Fuel Journal Acceptance Rate

The handling editor at Fuel is asking:

• Is this original work, or a rehash of well-trodden ground? Testing a well-known biodiesel blend in a standard engine at standard conditions, with predictable results, does not clear the bar. The editor wants new formulations, new measurement approaches, surprising results, or new modeling methods.
• Is the experimental or modeling scope systematic? A single engine test at a few load points is not enough. Multiple operating conditions, proper statistical treatment, and mechanistic explanation are expected.
• Is the fuel angle central, not incidental? General catalysis, polymer degradation, or solar thermal papers with "energy" in the abstract do not belong here. Combustion, fuel chemistry, or fuel processing must be the core.
• Does the paper connect to practical fuel use? Emissions profiles alongside performance data, uncertainty analysis, and discussion of real-world implications strengthen a manuscript significantly.

Does your paper present systematic combustion, fuel performance, or emissions data with proper uncertainty analysis and a clear connection to real-world fuel use?

If yes, the journal is plausible. If the experimental scope is narrow (one fuel, one condition, one measurement) or the fuel angle is peripheral, the acceptance-rate discussion is noise. The fit is the issue.

• Submitting papers with no novelty over existing literature, especially well-characterized biodiesel blends tested under routine conditions
• Disguising general catalysis or materials science papers as fuel research by mentioning energy in the abstract
• Running narrow experiments without systematic variation across multiple operating conditions
• Reporting results to four significant figures without error bars, confidence intervals, or proper uncertainty analysis
• Missing comparison to prior Fuel publications on the same topic, which editors check

If you are deciding whether to submit, these pages give you more useful signal than an unofficial rate:

• Fuel impact factor
• Fuel cover letter guide
• International Journal of Hydrogen Energy impact factor
• Energy acceptance rate

Together, they help you judge whether the paper has the scope and rigor Fuel expects.

The honest answer to "what is the Fuel acceptance rate?" is that there is no strong official number. Elsevier does not publish one.

The useful answer is: Fuel is one of the oldest and largest energy journals (IF ~7-8, founded 1922), the editorial filter favors systematic original work over incremental parametric studies, and the question that predicts desk outcomes is whether your data is rigorous, your scope is adequate, and your fuel angle is central. A guessed percentage does not help you decide. The practical-relevance question does.

If you want to check whether your manuscript communicates its contribution clearly enough for this high-volume journal, a free Manusights scan is the best next step.