Journal profile · CELL BIOLOGY
Cell Communication and Signaling
ISSN 1478-811X · BioMed Central · ENGLAND · Monthly · Founded 2003
Cell Communication and Signaling: CAS Zone 2 · Biology (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal); impact factor 11.63; fully open access; APC about USD 3,490; median 141 days to acceptance (162 articles, last 24 months); 609 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Cell Communication and Signaling is published by BioMed Central and is in Zone 2 of Biology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Extracellular vesicles in disease, Immune cells in cancer and Cancer Cells and Metastasis, together about 20.3% of its articles. Its main subfields are Molecular Biology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Cell Communication and Signaling (CCS) is an open access journal that encompasses all basic and translational aspects of cellular communications and signaling pathways in normal and pathological conditions. The journal encourages submissions of original papers, review papers, short reports, and commentaries pertaining to both eukaryotic and prokaryotic intracellular and intercellular signal transduction, including but not limited to: Signal transduction by protein-protein interactions and modular domains Post-translational modification of proteins and epigenetic modification of nucleic acids Mechanisms of cell transformation, metastasis, senescence, and aging Homeostatic and pathophysiological mechanisms of disease progression Mechanisms of viral and bacterial pathogenesis and virulence factors In addition, reflecting journal’s affiliation with the International Cell Death Society, CCS welcomes submissions in all aspects of cell death, which includes: Apoptotic and non-apoptotic mechanisms of cell death, Cell death in model systems Autophagy Clearance of dying cells Immunological and pathological consequences of dying cells in the tissue microenvironment
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): CELL BIOLOGY
Editor-in-chief Raymond BirgePublisher website
Editorial board by country: 4 in mainland China (about 7%); most named United States 25, Germany 10, Mainland China 4, Japan 3, Italy 3 (61 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Extracellular vesicles in diseaseBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology8.1%
- Immune cells in cancerImmunology and Microbiology6.9%
- Cancer Cells and MetastasisMedicine5.4%
- Cancer, Hypoxia, and MetabolismBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5.3%
- interferon and immune responsesImmunology and Microbiology5.1%
- Autophagy in Disease and TherapyMedicine5%
- Protein Kinase Regulation and GTPase SignalingBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.5%
- Cell Adhesion Molecules ResearchMedicine4.2%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Biology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Cell Biology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Biology Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Cell Biology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Biology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Cell Biology | 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
MEDLINEEmbaseCASPublisher 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
- 11.63LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 11.6Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 11.7Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 13.3LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 2.9LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.91LetPub ·
- h-index
- 52LetPub ·
- h-index
- 135OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,996OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 10.37OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 1.7%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 599LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 4,900,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 3,660 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 638 | 638 | 355 |
| 2025 | 609 | 609 | 4,879 |
| 2024 | 619 | 619 | 14,124 |
| 2023 | 367 | 367 | 13,237 |
| 2022 | 201 | 201 | 8,893 |
| 2021 | 123 | 123 | 7,526 |
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
141 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 104 days – 188 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 11 days (162 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 155 days
- Sample
- 162 articles with submission and acceptance dates (1,395 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
- Submission to first decision
- 7 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 11 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 2,990 / USD 3,490 / GBP 2,590 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 3,390 / EUR 2,890 / GBP 2,490 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 2,390 / USD 3,290 / EUR 2,790 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 2,590 / USD 3,490 / EUR 2,990 | — | — |
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 prepare1 items from the author guidelines
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
Article types accepted4
- brief reportFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Methodology Research Review Brief ReportLength not stated
- methodologyFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Methodology Research Review Brief ReportLength not stated
- researchFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Methodology Research Review Brief ReportLength not stated
- reviewFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Methodology Research Review Brief ReportLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteData availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review
- Data availability Formatting the 'Availability of data and materials' section of your manuscript
Data sharing 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
Open access under CC BY-NC-ND or CC BY licence. Model summary
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. Cell Communication and Signaling articles are published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND (Creative Commons At…
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
- Monthly
- Founded
- 2003
- ISSN
- 1478-811X
- 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 Cell Communication and Signaling
What CAS zone is Cell Communication and Signaling in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Cell Communication and Signaling is in Zone 2 of Biology, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Cell Biology; it is a Top journal. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 1 of Biology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Cell Communication and Signaling?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 11.63; CiteScore 13.3, h-index 135.
How long does peer review take at Cell Communication and Signaling?
Based on the dates recorded on 162 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 141 days (interquartile range 104–188 days). 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.
Where are the editorial board members of Cell Communication and Signaling based?
Of the 61 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 4 (about 7%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (25), Germany (10) and Mainland China (4). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Cell Communication and Signaling?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Cell Communication and Signaling is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists MEDLINE, Embase and CAS; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Cell Communication and Signaling open access, and what is the APC?
Cell Communication and Signaling is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 3,490.
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: .