100	Q3	1.7
40	Medicinal Chemistry	86	61–102	99	Q1	2.5
41	Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis	87	67–118	100	Q1	3.4
41	JOURNAL OF AOAC INTERNATIONAL	87	48–129	99	Q2	1.8
43	Current Computer-Aided Drug Design	89	71–112	100	Q2	1.5
43	BIOORGANIC CHEMISTRY	89	65–138	100	Q1	4.3
45	JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES	92	70–125	97	Q2	3.2
46	BIOMEDICAL CHROMATOGRAPHY	97	77–129	100	Q3	1.5
47	JOURNAL OF SEPARATION SCIENCE	99	69–127	100	Q2	3.3
48	JOURNAL OF MASS SPECTROMETRY	101	63–156	100	Q3	1.7
49	BMC Chemistry	104	67–151	100	Q1	5.6
50	CURRENT TOPICS IN MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY	105	75–147	100	Q1	2.7
51	ACTA CHIMICA SLOVENICA	114	73–173	100	Q4	0.8
52	TURKISH JOURNAL OF CHEMISTRY	131	95–204	100	Q1	5.3
53	MASS SPECTROMETRY REVIEWS	134	96–191	96	Q1	3.9
54	PROTEOMICS	135	92–178	99	Q2	2.8
55	Clinical Proteomics	138	91–185	99	Q1	4.1
56	Topics in Current Chemistry	145	92–191	89	Q1	8.4
57	International Journal of Analytical Chemistry	148	88–224	59	Q2	2.1
58	JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION	149	110–209	91	Q2	3.1
59	Chemical Biology & Drug Design	152	88–227	100	Q1	2.9
60	Journal of Mass Spectrometry and Advances in the Clinical Lab	154	103–199	64	Q1	3.5
61	Journal of Analytical Methods in Chemistry	155	114–234	51	Q3	1.5
62	BIOINORGANIC CHEMISTRY AND APPLICATIONS	161	87–216	32	Q2	2.2
63	Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis	166	122–203	100	Q1	6.3
64	MOLECULAR & CELLULAR PROTEOMICS	176	125–247	100	Q1	4.5
65	Proteomics Clinical Applications	182	129–251	88	Q2	2.3
66	Nature Chemistry	280	198–382	77	Q1	18.2
67	JOURNAL OF CHROMATOGRAPHIC SCIENCE	392	293–536	53	Q3	1.8

Median days: half of the journal’s accepted articles took less time from submission to acceptance and half took more. Middle half: the 25th to 75th percentile. Articles: how many recent PubMed articles had both dates. Journals with the same rounded median share a rank.

Median under 30 days. Very short intervals usually reflect how a journal records its dates (for example a new received date after revision) or invited and fast-track article types such as reviews and editorials, not unusually quick peer review. Check the journal’s peer-review policy before reading anything into them.

Questions about chemistry journal acceptance times

Which chemistry journals accept papers fastest?

Among the 67 chemistry journals with enough PubMed dates, the shortest median times from submission to acceptance (leaving out medians under 30 days, which usually reflect how dates are recorded) are Acta Crystallographica Section E-Crystallographic Communications (30 days), CHEMISTRY-A EUROPEAN JOURNAL (51 days), ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION (52 days), ACS Organic & Inorganic Au (55 days), ORGANOMETALLICS (57 days). These medians include peer review and revisions, and cover accepted papers only.

How long does a chemistry journal take to accept a paper?

The typical chemistry journal on this page has a median of 81 days from submission to acceptance. 10 of 67 journals have a median under 60 days and 3 take more than 180 days.

Is this the peer review time?

No. PubMed records when a manuscript was received and when it was accepted, not the individual review stages. The interval includes editorial handling, peer review, revisions and the time authors spent revising, so it is longer than the time to a first decision. For first-decision times, check the journal’s own website.

Does a fast journal mean my paper is more likely to be accepted?

No. Only accepted papers have an acceptance date, so this ranking says nothing about acceptance rates or how quickly a journal rejects papers. A very fast acceptance can also be a sign of light peer review. Check the journal’s scope, indexing and peer-review policy before submitting.

About this data

Source: the received and accepted dates publishers deposit in PubMed, read through the public NCBI E-utilities for articles published 2024-01-01 to 2025-12-31, up to 100 recent articles per journal. Data checked 2026-11-03.
A journal is ranked only when at least 20 articles have both dates and at least half of the articles checked have them. Journals that do not deposit dates in PubMed, including most journals outside the life sciences, cannot be ranked here.
The ranking uses each journal’s median: half of its accepted articles took less time and half took more. The middle-half range shows the 25th to 75th percentile.
Fields come from the OpenAlex classification of each journal’s research topics. A journal joins a field when at least two of its four main topics are in it, so a journal can appear in more than one field and some classifications are imperfect.
Quartile and score are the journal’s best OpenAlex subfield quartile and its Journal Metrics Score, shown for context; they play no part in the order.

The full journal-level dataset is in the journal acceptance times study (with a CSV download). Spot an error or a journal whose dates look wrong? Tell us.

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