Journal profile · Immunology and Microbiology-Immunology
BMC Immunology
ISSN 1471-2172 · BioMed Central · United Kingdom · Founded 2000
BMC Immunology: CAS Zone 4 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.88; fully open access; APC about USD 3,190; median 129 days to acceptance (99 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: about 50%; 109 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
BMC Immunology is published by BioMed Central 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 T-cell and B-cell Immunology, Immune Response and Inflammation and Immune Cell Function and Interaction, together about 32% of its articles. Its main subfields are Immunology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
BMC Immunology is an open access journal publishing original peer-reviewed research articles in molecular, cellular, tissue-level, organismal, functional, and developmental aspects of the immune system as well as clinical studies and animal models of human diseases. Topics include: Allergy and hypersensitivity Cellular immunology and immune regulation Clinical immunology: transplants, autoimmunity, immunodeficiency and vaccines Immunity to infection and tumors Immunogenetics, immunogenomics and systems immunology Innate immunity and inflammation As a BMC Series journal, BMC Immunology 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): Immunology and Microbiology-Immunology
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- T-cell and B-cell ImmunologyImmunology and Microbiology13.5%
- Immune Response and InflammationImmunology and Microbiology9.8%
- Immune Cell Function and InteractionImmunology and Microbiology8.7%
- Immunotherapy and Immune ResponsesImmunology and Microbiology8.6%
- vaccines and immunoinformatics approachesBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5.6%
- Immune cells in cancerImmunology and Microbiology4.7%
- Cancer Immunotherapy and BiomarkersMedicine4.4%
- Immunodeficiency and Autoimmune DisordersImmunology and Microbiology4%
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 | Immunology | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Immunology | 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 | Immunology | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
MEDLINEEmbaseCASCAB AbstractsPublisher 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
- 2.88LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.9Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 3.3Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4.4LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.81LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.75LetPub ·
- h-index
- 50LetPub ·
- h-index
- 89OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 932OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.17OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 0%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 108LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 1,100,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,464 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 118 | 118 | 26 |
| 2025 | 109 | 109 | 384 |
| 2024 | 87 | 87 | 585 |
| 2023 | 55 | 55 | 409 |
| 2022 | 62 | 62 | 961 |
| 2021 | 82 | 82 | 1,421 |
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
129 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 88 days – 178 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 17 days (99 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 152 days
- Sample
- 99 articles with submission and acceptance dates (248 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 21 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- 50%LetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 6 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 21 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 2,790 / USD 3,190 / GBP 2,390 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 3,090 / EUR 2,690 / GBP 2,290 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 2,190 / USD 2,990 / EUR 2,590 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 2,390 / USD 3,190 / 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 websiteWhat to prepare1 items from the author guidelines
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
Article types accepted6
- commentResearch article Review Matters Arising Comment Database article Software articleLength not stated
- database articleResearch article Review Matters Arising Comment Database article Software articleLength not stated
- matters arisingResearch article Review Matters Arising Comment Database article Software articleLength not stated
- research articleResearch article Review Matters Arising Comment Database article Software articleLength not stated
- reviewResearch article Review Matters Arising Comment Database article Software articleLength not stated
- software articleResearch article Review Matters Arising Comment Database article Software articleLength 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. 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 Immunology articles are published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND (Creative Commons Attribution Non-Comm…
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
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- Founded
- 2000
- ISSN
- 1471-2172
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- 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 BMC Immunology
What CAS zone is BMC Immunology in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, BMC Immunology is in Zone 4 of Medicine, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Immunology. 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 BMC Immunology?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.88; CiteScore 4.4, h-index 89.
How long does peer review take at BMC Immunology?
Based on the dates recorded on 99 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 129 days (interquartile range 88–178 days); authors report an average review time of about 21 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “about 50%”. 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 Immunology?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, BMC Immunology is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists MEDLINE, Embase, CAS and CAB Abstracts; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is BMC Immunology open access, and what is the APC?
BMC Immunology is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 3,190.
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: .