Journal profile · CELL BIOLOGY
Cell Reports
ISSN 2211-1247 · Cell Press · UNITED STATES
Cell Reports: CAS Zone 1 · Biology (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal); impact factor 7.69; fully open access; APC about USD 5,790; median 202 days to acceptance (139 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: easy; 1,579 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Cell Reports is published by Cell Press and is in Zone 1 of Biology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are RNA Research and Splicing, Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research and RNA modifications and cancer, together about 20.7% of its articles. Its main subfields are Molecular Biology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The Cell Reports Portfolio includes gold open-access journals that span life, medical, and physical science. Our mission is to make cutting-edge research and methodologies across disciplines available to a wide readership.Cell Reports publishes high-quality papers across the entire life sciences spectrum. The primary criterion for publication in Cell Reports is new biological insight.Cell Reports features cutting-edge research, with a focus on a shorter, single-point story, called a report, in addition to a longer research article format and resources. Resources highlight significant technical advances or major informational data sets that provide new biological insight. Reviews covering recent literature in emerging and active fields are also welcome.The professional in-house editors of Cell Reports work closely with authors, reviewers, and the journal's scientific advisory board. The advisory board comprises current and future leaders in their respective fields who guide the journal with regard to its scope, its content, and the quality of the papers it publishes. However, editorial decisions at Cell Reports are made independently by its in-house editors.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): CELL BIOLOGY
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- RNA Research and SplicingBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology7.5%
- Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology ResearchNeuroscience6.8%
- RNA modifications and cancerBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology6.5%
- Immune Cell Function and InteractionImmunology and Microbiology6.5%
- Epigenetics and DNA MethylationBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5.7%
- Genomics and Chromatin DynamicsBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5.1%
- T-cell and B-cell ImmunologyImmunology and Microbiology4.4%
- CRISPR and Genetic EngineeringBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.4%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Biology Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 1 |
| 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 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Cell Biology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
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
- 7.69LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 7.7Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 12.3LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 12.3Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 3.81LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.67LetPub ·
- h-index
- 108LetPub ·
- h-index
- 332OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 13,600OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 8.58OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 1.3%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 99.91%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 1,466LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 17,319 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1,191 | 1,191 | 1,202 |
| 2025 | 1,579 | 1,579 | 10,865 |
| 2024 | 1,448 | 1,448 | 24,112 |
| 2023 | 1,630 | 1,630 | 44,084 |
| 2022 | 1,517 | 1,517 | 59,306 |
| 2021 | 1,439 | 1,439 | 80,484 |
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
202 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 158 days – 300 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 20 days (140 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 225 days
- Sample
- 139 articles with submission and acceptance dates (3,162 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)
- 3–6 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- EasyLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 5 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review
- 37 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 177 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 22 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 29 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 | USD 5,790 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 5,620 / EUR 5,210 / GBP 4,500 / JPY 697,050 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 5,460 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | USD 5,790 | — | — |
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)
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteOpen access
- Open access Open Access
Article Publishing Charge (APC): USD 5,790 (excluding taxes). This journal is taking part in the GPOA program.
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
- Cell Press
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2211-1247
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗DOAJ
- Aims & Scope ↗DOAJ
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Fee waivers ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗DOAJ
- Editorial board ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Cell Reports
What CAS zone is Cell Reports in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Cell Reports is in Zone 1 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 Reports?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 7.69; CiteScore 12.3, h-index 332.
How long does peer review take at Cell Reports?
Based on the dates recorded on 139 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 202 days (interquartile range 158–300 days); authors report an average review time of 3–6 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Easy”. 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.
Which databases index Cell Reports?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Cell Reports is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Cell Reports open access, and what is the APC?
Cell Reports is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 5,790.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, OpenAlex, 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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .