Journal profile · Obstetrics & Gynecology
BIRTH-ISSUES IN PERINATAL CARE
ISSN 0730-7659 · eISSN 1523-536X · Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd · UNITED STATES · Quarterly · Founded 1982
BIRTH-ISSUES IN PERINATAL CARE: CAS Zone 3 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.21; hybrid open access; APC about USD 4,850; median 300 days to acceptance (88 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: fairly easy; 80 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE, SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
BIRTH-ISSUES IN PERINATAL CARE is published by Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd and is in Zone 3 of Medicine in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Maternal and Perinatal Health Interventions, Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum and Breastfeeding Practices and Influences, together about 46.8% of its articles. Its main subfields are Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care is a multidisciplinary, refereed journal devoted to issues and practices in the care of childbearing women, infants, and families. It is written by and for professionals in maternal and neonatal health, nurses, midwives, physicians, public health workers, doulas, social scientists, childbirth educators, lactation counselors, epidemiologists, and other health caregivers and policymakers in perinatal care. The aims of Birth are: To publish original, well-designed, peer-reviewed research on issues in pregnancy and childbirth. To underline the importance of evidence-based research in changing clinical practices. To present a forum for discussing current issues in maternal and newborn care. While research on all types of birth experiences is encouraged, one special research interest of this journal is in the analysis of the birth experiences of low-risk women. To provide review articles on topics of major importance in perinatal care.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Obstetrics & Gynecology
Editor-in-chief Lynette A. HamlinPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 2 in mainland China (about 4%); most named United States 33, Canada 6, United Kingdom 5, Australia 3, Mainland China 2 (54 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Maternal and Perinatal Health InterventionsMedicine25.1%
- Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and PostpartumMedicine13.5%
- Breastfeeding Practices and InfluencesMedicine8.2%
- Global Maternal and Child HealthMedicine7.5%
- Assisted Reproductive Technology and Twin PregnancyMedicine5.7%
- Maternal and fetal healthcareMedicine3.9%
- Grief, Bereavement, and Mental HealthPsychology3.7%
- Infant Development and Preterm CareMedicine3.2%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Nursing | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Pediatrics | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Obstetrics & Gynecology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Nursing | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Obstetrics & Gynecology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Pediatrics | Zone 3 |
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 | Nursing | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Pediatrics | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Obstetrics & Gynecology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIESSCIScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
MEDLINEPubMedPsycINFOCAB AbstractsCINAHLCurrent ContentsPublisher website
Other: EBSCO, ProQuest, Index Medicus, Research Alert, Social SciSearch, SciSearch, RNdex Top 100TM, The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Psychological Abstracts, Dokumentation Arbeitsmedizin
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)
- 2.3Publisher website ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.3Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.6LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 5.6Publisher website ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 5.6Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.18LetPub ·
- h-index
- 76LetPub ·
- h-index
- 129OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,411OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.22OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 8.7%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 57.09%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 71LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher) 2025
- 73Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 408,962Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 3,823 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 70 | 50 | 10 |
| 2025 | 80 | 61 | 77 |
| 2024 | 93 | 71 | 453 |
| 2023 | 116 | 90 | 747 |
| 2022 | 97 | 56 | 1,473 |
| 2021 | 85 | 31 | 1,430 |
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
300 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 197 days – 488 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 21 days (89 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 331 days
- Sample
- 88 articles with submission and acceptance dates (171 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)
- over 12 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly easyLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 16%Publisher website ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher) 2025
- 16%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 48 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 48 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance 2025
- 402 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 17 daysPublisher website ·
- Peer review
- Double 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 | USD 4,850 / EUR 4,030 / GBP 3,260 | — | — |
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)
Article types accepted7, with length limits
- commentariesCommentaries Commentaries are generally commissioned by members of the editorial team or, on occasion, reformatted as commentaries from other submitted papers.Length not stated
- letter to the editorReserved for discussion about published papers. No abstract; 5 or less references. 1,500 word maximum. The Editorial Board reserves the right to accept or rejec…main text ≤ 1,500 words
- original researchOriginal Research ArticlesManuscripts that report the results of original quantitative or qualitative public health research are published as original research …Length not stated
- original research articleOriginal Research ArticlesManuscripts that report the results of original quantitative or qualitative public health research are published as original research …Length not stated
- original research articlesOriginal Research Articles Manuscripts that report the results of original quantitative or qualitative public health research are published as original research…Length not stated
- systematic reviewg/ in the development of their reviews. Systematic reviews should not exceed 4,000 words. Commentaries Commentaries are generally commissioned by memain text ≤ 4,000 words
- systematic reviewsSystematic Reviews Systematic Reviews are reviews of clearly formulated research questions that use systematic and explicit methods to identify, select, and cri…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Authorship, Conflicts of interest
- AI use Generative AI
Artificial Intelligence Generated Content (AIGC) tools — such as ChatGPT and others based on large language models (LLMs)— cannot be considered capable of initiating an original piece of research without direction by human authors. They also cannot be accountable for a published work or for research design, which is a generally held requirement of authorship (as discussed in the previous section),…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Authorship Author contributions (CRediT)
This journal requires/encourages details of all authors' contributions to the work by providing CRediT (Contribution Roles Taxonomy) information during submission.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest
Conflict of interest and prior publication disclosure required Model summary
Authors have a responsibility to inform the Editor about potential conflicts of interest, and to send to the Editor any previous reports that might be regarded as prior or duplicate publications of the same data.
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
- Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Quarterly
- Founded
- 1982
- ISSN
- 0730-7659
- Electronic ISSN
- 1523-536X
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 53, Issue 3 (September 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about BIRTH-ISSUES IN PERINATAL CARE
What CAS zone is BIRTH-ISSUES IN PERINATAL CARE in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, BIRTH-ISSUES IN PERINATAL CARE is in Zone 3 of Medicine, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Nursing / Pediatrics / Obstetrics & Gynecology. 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 BIRTH-ISSUES IN PERINATAL CARE?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.21; CiteScore 5.6, h-index 129.
How long does peer review take at BIRTH-ISSUES IN PERINATAL CARE?
Based on the dates recorded on 88 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 300 days (interquartile range 197–488 days); authors report an average review time of over 12 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly easy”; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 16% (2025). 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 BIRTH-ISSUES IN PERINATAL CARE based?
Of the 54 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 2 (about 4%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (33), Canada (6) and United Kingdom (5). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index BIRTH-ISSUES IN PERINATAL CARE?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, BIRTH-ISSUES IN PERINATAL CARE is indexed in SCIE, SSCI and Scopus. The journal's website also lists MEDLINE, PubMed, PsycINFO, CAB Abstracts, CINAHL and Current Contents; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is BIRTH-ISSUES IN PERINATAL CARE open access, and what is the APC?
BIRTH-ISSUES IN PERINATAL CARE is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 4,850.
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: .