How long does IEEE Access take to review?

IEEE Access typically takes ~30 days median to first decision. The full review process involves 5 main stages: manuscript preparation, submission via scholarone, and peer review.

How much does it cost to publish in IEEE Access?

IEEE Access charges $1,995 USD as an article processing charge. IEEE Transformative Agreements may cover

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IEEE Access Impact Factor 3.6: Publishing Guide

Q: What is the impact factor of IEEE Access?

IEEE Access has an impact factor of 3.6 (2024). This places it as a respected journal with IEEE Access is a fully open access, multidisciplinary journal published by IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) covering all areas of electrical engineering, computer science, and related fields.

Q: What is the acceptance rate of IEEE Access?

IEEE Access has an acceptance rate of ~40-45%. A common reason for rejection is treating ieee access as a pay-to-publish journal without standards. IEEE Access requires genuine peer review and technical correctness. Papers with fundamental methodological flaws, fabricated data, or missing scientific contribution will be rejected. The acceptance bar is lower than flagship IEEE Transactions, but it is not zero.

Q: Is IEEE Access peer reviewed?

Yes, IEEE Access is fully peer reviewed. All submissions undergo rigorous peer review by Typically 2-3 reviewers from the relevant IEEE technical community. Reviews assess technical correctness, experimental completeness, and literature coverage. First decision typically within 30-45 days..

Q: What does IEEE Access look for in submissions?

Technical soundness and methodological correctness: IEEE Access prioritizes technically correct, well-executed research over high-impact breakthroughs. Your methodology must be clearly described, your experiments or simulations properly designed, and your results accurately reported. The threshold is: does this paper make a genuine technical contribution that is correctly executed and completely described? Not: is this the most important paper of the year?

IEEE Access is open access, multidisciplinary, and fast - but technical soundness is mandatory, not optional.

3.6

Impact Factor (2024)

~40-45%

Acceptance Rate

~30 days median to first decision

Time to First Decision

What IEEE Access Publishes

IEEE Access is a fully open access, multidisciplinary journal published by IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) covering all areas of electrical engineering, computer science, and related fields. With a JIF of 3.6 (JCR 2024 - the latest official value available in 2026) and Q2 ranking in the Electrical & Electronic Engineering category, IEEE Access occupies a different niche from traditional prestige-tier IEEE journals: it publishes technically sound work across a broader range of topics and significance levels, prioritizing accessibility and rapid dissemination over selectivity. The journal is appropriate for solid, methodologically rigorous engineering and computer science research that deserves peer-reviewed open access publication without the extremely high bar of flagship IEEE Transactions journals. It is not a pay-to-publish journal without standards - but the standard is technical correctness and completeness, not breakthrough significance.

Electrical engineering and power systems: power electronics, electric machines, smart grid, power quality, renewable energy integration, and energy storage systems
Communications and signal processing: wireless communications, 5G/6G systems, signal detection, channel estimation, antenna design, and network protocols
Computer science and artificial intelligence: machine learning, deep learning, computer vision, natural language processing, data mining, and AI applications in engineering
Cybersecurity and privacy: network security, intrusion detection, cryptography, privacy-preserving computation, and IoT security
Biomedical engineering: medical imaging, biosignal processing, telemedicine, health informatics, and wearable health monitoring systems
Control systems and robotics: autonomous systems, industrial automation, unmanned vehicles, and human-robot interaction
Internet of Things and embedded systems: IoT architectures, edge computing, embedded AI, and sensor networks
Photonics, electromagnetics, and materials: optical communications, antenna systems, electromagnetic compatibility, and semiconductor devices

Editor Insight

“IEEE Access was designed to fill the gap between high-selectivity IEEE Transactions journals and informal technical reports. We publish technically sound engineering research across all of IEEE's technical domains, with full open access. The question we ask is: does this paper make a genuine, correctly executed technical contribution? Authors who treat IEEE Access as a rigorous, broad-scope open access venue - not a last resort - produce the papers that find wide readership and real citations.”

