PLOS Water acceptance rate50%Reported by PLOS, 2025
PLOS Water's 2026 Journal Metrics Score is 2.6, ranking Q1 in Political Science and International Relations. Two-year citation average from OpenAlex data, updated August 2026.
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Journal Metrics Score 2026 · 2021–2024 window citedness 2.93.
Not available — there are not enough recent PubMed records with both received and accepted dates.
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Each spoke is a 0–100 percentile within a comparable journal cohort—not a percentage grade or a single black-box rating.
34 of 238 works · same type, year & subfield
3 works · same type, year & subfield
Below field-year expectation
of 5,631 topic-associated OpenAlex sources by lifetime output
FWCI compares papers with the same publication year, type, and field. 1.0 is the world average; above 1.0 is above expectation. This journal's median is 0.92, so its typical recent paper runs about 8% below its field benchmark.
14.3% of recent papers rank in the global top 10% after field normalization. This is easier to compare across specialties than raw citation totals.
Volume is separated from citation accumulation so newer papers are not presented as weaker simply because they are newer.
OpenAlex source records · 2022–2025
238 OpenAlex works · 2021–2024
OpenAlex topics show the research communities this journal serves.
Candidates share at least one OpenAlex subfield (or field, if too few do) with this journal's main research topics, ignoring generic catch-all topics, and are ordered by topic overlap, then current Journal Metrics Score.
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| Category | Quartile |
|---|---|
| Nutrition and Dietetics | Q2 |
| Ocean Engineering | Q2 |
| Water Science and Technology | Q2 |
| Political Science and International Relations | Q1 |
Yes. A Q1 journal by citation data
Yes. By citation data, PLOS Water is a strong journal: it is Q1 in Political Science and International Relations and ranks #1,641 of 3,811 Engineering journals by Journal Metrics Score (top 44%). PLOS Water's 2026 Journal Metrics Score is 2.6. PLOS reports an acceptance rate of 50% for 2025. OpenAlex lists an indicative article processing charge of $2,100 USD. OpenAlex classifies its papers in subfields including Nutrition and Dietetics, Ocean Engineering, and Water Science and Technology, so check that your topic fits its scope.
Verdict from citation data only: quartile and field rank by Journal Metrics Score (OpenAlex), publisher-reported acceptance rates, and PubMed submission and acceptance dates. See how we rank journals and how to verify indexing.
Confirm the exact title and ISSNs against the publisher homepage before a high-stakes submission decision.
2026 Journal Metrics Scores for all 12 PLOS journals published by Public Library of Science, highest score first. Each journal is scored separately; there is no combined score for the PLOS family.
Source: the current OpenAlex source record. OpenAlex works can include multiple work types. Fully Open Access is a source-level flag. Recent OA Works is summed from OpenAlex's counts_by_year series (up to the latest ten years); it is not a lifetime OA percentage. Any APC shown here is an indicative OpenAlex value—verify current charges on the journal's official website.
OpenAlex classifies PLOS Water's papers in subfields including Nutrition and Dietetics, Ocean Engineering, and Water Science and Technology. Read the aims and scope page and a few recent papers close to your topic before you prepare the manuscript.
Article types, word and figure limits, reference style, and the required statements (data availability, ethics, conflicts of interest, author contributions) are set by the journal. Prepare the cover letter and files to match them.
PLOS journals take submissions through Editorial Manager; each journal has its own Editorial Manager site, linked from its Submit Now page.
OpenAlex lists an indicative article processing charge of $2,100 USD for this open-access journal. Check the current fee, waivers, and any institutional agreement on the journal website.
PLOS reports an acceptance rate of 50% for 2025.
Submission system from the publisher's author information, checked 2026-10-27. Individual journals can differ, so follow the link in the journal's own author guidelines.
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See what the report coversYes. By citation data, PLOS Water is a strong journal: it is Q1 in Political Science and International Relations and ranks #1,641 of 3,811 Engineering journals by Journal Metrics Score (top 44%). PLOS Water's 2026 Journal Metrics Score is 2.6. PLOS reports an acceptance rate of 50% for 2025. OpenAlex lists an indicative article processing charge of $2,100 USD. OpenAlex classifies its papers in subfields including Nutrition and Dietetics, Ocean Engineering, and Water Science and Technology, so check that your topic fits its scope.
PLOS Water's 2026 Journal Metrics Score is 2.6, from the August 2026 data release. The score is a two-year citation average computed from OpenAlex (CC0) data: citations received in the most recent complete year to works published in the two prior years, divided by the number of those works.
PLOS reports a 2025 acceptance rate of 50% for PLOS Water. Publishers calculate acceptance rates differently, for example whether desk rejections are counted, so compare rates from the same publisher.
PLOS Water's best quartile is Q1. By OpenAlex subfield: Q2 in Nutrition and Dietetics; Q2 in Ocean Engineering; Q2 in Water Science and Technology; Q1 in Political Science and International Relations. Quartiles rank journals by Journal Metrics Score within each subfield.
No. Journal Metrics computes the score independently from OpenAlex open data. Other providers use different citation databases, document types, and counting rules, so their published figures for PLOS Water will not match this score exactly. Compare journals using one source at a time.
OpenAlex lists an indicative article processing charge of $2,100 USD for PLOS Water. This journal-level estimate may exclude taxes, waivers, discounts, or article-type fees, so confirm the current charge on the journal's website.
Comparable journals include Journal of Water Sanitation and Hygiene For Development, Nature Water, Npj Clean Water, and Environmental Health Insights. Compare their scores, acceptance times, and costs in the recommended alternatives on this page before choosing where to submit.
PLOS journals take submissions through Editorial Manager; each journal has its own Editorial Manager site, linked from its Submit Now page. Before submitting, check the scope, follow the author guidelines for article type, length, and required statements, and prepare a cover letter.