Journal profile · Substance Abuse
Alcohol and Alcoholism
ISSN 0735-0414 · eISSN 1464-3502 · Oxford University Press · ENGLAND · Bimonthly · Founded 1983
Alcohol and Alcoholism: CAS Zone 4 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.21; hybrid open access; APC about USD 4,286; median 121 days to acceptance (101 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: fairly easy; 82 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE, SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Alcohol and Alcoholism is published by Oxford University Press 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 Alcohol Consumption and Health Effects, Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes and Alcoholism and Thiamine Deficiency, together about 56.1% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Alcohol and Alcoholism publishes papers on the biomedical, psychological, and sociological aspects of alcoholism and alcohol research, provided that they make a new and significant contribution to knowledge in the field. Papers include new results obtained experimentally, descriptions of new experimental (including clinical) methods of importance to the field of alcohol research and treatment, or new interpretations of existing results. Theoretical contributions are considered equally with papers dealing with experimental work provided that such theoretical contributions are not of a largely speculative or philosophical nature. Alcohol and Alcoholism is the official journal of the Medical Council on Alcohol. Becoming online-only, a digital future for Alcohol and Alcoholism Alcohol and Alcoholism is online-only, which provides an even more immersive and immediate reading experience for you. Going digital demonstrates our commitment to top-notch, cutting-edge research while allowing us to enhance the content, interactivity, and accessibility of our journal, ensuring you have seamless access to the latest updates. Embracing the digital frontier means readers will enjoy: Instant Access: No more waiting for your journal to arrive in the mail. Readers are guaranteed access to the most current versions of all articles at all times, and immediate access to the most recently published content via the Advance access feature. Enhanced Interactivity: The Oxford Academic platform allows you to dive deeper into research with digital content components, usage information, reference linking and other vital tools that a printed issue cannot provide. Reader-Centric Innovation: This transition enables us to build a complete picture of reader engagement with our articles and other digital elements, which will inform future content to improve your experience. We trust this transition will allow us to serve you better and keep you squarely at the forefront of advancements in alcohol-use disorder. To get notified as soon as articles go online, make sure you are signed up for the journal’s e-alerts. Journal metrics Citation metrics Clarivate 2025 Impact Factor 2.3 2025 5 Year Impact Factor 2.4 Substance Abuse (Rank by Impact Factor) 35/61 2025 Journal Citation Indicator (JCI) 0.76 Substance Abuse (Rank by Journal Citation Indicator) 29/61 2025 Cited Half-Life 11.4 years 2025 Immediacy Index 0.5 2025 Eigenfactor Score 0.00253 2025 Article Influence Score 0.761 Scopus 2025 CiteScor
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Substance Abuse
Editor-in-chief Lorenzo Leggio USAPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United States 13, United Kingdom 7, Italy 4, Germany 3, Australia 2 (37 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Alcohol Consumption and Health EffectsMedicine23.1%
- Substance Abuse Treatment and OutcomesMedicine22%
- Alcoholism and Thiamine DeficiencyMedicine11%
- Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorNeuroscience6%
- Gambling Behavior and TreatmentsPsychology3.7%
- Liver Disease Diagnosis and TreatmentMedicine3.5%
- Human auditory perception and evaluationEngineering3.4%
- Prenatal Substance Exposure EffectsMedicine3.1%
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 | Substance Abuse | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Substance Abuse | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Medicine Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Substance Abuse | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIESSCIScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
MEDLINEPubMedPublisher website
Other: ProQuest, OCLC
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
- Impact factor
- 2.21LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.4Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 4.4Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4.4LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 4.4Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.8LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.88LetPub ·
- h-index
- 89LetPub ·
- h-index
- 141OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 2,767OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.09OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 4.3%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 32.61%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 70LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 312,716Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 6,660 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 62 | 32 | 13 |
| 2025 | 82 | 55 | 153 |
| 2024 | 96 | 90 | 335 |
| 2023 | 90 | 71 | 622 |
| 2022 | 70 | 43 | 643 |
| 2021 | 87 | 57 | 1,020 |
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
121 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 78 days – 191 days
- Acceptance to online
- —
- Submission to online
- —
- Sample
- 101 articles with submission and acceptance dates (165 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)
- 4–8 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly easyLetPub ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 27 daysPublisher website ·
- Peer review
- Single anonymous peer reviewPublisher website
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
Hybrid open accessLetPub
A subscription journal in which authors can pay to publish their article open access.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAlex | GBP 3,250 | — | — |
A hybrid journal charges the APC only when the author chooses open access; publishing under the subscription model is usually free.