What IEEE Access Editors Look For

Technical soundness and methodological correctness

IEEE Access prioritizes technically correct, well-executed research over high-impact breakthroughs. Your methodology must be clearly described, your experiments or simulations properly designed, and your results accurately reported. The threshold is: does this paper make a genuine technical contribution that is correctly executed and completely described? Not: is this the most important paper of the year?

Reproducibility and completeness

IEEE Access papers should be complete enough for a reader to reproduce the work. Code availability is strongly encouraged and increasingly expected for algorithm and AI papers. Experimental papers should provide enough procedural detail that replication is feasible. Incomplete papers where key details are missing will receive reviewer requests for additions.

Honest and appropriate comparison with prior work

IEEE Access reviewers expect a proper literature review and performance comparison. If you propose a new algorithm, show its performance against relevant baselines on standard benchmark datasets or real-world scenarios. If you design a new system, compare it against existing solutions. Claims of superiority must be supported by fair experimental comparison.

Clear problem statement and motivation

Despite its broad scope, IEEE Access expects each paper to clearly identify the engineering problem being solved, why it matters (real application context), and what the proposed contribution adds over existing approaches. A paper that reads like a technical report without clear motivation will receive requests to improve the introduction.

Appropriate scope management

IEEE Access papers should not overclaim. An algorithm tested on one dataset should not claim general superiority. A system prototype tested in controlled conditions should not claim production-ready performance. Reviewers will flag overclaiming even in a broadly accepting journal, and it damages credibility.

Why Papers Get Rejected

These patterns appear repeatedly in manuscripts that don't make it past IEEE Access's editorial review:

Treating IEEE Access as a pay-to-publish journal without standards

IEEE Access requires genuine peer review and technical correctness. Papers with fundamental methodological flaws, fabricated data, or missing scientific contribution will be rejected. The acceptance bar is lower than flagship IEEE Transactions, but it is not zero.

Survey papers without synthesis or analytical contribution

Survey submissions are common in IEEE Access. Reviewers expect surveys to synthesize, compare, and identify gaps in the literature - not just list and describe papers. A survey that reads as an annotated bibliography without analytical contribution will be returned for major revision.

AI/ML papers without proper baseline comparisons

For machine learning and deep learning papers, reviewers require comparison against relevant state-of-the-art baselines on standard benchmark datasets. Papers that test only a proposed method without fair baselines, or use private datasets without justification for not using public benchmarks, will be rejected or sent for major revision.

Poor English writing that obscures technical content

IEEE Access has a global author base. While editors make accommodations for non-native English, papers where poor language genuinely obscures the technical content will be returned before or after peer review. Use English language polishing services before submission if necessary.

Submitting to IEEE Access when the work belongs in a flagship IEEE journal

Excellent, high-significance engineering research should be submitted to the appropriate IEEE Transactions or flagship conference proceedings, not defaulted to IEEE Access. IEEE Access is not a stepping stone for work that truly belongs in IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks (TNNLS), IEEE TPAMI, or IEEE TON. Matching venue to significance level matters for career impact and community reception.

Does your manuscript avoid these patterns?

The quick diagnostic reads your full manuscript against IEEE Access's criteria and flags the specific issues most likely to cause rejection.

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Insider Tips from IEEE Access Authors

The APC is $1,995 USD - among the more affordable IEEE open access options

IEEE Access charges $1,995 USD as the article processing charge (APC). Many institutions have IEEE Transformative Agreements that cover or discount this fee. Check the IEEE Open Access page for your institution's status before submitting. This is substantially lower than many comparable OA journals.

Rapid review is a genuine advantage for deployment-oriented engineering work

IEEE Access's ~30-day median to first decision and typically fast publication timeline (online within days of acceptance) make it attractive for engineering work tied to deployment cycles, conference deadlines, or patent timelines where rapid peer-reviewed publication matters.

The journal actively publishes special sections on emerging topics

IEEE Access frequently publishes Special Sections on timely topics - 6G, edge AI, quantum computing for engineering, smart manufacturing, etc. Submitting to a relevant Special Section often connects your paper with a curated readership and associated editorial promotion.

Open access status drives citation performance

IEEE Access papers are fully and freely accessible globally. Research shows open access papers receive more citations, particularly from researchers in countries or institutions without subscription access. For engineering research with broad application relevance, this accessibility advantage is real.

Reviewers are often from the same IEEE technical community as the flagship journals

IEEE Access draws reviewers from the same IEEE technical society pools as flagship journals. Don't assume a lower-quality review process - the technical depth of reviews can be comparable, especially for specialized topics.

The IEEE Access Submission Process

Manuscript preparation

Preparation phase

IEEE Access uses standard IEEE two-column format. Templates are available at https://ieeeaccess.ieee.org/. Papers typically 8-25 pages in two-column format. Code and data availability statements are expected. Figures must be high-resolution (minimum 300 DPI).

Submission via ScholarOne

Day 0

Submit at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ieee-access. Required: manuscript in IEEE format, cover letter briefly describing the contribution, and conflict-of-interest disclosures. The APC of $1,995 is charged upon acceptance, not at submission.

Editorial screening

3-7 days

An associate editor assesses scope, technical completeness, and basic quality. Papers outside IEEE's technical scope or with fundamental flaws are returned at this stage. The desk rejection rate is moderate.

Peer review

30-45 days

Typically 2-3 reviewers from the relevant IEEE technical community. Reviews assess technical correctness, experimental completeness, and literature coverage. First decision typically within 30-45 days.

Revision and publication

Revision: 2-8 weeks; publication within 1-2 days of final acceptance

Revisions typically address experimental completeness, comparison with baselines, and writing quality. After acceptance, papers are published online within 1-2 days. IEEE assigns a DOI immediately and indexes in IEEE Xplore with full open access.

IEEE Access by the Numbers

2024 Impact Factor (JIF)(Clarivate JCR 2024 - latest official value available in 2026)	3.6
5-Year Impact Factor	3.9
JCR Category Rank(Q2)	128/366 (Electrical & Electronic Engineering)
Acceptance rate(Estimated 40-55%)	Not publicly disclosed
Median first decision	~30 days
Open access APC(IEEE Transformative Agreements may cover)	$1,995 USD
Open access model	Fully open access (gold OA)
Publisher	IEEE
ISSN	2169-3536
Founded	2013

Before you submit

IEEE Access accepts a small fraction of submissions. Make your attempt count.

The pre-submission diagnostic runs a live literature search, scores your manuscript section by section, and gives you a prioritized fix list calibrated to IEEE Access. ~30 minutes.

Run Free Readiness Scan See a sample report

Article Types

Research Article

Typically 8-15 pages (two-column IEEE format)

Standard empirical or theoretical research paper covering a complete technical contribution with proper experimentation and evaluation.

Survey Article

15-25 pages (two-column IEEE format)

Comprehensive review and synthesis of a technical topic area. Must provide analytical framework, taxonomy, and gap analysis beyond literature listing.

Special Section Paper

Standard article length

Papers submitted to IEEE Access Special Sections on timely topics. Same standards as regular papers but with a focused editorial and readership context.

Landmark IEEE Access Papers

Papers that defined fields and changed science:

Large-scale deep learning survey papers that became reference documents for engineers entering the field
IoT security framework papers cited by standards bodies and regulatory agencies
5G channel modeling and system performance papers that informed network deployment decisions
Federated learning methodology papers widely adopted in privacy-preserving AI research
Smart grid demand response optimization papers influencing energy management system design

Preparing a IEEE Access Submission?

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Primary Fields

Electrical Engineering and Power SystemsCommunications and Signal ProcessingComputer Science and Artificial IntelligenceCybersecurity and PrivacyBiomedical EngineeringControl Systems and RoboticsInternet of Things and Embedded Systems

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