Journal profile
AAPS Open
ISSN 2364-9534 · SpringerOpen · United Kingdom
AAPS Open: fully open access; APC about USD 1,990; median 108 days to acceptance (80 articles, last 24 months); 32 articles in 2025.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
AAPS Open is published by SpringerOpen. By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Protein purification and stability, Drug Solubulity and Delivery Systems and Pharmaceutical studies and practices, together about 33.9% of its articles. Its main subfields are Molecular Biology and Pharmaceutical Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
AAPS Open, the flagship open access journal of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, provides a global forum for the rapid publication of original research and discussion that demonstrates innovations and applications of scientific concepts and techniques across the breadth of the pharmaceutical sciences. Fully peer-reviewed, AAPS Open welcomes reports from experimental or theoretical studies during the entire course of drug development, for both small and large molecule drugs as well as other new therapeutic modalities including vaccines, cell and gene therapeutics, and nucleotide-based therapeutics. The journal’s interests include - but are not limited to - drug discovery, translational research, preclinical studies, preformulation studies, drug product design, formulation and process development, analytical development, stability studies, biopharmaceutics and pharmacokinetic studies, drug delivery technologies, mechanistic studies, modeling and simulation, compendial and regulatory science, and post-launch commercial manufacturing. AAPS Open specifically welcomes white papers, commentaries, and perspectives from experts in their field, as well as meeting reports, and review articles. For reports of primary research, a high degree of innovation is required.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Editor-in-chief Yongchao SuPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 2 in mainland China (about 4%); most named United States 39, Mainland China 2, United Kingdom 2, Switzerland 2, Germany 1 (47 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Protein purification and stabilityBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology13.8%
- Drug Solubulity and Delivery SystemsPharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics13.1%
- Pharmaceutical studies and practicesMedicine7.1%
- Advanced Drug Delivery SystemsPharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics6.4%
- Biosimilars and Bioanalytical MethodsImmunology and Microbiology6%
- Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies ResearchMedicine5.4%
- Advancements in Transdermal Drug DeliveryPharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics4.7%
- Computational Drug Discovery MethodsComputer Science4.4%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
Database indexing
DOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
EmbaseCASPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, EBSCO, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, Baidu, Naver, OCLC, Portico, CLOCKSS
As the journal's website lists them, not checked against each database; for Web of Science editions the records above apply.
Editions, and major and minor categories, are shown separately and never merged into one zone; check which edition your institution uses before you submit or report.
Metrics
Impact metrics and publication volume
Impact
- h-index
- 20OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 40OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.92OpenAlex ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 0%LetPub ·
Volume
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 189,800Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 196 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 64 | 64 | 22 |
| 2025 | 32 | 32 | 127 |
| 2024 | 15 | 15 | 64 |
| 2023 | 19 | 19 | 149 |
| 2022 | 20 | 20 | 360 |
| 2021 | 13 | 13 | 115 |
Sources count differently and were observed at different times, so each source's own value is kept; "publisher" marks figures from the journal's website.
Review & acceptance
Review time and acceptance
Review time from article dates manuscript dates registered with Crossref · to
108 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 73 days – 139 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 42 days (80 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 157 days
- Sample
- 80 articles with submission and acceptance dates (101 in the window); the latest was accepted on
Only articles that were accepted and published are counted, not the time spent on rejected manuscripts, so this usually runs longer than a publisher's "time to first decision".
Other sources
- Average review time (community reports)
- about 24 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 14 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 24 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Single anonymous peer reviewDOAJ
Community reports come from authors' own submissions (confidence 0.5) and are not a promise from the journal; for publisher figures, the journal's own definitions apply.
Fees & open access
APC and open-access policy
Fully open accessDOAJ
Every article is open access; authors usually pay an article processing charge (APC).
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | EUR 1,690 / USD 1,990 / GBP 1,290 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | USD 2,090 / EUR 1,790 / GBP 1,340 | — | — | |
| LetPub | EUR 1,690 / USD 1,990 / GBP 1,290 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 1,290 / USD 1,990 / EUR 169 / EUR 1,690 | — | — |
The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.
Submission
Article types and submission policies (journal website)
Open calls for papers3, by deadline
Publisher websiteWhat to prepare1 items from the author guidelines
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
Article types accepted12
- case reportsResearch Articles Case Reports Commentaries Data Notes Database Articles Letters to the Editor Meeting Reports Reviews Perspective Mini review Position statemen…Length not stated
- commentariesResearch Articles Case Reports Commentaries Data Notes Database Articles Letters to the Editor Meeting Reports Reviews Perspective Mini review Position statemen…Length not stated
- data notesResearch Articles Case Reports Commentaries Data Notes Database Articles Letters to the Editor Meeting Reports Reviews Perspective Mini review Position statemen…Length not stated
- database articlesResearch Articles Case Reports Commentaries Data Notes Database Articles Letters to the Editor Meeting Reports Reviews Perspective Mini review Position statemen…Length not stated
- letters to the editorResearch Articles Case Reports Commentaries Data Notes Database Articles Letters to the Editor Meeting Reports Reviews Perspective Mini review Position statemen…Length not stated
- meeting reportsResearch Articles Case Reports Commentaries Data Notes Database Articles Letters to the Editor Meeting Reports Reviews Perspective Mini review Position statemen…Length not stated
- mini reviewResearch Articles Case Reports Commentaries Data Notes Database Articles Letters to the Editor Meeting Reports Reviews Perspective Mini review Position statemen…Length not stated
- perspectiveResearch Articles Case Reports Commentaries Data Notes Database Articles Letters to the Editor Meeting Reports Reviews Perspective Mini review Position statemen…Length not stated
- position statementResearch Articles Case Reports Commentaries Data Notes Database Articles Letters to the Editor Meeting Reports Reviews Perspective Mini review Position statemen…Length not stated
- rapid communicationResearch Articles Case Reports Commentaries Data Notes Database Articles Letters to the Editor Meeting Reports Reviews Perspective Mini review Position statemen…Length not stated
- research articlesResearch Articles Case Reports Commentaries Data Notes Database Articles Letters to the Editor Meeting Reports Reviews Perspective Mini review Position statemen…Length not stated
- reviewsResearch Articles Case Reports Commentaries Data Notes Database Articles Letters to the Editor Meeting Reports Reviews Perspective Mini review Position statemen…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteData availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review
- Data availability Formatting the 'Availability of data and materials' section of your manuscript
Data sharing encouraged or required Model summary
The following format for the 'Availability of data and materials section of your manuscript should be used:
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Licensing and copyright
Open access under CC BY licence Model summary
Creative Commons licences Open access articles in Springer Nature journals are published under Creative Commons licences. These provide an industry-standard framework to support easy re-use of open access material. Under Creative Commons licences, authors retain copyright of their articles. AAPS Open articles are published open access under a CC BY licence (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Interna…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Benefits of open access
Publishing open access (OA) offers a number of benefits, including greater reach and readership for your work: Cited more 1.6x more citations of OA articles than non-OA articles across all subjects Downloaded more 4x more downloads of OA articles than non-OA articles Greater impact 2.5x more Altmetric attention. OA articles attracted 1.9x more news mentions and 1.2x more policy mentions Open acces…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
Peer review is the process used to evaluate the quality of a manuscript before publication. Independent researchers in the relevant field assess submitted manuscripts to check their validity and robustness. Their feedback guides editors in making publication decisions. Typically, two or more experts evaluate each manuscript based on three main criteria: scientific robustness: is the research metho…
Source ↗Publisher website ·
Excerpts are quoted from the journal's website; "model summary" lines are written by Workers AI and checked against the text. The journal's website is authoritative.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- SpringerOpen
- Country or region
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2364-9534
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Fee waivers ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗LetPub
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about AAPS Open
How long does peer review take at AAPS Open?
Based on the dates recorded on 80 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 108 days (interquartile range 73–139 days); authors report an average review time of about 24 weeks. Article statistics cover accepted papers only, publisher figures follow the journal's own definitions, and community reports come from authors' own submissions; none is a promise from the journal.
Where are the editorial board members of AAPS Open based?
Of the 47 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 2 (about 4%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (39), Mainland China (2) and United Kingdom (2). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index AAPS Open?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, AAPS Open is indexed in DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Embase and CAS; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is AAPS Open open access, and what is the APC?
AAPS Open is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 1,990.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, DOAJ, Publisher website; every figure is tagged with its source and the date it was observed, and conflicting values are kept per source. LetPub source page: view ↗ (archived 2026-08-25). Last updated: .