Journal profile · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology-Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (all)
Cells
ISSN 2073-4409 · MDPI (Basel, Switzerland) · Switzerland · Founded 2012
Cells: CAS Zone 2 · Biology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 5.99; JCR Q2 (journal website); fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; median 39 days to acceptance (192 articles, last 24 months); 2,065 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
Cells is published by MDPI (Basel, Switzerland) and is in Zone 2 of Biology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are MicroRNA in disease regulation, Autophagy in Disease and Therapy and Extracellular vesicles in disease, together about 17.4% of its articles. Its main subfields are Molecular Biology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Cells covers every topic related to cell biology and physiology, molecular biology, and biophysics. Thus, our major focus is on experimental cytology rather than on clinical and epidemiological studies. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: Cell Structure Cell Physiology Cellular Metabolism Cellular Immunology Intra- and Extracellular Signaling Cell Movement and Motility Autophagy Apoptosis Cell Aging, Senescence Cell Techniques Cell Growth and Differentiation Stem Cells Genetic Disorders and Therapy Omics Plant, Algae and Fungi Cell Biology Neurodegeneration, Neuroinflammation
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology-Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (all)
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- MicroRNA in disease regulationBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology6.6%
- Autophagy in Disease and TherapyMedicine5.7%
- Extracellular vesicles in diseaseBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5.1%
- Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration MechanismsNeuroscience5.1%
- Mitochondrial Function and PathologyBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.7%
- Mesenchymal stem cell researchMedicine4.7%
- Epigenetics and DNA MethylationBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.5%
- RNA Research and SplicingBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.4%
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 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Biology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Cell Biology | Zone 3 |
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 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
JCR / CiteScore quartiles on the journal's website
- JCR Q2 · Cell Biology
- CiteScore Q1 · General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Publisher-reported: JCR figures are Clarivate's and CiteScore figures Scopus's to confirm; both are a different system from the CAS zones.Publisher website
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
Early warning / risk: CAS Early Warning Journal List: listed in the 2020 edition (low risk); not listed in the other 5 editions.LetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Web of ScienceMEDLINEPMCPubMedCASPublisher 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
- 5.99LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 6Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 6.6Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 11.4LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 11.4Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.69LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.35LetPub ·
- h-index
- 14LetPub ·
- h-index
- 235OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 13,312OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 6.62OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 1.7%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 99.97%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 2,066LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 21,533 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1,703 | 1,703 | 1,149 |
| 2025 | 2,065 | 2,065 | 12,581 |
| 2024 | 2,081 | 2,081 | 24,982 |
| 2023 | 2,773 | 2,773 | 54,651 |
| 2022 | 4,185 | 4,185 | 107,187 |
| 2021 | 3,686 | 3,686 | 132,297 |
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
39 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 27 days – 49 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 3 days (192 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 42 days
- Sample
- 192 articles with submission and acceptance dates (4,227 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 11 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 14.9 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 2.8 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 6 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 | CHF 2,700 | No | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | CHF 2,700 | — | — | |
| LetPub | CHF 2,700 | No | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
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 prepare7 items from the author guidelines
- Reference style
- Author–date
- Templates
- LaTeX and Word
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Suggested reviewers
- Required
- Highlights
- Optional
- Graphical abstract
- Required
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted18
- book reviewAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- brief communicationAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- brief reportAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- case reportAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- commentaryAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- conference reportAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- editorialAll peer-reviewed articles published by MDPI are assessed by our independent Academic Editors, and MDPI staff are not involved in any editorial decisions regard…Length not stated
- hypothesisAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- letterAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- opinionAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- perspectiveAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- protocolAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- registered reportAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- reviewAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- systematic reviewAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- technical noteAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- tutorialAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
- viewpointAll Article Types Article Review Communication Editorial Abstract Book Review Brief Communication Brief Report Case Report Clinicopathological Challenge Comment…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- Authorship Authorship
MDPI follows the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines which state that, in order to qualify for authorship of a manuscript, the following criteria should be observed: Make substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; Draft the work or review it critically for important intel…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Conflicts of Interest
According to The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, “Authors should avoid entering into agreements with study sponsors, both for-profit and non-profit, that interfere with authors’ access to all of the study’s data or that interfere with their ability to analyze and interpret the data and to prepare and publish manuscripts independently when and where they choose.” All authors mus…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data availability statements
Data availability statements are required for all articles published with MDPI. During the peer review and editorial decision process, authors can be asked to share existing datasets or raw data that have been analyzed in the manuscript, and whether they will be made available to other researchers following publication. Authors will also be asked for the details of any existing datasets that have …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics Publication Ethics Statement
Cells is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). We fully adhere to its Code of Conduct and to its Best Practice Guidelines. The editors of this journal enforce a rigorous peer review process together with strict ethical policies and standards to ensure to add high quality scientific works to the field of scholarly publication. Unfortunately, cases of plagiarism, data falsification…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Copyright / Open Access
Articles published in Cells will be Open-Access articles distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The copyright is retained by the author(s). MDPI will insert the following note at the end of the published text: © 2026 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and cond…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open access publication fees
If you transfer your manuscript to another open access (OA) journal, you will be charged an Article Processing Charge (APC) if your article is accepted for publication. The APC for each journal can be found on the individual journal’s website. For more information about APCs, please see here.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Editorial Process and Peer Review
All submissions are thoroughly peer-reviewed by experts within the field and undergo a structured editorial workflow designed to ensure quality, transparency, and scientific integrity. The full editorial procedure is available on the Editorial Process page and is also provided below. Pre-check Pre-check consists of a technical pre-check performed by the Editorial Office and an editorial pre-check …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints and Conference Papers
Cells accepts submissions that have previously been made available as preprints provided that they have not undergone peer review. A preprint is a draft version of a paper made available online before submission to a journal. MDPI operates Preprints, a preprint server to which submitted papers can be uploaded directly after completing journal submission. Note that Preprints operates independently …
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
- MDPI (Basel, Switzerland)
- Country or region
- Switzerland
- Language
- English
- Founded
- 2012
- ISSN
- 2073-4409
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 15 (2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- 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
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Cells
What CAS zone is Cells in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Cells is in Zone 2 of Biology, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Cell Biology. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Biology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Cells?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 5.99; CiteScore 11.4, h-index 235.
How long does peer review take at Cells?
Based on the dates recorded on 192 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 39 days (interquartile range 27–49 days); authors report an average review time of about 11 weeks. 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 JCR quartile is Cells in?
The journal's website gives JCR Q2; by category, Cell Biology Q2. JCR quartiles are Clarivate's to confirm and a different system from the CAS zones; in the CAS ranking the journal is in Zone 2 of Biology.
What are the manuscript requirements of Cells?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Reference style: Author–date; Templates: LaTeX and Word; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; Suggested reviewers: Required; Highlights: Optional; Graphical abstract: Required; Cover letter: Required. 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.
Which databases index Cells?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Cells is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Web of Science, MEDLINE, PMC, PubMed and CAS; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Cells open access, and what is the APC?
Cells is a fully open-access journal. APC charged, amount not published.
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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .