Journal profile · OPHTHALMOLOGY
Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology
ISSN 2162-0989 · ASIA-PACIFIC ACAD OPHTHALMOLOGY-APAO · UNITED STATES
Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology: CAS Zone 2 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 6.93; fully open access; APC about USD 1,950; median 65 days to acceptance (93 articles, last 24 months); 91 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology is published by ASIA-PACIFIC ACAD OPHTHALMOLOGY-APAO and is in Zone 2 of Medicine in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Retinal Diseases and Treatments, Glaucoma and retinal disorders and Ophthalmology and Visual Impairment Studies, together about 31% of its articles. Its main subfields are Ophthalmology and Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology (APJO) is a purely electronic, gold open-access, peer-reviewed journal established in 2012. It attained its first impact factor (IF) of 2.827 (ranked 29th out of 62 SCI eye journals) in 2021, and reached 7.0 (ranked 4th globally and #1 in the Asia-Pacific) in 2026. As a bimonthly publication, APJO strives to deliver high-quality articles to keep our readers abreast of the latest developments in clinical ophthalmology, innovative technology, and visual science, and to serve as an excellent academic platform for ophthalmologists and visual scientists around the globe. APJO continuously strives for progress and advancement, aspiring to become an impactful journal in the future. To achieve this vision, the journal focuses on trending topics and ensures the publication of quality papers that resonate with our audience.Starting February 1, 2026, APJO transitions from an open to an invitation-only submission process. The journal will still consider unsolicited pre-submission inquiries accompanied by an extended abstract.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): OPHTHALMOLOGY
Editor-in-chief Dennis LamPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 29 in mainland China (about 28%); most named Mainland China 29, Hong Kong, China 17, Singapore 15, United States 12, Australia 6 (103 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Retinal Diseases and TreatmentsMedicine11.3%
- Glaucoma and retinal disordersMedicine10.3%
- Ophthalmology and Visual Impairment StudiesMedicine9.4%
- Corneal surgery and disordersMedicine8.4%
- Intraocular Surgery and LensesMedicine8.1%
- Retinal and Optic ConditionsMedicine6.7%
- Retinal Imaging and AnalysisMedicine6.6%
- Retinal and Macular SurgeryMedicine5.8%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Ophthalmology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Ophthalmology | Zone 2 |
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 | Ophthalmology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
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
- 6.93LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 7Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 9.2LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 9.2Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.61LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.58LetPub ·
- h-index
- 65OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 569OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 5.88OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 11.4%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 56LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,300 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 56 | 56 | 27 |
| 2025 | 91 | 91 | 386 |
| 2024 | 87 | 87 | 962 |
| 2023 | 88 | 88 | 1,081 |
| 2022 | 113 | 113 | 1,454 |
| 2021 | 113 | 113 | 1,873 |
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
65 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 41 days – 99 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 5 days (93 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 74 days
- Sample
- 93 articles with submission and acceptance dates (163 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 6 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 65 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 21 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 | USD 1,950 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 1,950 / EUR 1,820 / GBP 1,560 / JPY 241,860 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 1,950 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | USD 1,950 | — | — |
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
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 5,000 words
- Reference style
- AMA
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted11
- correspondenceOriginal Research Study: Include randomized controlled study, case-control study, cohort study, intervention study, observational study, and surveyReview Articl…Length not stated
- editorialOriginal Research Study: Include randomized controlled study, case-control study, cohort study, intervention study, observational study, and surveyReview Articl…Length not stated
- intriguing image and videoIntriguing Image and Video: Illustrating, illuminating, and/or intriguing images/videos of educational importance or good scientific significance, eg, first of …Length not stated
- letter to the editorLetter to the Editor: Discuss a recent article in the APJO within 6 months of the article’s publicationLength not stated
- opinionOriginal Research Study: Include randomized controlled study, case-control study, cohort study, intervention study, observational study, and surveyReview Articl…Length not stated
- original researchOriginal Research Study: Include randomized controlled study, case-control study, cohort study, intervention study, observational study, and surveyReview Articl…Length not stated
- original research studyOriginal Research Study: Include randomized controlled study, case-control study, cohort study, intervention study, observational study, and surveyLength not stated
- reviewOriginal Research Study: Include randomized controlled study, case-control study, cohort study, intervention study, observational study, and surveyReview Articl…Length not stated
- scientific correspondenceScientific Correspondence: Personal viewpoints and discussions of important topics of particular interest to ophthalmologyLength not stated
- systematic reviewOriginal Research Study: Include randomized controlled study, case-control study, cohort study, intervention study, observational study, and surveyReview Articl…Length not stated
- viewpointOriginal Research Study: Include randomized controlled study, case-control study, cohort study, intervention study, observational study, and surveyReview Articl…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Conflicts of interest, License & copyright, Open access, Preprints
- AI use Declaration of generative AI in scientific writing
Authors must declare the use of generative AI in the manuscript preparation process upon submission of the paper. Elsevier recognizes the potential of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies (“AI Tools”), when used responsibly, to help researchers work efficiently, gain critical insights fast and achieve better outcomes. Increasingly, these tools, including AI agents and deep research tools, ar…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Declaration of competing interest
Corresponding authors, on behalf of all the authors of a submission, must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Copyright
Upon acceptance, authors complete a License Agreement; third-party reuse of open access articles depends on the author's chosen user license. Model summary
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'License Agreement' (see more information on this). Permitted third party reuse of open access articles is determined by the author's choice of user license.Author rightsAs an author you (or your employer or institution) have certain rights to reuse your work. More information.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open Access
Articles may be checked by Crossref Similarity Check and other originality or duplicate checking software. Model summary
As a gold open access journal, an article publishing charge (APC) of USD1950 is payable by the author or research funder upon acceptance.APJO supports Research4life and countries/territories under the program are eligible for discounts/waivers for submissions. Please visit our Open Access page for more information.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
Preprints can be shared anywhere at any time, in line with Elsevier's sharing policy; sharing preprints will not count as prior publication. Model summary
Please note that preprints can be shared anywhere at any time, in line with Elsevier's sharing policy. Sharing your preprints e.g. on a preprint server will not count as prior publication (see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' for more information).
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
- ASIA-PACIFIC ACAD OPHTHALMOLOGY-APAO
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2162-0989
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- 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 Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology
What CAS zone is Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology is in Zone 2 of Medicine, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Ophthalmology. 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 Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 6.93; CiteScore 9.2, h-index 65.
How long does peer review take at Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology?
Based on the dates recorded on 93 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 65 days (interquartile range 41–99 days); authors report an average review time of about 6 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 Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Manuscript length: ≤ 5,000 words; Reference style: AMA; 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 Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology based?
Of the 103 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 29 (about 28%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Mainland China (29), Hong Kong, China (17) and Singapore (15). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology open access, and what is the APC?
Asia-Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 1,950.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, OpenAlex, 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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .