Journal profile · ORTHOPEDICS
Cartilage
ISSN 1947-6035 · eISSN 1947-6043 · SAGE Publications Inc. · UNITED STATES
Cartilage: CAS Zone 4 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.4; subscription journal; APC about USD 2,650; review about 1 days (submission to first decision, publisher); acceptance rate 34.8% (journal website); 71 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Cartilage is published by SAGE Publications Inc. and is in Zone 4 of Medicine in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Osteoarthritis Treatment and Mechanisms, Total Knee Arthroplasty Outcomes and Knee injuries and reconstruction techniques, together about 59.6% of its articles. Its main subfields are Orthopedics and Sports Medicine. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
CARTILAGE (CART) is a peer-reviewed quarterly journal on the musculoskeletal system with particular attention to cartilage repair, development, function, degeneration, transplantation, and rehabilitation. Aimed at researchers and clinicians involved in cartilage biology and repair, CART publishes full length original manuscripts on all types of cartilage including articular, nasal, … | View full journal description This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): ORTHOPEDICS
Editor-in-chief Mats BrittbergPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 2 in mainland China (about 2%); most named United States 22, Italy 12, India 9, South Korea 5, Türkiye 5 (109 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Osteoarthritis Treatment and MechanismsMedicine33.8%
- Total Knee Arthroplasty OutcomesMedicine14.2%
- Knee injuries and reconstruction techniquesMedicine11.6%
- Lower Extremity Biomechanics and PathologiesEngineering5.4%
- Tendon Structure and TreatmentMedicine4.1%
- Periodontal Regeneration and TreatmentsMedicine3.6%
- Mesenchymal stem cell researchMedicine3.6%
- Foot and Ankle SurgeryMedicine2.7%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Medicine Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Orthopedics | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Orthopedics | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Medicine Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Orthopedics | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusLetPub
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
- 2.4LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 2.6Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 3.4Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 7.1LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.95LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.28LetPub ·
- h-index
- 25LetPub ·
- h-index
- 71OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 723OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.62OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 3.8%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 96.55%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 68LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,309 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 47 | 47 | 9 |
| 2025 | 71 | 71 | 113 |
| 2024 | 72 | 72 | 376 |
| 2023 | 96 | 96 | 865 |
| 2022 | 94 | 94 | 1,347 |
| 2021 | 127 | 127 | 2,359 |
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
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 34.8%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 1 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 33 daysPublisher website ·
- Peer review
- Single anonymous 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
Subscription journalLetPub
A subscription journal: articles are read by subscription or purchase, and authors usually pay no publication charge.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAlex | USD 2,650 | — | — | |
| Publisher website | USD 3,200 | — | — |
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
- 150–200 words
- Reference style
- AMA
- Templates
- Word
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
Article types accepted6
- commentaryCommentary Editorial Letter to the Editor Original Research Article Review Meta-analysis Original submissions should include: Abstract Introduction Material and…Length not stated
- editorialCommentary Editorial Letter to the Editor Original Research Article Review Meta-analysis Original submissions should include: Abstract Introduction Material and…Length not stated
- letter to the editorCommentary Editorial Letter to the Editor Original Research Article Review Meta-analysis Original submissions should include: Abstract Introduction Material and…Length not stated
- meta-analysisCommentary Editorial Letter to the Editor Original Research Article Review Meta-analysis Original submissions should include: Abstract Introduction Material and…Length not stated
- original research articleCommentary Editorial Letter to the Editor Original Research Article Review Meta-analysis Original submissions should include: Abstract Introduction Material and…Length not stated
- reviewCommentary Editorial Letter to the Editor Original Research Article Review Meta-analysis Original submissions should include: Abstract Introduction Material and…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Data availability, Publication ethics, Open access, Peer review, Plagiarism, Preprints, Trial registration / reporting guidelines
- Authorship Authorship
Please view our authorship policies, which includes information on criteria for authorship, who should be the corresponding author and more. Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data availability
The Journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages. Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to: Share your research data in a relevant public data repository Include a data ava…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics Ethical considerations
Please include your ethics approval statements under this heading, even if you have already included ethics approval information in your methods section. If ethical approval was not required, you need to explicitly state this. All papers reporting studies involving human participants, human data or human tissue must state that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board approved th…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Publishing fees and open access
CARTILAGE is an open access, peer-reviewed journal. All accepted articles are made freely available online immediately upon publication, are published under a Creative Commons license, and hosted online in perpetuity. If, after peer review, your manuscript is accepted for publication, a one-time article processing charge (APC) is payable to cover the cost of publishing, paid by the funder, institu…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
Single anonymized peer review Model summary
The following summary describes the peer review process for this journal: Identity transparency: Double Anonymized Reviewer interacts with: Associate Editors Review information published: None Your manuscript will undergo an initial evaluation. If it does not conform to the requirements laid out in these guidelines, it will be returned to you for amendments prior to peer review. Manuscripts may be…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Plagiarism Plagiarism
The journal and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. Please read Sage's complete policy on plagiarism and the actions we may take.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
The journal does not accept submissions of manuscripts that have been posted on preprint servers. Please enter the preprint DOI in the designated field when submitting your manuscript. We advise that you inform the Journal Editorial office about your posted preprint at submission. Note that you should not post an updated version of your manuscript on a preprint server while it is being peer review…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Trial registration / reporting guidelines Clinical trial registration
The journal conforms to the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first participant enrollment as a condition of consideration for publication. The trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.
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
- SAGE Publications Inc.
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1947-6035
- Electronic ISSN
- 1947-6043
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Cartilage
What CAS zone is Cartilage in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Cartilage is in Zone 4 of Medicine, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Orthopedics. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Medicine. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Cartilage?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.4; CiteScore 7.1, h-index 71.
How long does peer review take at Cartilage?
The publisher reports about 1 days (submission to first decision); first decisions include desk rejections; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 34.8%. 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 Cartilage?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: 150–200 words; Reference style: AMA; Templates: Word; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; 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 Cartilage based?
Of the 109 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 2 (about 2%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (22), Italy (12) and India (9). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Cartilage?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Cartilage is indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Is Cartilage open access, and what is the APC?
Cartilage is a subscription journal. APC about USD 2,650.
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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .