About this journal

Aims and scope

Regional Studies, Regional Science is an open access journal about regional and urban issues in geography, economics, regional science, environmental studies, planning and governance. RSRS explores a wide range of topics from across the social sciences at a variety of spatial scales, which are generally subnational (such as metropolitan regions, planning regions, etc.) but can cross jurisdictional boundaries (such as cross-border regions and institutions). It does not typically publish contributions that focus exclusively on the global or national scales unless there are demonstrable implications for debates at sub-national regional scales.

The journal publishes a range of paper types including full length research articles, short papers and ‘regional graphics’. Further details and requirements for article types can be found in the Instructions for Authors. RSRS also has an Early Career Papers section offering a mentored route for early career academics.

If you have questions about the suitability of your manuscript, please contact the editors in advance of submitting.

The journal has a streamlined peer-review process and quick turnaround times from submission to acceptance. Regional Studies, Regional Science is an interdisciplinary open access journal from the Regional Studies Association, first published in 2014.

Please see our Instructions for Authors for full details of how to submit your paper.

All Regional Studies, Regional Science articles will be made freely and permanently available online through gold open access publication following payment of an Article Publication Charge (APC). Details of the APC charges can be found in the Instructions for Authors. For more information on open access, including benefits, options, fees and funding please visit our open access publishing pages.

The APC should be paid after acceptance of the article following peer review; corresponding authors will receive an invoice outlining payment terms. Further processing of the article will be deferred pending payment. Waivers and discounts on the APC are available to support researchers in developing and emerging regions unable to pay this charge. Please consult our author guidance here for more information.

'This is an excellent and widely cited journal of regional science and already recognized as one of the leading journals in this field. I found nothing to criticize and a great deal to admire, so welcome to Scopus.'- Scopus Reviewer on acceptance into Scopus, March 2016

Journal metrics

Usage

  • 232K annual downloads/views

Citation metrics

  • 1.7 (2023) Impact Factor
  • Q2 Impact Factor Best Quartile
  • 1.9 (2023) 5 year IF
  • 3.0 (2023) CiteScore (Scopus)
  • Q2 CiteScore Best Quartile
  • 0.996 (2023) SNIP
  • 0.533 (2023) SJR

Speed/acceptance

  • 75 days avg. from submission to first decision
  • 103 days avg. from submission to first post-review decision
  • 27 days avg. from acceptance to online publication
  • 45% acceptance rate

Editorial board

Editor-in-Chief
Stephen Hincks, University of Sheffield, UK

Deputy Editor-in-Chief
Pedro Amaral, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil 

Editors
Mabel Sanchez Barrioluengo, Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK
Adelheid Holl, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Institute of Public Goods and Policies, Spain
Jen Nelles, Oxford Brookes Business School, Oxford Brookes University, UK

Early Career Papers Editors
Rhiannon Pugh, (Lead Section Editor, Early Career Papers Section), Centre for Innovation Research, Lund University, Sweden
Chandrima Mukhopadhyay, UN-Habitat  India
Jesús Peiró-Palomino , University of Valencia, Spain
Danny Prabowo Soetanto , Lancaster University, UK

Digital Media and Regional Graphics Editor
Jacob Macdonald, University of Sheffield, UK 

Managing Editor
Madeleine Hatfield,  Yellowback, Canterbury, UK

Editorial Office
Jenny Case, 
Yellowback, Canterbury, UK

Twitter: @RSRS_OA 

Associate Editors
Ransford Acheampong , University of Manchester, UK
JP Addie, Georgia State University, USA
Pedro Amaral, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
Hadi Arbabi, University of Sheffield, UK
David Beel, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Ignazio Cabras,  Northumbria University, UK
Andre Carrascal Incera,  University of Oviedo, Spain
Angela Connelly, University of Manchester, UK
Federico Curci, CUNEF, Spain
Sabine D'Costa, The University of Westminster, UK
Thomas de Graaf, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Iain Deas, University of Manchester, UK
Will Eadson, Sheffield Hallam University, UK
Crispian Fuller, Cardiff University, UK
Carolina Guevara Rosero , Escuela Politecnica Nacional, Ecuador
Michael Glass,  University of Pittsburgh, USA
Rafael González-Val, University of Zaragoza, Spain
Rachel Guillain, Université de Bourgogne, France
Mika Haapanen,  University of Jyvaskyla, Finland
Philipp Horn, University of Sheffield, UK
Gert-Jan Hospers, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Richard Kingston, University of Manchester, UK
Fumi Kitagawa, University of Birmingham, UK
Martin Korpi, Ratio Institute, Sweden
Andrew Kythreotis, University of Lincoln, UK
Sabrina Lai, University of Cagliari, Italy
Julie Le Gallo,  Université de Bourgogne- Franche-Comté, France
Neil Lee, LSE, UK
Cathy Yang Liu, Georgia State University, USA
Edurne Magro, University of Deusto, Spain
Ilaria Mariotti,  Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Pedro Marques, INGENIO (CSIV-UPV) Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain
Pablo Mateos, CIESAS, Mexico
Matías Mayor Fernández, University of Oviedo, Spain
Paavo Monkkonen, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, USA
Nuno Pinto, University of Manchester, UK
Jenny Preece,  University of Sheffield, UK
Francesco Prota,  University of Bari, Italy
Haifeng Qian, University of Iowa, USA
Raul Ramos, University of Barcelona, Spain
Darja Reuschke, University of Birmingham, UK
Mabel Sanchez-Barrioluengo,  University of Manchester, UK
Andreas Schulze Bäing , University of Manchester, UK
Franziska Sielker,  University of Cambridge, UK
Marte Solheim,  University of Stavanger, Norway
Zac Spicer,  York University, Canada
Marijana Sumpor,  Euro Ekspertiza, Zagreb, Croatia
Lotte Thomsen, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
Mingshu Wang, University of Glasgow, UK
Iris Wanzenböck, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Brian Webb, Cardiff University, UK
Amanda Weinstein,  University of Akron, USA

