Journal profile · Neurosciences
Brain and Cognition
ISSN 0278-2626 · eISSN 1090-2147 · Academic Press Inc. · UNITED STATES · Monthly · Founded 1982
Brain and Cognition: CAS Zone 3 · Psychology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.12; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,180; median 93 days to acceptance (93 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: fairly easy; 79 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE, SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Brain and Cognition is published by Academic Press Inc. and is in Zone 3 of Psychology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies, Hemispheric Asymmetry in Neuroscience and Spatial Neglect and Hemispheric Dysfunction, together about 27.8% of its articles. Its main subfields are Cognitive Neuroscience. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Brain and Cognition is a forum for the integration of the neurosciences and cognitive sciences. B&C publishes peer-reviewed research articles, theoretical papers, case histories that address important theoretical issues, and historical articles into the interaction between cognitive function and brain processes. The focus is on rigorous studies of an empirical or theoretical nature and which make an original contribution to our knowledge about the involvement of the nervous system in cognition. Coverage includes, but is not limited to memory, learning, decision making, emotion, perception, movement, music or praxis in relationship to brain structure, function or development. Scholarly articles on environmental influences—social, physical, catastrophic—on aspects of brain and cognition are also welcome.Published articles will typically address issues relating some aspect of cognitive function to its neurological substrates with clear theoretical import, formulating new hypotheses or refuting previously established ones. Clinical papers are welcome if they raise issues of theoretical importance or concern and shed light on the interaction between brain function and cognitive function. We welcome review articles that clearly contribute a new perspective or integration, beyond summarizing the literature in the field; authors of review articles should make explicit where the contribution lies. We also welcome proposals for special issues on aspects of the relation between cognition and the structure and function of the nervous system. Such proposals can be made directly to the Editor-in-Chief from individuals interested in being guest editors for such collections.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Neurosciences
Editor-in-chief H. CohenPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 1 in mainland China (about 3%); most named United States 7, Canada 7, Germany 6, United Kingdom 4, France 2 (32 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Neural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesNeuroscience13.3%
- Hemispheric Asymmetry in NeuroscienceNeuroscience7.5%
- Spatial Neglect and Hemispheric DysfunctionNeuroscience6.9%
- Neurobiology of Language and BilingualismNeuroscience6.4%
- Memory and Neural MechanismsNeuroscience5%
- Visual perception and processing mechanismsNeuroscience4.7%
- Neural dynamics and brain functionNeuroscience4.1%
- Action Observation and SynchronizationPsychology4.1%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Psychology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Psychology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Neurosciences | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Psychology, Experimental | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Psychology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Psychology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Neurosciences | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Psychology, Experimental | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Psychology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Psychology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Neurosciences | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Psychology, Experimental | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIESSCIScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
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
- 2.12LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 2.1Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 3LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.65LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.91LetPub ·
- h-index
- 111LetPub ·
- h-index
- 187OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 2,857OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.72OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 0%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 36.73%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 65LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 4,677 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 45 | 25 | 6 |
| 2025 | 79 | 40 | 148 |
| 2024 | 81 | 44 | 403 |
| 2023 | 111 | 45 | 369 |
| 2022 | 47 | 18 | 456 |
| 2021 | 102 | 35 | 1,322 |
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 PubMed · to
93 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 70 days – 127 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 7 days (93 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 100 days
- Sample
- 93 articles with submission and acceptance dates (136 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)
- 6–12 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly easyLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 1 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review
- 32 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 86 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 8 daysPublisher website ·
- Peer review
- Single anonymous peer reviewPublisher website
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
Hybrid open accessLetPub
A subscription journal in which authors can pay to publish their article open access.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAlex | USD 3,180 / EUR 2,970 / GBP 2,550 / JPY 394,420 | — | — | |
| Publisher website | USD 3,020 | — | — |
A hybrid journal charges the APC only when the author chooses open access; publishing under the subscription model is usually free.
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 papers1, by deadline
Publisher websiteWhat to prepare4 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 250 words
- Keywords
- 1–7
- Reference style
- Numbered, in order of citation
- Highlights
- Required
Article types accepted1
- registered reportThis journal supports Registered Reports as article type, allowing you to have your research reviewed and pre-registered prior to conducting your experiments. P…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Authorship, Conflicts of interest, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- AI use Declaration of generative AI use
Authors must declare the use of generative AI tools in the manuscript preparation process upon submission of the paper.Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies (“AI tools”) have been rapidly adopted in research and scholarly publishing, offering significant benefits while requiring clear standards for responsible and transparent use.Authors preparing a manuscript for this journal may use AI tool…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Authorship Group authorship
Group authorship refers to the attribution of an article to a defined and named group of authors whose members have contributed to the work. Examples include research consortia, clinical trial groups, collaborative networks, task forces or working groups, expert panels or consensus groups, and participatory research groups. Group authorship must be declared on the title page at submission. When av…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Declaration of competing interests
All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias their work. Examples of potential competing interests include:EmploymentConsultanciesStock ownershipHonorariaPaid expert testimonyPatent applications or registrationsGrants or any other fundingAffiliation with the journal as an Editor or Advisory Board …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright License options
Authors will be offered open access user license options which will determine how you, and third parties, can reuse your open access article. We advise that you review these options and any funding body license requirements before selecting a license option.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open access
We refer you to our open access information page to learn about open access options for this journal.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review
This journal follows a single anonymized review process. Your submission will initially be assessed by our editors. If your submission is deemed suitable, it will typically be sent to be reviewed by a minimum of two reviewers for an independent expert assessment of the scientific quality. The decision as to whether your article is accepted or rejected for publication will be made by our editors.Re…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
Preprint sharingAuthors may share preprints in line with Elsevier's article sharing policy. Sharing preprints, such as on a preprint server, will not count as prior publication.We advise you to read our policy on multiple, redundant or concurrent publication. In support of Open Science, this journal offers its authors a free preprint posting service on SSRN, Elsevier’s preprint and early research …
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
- Academic Press Inc.
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Monthly
- Founded
- 1982
- ISSN
- 0278-2626
- Electronic ISSN
- 1090-2147
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Brain and Cognition
What CAS zone is Brain and Cognition in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Brain and Cognition is in Zone 3 of Psychology, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Neurosciences / Psychology, Experimental. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Psychology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Brain and Cognition?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.12; CiteScore 3, h-index 187.
How long does peer review take at Brain and Cognition?
Based on the dates recorded on 93 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 93 days (interquartile range 70–127 days); authors report an average review time of 6–12 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly 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.
What are the manuscript requirements of Brain and Cognition?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 250 words; Keywords: 1–7; Reference style: Numbered, in order of citation; Highlights: Required. A model extracted these from the author guidelines and each was checked against the text; check the latest version on the journal's website before submitting.
Where are the editorial board members of Brain and Cognition based?
Of the 32 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 1 (about 3%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (7), Canada (7) and Germany (6). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Brain and Cognition?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Brain and Cognition is indexed in SCIE, SSCI and Scopus.
Is Brain and Cognition open access, and what is the APC?
Brain and Cognition is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,180.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, OpenAlex; 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: .