Journal profile · CHEMISTRY, MEDICINAL
ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters
ISSN 1948-5875 · American Chemical Society · UNITED STATES · Monthly · Founded 2010
ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters: CAS Zone 3 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 3.77; transformative journal; APC about USD 4,500; median 51 days to acceptance (84 articles, last 24 months); 522 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters is published by American Chemical Society and is in Zone 3 of Medicine in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Computational Drug Discovery Methods, Receptor Mechanisms and Signaling and Protein Degradation and Inhibitors, together about 21.1% of its articles. Its main subfields are Molecular Biology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters is interested in receiving manuscripts that discuss various aspects of medicinal chemistry. The journal will publish studies that pertain to a broad range of subject matter, including compound design and optimization, biological evaluation, drug delivery, imaging agents, and pharmacology of both small and large bioactive molecules. Specific areas include but are not limited to: Identification, synthesis, and optimization of lead biologically active molecules and drugs (small molecules and biologics) Biological characterization of new molecular entities in the context of drug discovery Computational, cheminformatics, and structural studies for the identification or SAR analysis of bioactive molecules, ligands and their targets, etc. Novel and improved methodologies, including radiation biochemistry, with broad application to medicinal chemistry Discovery technologies for biologically active molecules from both synthetic and natural (plant and other) sources Pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic studies that address mechanisms underlying drug disposition and response Pharmacogenetic and pharmacogenomic studies used to enhance drug design and the translation of medicinal chemistry into the clinic Mechanistic drug metabolism and regulation of metabolic enzyme gene expression Chemistry patents relevant to the medicinal chemistry field
Source: LetPub
Research area (LetPub): CHEMISTRY, MEDICINAL
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Computational Drug Discovery MethodsComputer Science7.2%
- Receptor Mechanisms and SignalingBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology7.1%
- Protein Degradation and InhibitorsBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology6.7%
- Peptidase Inhibition and AnalysisMedicine5.7%
- Chemical Synthesis and AnalysisBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5.5%
- Click Chemistry and ApplicationsChemistry5.3%
- Cancer therapeutics and mechanismsBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.5%
- Ubiquitin and proteasome pathwaysBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.2%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Chemistry, Medicinal | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Chemistry, Medicinal | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Chemistry, Medicinal | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
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
- Impact factor
- 3.77LetPub ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.6LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.7LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.71LetPub ·
- h-index
- 52LetPub ·
- h-index
- 111OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 2,720OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.23OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 5.1%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 21.19%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 248LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 5,520 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 342 | 309 | 139 |
| 2025 | 522 | 473 | 904 |
| 2024 | 410 | 394 | 1,795 |
| 2023 | 363 | 348 | 3,258 |
| 2022 | 353 | 335 | 3,782 |
| 2021 | 391 | 368 | 4,868 |
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 PubMed · to
51 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 19 days – 75 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 8 days (84 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 61 days
- Sample
- 84 articles with submission and acceptance dates (897 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)
- 3–8 weeksLetPub ·
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
Transformative journalLetPub
A subscription journal moving to full open access.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAlex | USD 4,500 | — | — |
The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Monthly
- Founded
- 2010
- ISSN
- 1948-5875
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 17, Issue 9 (September 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters
What CAS zone is ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters is in Zone 3 of Medicine, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Chemistry, Medicinal. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Medicine. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 3.77; CiteScore 5.6, h-index 111.
How long does peer review take at ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters?
Based on the dates recorded on 84 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 51 days (interquartile range 19–75 days); authors report an average review time of 3–8 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.
Which databases index ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters is indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Is ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters open access, and what is the APC?
ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters is a transformative journal. APC about USD 4,500.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex; 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: .