Journal profile · PRIMARY HEALTH CARE
African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine
ISSN 2071-2928 · eISSN 2071-2936 · AOSIS · South Africa
African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine: CAS Zone 4 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; median 97 days to acceptance (97 articles, last 24 months); 133 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine is published by AOSIS 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 Global Maternal and Child Health, Primary Care and Health Outcomes and HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions, together about 34.4% of its articles. Its main subfields are General Health Professions. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
In 2025, the inclusion of AI policies became compulsory for all SciELO SA journals. Authors using AI-assisted technology must disclose their use in manuscripts to ensure transparency, accuracy, and trust. Guidance is available in the Plagiarism, Fabrication and Artificial Intelligence Policy page and the Submission Guidelines under 'AI-assisted technologies' in the formatting requirements. Not sure if this journal is indexed in SciELO SA? Please check our Indexing Services page.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): PRIMARY HEALTH CARE
Editor-in-chief Bob MashPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named South Africa 10, United States 2, United Kingdom 2, Kenya 2, Canada 1 (19 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Global Maternal and Child HealthMedicine13.5%
- Primary Care and Health OutcomesHealth Professions13.4%
- HIV/AIDS Research and InterventionsMedicine7.5%
- Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive HealthHealth Professions6.9%
- Global Health Workforce IssuesHealth Professions6.2%
- Global Health and SurgeryMedicine4.1%
- Diabetes Management and EducationMedicine4%
- HIV/AIDS Impact and ResponsesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance3.8%
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 | Primary Health Care | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Primary Health Care | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
Database indexing
ESCIScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Web of ScienceMEDLINEPMCEmbaseSciELOPublisher website
Other: Index Medicus, Google Scholar, EBSCO, ProQuest
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
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 2.7LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 1.7Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.6LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.8LetPub ·
- h-index
- 53OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 568OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.97OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 11.8%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 119LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,590 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 94 | 94 | 19 |
| 2025 | 133 | 133 | 192 |
| 2024 | 132 | 132 | 496 |
| 2023 | 83 | 83 | 517 |
| 2022 | 109 | 109 | 924 |
| 2021 | 109 | 109 | 1,026 |
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
97 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 49 days – 151 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 65 days (97 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 176 days
- Sample
- 97 articles with submission and acceptance dates (231 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 15 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 15 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Double 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 | ZAR 16,689 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | ZAR 10,444 | — | — | |
| LetPub | ZAR 13,216 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
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)
What to prepare3 items from the author guidelines
- Keywords
- ≥ 8
- Reference style
- Vancouver
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted5
- book reviewsA book review is brief insights or opinions on new books within the research field of the journal.Length not stated
- conference reportsA conference report allows the author to submit a report on a national or international conference relevant to the focus and scope of the journal.Length not stated
- country profilesCountry Profiles are by invitation only and are intended to provide expert insight on the state of family medicine and primary health care training in selected …Length not stated
- editorialsAn editorial intends to provide expert comments on relevant topics within the focus and scope of the journal.Length not stated
- scientific lettersA scientific letter is a presentation of original research where the scope of the work does not justify a full research article, but the findings have a social …Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Authorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- AI use Disclosure of AI-assisted technologies
The Acknowledgements section must include a clear statement disclosing any use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies (e.g., for data analysis, dataset or artefact creation) in conducting the research. This statement should: Be specific by naming the exact AI tool(s) used. State the purpose of the tool’s use, such as artefact creation or data analysis. Disclose human oversight by confirming …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Authorship Disclosure of contributors not qualifying for authorship
The acknowledgement section includes listing those who contributed to the work but did not meet authorship criteria, with the corresponding description of the contribution. Acknowledge anyone who provided intellectual assistance, technical help (incl. editing), or special equipment and/or materials. Authors are responsible for ensuring that anyone named in the Acknowledgements agrees to be named. …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Disclosures
Authors retain copyright Model summary
Authors are required to disclose any prior dissemination of the manuscript content. This includes, but is not limited to: Thesis-based work (e.g., master's or doctoral theses). Preprint versions that are published on open repositories. Refer to our Frequently Asked Questions: Questions from Authors - Preprints. Conference papers or presentations that were expanded into an article. Additionally, au…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data availability statement
All research articles should have a data availability statement included in the manuscript in the form of a sentence under a separate heading entitled ‘Data availability statement’. The following are examples of a data availability statement. If you use one of the examples, you should modify it to fit your specific relationship. Availability of data Suggested data availability statements Example 1…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright
CC BY 4.0 license Model summary
All articles published in this journal are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, unless otherwise stated.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access OPEN ACCESS
All articles published in this journal are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, unless otherwise stated.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review
Double-blinded peer review Model summary
The journal follows a double-blinded peer-review process, and you need to make your manuscript anonymous.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Disclosure of preprint-based content
Scenario Suggested preprint-based disclosures Example 1 A preprint version of this work was previously published on [Preprint Server Name] ([DOI or link]), and we acknowledge its role in shaping the final article. Example 2 – preprint feedback incorporated in the final manuscript We acknowledge the initial version of this work published as a preprint on [Preprint Server Name] ([DOI or link]). Feed…
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
- AOSIS
- Country or region
- South Africa
- Language
- English, French
- ISSN
- 2071-2928
- Electronic ISSN
- 2071-2936
- Society / sponsor
- WONCA
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- 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 African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine
What CAS zone is African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine is in Zone 4 of Medicine, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Primary Health Care. 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.
How long does peer review take at African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine?
Based on the dates recorded on 97 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 97 days (interquartile range 49–151 days); authors report an average review time of about 15 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 are the manuscript requirements of African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Keywords: ≥ 8; Reference style: Vancouver; Cover letter: Required. A model extracted these from the author guidelines and each was checked against the text; check the latest version on the journal's website before submitting.
Where are the editorial board members of African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine based?
Of the 19 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are South Africa (10), United States (2) and United Kingdom (2). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Web of Science, MEDLINE, PMC, Embase and SciELO; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine open access, and what is the APC?
African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine is a fully open-access journal. APC charged, amount not published.
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: .