International Editorial Advisory Board
John Agnew, UCLA, USA
Luc Anselin,  University of Chicago, USA
John Bachtler,  University of Strathclyde, UK
David Bailey,  University of Birmingham, UK
Mike Batty, UCL, UK
Andrew Beer,  University of Adelaide, Australia
Christian Berndt, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Ron Boschma, Utrecht University, the Netherlands
Sébastien Breau, McGill University, Canada
Gillian Bristow, Cardiff University, UK
Tim Bunnell,   National University of Singapore, Singapore
Canfei He,   Peking University, China
Graham Clarke, University of Leeds, UK
Olivier Crevoisier,   Neuchatel University, Switzerland
Kieran Donaghy, Cornell University, USA
Alessandra Faggian,  Gran Sasso Science Institute, L'Aquila, Italy
Maryann Feldman, University of North Carolina, USA
Manfred Fischer, WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business), Austria
Stewart Fotheringham,   Arizona State University, USA
Amy Glasmeier,  Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Grzegorz Gorzelak, University of Warsaw, Poland
Gernot Grabher, HafenCity University, Germany
Chaolin Gu, Tsinghua University, China
Mark Hart,  Aston University, UK
Robert Hassink,  University of Kiel, Germany
Jinn-Yuh Hsu,  National Taiwan University, Taiwan
Martin Jones, Staffordshire University, UK
Roger Keil, University of Toronto, Canada
Harry Kelejian, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
Mei-Po Kwan,  Institute of Space and Earth Information Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Arnoud Lagendijk, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Chris Leishman , University of South Australia
Weidong Liu,  Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Philip McCann, University of Manchester, UK
Philip Morrison, Victoria University Wellington, New Zealand
Sam Ock Park, Seoul National University, South Korea
Phillip O'Neill, University of Western Sydney, Australia
Mark Partridge, Ohio State University, USA
Jamie Peck,  University of British Columbia, Canada
Andy Pike, Newcastle University, UK
Sergio Rey, University of California, Riverside, USA
David Rigby, UCLA, USA
Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, LSE, UK
Markku Sotarauta, University of Tampere, Finland
Michael Steiner, University of Graz, Austria
Kim Swales,  Strathclyde University, UK
Mark Tewdwr-Jones, University College London, UK
Houkai Wei, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China
Sir Alan Wilson, University College London, UK
Bob Wilson, University of Texas, USA
Cecilia Wong, University of Manchester, UK
Henry Yeung , National University of Singapore, Singapore

Abstracting and indexing

Listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals
Rated ‘A’ in the Australian Business Deans Council Journal Quality List
Indexed in Scopus, ERSA, RePEc, EBSCO (TOC Premier), and Clarivate Analytics' Emerging Sources Citation Index

Open access

Regional Studies, Regional Science is an open access journal and only publishes open access articles. Publishing open access means that your article will be free to access online immediately on publication, increasing the visibility, readership, and impact of your research.

Why choose open access?

  1. Increase the discoverability and readership of your article
  2. Make an impact and reach new readers, not just those with easy access to a research library
  3. Freely share your work with anyone, anywhere
  4. Comply with funding mandates and meet the requirements of your institution, employer or funder
  5. Rigorous peer review for every open access article

Article Publishing Charges (APC)

To publish open access in this journal you may be asked to pay an Article Publishing Charge (APC). You may be able to publish your article at no cost to yourself or with a reduced APC if your institution or research funder has an open access agreement or membership with Taylor & Francis. Discounts and waivers may also be available for researchers in selected countries when publishing in open access journals.

Use our APC finder to calculate your article publishing charge


Association information

The Regional Studies Association (RSA) is a learned society concerned with urban and regional planning and development. It focuses on economic, environmental, and social policy studies in a regional context, and operates at the interface of academia and policy and practice.

Members of RSA are eligible to receive print copies and/or online access to each of the society’s subscription-based journals, and a reduced Article Publishing Charge to publish in the open access journal Regional Studies, Regional Science. Members also receive online access to a selection of other Taylor & Francis and Routledge journal titles. Discover more benefits of joining the RSA community.

The association publishes six journals: 

Regional Studies 
Spatial Economic Analysis 
Territory, Politics, Governance 
Area Development and Policy 
Regional Studies, Regional Science (an open access journal) 
Finance and Space

The association also publishes a series of    Regional Studies Policy Impact Booksand the Regions and Cities  book series. 

Discover all the Taylor & Francis Regional Studies Association  publications.

For submission information read the Instruction for Authors.

To register as a peer reviewer for Regional Studies, Regional Science visit the submission site to create an account and discover Taylor & Francis Peer Reviewer Training Network.

Regional Studies Association and our publisher Taylor & Francis make every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the "Content") contained in our publications. However, Regional Studies Association and our publisher Taylor & Francis, our agents (including the editor, any member of the editorial team or editorial board, and any guest editors), and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Regional Studies Association and our publisher Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Regional Studies Association and our publisher Taylor & Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to, or arising out of the use of the Content. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions .

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