Journal profile · Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Bulletin of the World Health Organization
ISSN 0042-9686 · eISSN 1564-0604 · World Health Organization · SWITZERLAND · Monthly · Founded 1947
Bulletin of the World Health Organization: CAS Zone 2 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 6.63; diamond open access (no APC); no APC; median 200 days to acceptance (83 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: about 25%; 176 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Bulletin of the World Health Organization is published by World Health Organization 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 Global Maternal and Child Health, Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology and Healthcare Systems and Reforms, together about 32.8% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The Bulletin of the World Health Organization is a fully open-access public health journal with a special focus on low- and middle-income countries. It was first published in 1948 and, since then, has sought to make its contents as widely available as possible. There are no article-processing charges associated with submitting to or publishing in the Bulletin.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named Switzerland 26, United States 3, India 2, France 2, Denmark 2 (47 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Global Maternal and Child HealthMedicine14.2%
- Global Public Health Policies and EpidemiologyBusiness, Management and Accounting11.8%
- Healthcare Systems and ReformsEconomics, Econometrics and Finance6.8%
- Child Nutrition and Water AccessNursing4.9%
- Public Health Policies and EducationHealth Professions4.5%
- HIV/AIDS Research and InterventionsMedicine3.9%
- Global Health Care IssuesHealth Professions3.8%
- HIV/AIDS Impact and ResponsesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance3.7%
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 | Public, Environmental & Occupational Health | Zone 1 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Public, Environmental & Occupational Health | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Public, Environmental & Occupational Health | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Web of ScienceMEDLINEPublisher website
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
- 6.63LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 8.4Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 8.4LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.55LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 2.04LetPub ·
- h-index
- 148LetPub ·
- h-index
- 202OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 2,430OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.94OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 1.4%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 71LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 5,435 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 119 | 119 | 39 |
| 2025 | 176 | 176 | 566 |
| 2024 | 208 | 208 | 1,378 |
| 2023 | 169 | 169 | 1,915 |
| 2022 | 180 | 180 | 2,934 |
| 2021 | 162 | 162 | 3,968 |
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
200 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 145 days – 275 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 37 days (80 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 246 days
- Sample
- 83 articles with submission and acceptance dates (293 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 3 monthsLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- 25%LetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 32 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Editorial review, Single anonymous peer review, Unspecified 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
Diamond open access (no APC)DOAJ
Every article is open access and authors pay no article processing charge.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | No APC | No | CC BY | |
| LetPub | No APC | No | — | |
| Publisher website | No APC | — | — |
Other charges and waivers (author guidelines)
- Submission fee
- No submission fee
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 prepare3 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 250 words
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 3,000 words
- Reference style
- Vancouver
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteLicense & copyright
- License & copyright
Open access under CC BY 3.0 IGO license; peer-reviewed articles and archives indexed in Web of Science and MEDLINE. Model summary
All peer-reviewed articles and the journal archives are indexed, including in the Web of Science and MEDLINE, and are freely available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IG0).
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
- World Health Organization
- Country or region
- SWITZERLAND
- Language
- Multi-Language
- Frequency
- Monthly
- Founded
- 1947
- ISSN
- 0042-9686
- Electronic ISSN
- 1564-0604
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗LetPub
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Bulletin of the World Health Organization
What CAS zone is Bulletin of the World Health Organization in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Bulletin of the World Health Organization is in Zone 2 of Medicine, and in Zone 1 of the minor category Public, Environmental & Occupational Health. 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 Bulletin of the World Health Organization?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 6.63; CiteScore 8.4, h-index 202.
How long does peer review take at Bulletin of the World Health Organization?
Based on the dates recorded on 83 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 200 days (interquartile range 145–275 days); authors report an average review time of about 3 months; the community-reported acceptance is “about 25%”. 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 Bulletin of the World Health Organization?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 250 words; Manuscript length: ≤ 3,000 words; Reference style: Vancouver. 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 Bulletin of the World Health Organization based?
Of the 47 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Switzerland (26), United States (3) and India (2). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Bulletin of the World Health Organization?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Bulletin of the World Health Organization is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Web of Science and MEDLINE; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Bulletin of the World Health Organization open access, and what is the APC?
Bulletin of the World Health Organization is a diamond open-access journal (no APC). It charges no article processing charge.
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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .