Journal profile · ENDOCRINOLOGY & METABOLISM-GENETICS & HEREDITY
Biology of Sex Differences
ISSN 2042-6410 · BioMed Central · ENGLAND · Founded 2010
Biology of Sex Differences: CAS Zone 2 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 5.33; fully open access; APC about USD 3,290; median 106 days to acceptance (108 articles, last 24 months); 127 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Biology of Sex Differences is published by BioMed Central 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 Sex and Gender in Healthcare, Stress Responses and Cortisol and Genetic and Clinical Aspects of Sex Determination and Chromosomal Abnormalities, together about 28.8% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Biology of Sex Differences is unlike any other scientific journal: articles focus on sex differences in all aspects of an individual or organism. Everything from molecules to behavior and from studies of cellular function to clinical research studies on sex differences are reported in this journal. Biology of Sex Differences aims to improve understanding of basic biological principles mediating sex differences and foster development of therapeutic and diagnostic tools that are sex-dependent. To the extent that gender influences biological outcomes, this journal also is interested in research addressing gender differences. Articles are expected to report biological results that directly compare sex/gender differences in the statistical analysis. Articles addressing the mechanism(s) mediating sex/gender differences are prioritized. Biology of Sex Differences addresses a broad audience of readers. Articles are expected to report and discuss their findings using language that is accessible to non-specialists in the field, please minimize discipline-specific jargon. The Title and Abstract should be understandable to non-specialists and should highlight the findings. The novelty of the results should be clear to all readers, non-experts as well as experts. To this end the use of abbreviations should also be kept to a minimum. We now require a Plain English summary in addition to the Abstract. Studies that investigate a mechanism or system mediating sex differences are a priority for consideration in Biology of Sex Differences. Manuscripts reporting an observed sex differences that do not test a well-argued specific hypothesis, or are reporting results in a limited population or a specific animal model, are less likely to be considered of interest to our readers. Articles that report or review research that integrates information across topic areas are welcome. Topical areas of research include, but are not limited to, the biology of sex differences in: • Addiction • Aging • Cancer • Cardiovascular Disease • Clinical Disorders and Treatments • Development • Immunology • Infectious Disease • Environmental Health Exposures • Genetics/Epigenetics • Mental Health • Metabolism/Diabetes • Microbiome • Musculoskeletal System • Neurodegeneration • Neuroendocrinology • Neurology • Neuroscience • Nutrition • Physiology • Pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes • Menopause/Andropause • Respiratory health and Disease • Stress • Systems Biology This open access Springer Nature journ
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): ENDOCRINOLOGY & METABOLISM-GENETICS & HEREDITY
Editor-in-chief Jill BeckerPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 1 in mainland China (about 2%); most named United States 34, Canada 4, Italy 3, Australia 3, Japan 2 (58 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Sex and Gender in HealthcareMedicine12.2%
- Stress Responses and CortisolNeuroscience9.6%
- Genetic and Clinical Aspects of Sex Determination and Chromosomal AbnormalitiesBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology6.9%
- Menopause: Health Impacts and TreatmentsMedicine5.7%
- Hypothalamic control of reproductive hormonesMedicine5.7%
- Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorNeuroscience4.9%
- Neuroendocrine regulation and behaviorPsychology4.8%
- Pregnancy and preeclampsia studiesMedicine4.2%
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 | Endocrinology & Metabolism | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Genetics & Heredity | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Endocrinology & Metabolism | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Genetics & Heredity | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Endocrinology & Metabolism | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Genetics & Heredity | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
MEDLINECASPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, Baidu, Naver, OCLC, Portico, CLOCKSS
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
- 5.33LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 5.3Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 6.6Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 8.1LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.81LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.45LetPub ·
- h-index
- 30LetPub ·
- h-index
- 94OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 618OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 4.66OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 3.8%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 124LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 1,400,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,057 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 179 | 179 | 93 |
| 2025 | 127 | 127 | 573 |
| 2024 | 106 | 106 | 1,255 |
| 2023 | 90 | 90 | 1,709 |
| 2022 | 75 | 75 | 2,290 |
| 2021 | 66 | 66 | 2,347 |
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
106 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 80 days – 152 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 13 days (108 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 118 days
- Sample
- 108 articles with submission and acceptance dates (332 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 14 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 9 daysPublisher website ·
- 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
Fully open accessDOAJ
Every article is open access; authors usually pay an article processing charge (APC).
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | EUR 2,790 / USD 3,290 / GBP 2,490 | Yes | CC BY, CC0 | |
| OpenAlex | USD 3,290 / EUR 2,790 / GBP 2,490 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 2,390 / USD 3,190 / EUR 2,690 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 2,490 / USD 3,290 / EUR 2,790 | — | — |
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)
Open calls for papers3, by deadline
Publisher websiteArticle types accepted5
- commentaryFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Commentary Database Research Review Position StatementLength not stated
- databaseFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Commentary Database Research Review Position StatementLength not stated
- position statementFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Commentary Database Research Review Position StatementLength not stated
- researchFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Commentary Database Research Review Position StatementLength not stated
- reviewFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Commentary Database Research Review Position StatementLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteData availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review
- Data availability Formatting the 'Availability of data and materials' section of your manuscript
CC0 data policy Model summary
The following format for the 'Availability of data and materials section of your manuscript should be used:
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Licensing and copyright
CC BY (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence) Model summary
Creative Commons licences Open access articles in Springer Nature journals are published under Creative Commons licences. These provide an industry-standard framework to support easy re-use of open access material. Under Creative Commons licences, authors retain copyright of their articles. Biology of Sex Differences articles are published open access under a CC BY (Creative Commons Attribution 4.…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Benefits of open access
Publishing open access (OA) offers a number of benefits, including greater reach and readership for your work: Cited more 1.6x more citations of OA articles than non-OA articles across all subjects Downloaded more 4x more downloads of OA articles than non-OA articles Greater impact 2.5x more Altmetric attention. OA articles attracted 1.9x more news mentions and 1.2x more policy mentions Open acces…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
Peer review is the process used to evaluate the quality of a manuscript before publication. Independent researchers in the relevant field assess submitted manuscripts to check their validity and robustness. Their feedback guides editors in making publication decisions. Typically, two or more experts evaluate each manuscript based on three main criteria: scientific robustness: is the research metho…
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
- BioMed Central
- Country or region
- ENGLAND
- Language
- English
- Founded
- 2010
- ISSN
- 2042-6410
- Society / sponsor
- Organization for the Study of Sex Differences
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗DOAJ
- Aims & Scope ↗DOAJ
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Fee waivers ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗DOAJ
- Editorial board ↗DOAJ
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Biology of Sex Differences
What CAS zone is Biology of Sex Differences in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Biology of Sex Differences is in Zone 2 of Medicine, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Endocrinology & Metabolism / Genetics & Heredity. 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 Biology of Sex Differences?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 5.33; CiteScore 8.1, h-index 94.
How long does peer review take at Biology of Sex Differences?
Based on the dates recorded on 108 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 106 days (interquartile range 80–152 days); 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.
Where are the editorial board members of Biology of Sex Differences based?
Of the 58 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 1 (about 2%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (34), Canada (4) and Italy (3). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Biology of Sex Differences?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Biology of Sex Differences is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists MEDLINE and CAS; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Biology of Sex Differences open access, and what is the APC?
Biology of Sex Differences is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 3,290.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, DOAJ, Publisher website; 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: .