Journal profile · Health Care Sciences & Services
BMC Health Services Research
ISSN 1472-6963 · BioMed Central · ENGLAND · Irregular · Founded 2001
BMC Health Services Research: CAS Zone 2 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 3.3; fully open access; APC about USD 3,450; median 193 days to acceptance (195 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: easy; 1,789 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
BMC Health Services Research 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 Global Maternal and Child Health, Primary Care and Health Outcomes and Health Policy Implementation Science, together about 26.6% of its articles. Its main subfields are General Health Professions. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
BMC Health Services Research is an open access peer reviewed journal that considers articles on all aspects of health services research. The journal has a special focus on digital health, governance, health policy, health system quality and safety, healthcare delivery and access to healthcare, healthcare financing and economics, implementing reform and the health workforce. BMC Health Services Research welcomes articles in the following broad areas of research: Designing and implementing health system reform eHealth, mHealth and informatics Health policy, politics and power Health system quality and safety Healthcare delivery and access to healthcare Healthcare financing and economics Healthcare governance and management The health workforce As a BMC Series journal, BMC Health Services Research does not make editorial decisions based on the perceived interest or potential impact of a study. Manuscripts are considered for publication if they are scientifically valid. For research articles, this includes having a clearly defined and sound research question, appropriate methodology and analysis, and adherence to community-agreed standards relevant to the field.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Health Care Sciences & Services
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Global Maternal and Child HealthMedicine10.4%
- Primary Care and Health OutcomesHealth Professions8.5%
- Health Policy Implementation ScienceHealth Professions7.7%
- Healthcare Systems and ReformsEconomics, Econometrics and Finance7.5%
- Healthcare Policy and ManagementEconomics, Econometrics and Finance4.7%
- Chronic Disease Management StrategiesMedicine4.1%
- Interprofessional Education and CollaborationHealth Professions3.9%
- Patient Satisfaction in HealthcareHealth Professions3.9%
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 | Health Care Sciences & Services | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Health Care Sciences & Services | 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 | Health Care Sciences & Services | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
MEDLINECASCAB AbstractsPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, Baidu, Naver, OCLC, Portico, CLOCKSS, Semantic Scholar
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
- 3.3LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 3.3Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 3.9Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.5LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.22LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.5LetPub ·
- h-index
- 90LetPub ·
- h-index
- 221OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 10,846OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.88OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 3%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 1,763LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 2,025Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 19,800,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 18,802 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1,708 | 1,708 | 404 |
| 2025 | 1,789 | 1,789 | 6,653 |
| 2024 | 1,672 | 1,672 | 13,020 |
| 2023 | 1,456 | 1,456 | 19,285 |
| 2022 | 1,603 | 1,603 | 31,261 |
| 2021 | 1,372 | 1,372 | 33,376 |
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
193 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 127 days – 386 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 9 days (195 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 207 days
- Sample
- 195 articles with submission and acceptance dates (3,992 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 monthsLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- EasyLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 5 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 23 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Open 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 3,050 / USD 3,450 / GBP 2,590 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 3,290 / EUR 2,890 / GBP 2,490 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 2,390 / USD 3,190 / EUR 2,790 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 2,590 / USD 3,450 / EUR 3,050 | — | — |
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 accepted8
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- study protocolFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Research article Database article Software article Study protocol Review Matters Arising Co…Length not stated
- systematic reviewFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Research article Database article Software article Study protocol Review Matters Arising Co…Length 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
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
Open access under CC BY-NC-ND or CC BY licence; authors retain copyright. 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. BMC Health Services Research articles are published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND (Creative Commons Attrib…
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
- Frequency
- Irregular
- Founded
- 2001
- ISSN
- 1472-6963
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- 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 BMC Health Services Research
What CAS zone is BMC Health Services Research in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, BMC Health Services Research is in Zone 2 of Medicine, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Health Care Sciences & Services. 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 BMC Health Services Research?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 3.3; CiteScore 5.5, h-index 221.
How long does peer review take at BMC Health Services Research?
Based on the dates recorded on 195 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 193 days (interquartile range 127–386 days); authors report an average review time of about 6 months; the community-reported acceptance is “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.
Which databases index BMC Health Services Research?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, BMC Health Services Research is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists MEDLINE, CAS and CAB Abstracts; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is BMC Health Services Research open access, and what is the APC?
BMC Health Services Research is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 3,450.
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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .