Journal profile · UROLOGY & NEPHROLOGY
BMC Nephrology
ISSN 1471-2369 · BioMed Central · ENGLAND · Continuous publication · Founded 2000
BMC Nephrology: CAS Zone 3 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.92; fully open access; APC about USD 3,190; median 110 days to acceptance (149 articles, last 24 months); 793 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
BMC Nephrology 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 Dialysis and Renal Disease Management, Chronic Kidney Disease and Diabetes and Acute Kidney Injury Research, together about 50.7% of its articles. Its main subfields are Nephrology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
BMC Nephrology is an open access journal publishing original peer-reviewed research articles on all aspects of the prevention, diagnosis and management of kidney and associated disorders, as well as related molecular genetics, pathophysiology, and epidemiology. Journal sections include: Clinical research: clinical studies of observational or interventional design, including cohort, case-control, cross-sectional studies, clinical trials, case reports, case series, diagnostic and imaging studies. Epidemiology and health outcomes: research focused on assessing the burden of disease, epidemiology, impact, prevalence of relevant nephrological conditions, population studies, genetic research and all outcome studies. Healthcare, guidelines and policy: this section focuses on clinical guidelines, policy updates, healthcare organization and management of nephrological practices around the world. Geriatric and palliative care nephrology: this section focuses on end-of-life care and geriatric nephrology. Pediatric nephrology: this section focuses on pediatric and adolescent kidney care, including disease prevention, management and diagnosis, as well as transitioning into adult care. Collections: BMC Nephrology expands outreach for developing areas in research through collections. Our collections are carefully tailored to address important and highly-relevant questions in nephrology. A full list of our collections open for submission can be found in the Collections tab. As a BMC Series journal, BMC Nephrology 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. Further details on assessment criteria can be found in our submission guidelines.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): UROLOGY & NEPHROLOGY
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Dialysis and Renal Disease ManagementMedicine22.2%
- Chronic Kidney Disease and DiabetesMedicine17.7%
- Acute Kidney Injury ResearchMedicine10.8%
- Renal Diseases and GlomerulopathiesMedicine7.8%
- Parathyroid Disorders and TreatmentsMedicine5.5%
- Renal Transplantation Outcomes and TreatmentsMedicine5.3%
- Vasculitis and related conditionsMedicine3%
- Central Venous Catheters and HemodialysisHealth Professions2.2%
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 | Urology & Nephrology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Urology & Nephrology | 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 | Urology & Nephrology | 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
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
- 2.92LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.9Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 3Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.9LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.18LetPub ·
- h-index
- 43LetPub ·
- h-index
- 109OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 3,133OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.93OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 3.4%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 99.69%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 775LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 4,900,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 6,288 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 675 | 675 | 140 |
| 2025 | 793 | 793 | 2,386 |
| 2024 | 475 | 475 | 3,171 |
| 2023 | 384 | 384 | 3,856 |
| 2022 | 419 | 419 | 5,416 |
| 2021 | 420 | 420 | 6,662 |
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
110 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 80 days – 169 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 11 days (149 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 127 days
- Sample
- 149 articles with submission and acceptance dates (1,611 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)
- 3–8 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 11 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 20 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 2,490 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 3,090 / EUR 2,690 / GBP 2,390 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 2,390 / USD 3,090 / EUR 2,690 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 2,490 / 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 websiteArticle types accepted8
- case reportResearch article Database article Software article Case report Study protocol Review Matters Arising CommentLength not stated
- commentResearch article Database article Software article Case report Study protocol Review Matters Arising CommentLength not stated
- database articleResearch article Database article Software article Case report Study protocol Review Matters Arising CommentLength not stated
- matters arisingResearch article Database article Software article Case report Study protocol Review Matters Arising CommentLength not stated
- research articleResearch article Database article Software article Case report Study protocol Review Matters Arising CommentLength not stated
- reviewResearch article Database article Software article Case report Study protocol Review Matters Arising CommentLength not stated
- software articleResearch article Database article Software article Case report Study protocol Review Matters Arising CommentLength not stated
- study protocolResearch article Database article Software article Case report Study protocol Review Matters Arising CommentLength 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 licensing under CC BY-NC-ND or CC BY; 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 Nephrology 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
Authors may suggest peer reviewers in cover letter. 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
- Frequency
- Continuous publication
- Founded
- 2000
- ISSN
- 1471-2369
- 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 Nephrology
What CAS zone is BMC Nephrology in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, BMC Nephrology is in Zone 3 of Medicine, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Urology & Nephrology. 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 Nephrology?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.92; CiteScore 4, h-index 109.
How long does peer review take at BMC Nephrology?
Based on the dates recorded on 149 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 110 days (interquartile range 80–169 days); authors report an average review time of 3–8 weeks. 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 Nephrology?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, BMC Nephrology 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 Nephrology open access, and what is the APC?
BMC Nephrology 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: .