Journal profile · Multiple
Brain Communications
ISSN 2632-1297 · Oxford University Press · United Kingdom
Brain Communications: CAS Zone 2 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 6.7 (journal website); fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; median 211 days to acceptance (118 articles, last 24 months); 442 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Brain Communications is published by Oxford University Press and is in Zone 2 of Medicine in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Functional Brain Connectivity Studies, Alzheimer's disease research and treatments and Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research, together about 27% of its articles. Its main subfields are Neurology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The Brain Communications team is committed to fair, transparent, and author-friendly publication of rigorous research studies related to neurological and psychiatric disease or maintaining brain health. We aim to be a force for good in the translational neuroscience field by facilitating a high standard of rigour and transparency and promoting career development of neuroscientists. Brain Communications is an open-access, international, editorially independent, peer-reviewed journal that welcomes both direct submissions and manuscripts transferred from our sister journal Brain. Do you want to know more about what happens to your papers when you submit them to a journal or what it is like to work as part of an editorial team? Learn about our Observers programme. Do you want to gain experience reviewing papers for a journal? Join our Reviewer Academy. Follow us on Twitter. Journal metrics Citation metrics Clarivate 2025 Impact Factor 4.5 2025 5 Year Impact Factor 5.1 Clinical Neurology (Rank by Impact Factor) 53/296 Neurosciences (Rank by Impact Factor) 87/330 2025 Cited Half-Life 3.3 years 2025 Immediacy Index 1.1 2025 Eigenfactor Score 0.01949 2025 Article Influence Score 1.693 Scopus 2025 CiteScore 6.7 Psychiatry And Mental Health (Rank by CiteScore) 99/580 Neurology (Rank by CiteScore) 41/201 Biological Psychiatry (Rank by CiteScore) 14/54 Cellular And Molecular Neuroscience (Rank by CiteScore) 38/102 2025 Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) 1.239 Readership 2025 Full Text Usage 1,199,442 Peer Review and Production 2025 Median days from submission to first decision 24 days 2025 Median days from submission to final decision 39 days About metrics
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Multiple
Editor-in-chief David BelinPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 5 in mainland China (about 6%); most named United Kingdom 36, United States 11, France 9, Spain 6, Mainland China 5 (85 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Functional Brain Connectivity StudiesNeuroscience10.8%
- Alzheimer's disease research and treatmentsMedicine8.3%
- Dementia and Cognitive Impairment ResearchMedicine7.9%
- Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and ApplicationsMedicine6.8%
- Neurological disorders and treatmentsMedicine6.4%
- Parkinson's Disease Mechanisms and TreatmentsMedicine5.5%
- EEG and Brain-Computer InterfacesNeuroscience5.1%
- Epilepsy research and treatmentMedicine4.7%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Clinical Neurology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Neurosciences | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Clinical Neurology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Neurosciences | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
Database indexing
ESCIScopusDOAJLetPub
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 (publisher) 2025
- 6.7Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 5.1Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 6.7LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 6.7Publisher website ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 6.7Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.77LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.24LetPub ·
- h-index
- 69OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,133OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 4.42OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 2.2%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 99.91%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 476LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 1,199,442Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 2,649 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 360 | 360 | 141 |
| 2025 | 442 | 442 | 1,576 |
| 2024 | 513 | 513 | 4,093 |
| 2023 | 367 | 367 | 5,297 |
| 2022 | 368 | 368 | 7,710 |
| 2021 | 323 | 323 | 9,360 |
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
211 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 152 days – 285 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 33 days (118 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 250 days
- Sample
- 118 articles with submission and acceptance dates (997 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 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 24 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to final decision 2025
- 39 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 6 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Single anonymous 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 | GBP 2,906 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | GBP 3,051 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 2,906 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | USD 3,625 | — | — |
Other charges and waivers (author guidelines)
- Discounts
- 20
- Submission fee
- USD 3,625
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)
What to prepare5 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 400 words
- Keywords
- ≤ 5
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 6,000 words
- Reference style
- AMA
- Graphical abstract
- Required
Article types accepted11
- clinical trialsClinical trials Word limit: 6000 Abstract word limit: 400 Display items: 8 In-line videos: 8Length not stated
- original articleBrain Communications publishes the following article types: Article type Original articles Word limit: 6000 Abstract word limit: 400 Display items: 8 In-line vi…Length not stated
- original articlesOriginal articles Word limit: 6000 Abstract word limit: 400 Display items: 8 In-line videos: 8Length not stated
- protocolBrain Communications publishes the following article types: Article type Original articles Word limit: 6000 Abstract word limit: 400 Display items: 8 In-line vi…Length not stated
- protocolsProtocols Word limit: 6000 Abstract word limit: 400 Display items: 8 In-line videos: 8Length not stated
- registered reportBrain Communications publishes the following article types: Article type Original articles Word limit: 6000 Abstract word limit: 400 Display items: 8 In-line vi…Length not stated
- registered reportsRegistered reports Word limit: 6000 Abstract word limit: 400 Display items: 8 In-line videos: 8Length not stated
- reportsReports Word limit: 2500 Abstract word limit: 200 References: 30 Display items: 4Length not stated
- reviewBrain Communications publishes the following article types: Article type Original articles Word limit: 6000 Abstract word limit: 400 Display items: 8 In-line vi…Length not stated
- review articleBrain Communications publishes the following article types: Article type Original articles Word limit: 6000 Abstract word limit: 400 Display items: 8 In-line vi…Length not stated
- review articlesReview articles Word limit: 9000 Abstract word limit: 400 Display items: 8 In-line videos: 8Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Authorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, Publication ethics, Open access, Peer review, Plagiarism, Trial registration / reporting guidelines
- AI use
AI/LLM use: cannot be credited as author; authors must review and take full responsibility for AI-generated content; use of LLM tools must be documented in Methods, Acknowledgments, or another section. Model summary
If an artificial intelligence (AI) such as a chatbot or similar program is used in the development of a paper for Brain Communications, the following is required:
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Authorship Authorship
Authorship must comply with ICMJE criteria; all authors must have participated sufficiently, drafted or revised the article, and approved the final version. Model summary
All persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship. The order in which names appear should be a joint decision by the co-authors. Each author must have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content. Authorship credit should be based on substantial contribution to conception and design, execution, or analysis and interpretation of data. All authors…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Competing interests
In the interests of transparency, Brain Communications requires authors to declare any competing financial and/or non-financial interests in relation to the work described. The corresponding author is responsible for submitting a competing interests statement on behalf of all authors of the paper. This should be included in the relevant section during submission, and in the main text document, bef…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data availability
Data availability statement required at end of article before reference list under separate 'Data availability' subheading; new software/algorithms essential to conclusions should be included; source code for specialized in-house scripts must be deposited in public repository (e.g. GitHub) or upload Model summary
To promote data transparency, Brain Communications requires a data availability statement. This should be included at the end of the article before the reference list under a separate 'Data availability' subheading. New software and/or algorithms essential to the conclusions of the submitted manuscript should be included in this data availability statement, and source code for any specialized, in-…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics Plagiarism and scientific misconduct
Plagiarism is the use of others' published and unpublished ideas or words (or other intellectual property) without due reference or permission and/or their presentation as new and original points. Plagiarism is serious scientific misconduct and will be dealt with accordingly. Text may be checked for passages plagiarized from other publications at the Editor’s discretion. The Editor reserves the ri…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open Access
Fully open access journal; all articles published under open access licence immediately upon publication; open access charge required. Model summary
Brain Communications is a fully open access journal, and all articles are published in the journal under an open access licence immediately upon publication. You will need to pay an open access charge to publish under an open access licence. Details of the open access licences and open access charges. Journal (required) Please select Academic MedicineActa CytologicaActa HaematologicaAdaptationAest…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review
Peer review process: single-blind peer review; all papers seen by one or more Editorial Board scientists; papers not within scope or not in line with rigour policies may be rejected at this stage (typically within a few days of submission); suitable articles sent to at least two experts for peer rev Model summary
Brain Communications conducts rigorous and constructive single-blind peer review. All papers submitted to Brain Communications are seen by one or more of the scientists on our Editorial Board. Papers that are not within the scope of the journal or are not in line with our policies on scientific rigour may be rejected at this stage (typically within a few days of submission). Suitable articles are …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Plagiarism Plagiarism and scientific misconduct
Plagiarism is the use of others' published and unpublished ideas or words (or other intellectual property) without due reference or permission and/or their presentation as new and original points. Plagiarism is serious scientific misconduct and will be dealt with accordingly. Text may be checked for passages plagiarized from other publications at the Editor’s discretion. The Editor reserves the ri…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Trial registration / reporting guidelines Reporting guidelines
Authors reporting studies with human or animal subjects should prepare their manuscripts in accordance with the appropriate guidelines and/or checklist, and include the checklist (and flow diagram, if applicable) the submission. For example: ARRIVE checklist for all animal studies STROBE checklist for cohort, case-control and cross-sectional studies CONSORT checklist for randomized trials STREGA c…
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
- Oxford University Press
- Country or region
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2632-1297
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 8, Issue 5 (2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- 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
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Brain Communications
What CAS zone is Brain Communications in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Brain Communications is in Zone 2 of Medicine, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Clinical Neurology / Neurosciences. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Medicine. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Brain Communications?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 6.7 (2025); this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 6.7, h-index 69.
How long does peer review take at Brain Communications?
Based on the dates recorded on 118 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 211 days (interquartile range 152–285 days); authors report an average review time of about 6 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.
What are the manuscript requirements of Brain Communications?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 400 words; Keywords: ≤ 5; Manuscript length: ≤ 6,000 words; Reference style: AMA; Graphical abstract: 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 Communications based?
Of the 85 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 5 (about 6%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (36), United States (11) and France (9). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Brain Communications?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Brain Communications is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Brain Communications open access, and what is the APC?
Brain Communications is a fully open-access journal. APC charged, amount not published.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, Publisher website, DOAJ; 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: .