Journal profile · Medicine-Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine
ISSN 2097-0226 · eISSN 2765-8619 · Wolters Kluwer Health/LWW · United States
Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine: CAS Zone 4 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 7.3 (journal website); JCR Q1 (journal website); diamond open access (no APC); no APC; review about 14 weeks (community reports); 40 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine is published by Wolters Kluwer Health/LWW and is in Zone 4 of Medicine in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies, Traditional Chinese Medicine Studies and Pharmacological Effects of Natural Compounds, together about 38.7% of its articles. Its main subfields are Complementary and alternative medicine and Pharmacology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine (AHM) aims to evaluate the effectiveness and security of traditional medicine therapy scientifically by sharing the evidence of experimental and clinical research, and to serve the development of the global health industry. AHM is an official journal of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and China Association of Chinese Medicine. It is an international, open access, peer-reviewed quarterly journal, strives to publish high-quality papers of interest to an international readership including researchers, clinical practitioners, administrators and others concerned with clinical best practice, research methodology, and education and policy development in complementary and alternative medicine. AHM publishes articles of experimental research, clinical research and application research and reviews, etc. The types of publications considered are editorial, review article, guidelines and standards, commentary, opinion article, short communications, case report, methodology, letter to the editor, etc.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Medicine-Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Editor-in-chief Boli ZhangPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Acupuncture Treatment Research StudiesMedicine15.8%
- Traditional Chinese Medicine StudiesMedicine13.7%
- Pharmacological Effects of Natural CompoundsPharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics9.3%
- Traditional Chinese Medicine AnalysisMedicine8.2%
- Healthcare and Venom ResearchMedicine5.5%
- Plant-based Medicinal ResearchPharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics4.1%
- Ginseng Biological Effects and ApplicationsBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology3.8%
- Complementary and Alternative Medicine StudiesMedicine3.4%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Medicine Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Integrative & Complementary Medicine | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Integrative & Complementary Medicine | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
JCR / CiteScore quartiles on the journal's website
- JCR Q1 · INTEGRATIVE & COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE · rank 7/48
Publisher-reported: JCR figures are Clarivate's and CiteScore figures Scopus's to confirm; both are a different system from the CAS zones.Publisher website
Database indexing
ESCIScopusDOAJLetPub
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 (publisher)
- 7.3Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 7.6LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 7.6Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.08LetPub ·
- h-index
- 22OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 89OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 7.54OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 9.6%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 35LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 208 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 31 | 31 | 23 |
| 2025 | 40 | 40 | 253 |
| 2024 | 53 | 53 | 659 |
| 2023 | 38 | 38 | 480 |
| 2022 | 31 | 31 | 492 |
| 2021 | 15 | 15 | 258 |
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
Too few articlesOnly 7 articles from the last 24 months carry both submission and acceptance dates, too few for a median
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 14 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 14 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
Diamond open access (no APC)DOAJ
Every article is open access and authors pay no article processing charge.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | No APC | No | CC BY-NC-ND | |
| LetPub | No APC | No | — |
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)
Article types accepted4, with length limits
- case reporttive and reflect the value of the case. Case Report is 1500 to 2500 words long. An unstructured summary of no more than 150 words ismain text ≤ 2,500 words
- commentaryrs, or that is particularly timely. The commentary contains no original data, about 800 to 1500 words, unstructured abstract with maximum 150 words. The number …main text ≤ 1,500 words
- editorialncepts in practice, research or policy. Editorials are typically 800 to 2500 words long, including unstructured abstract, 150 words. The numbemain text ≤ 2,500 words
- short communicationns or initiate important new questions. Short communications can only have 1500-2500 words. The structural abstract includes, background, methods, resmain text ≤ 2,500 words
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship
- Authorship AUTHORSHIP
Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine expects that each person listed as an author has participated sufficiently in the intellectual content, the analysis of data, and/or the writing of the manuscript to take public responsibility for it. Each author must have reviewed the manuscript, believes it represents valid work, and approves it for submission.
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
- Wolters Kluwer Health/LWW
- Country or region
- United States
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2097-0226
- Electronic ISSN
- 2765-8619
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 6, Issue 2 (June 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗LetPub
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine
What CAS zone is Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine is in Zone 4 of Medicine, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Integrative & Complementary Medicine. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Medicine. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 7.3; this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 7.6, h-index 22.
How long does peer review take at Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine?
Authors report an average review time of about 14 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.
What JCR quartile is Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine in?
The journal's website gives JCR Q1; by category, INTEGRATIVE & COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE Q1 (7/48). JCR quartiles are Clarivate's to confirm and a different system from the CAS zones; in the CAS ranking the journal is in Zone 4 of Medicine.
Which databases index Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine open access, and what is the APC?
Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine is a diamond open-access journal (no APC). It charges no article processing charge.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, Publisher website, DOAJ; 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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .