ChemSusChem Impact Factor

The declining trend is worth acknowledging honestly. ChemSusChem has dropped from a JIF of around 9 in 2020-2021 to 6.6 in 2024. Part of this is the field-wide post-pandemic normalization, but part of it may reflect increased competition from newer sustainability-focused journals that are drawing citations away from established titles.

For authors, the important question is whether ChemSusChem's readership and editorial identity still serve the paper well. A JIF of 5.9 with Q1 status means the journal remains competitive, but it is no longer in the same tier as ACS Catalysis (13.6) or Green Chemistry (10.6).

ChemSusChem occupies a specific niche: chemistry with an explicit sustainability or energy dimension. That niche distinguishes it from broader chemistry journals (JACS, Angew) and from pure energy journals (Applied Energy, Advanced Energy Materials). The journal is strongest when the paper is genuinely about chemistry for sustainability, not chemistry with a sustainability paragraph bolted on.

The five-year JIF of 7.7 being meaningfully above 5.9 tells you that ChemSusChem papers continue to get cited well beyond the two-year JCR window. That durability is consistent with a journal that publishes work researchers reference when building on sustainable chemistry approaches.

For manuscripts targeting ChemSusChem, three failure modes account for most desk rejections.

Sustainability claim without quantified improvement over the conventional process. ChemSusChem's scope covers "sustainable chemistry and chemical processes" with emphasis on energy conversion, storage, and sustainability. The most common desk-rejection trigger: papers claiming a process or material is "more sustainable" without providing a quantitative comparison. ChemSusChem reviewers expect that sustainability improvements be measured, even if preliminarily: energy efficiency relative to the reference process, waste reduction percentage, catalyst loading reduction, or atom economy comparison.

A catalyst with "good activity" for a transformation previously requiring harsh conditions is not a sustainability paper without numbers showing how much energy or waste is saved.

Energy conversion or storage paper without performance contextualized against published benchmarks. ChemSusChem editors assess manuscripts against current performance benchmarks in each subfield. For photovoltaics, PCE must be competitive with or improving on the state of the art. For electrocatalysis (HER, OER, CO2 reduction), overpotentials and turnover frequencies must be contextualized relative to published benchmarks. For batteries, specific capacity and rate performance at relevant current densities must be competitive. Papers reporting energy device performance substantially below published benchmarks, even with novel chemistry, face desk rejection for insufficient advancement over prior art.

Sustainable material without addressing recyclability or end-of-life behavior. ChemSusChem's sustainability focus means reviewers specifically check whether new biobased, renewable, or low-toxicity materials address the full lifecycle. Papers presenting a new biobased polymer, recyclable catalyst, or renewable feedstock-derived material that do not address recyclability, degradability, or circular economy viability in at least a preliminary discussion are flagged for incomplete sustainability framing. The editorial expectation is that "sustainable" materials science addresses what happens at end of life, not just at synthesis.

A ChemSusChem submission readiness check can assess whether the sustainability quantification and lifecycle framing meet ChemSusChem's editorial standards.

ChemSusChem editors want chemistry with a genuine sustainability or energy dimension. That means:

• the sustainability relevance is integral to the chemistry, not a surface-level framing exercise

• the work advances understanding of sustainable processes, materials, or energy conversion

• there is enough novelty to distinguish the paper from incremental optimization

• the results have practical implications for sustainable chemistry practice

Papers where the sustainability claim is an afterthought tend to get filtered out.

It does not tell you whether the sustainability chemistry framing is convincing enough, whether Green Chemistry would be a better target, or whether the paper would reach its real audience more effectively in a broader venue. The JIF places ChemSusChem in the Q1 sustainability-chemistry tier. The submission decision should be about scope fit and whether the chemistry-sustainability integration is strong enough.