Journal profile · ONCOLOGY
Cancer Cell International
ISSN 1475-2867 · BioMed Central · ENGLAND · Irregular · Founded 2001
Cancer Cell International: CAS Zone 3 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 6.99; fully open access; APC about USD 3,290; median 183 days to acceptance (104 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: about 50%; 499 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus; flagged on an early-warning list or for an indexing change: check before submitting.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Cancer Cell International 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 Cancer-related molecular mechanisms research, MicroRNA in disease regulation and Ferroptosis and cancer prognosis, together about 34.6% of its articles. Its main subfields are Cancer Research and Molecular Biology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Cancer Cell International publishes articles on all aspects of cancer cell biology originating from work using laboratory experimentation. The journal focuses on novel cancer studies reporting data from biological experiments performed on cells grown in vitro, in two- or three-dimensional systems, and/or in vivo (animal experiments). These types of experiments have provided crucial data in many fields, from cell proliferation and transformation, to epithelial-mesenchymal interaction, to apoptosis, and host immune response to tumors. Cancer Cell International also considers articles that focus on novel technologies or novel pathways in molecular analysis and on epidemiological studies that may affect patient care, as well as articles reporting translational cancer research studies where in vitro discoveries are bridged to the clinic. As such, the journal is interested in laboratory and animal studies reporting on novel biomarkers of tumor progression and response to therapy and on their applicability to human cancers.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): ONCOLOGY
Editor-in-chief Yasumasa Kato MedScDPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 20 in mainland China (about 14%); most named United States 48, Mainland China 20, Italy 14, India 13, Japan 5 (144 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Cancer-related molecular mechanisms researchBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology12.6%
- MicroRNA in disease regulationBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology11.2%
- Ferroptosis and cancer prognosisMedicine10.8%
- Circular RNAs in diseasesBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology10.2%
- Cancer Cells and MetastasisMedicine5.2%
- Cancer Immunotherapy and BiomarkersMedicine4.6%
- RNA modifications and cancerBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.4%
- Cancer, Hypoxia, and MetabolismBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.4%
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 | Oncology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Oncology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Oncology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
Early warning / risk: CAS Early Warning Journal List: listed in the 2021 edition (medium risk); not listed in the other 5 editions.LetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
EmbaseCASPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, Baidu, Naver, OCLC, Portico, CLOCKSS
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
- 6.99LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 7Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 6.1Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 10.5LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.75LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.31LetPub ·
- h-index
- 47LetPub ·
- h-index
- 118OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 3,242OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 6.38OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 1.4%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 479LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 4100000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 4,896 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 332 | 332 | 211 |
| 2025 | 499 | 499 | 2,563 |
| 2024 | 438 | 438 | 5,322 |
| 2023 | 335 | 335 | 6,708 |
| 2022 | 423 | 423 | 11,833 |
| 2021 | 708 | 708 | 22,127 |
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
183 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 126 days – 269 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 13 days (106 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 199 days
- Sample
- 104 articles with submission and acceptance dates (945 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 1 monthLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- 50%LetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 38 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 15 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 | EUR 2,790 / USD 3,290 / GBP 2,490 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 3,190 / EUR 2,690 / GBP 2,390 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 2,190 / USD 2,990 / EUR 2,490 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 2,490 / USD 3,290 / 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 papers2, by deadline
Publisher websiteWhat to prepare3 items from the author guidelines
- Reference style
- Vancouver
- Templates
- LaTeX and Word
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
Article types accepted3
- commentFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Research Review CommentLength not stated
- researchFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Research Review CommentLength not stated
- reviewFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Research Review CommentLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Data availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review
- Authorship
Manuscripts must be submitted by an author, not a third party. Model summary
Please note that a manuscript can only be submitted by an author of the manuscript and may not be submitted by a third party.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Formatting the 'Availability of data and materials' section of your manuscript
Data availability strongly encouraged or required; deposit in public repositories where appropriate. Model summary
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
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. Cancer Cell International articles are published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND (Creative Commons Attributi…
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
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
- Irregular
- Founded
- 2001
- ISSN
- 1475-2867
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- 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
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Cancer Cell International
What CAS zone is Cancer Cell International in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Cancer Cell International is in Zone 3 of Medicine, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Oncology. 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 Cancer Cell International?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 6.99; CiteScore 10.5, h-index 118.
How long does peer review take at Cancer Cell International?
Based on the dates recorded on 104 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 183 days (interquartile range 126–269 days); authors report an average review time of about 1 month; the community-reported acceptance is “about 50%”. 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 Cancer Cell International?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Reference style: Vancouver; Templates: LaTeX and Word; Suggested reviewers: Optional. 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 Cancer Cell International based?
Of the 144 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 20 (about 14%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (48), Mainland China (20) and Italy (14). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Cancer Cell International?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Cancer Cell International is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Embase and CAS; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Cancer Cell International open access, and what is the APC?
Cancer Cell International is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 3,290.
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: .