Journal profile · PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL
British Journal of Health Psychology
ISSN 1359-107X · eISSN 2044-8287 · Wiley-Blackwell
British Journal of Health Psychology: CAS Zone 2 · Psychology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 3.07; hybrid open access; APC about USD 4,240; median 250 days to acceptance (85 articles, last 24 months); acceptance rate 18% (journal website); 91 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
British Journal of Health Psychology is published by Wiley-Blackwell and is in Zone 2 of Psychology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Behavioral Health and Interventions, Physical Activity and Health and Cancer survivorship and care, together about 32.9% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The British Journal of Health Psychology publishes original research on all aspects of psychology related to health, health-related behaviour and illness across the lifespan, including: experimental and clinical research on psychological factors aetiology; experiential and lived experience of health and illness; psychological and behavioural management of acute and chronic illness; health-related behaviour change and maintenance; psychological factors in screening and medical procedures; positive psychological approaches to health and illness; psychosocial factors in health-related behaviours; influence of emotion on health and health-related behaviours; psychosocial processes relevant to disease outcomes; psychological interventions in health and disease; psychological aspects of prevention and public health. Papers must make a clear potential contribution to health psychology theory, knowledge and/or practice and employ rigorous research design and methodology. We do not publish studies where the main focus is on mental health or psychopathology. In addition, we typically do not publish cross-sectional studies or those using only student populations unless there is a strong rationale for doing so. Papers describing intervention development (without also presenting an analysis of the outcomes of the intervention) will usually only be considered if they make a contribution to health psychology theory, knowledge and/or practice beyond the specific intervention context. The journal encourages submissions of papers reporting experimental, theoretical and applied studies using quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods approaches. Research carried out at the individual, group and community levels is welcome. It also welcomes systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Submissions concerning clinical applications of Health Psychology principles and interventions with relevance for Health Psychology outcomes and populations are particularly encouraged. For specific submission requirements, please view the Author Guidelines.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): PSYCHOLOGY, CLINICAL
Editor-in-chief Fuschia SiroisPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 1 in mainland China (about 25%); most named United Kingdom 3, Mainland China 1 (4 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Behavioral Health and InterventionsPsychology19.7%
- Physical Activity and HealthMedicine7.2%
- Cancer survivorship and careMedicine6%
- Cardiac Health and Mental HealthMedicine5%
- Eating Disorders and BehaviorsPsychology4.8%
- Patient-Provider Communication in HealthcareHealth Professions4.3%
- Diabetes Management and EducationMedicine4.2%
- Motivation and Self-Concept in SportsPsychology4.2%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Psychology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Psychology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Psychology, Clinical | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Psychology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Psychology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Psychology, Clinical | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Psychology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Psychology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Psychology, Clinical | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SSCIScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
AHCIWeb of ScienceMEDLINEPubMedPsycINFOCurrent ContentsPublisher website
Other: EBSCO, ProQuest, OCLC
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
- 3.07LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 3.1Publisher website ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 3.1Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.7LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 5.7Publisher website ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 5.7Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.12LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.31LetPub ·
- h-index
- 141OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,189OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.64OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 3.2%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 82.29%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 71LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher) 2025
- 81Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 463,112Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,769 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 66 | 53 | 13 |
| 2025 | 91 | 75 | 199 |
| 2024 | 69 | 54 | 385 |
| 2023 | 76 | 70 | 735 |
| 2022 | 66 | 55 | 813 |
| 2021 | 84 | 61 | 2,259 |
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
250 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 170 days – 315 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 19 days (86 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 268 days
- Sample
- 85 articles with submission and acceptance dates (175 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
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 18%Publisher website ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher) 2025
- 18%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 17 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 17 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance 2025
- 229 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 20 daysPublisher website ·
- Peer review
- Double 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 4,240 / EUR 3,550 / GBP 2,810 | — | — |
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)
What to prepare5 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 250 words
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 5,000 words
- Reference style
- APA
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted8, with length limits
- methodological papersmethodological papers dealing with methodological issues of particular relevance to health psychologyLength not stated
