Journal profile · Medicine, General & Internal
Clinical Medicine
ISSN 1470-2118 · eISSN 1473-4893 · Royal College of Physicians · ENGLAND · Bimonthly · Founded 2001
Clinical Medicine: CAS Zone 4 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 3.61; fully open access; APC about USD 2,500; median 99 days to acceptance (103 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: easy; 257 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Clinical Medicine is published by Royal College of Physicians 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 Primary Care and Health Outcomes, Innovations in Medical Education and Palliative Care and End-of-Life Issues, together about 20.9% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Formerly Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of LondonA peer-reviewed journal of the Royal College of Physicians, Clinical Medicine (ClinMed) publishes advances in general and specialist medicine and authoritative reviews on thought-provoking topics. It aims to directly improve readers' clinical practice by providing evidence-supported and relevant learning. This will be achieved by publishing original research, guideline summaries and clinically focused reviews. The dedicated CME section focuses on the latest developments in a specialty, with self-assessment questions for readers to attain CPD accreditation.The journal is proudly affiliated with the Royal College of Physicians (RCP). This affiliation grants college members a fee waiver for open access publication in Clinical Medicine. The journal retains its editorial independence.Published online in six issues per year, with accepted articles published online ahead of each issue, Clinical Medicine is an invaluable and comprehensive resource for physicians seeking high-quality, topical updates in general medicine and across the specialties. Clinical Medicine openly invites authors to submit manuscripts reporting improvements in clinical practice. It particularly encourages submissions from trainees and early-career researchers who wish to build their publication portfolio.From January 1, 2024, Clinical Medicine becomes a full gold open access journal freely available for everyone to access and read. All articles submitted after January 10, 2024, are subject to an article publishing charge (APC) after peer review and acceptance. Learn more about hybrid journals moving to open access. If you are not a paying member or fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), an article publishing charge (APC) is payable on acceptance to cover the costs associated with publication.Publication is free of charge for paying RCP members and fellows of the Royal College of Physicians. Find out about membership options at https://www.rcp.ac.uk/membership.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Medicine, General & Internal
Editor-in-chief Ponnusamy SaravananPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United Kingdom 37, United States 6, Australia 5, Canada 2, Sri Lanka 2 (56 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Primary Care and Health OutcomesHealth Professions8.8%
- Innovations in Medical EducationMedicine7.1%
- Palliative Care and End-of-Life IssuesMedicine5%
- Healthcare cost, quality, practicesHealth Professions4.8%
- Respiratory Support and MechanismsMedicine4.7%
- Emergency and Acute Care StudiesMedicine4.7%
- Venous Thromboembolism Diagnosis and ManagementMedicine4.3%
- Healthcare Policy and ManagementEconomics, Econometrics and Finance4.3%
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 | Medicine, General & Internal | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Medicine, General & Internal | 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 | Medicine, General & Internal | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
PubMedPublisher website
Other: Crossref
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
- 3.61LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 3.9Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.3LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 5.3Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.82LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.34LetPub ·
- h-index
- 49LetPub ·
- h-index
- 117OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,560OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.75OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 0%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 99.71%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 92LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 7,743 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 98 | 98 | 32 |
| 2025 | 257 | 257 | 391 |
| 2024 | 245 | 245 | 629 |
| 2023 | 237 | 237 | 1,736 |
| 2022 | 205 | 205 | 2,328 |
| 2021 | 267 | 267 | 4,349 |
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
99 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 64 days – 137 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 6 days (103 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 102 days
- Sample
- 103 articles with submission and acceptance dates (234 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)
- 6–12 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- EasyLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 18 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Double 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 2,500 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 2,500 / EUR 2,340 / GBP 2,000 / JPY 310,080 | — | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
Other charges and waivers (author guidelines)
- Submission fee
- No submission fee
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
- ≤ 250 words
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 3,000 words
- Reference style
- Numbered, in order of citation
- Suggested reviewers
- Required
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted7
- cme (commissioned)The CME section is designed to keep physicians up to date with advances in the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of conditions they may encounter in genera…Length not stated
- narrative reviewIn addition to the general guidance below please refer to our manuscript template which is designed to help guide you through journal specific requirements.Full…Length not stated
- original researchIn addition to the general guidance below please refer to our manuscript template which is designed to help guide you through journal specific requirements.Full…Length not stated
- quality improvementThis section can include service or educational QI projects.Length not stated
- reviewIn addition to the general guidance below please refer to our manuscript template which is designed to help guide you through journal specific requirements.Full…Length not stated
- review articleIn addition to the general guidance below please refer to our manuscript template which is designed to help guide you through journal specific requirements.Full…Length not stated
- systematic reviewIn addition to the general guidance below please refer to our manuscript template which is designed to help guide you through journal specific requirements.Full…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Authorship, Conflicts of interest, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints, Trial registration / reporting guidelines
- AI use Declaration of generative AI in scientific writing
Authors must declare the use of generative AI tools in the manuscript preparation process upon submission of the paper.Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies (“AI tools”) have been rapidly adopted in research and scholarly publishing, offering significant benefits while requiring clear standards for responsible and transparent use.Authors preparing a manuscript for this journal may use AI tool…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Authorship Authorship
Maximum 6 keywords, American spelling Model summary
All authors should meet all four ICJME criteria for authorship , which include (1) substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; (3) final approval of the version to be published; and (4) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Declaration of competing interest
Competing interests statement required Model summary
Corresponding authors, on behalf of all the authors of a submission, must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics
Consent for publication required for individual data/case reports Model summary
If your research or manuscript contains any individual person's data in any form (including any individual details, images or videos), consent for publication must be obtained from that person, or in the case of children, their parent or legal guardian. All presentations of case reports must have consent for publication.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Copyright
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'License Agreement' (see more information on this). Permitted third party reuse of open access articles is determined by the author's choice of user license.Author rightsAs an author you (or your employer or institution) have certain rights to reuse your work. More information.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open Access
License Agreement upon acceptance; third-party reuse per user license Model summary
From 1 January 2024, Clinical Medicine becomes a full gold open access journal freely available for everyone to access and read. All articles submitted after 10 January 2024 are subject to an article publishing charge (APC) after peer review and acceptance. Learn more about hybrid journals moving to open access. If you are not a member or fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), an APC is …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer Review
This journal operates a double anonymized review process (Double anonymized peer review guidelines | Elsevier). All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor in chief for suitability for the journal and then by the speciality section associate editor. Papers deemed suitable are then sent to external reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. We endeavour to secure at lea…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints No preprints until final decision
No preprints until final decision (double anonymized peer review) Model summary
This journal follows a double anonymized peer review process, and therefore submissions should not be published as a preprint until a final decision has been made.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Trial registration / reporting guidelines Reporting Guidelines
RCT registration required in Methods Model summary
Guidance on each type of study can be found on the EQUATOR (Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research) Network website (http://www.equator-network.org/), along with appropriate checklists. You are strongly encouraged to include the appropriate checklist with your submission. Below are some examples:Randomised controlled trials: CONSORTObservational studies (cohort/case control): ST…
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
- Royal College of Physicians
- Country or region
- ENGLAND
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Bimonthly
- Founded
- 2001
- ISSN
- 1470-2118
- Electronic ISSN
- 1473-4893
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- 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
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Clinical Medicine
What CAS zone is Clinical Medicine in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Clinical Medicine is in Zone 4 of Medicine, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Medicine, General & Internal. 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 Clinical Medicine?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 3.61; CiteScore 5.3, h-index 117.
How long does peer review take at Clinical Medicine?
Based on the dates recorded on 103 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 99 days (interquartile range 64–137 days); authors report an average review time of 6–12 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.
What are the manuscript requirements of Clinical Medicine?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 250 words; Manuscript length: ≤ 3,000 words; Reference style: Numbered, in order of citation; Suggested reviewers: 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.
Where are the editorial board members of Clinical Medicine based?
Of the 56 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (37), United States (6) and Australia (5). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Clinical Medicine?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Clinical Medicine is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists PubMed; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Clinical Medicine open access, and what is the APC?
Clinical Medicine is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 2,500.
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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .