Smart Materials and Structures vs Soft Science vs npj Flexible Electronics
Side-by-side figures for 3 journals from open data, 2021–2025. Bold marks the highest value in rows where more is higher (score, papers, citations, h-index). It does not mean a journal is the right one for your paper.
| Measure | Smart Materials and Structures Remove | Soft Science Remove | npj Flexible Electronics Remove |
|---|---|---|---|
| ITS Journal Score | 82.1 | 73.9 | 83.7 |
| Global rank | #1,493 of 62,158 | #4,658 of 62,158 | #1,107 of 62,158 |
| Field | Engineering | Engineering | Engineering |
| Rank in field | #298 of 4,282 | #723 of 4,282 | #267 of 4,282 |
| Papers 2021–2025 | 2,320 | 183 | 416 |
| Citations 2021–2025 | 23,600 | 4,088 | 16,304 |
| Citations per paper | 10.2 | 22.3 | 39.2 |
| h-index | 195 | 36 | 82 |
| 2-year mean citedness | 3.96 | 9.89 | 13.17 |
| Change in papers (2024-25 vs 2021-22) | +49.2% | Not enough papers | +68.9% |
| Citation impact trend | -35.2% | Not enough data | -41.2% |
| Open-access share | 50% | 86% | 100% |
| Listed in DOAJ | No | Not yet checked | Yes |
| Article fee (APC) | Fee not recorded in our data | Fee not recorded in our data | 3,290 EUR |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing | Not recorded | Nature Portfolio |
| Country | United Kingdom | United States | United Kingdom |
| Top topics | Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials (15%) Vibration Control and Rheological Fluids (13%) Structural Health Monitoring Techniques (10%) | Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials (43%) Tactile and Sensory Interactions (10%) Conducting polymers and applications (9%) | Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials (38%) Conducting polymers and applications (12%) Tactile and Sensory Interactions (9%) |
| Papers in 2021 | 416 | 16 | 35 |
| Papers in 2022 | 355 | 24 | 100 |
| Papers in 2023 | 399 | 41 | 53 |
| Papers in 2024 | 614 | 42 | 89 |
| Papers in 2025 | 536 | 60 | 139 |
Figures come from OpenAlex (papers, citations, h-index, topics) and DOAJ (listing and fees). "Not recorded" means the open data has no value; it does not mean the journal is free. Citation impact trend compares how often a journal's 2024-25 papers are cited with how often its 2021-22 papers were cited, each measured against all ranked journals' papers of the same years, so newer papers are not at a disadvantage. "Not enough papers" or "Not enough data" means fewer than 50 papers in one of the two-year periods (or fewer than 50 citations to the earlier papers). Values above +300% or below -90% are shown as "+300% or more" or "-90% or less": such extreme values come from very low citation counts for the earlier papers. To compare other journals, use the journal finder and tick 2 to 4 journals.
Before you submit
Use this table to narrow a shortlist. Read each journal's aims and scope and recent articles, check its peer-review and fee policy on its own website, and confirm any indexing with the indexer itself.
How the ITS Journal Score works
One formula applies to every ranked journal, using open data from OpenAlex: 45% citation impact, 35% h-index and 20% size (papers published 2021–2025). Citation impact is the smaller of the journal's two-year mean citedness and its five-year citations per paper, so a journal whose output collapsed cannot jump to the top on old citations. Each part is half a percentile and half a log-scaled value, so the very top is still separated. Growth and open-access share are shown separately and are not part of the score.
A journal is ranked only if it published at least 50 papers in 2021–2025 and was active in at least five of the last six years. Field rankings compare a journal only with journals in the same field; the field is the OpenAlex field with most of the journal's recent papers, or "Multidisciplinary" when no field has 30% of them.
What this is not: the ITS Journal Score is not a Journal Impact Factor, CiteScore or SJR, and this site does not say whether a journal is indexed in Scopus, Web of Science or PubMed. Always confirm aims and scope, indexing, peer review and fees on the journal's own website before you submit.