Journal profile · EDUCATION, SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES
BMC Medical Education
ISSN 1472-6920 · BioMed Central · ENGLAND · Founded 2001
BMC Medical Education: CAS Zone 3 · Education (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 4.15; fully open access; APC about USD 3,090; median 149 days to acceptance (193 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: about 25%; 1,941 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE, SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
BMC Medical Education is published by BioMed Central and is in Zone 3 of Education in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Innovations in Medical Education, Simulation-Based Education in Healthcare and Medical Education and Admissions, together about 36.9% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
BMC Medical Education is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that considers articles on all aspects of education and training of healthcare professionals from students to experienced professionals. The studies the journal welcomes focus on educational outcomes and include valid comparisons. Topics considered by the journal include research related to Curriculum development & design Technology enhanced education & simulation tools Competency-based medical education Problem-based learning Interprofessional learning Assessment and evaluation of admissions, knowledge, skills and attitudes Career choice As a BMC Series journal, BMC Medical Education 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): EDUCATION, SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Innovations in Medical EducationMedicine21.9%
- Simulation-Based Education in HealthcareMedicine8.6%
- Medical Education and AdmissionsMedicine6.4%
- Diversity and Career in MedicineSocial Sciences5.2%
- Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnoutHealth Professions5.2%
- Problem and Project Based LearningSocial Sciences4.2%
- Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic SkillsMedicine4%
- Surgical Simulation and TrainingMedicine3.9%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Education Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Education | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Education & Educational Research | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Education, Scientific Disciplines | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Education Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Education | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Education & Educational Research | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Education, Scientific Disciplines | Zone 3 |
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 | Education & Educational Research | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Education, Scientific Disciplines | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIESSCIScopusDOAJLetPub
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
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
- 4.15LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 4.2Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 4.3Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.3LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.07LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.8LetPub ·
- h-index
- 54LetPub ·
- h-index
- 167OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 5,082OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 4.94OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 14.3%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 99.93%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 1,905LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 2,025Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 12,400,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 11,281 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1,964 | 1,964 | 516 |
| 2025 | 1,941 | 1,941 | 9,698 |
| 2024 | 1,564 | 1,564 | 16,791 |
| 2023 | 988 | 988 | 16,753 |
| 2022 | 906 | 906 | 18,977 |
| 2021 | 626 | 626 | 17,644 |
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
149 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 87 days – 238 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 9 days (193 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 167 days
- Sample
- 193 articles with submission and acceptance dates (4,350 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)
- 25%LetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 16 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 24 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 2,690 / USD 3,090 / GBP 2,490 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 2,990 / EUR 2,590 / GBP 2,390 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 2,290 / USD 2,890 / EUR 2,490 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 2,490 / USD 3,090 / EUR 2,690 | — | — |
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 accepted7
- commentResearch article Database article Software article Study protocol Review Matters Arising CommentLength not stated
- database articleResearch article Database article Software article Study protocol Review Matters Arising CommentLength not stated
- matters arisingResearch article Database article Software article Study protocol Review Matters Arising CommentLength not stated
- research articleResearch article Database article Software article Study protocol Review Matters Arising CommentLength not stated
- reviewResearch article Database article Software article Study protocol Review Matters Arising CommentLength not stated
- software articleResearch article Database article Software article Study protocol Review Matters Arising CommentLength not stated
- study protocolResearch article Database article Software article Study protocol Review Matters Arising CommentLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review
- Authorship
Manuscripts must be submitted by an author, not a third party. Model summary
Please note that a manuscript can only be submitted by an author of the manuscript and may not be submitted by a third party.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest
Cover letter must declare potential competing interests. Model summary
A declaration of any potential competing interests
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Formatting the 'Availability of data and materials' section of your manuscript
Datasets should be deposited in public repositories or included in the paper/supporting files; data availability statement required. Model summary
The following format for the 'Availability of data and materials section of your manuscript should be used:
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics
Manuscript must not be published or submitted elsewhere (duplicate publication policy). Model summary
Confirmation that the content of the manuscript has not been published, or submitted for publication elsewhere (see our Duplicate publication policy)
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Licensing and copyright
Open access articles are published under CC BY-NC-ND or CC BY licences; 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 Medical Education articles are published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND (Creative Commons Attribution N…
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
Authors may suggest peer reviewers in the cover letter, providing institutional email addresses or identifiers. Model summary
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
- 2001
- ISSN
- 1472-6920
- 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 Medical Education
What CAS zone is BMC Medical Education in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, BMC Medical Education is in Zone 3 of Education, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Education & Educational Research / Education, Scientific Disciplines. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Education. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of BMC Medical Education?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 4.15; CiteScore 5.3, h-index 167.
How long does peer review take at BMC Medical Education?
Based on the dates recorded on 193 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 149 days (interquartile range 87–238 days); authors report an average review time of about 6 months; the community-reported acceptance is “about 25%”. 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 Medical Education?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, BMC Medical Education is indexed in SCIE, SSCI, 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 Medical Education open access, and what is the APC?
BMC Medical Education is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 3,090.
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: .