- narrative reviewThe types of paper invited are: papers reporting original empirical investigations, using quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods; theoretical papers which r…Length not stated
- original researchpapers reporting original empirical investigations, using quantitative, qualitative or mixed methodsLength not stated
- registered reportThe types of paper invited are: papers reporting original empirical investigations, using quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods; theoretical papers which r…Length not stated
- reviewThe types of paper invited are: papers reporting original empirical investigations, using quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods; theoretical papers which r…main text ≤ 5,000 words
- review papersreview papers, which should provide systematic overviews, evaluations and interpretations of research in a given field of health psychologyLength not stated
- systematic reviewThe types of paper invited are: papers reporting original empirical investigations, using quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods; theoretical papers which r…Length not stated
- theoretical paperstheoretical papers which report analyses of theories in health psychologyLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, Publication ethics, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- Authorship Authorship
All listed authors should have contributed to the manuscript substantially and have agreed to the final submitted version. Authorship is defined by the criteria set out in the APA Publication Manual: “Individuals should only take authorship credit for work they have actually performed or to which they have substantially contributed (APA Ethics Code Standard 8.12a, Publication Credit). Authorship e…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Conflict of Interest
The journal requires that all authors disclose any potential sources of conflict of interest. Any interest or relationship, financial or otherwise that might be perceived as influencing an author's objectivity is considered a potential source of conflict of interest. These must be disclosed when directly relevant or directly related to the work that the authors describe in their manuscript. Potent…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data Sharing and Data Accessibility Policy
The British Journal of Health Psychology recognizes the many benefits of archiving data for scientific progress. Archived data provides an indispensable resource for the scientific community, making possible future replications and secondary analyses, in addition to the importance of verifying the dependability of published research findings. The journal expects that where possible all data suppor…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics 5. EDITORIAL POLICIES AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Peer Review and Acceptance Except where otherwise stated, the journal operates a policy of anonymous (double-anonymous) peer review. Please ensure that any information which may reveal author identity is anonymized in your submission, such as institutional affiliations, geographical location or references to unpublished research. We also operate a triage process in which submissions that are out o…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access WALS + standard CTA/ELA and/or Open Access for hybrid titles
You may choose to publish under the terms of the journal’s standard copyright agreement, or Open Access under the terms of a Creative Commons License. Standard re-use and licensing rights vary by journal. Note that certain funders mandate a particular type of CC license be used. This journal uses the CC-BY/CC-BY-NC/CC-BY-NC-ND Creative Commons License.Self-Archiving Definitions and Policies: Note …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer Review and Acceptance
First decision within 90 days of submission Model summary
Except where otherwise stated, the journal operates a policy of anonymous (double-anonymous) peer review. Please ensure that any information which may reveal author identity is anonymized in your submission, such as institutional affiliations, geographical location or references to unpublished research. We also operate a triage process in which submissions that are out of scope or otherwise inappr…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprint policy:
This journal will consider for review articles previously available as preprints. Authors may also post the submitted version of a manuscript to a preprint server at any time. Authors are requested to update any pre-publication versions with a link to the final published article.
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
- Wiley-Blackwell
- ISSN
- 1359-107X
- Electronic ISSN
- 2044-8287
- Society / sponsor
- British Psychological Society
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 31, Issue 3 (September 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about British Journal of Health Psychology
What CAS zone is British Journal of Health Psychology in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, British Journal of Health Psychology is in Zone 2 of Psychology, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Psychology, Clinical. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Psychology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of British Journal of Health Psychology?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 3.07; CiteScore 5.7, h-index 141.
How long does peer review take at British Journal of Health Psychology?
Based on the dates recorded on 85 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 250 days (interquartile range 170–315 days); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 18% (2025). 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 British Journal of Health Psychology?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 250 words; Manuscript length: ≤ 5,000 words; Reference style: APA; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; Cover letter: 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 British Journal of Health Psychology based?
Of the 4 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 1 (about 25%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (3) and Mainland China (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index British Journal of Health Psychology?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, British Journal of Health Psychology is indexed in SSCI and Scopus. The journal's website also lists AHCI, Web of Science, MEDLINE, PubMed, PsycINFO and Current Contents; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is British Journal of Health Psychology open access, and what is the APC?
British Journal of Health Psychology is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 4,240.
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: .