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
- ≤ 6
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 4,000 words
- Reference style
- Harvard
Article types accepted15
- case reportMax words Short summary Author statements Figures and Tables* References (modified Harvard style) Abstract Supplementary material allowed? Original research pap…Length not stated
- commentaries and editorialsCommentaries and Editorials 1000 50 words COI, data availability, funding, acknowledgements 1 5 Unstructured 60 words NoLength not stated
- commentaryMax words Short summary Author statements Figures and Tables* References (modified Harvard style) Abstract Supplementary material allowed? Original research pap…Length not stated
- editorialMax words Short summary Author statements Figures and Tables* References (modified Harvard style) Abstract Supplementary material allowed? Original research pap…Length not stated
- letterMax words Short summary Author statements Figures and Tables* References (modified Harvard style) Abstract Supplementary material allowed? Original research pap…Length not stated
- letters to the editors and repliesLetters to the Editors and Replies* 800 50 words COI, data availability, funding, acknowledgements 1 5 none NoLength not stated
- original research paperMax words Short summary Author statements Figures and Tables* References (modified Harvard style) Abstract Supplementary material allowed? Original research pap…Length not stated
- original research papersOriginal research papers 4000 50 words COI, data availability, funding, acknowledgements 5 40 Structured 250 words YesLength not stated
- registered reportMax words Short summary Author statements Figures and Tables* References (modified Harvard style) Abstract Supplementary material allowed? Original research pap…Length not stated
- registered report proposalRegistered report proposal 4000 50 words COI, data availability, funding, acknowledgements 5 40 Structured 250 words YesLength not stated
- reviewMax words Short summary Author statements Figures and Tables* References (modified Harvard style) Abstract Supplementary material allowed? Original research pap…Length not stated
- reviewsReviews 5000 50 words COI, data availability, funding, acknowledgements 5 80 Structured 250 words YesLength not stated
- short communicationMax words Short summary Author statements Figures and Tables* References (modified Harvard style) Abstract Supplementary material allowed? Original research pap…Length not stated
- short communicationsShort Communications 2000 50 words COI, data availability, funding, acknowledgements 2 20 Unstructured 60 words YesLength not stated
- systematic reviewThe journal supports the Equator Network and as such we ask that all authors read and comply with the guidelines listed via the Equator homepage. These include …Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints, Self-archiving
- Authorship Authorship
The corresponding author is solely responsible for making sure that all authors agreed to be listed as authors, they approved the final version of the manuscript (including the list of authors) and that they provided significant contribution to the study to qualify as authors. According to the ICMJE guidelines, all of the following 4 criteria must be met to be considered an author: Substantial con…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest
This journal takes a serious view on various ethical issues related to publishing in this field. As well as familiarizing themselves with guidelines relating to these issues at the ISAJE website and elsewhere, authors should also pay special attention to issues related to ‘conflict of interest’ before submission of their work to this journal. The Journal requires all authors to disclose any potent…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Availability of Data and Materials
Where ethically feasible, Alcohol and Alcoholism strongly encourages authors to make all data and software code on which the conclusions of the paper rely available to readers. Authors are required to include a Data Availability Statement in their article. When data and software underlying the research article are available in an online source, authors should include a full citation in their refer…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics Misconduct
Authors should observe high standards with respect to research integrity and publication ethics as set out by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Falsification or fabrication of data including inappropriate image manipulation, plagiarism, including duplicate publication of the author's own work without proper citation, and misappropriation of work are all unacceptable practices. Allegation…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Open Government Licence
The Open Government Licence is an open licencing model for content produced by employees of UK Crown bodies allowing users to copy, publish, distribute adapt and transmit the Information for commercial and non-commercial purposes. For additional information see here.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Publishing Agreements including Open Access
After your manuscript is accepted, you will be asked to sign a licence to publish through our licencing and payment portal, SciPris. Alcohol and Alcoholism offers the option of publishing under either a standard licence or an open access licence. There is a charge to publish under an open access licence, which allows your paper to be freely accessible to all readers immediately upon online publica…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer Review Process
To simplify the submission process for authors, A&A has relaxed some guidelines for new submissions. Authors are required to format their papers and provide individual files at the revision stage only. New papers submitted to A&A can be submitted as a single Word or PDF file, provided it is legible for peer review and the level of written English in the manuscript is sufficient to allow editors an…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprint policy
Authors retain the right to make an Author’s Original Version (preprint) available through various channels, and this does not prevent submission to the journal. For further information see our Online Licensing, Copyright and Permissions policies. If accepted, the authors are required to update the status of any preprint, including your published paper’s DOI, as described on our Author Self-Archiv…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Self-archiving Self-archiving
Self-archiving refers to posting a copy of your work on a publicly accessible website or repository. Under certain circumstances, you may self-archive versions of your work on your own webpages, on institutional webpages, and in other repositories. For information about the Journal's policy, and to learn which version(s) of your paper are acceptable for self-archiving, please see our Author self-a…
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
- Oxford University Press
- Country or region
- ENGLAND
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Bimonthly
- Founded
- 1983
- ISSN
- 0735-0414
- Electronic ISSN
- 1464-3502
- Society / sponsor
- Medical Council on Alcohol
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 61, Issue 5 (September 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Alcohol and Alcoholism
What CAS zone is Alcohol and Alcoholism in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Alcohol and Alcoholism is in Zone 4 of Medicine, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Substance Abuse. 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 Alcohol and Alcoholism?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.21; CiteScore 4.4, h-index 141.
How long does peer review take at Alcohol and Alcoholism?
Based on the dates recorded on 101 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 121 days (interquartile range 78–191 days); authors report an average review time of 4–8 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly easy”. 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 Alcohol and Alcoholism?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Keywords: ≤ 6; Manuscript length: ≤ 4,000 words; Reference style: Harvard. 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 Alcohol and Alcoholism based?
Of the 37 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (13), United Kingdom (7) and Italy (4). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Alcohol and Alcoholism?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Alcohol and Alcoholism is indexed in SCIE, SSCI and Scopus. The journal's website also lists MEDLINE and PubMed; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Alcohol and Alcoholism open access, and what is the APC?
Alcohol and Alcoholism is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 4,286.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, 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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .