Journal profile · Rheumatology
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders
ISSN 1471-2474 · BioMed Central · ENGLAND · Irregular · Founded 2000
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders: CAS Zone 3 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.75; fully open access; APC about USD 3,190; median 138 days to acceptance (170 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: easy; 1,202 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders is published by BioMed Central 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 Total Knee Arthroplasty Outcomes, Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation and Spine and Intervertebral Disc Pathology, together about 24.8% of its articles. Its main subfields are Surgery. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that considers articles on all aspects of the prevention, diagnosis and management of musculoskeletal disorders, as well as related molecular genetics, pathophysiology, and epidemiology. Studies investigating the systemic nature of rheumatic diseases, not related to specific musculoskeletal manifestations, are directed to submit to BMC Rheumatology. Our journal welcomes submissions in the following broad areas of research related to musculoskeletal disorders: Clinical research and trial interventions on topics, such as osteoarthritis, joint pain, orthopedics and osteoporosis. Computational modelling including gait analysis, biomechanics and kinematics. Rehabilitation devices like prosthetics and orthotics, as well as exercise- and physical-based therapies. Digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, data science, medical sensors, mobile apps and telehealth. Epidemiology including cohorts, genetic association and prevalence studies. Healthcare research applying methods in economic evaluation and prognostic outcomes in musculoskeletal care. Occupational, physical activity and work safety and studies on their correlates to musculoskeletal health and disease. Pathophysiology when studies validate findings on biomarkers, cell signalling pathways, and infection related to the musculoskeletal system. Qualitative research methods incorporating psychometric, semi-structured interviews or thematic analysis, especially those incorporating Patient and Public Involvement (PPI). Radiology and diagnostic imaging techniques like computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound. Surgical advancements in procedures such as arthroplasty, arthroscopy and robotics. As a BMC Series journal, BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 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): Rheumatology
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Total Knee Arthroplasty OutcomesMedicine9.8%
- Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitationMedicine7.9%
- Spine and Intervertebral Disc PathologyMedicine7.2%
- Osteoarthritis Treatment and MechanismsMedicine6.8%
- Orthopaedic implants and arthroplastyMedicine5.8%
- Shoulder Injury and TreatmentMedicine5.1%
- Scoliosis diagnosis and treatmentMedicine4.5%
- Hip and Femur FracturesMedicine4.3%
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 | Orthopedics | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Rheumatology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Orthopedics | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Rheumatology | 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 | Orthopedics | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Rheumatology | 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
MEDLINEEmbaseCASPublisher 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
- 2.75LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.8Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 3.1Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4.5LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.85LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.33LetPub ·
- h-index
- 81LetPub ·
- h-index
- 171OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 6,766OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.07OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 7.1%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 1,180LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 10,100,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 12,422 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1,035 | 1,035 | 200 |
| 2025 | 1,202 | 1,202 | 2,945 |
| 2024 | 1,098 | 1,098 | 7,085 |
| 2023 | 987 | 987 | 9,417 |
| 2022 | 1,153 | 1,153 | 15,443 |
| 2021 | 1,059 | 1,059 | 18,546 |
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
138 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 83 days – 272 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 11 days (170 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 166 days
- Sample
- 170 articles with submission and acceptance dates (2,556 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)
- 3–6 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- EasyLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 9 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 19 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 3,190 / GBP 2,390 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 3,090 / EUR 2,590 / GBP 2,290 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 2,190 / USD 2,990 / EUR 2,490 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 2,390 / USD 3,190 / 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 websiteArticle types accepted9
- case reportResearch article Database article Software article Case report Study protocol Review Matters Arising Comment Systematic ReviewLength not stated
- commentResearch article Database article Software article Case report Study protocol Review Matters Arising Comment Systematic ReviewLength not stated
- database articleResearch article Database article Software article Case report Study protocol Review Matters Arising Comment Systematic ReviewLength not stated
- matters arisingResearch article Database article Software article Case report Study protocol Review Matters Arising Comment Systematic ReviewLength not stated
- research articleResearch article Database article Software article Case report Study protocol Review Matters Arising Comment Systematic ReviewLength not stated
- reviewResearch article Database article Software article Case report Study protocol Review Matters Arising Comment Systematic ReviewLength not stated
- software articleResearch article Database article Software article Case report Study protocol Review Matters Arising Comment Systematic ReviewLength not stated
- study protocolResearch article Database article Software article Case report Study protocol Review Matters Arising Comment Systematic ReviewLength not stated
- systematic reviewResearch article Database article Software article Case report Study protocol Review Matters Arising Comment Systematic ReviewLength 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 Musculoskeletal Disorders articles are published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND (Creative Commons Attri…
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
- 2000
- ISSN
- 1471-2474
- 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 Musculoskeletal Disorders
What CAS zone is BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders is in Zone 3 of Medicine, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Orthopedics / Rheumatology. 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 Musculoskeletal Disorders?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.75; CiteScore 4.5, h-index 171.
How long does peer review take at BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders?
Based on the dates recorded on 170 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 138 days (interquartile range 83–272 days); authors report an average review time of 3–6 weeks; 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 Musculoskeletal Disorders?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists MEDLINE, Embase and CAS; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders open access, and what is the APC?
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .