Journal profile · Nursing
Clinical Nurse Specialist
ISSN 0887-6274 · eISSN 1538-9782 · Lippincott Williams and Wilkins Ltd. · UNITED STATES · Bimonthly · Founded 1987
Clinical Nurse Specialist: CAS Zone 4 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 0.98; JCR Q4 (journal website); hybrid open access; median 56 days to acceptance (29 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: easy; 63 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE, SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Clinical Nurse Specialist is published by Lippincott Williams and Wilkins Ltd. 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 Nursing Roles and Practices, Nursing Education, Practice, and Leadership and Nursing education and management, together about 36.6% of its articles. Its main subfields are General Health Professions. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
A narrative synthesis of evidence from surgical and emerging nonsurgical literature was conducted. The National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists (NACNS) competencies were compared with the Integrative Model domains—technology, social structure, and learning conditions. Key factors examined included evidence of clinical benefit, nurse and physician preferences, health system cost implications, and knowledge translation gaps.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Nursing
Editor-in-chief Janet S. FultonPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Nursing Roles and PracticesHealth Professions19.7%
- Nursing Education, Practice, and LeadershipNursing9.1%
- Nursing education and managementNursing7.8%
- Health Sciences Research and EducationHealth Professions7.7%
- Interprofessional Education and CollaborationHealth Professions7.3%
- Nursing Diagnosis and DocumentationNursing6.7%
- Family and Patient Care in Intensive Care UnitsHealth Professions4.1%
- Diverse Scientific and Economic StudiesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance3.5%
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 | Nursing | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Nursing | Zone 4 |
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 | Nursing | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
JCR / CiteScore quartiles on the journal's website
- JCR Q4 · NURSING · rank 150/194
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
SCIESSCIScopusLetPub
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
- 0.98LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 1Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 1LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.26LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.36LetPub ·
- h-index
- 29LetPub ·
- h-index
- 60OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 614OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0.7OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 20%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 5%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 21LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 3,961 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 40 | 2 | 3 |
| 2025 | 63 | 2 | 20 |
| 2024 | 74 | 3 | 101 |
| 2023 | 72 | 3 | 142 |
| 2022 | 71 | 11 | 150 |
| 2021 | 77 | 8 | 317 |
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
56 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 18 days – 101 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 67 days (27 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 139 days
- Sample
- 29 articles with submission and acceptance dates (127 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)
- over 12 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- EasyLetPub ·
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
Hybrid open accessLetPub
A subscription journal in which authors can pay to publish their article open access.
No source has fee information yet; check the journal's website.
A hybrid journal charges the APC only when the author chooses open access; publishing under the subscription model is usually free.
The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- Lippincott Williams and Wilkins Ltd.
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Bimonthly
- Founded
- 1987
- ISSN
- 0887-6274
- Electronic ISSN
- 1538-9782
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 40, Issue 5 (October 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Clinical Nurse Specialist
What CAS zone is Clinical Nurse Specialist in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Clinical Nurse Specialist is in Zone 4 of Medicine, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Nursing. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 4 of Medicine. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Clinical Nurse Specialist?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 0.98; CiteScore 1, h-index 60.
How long does peer review take at Clinical Nurse Specialist?
Based on the dates recorded on 29 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 56 days (interquartile range 18–101 days); authors report an average review time of over 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 JCR quartile is Clinical Nurse Specialist in?
The journal's website gives JCR Q4; by category, NURSING Q4 (150/194). JCR quartiles are Clarivate's to confirm and a different system from the CAS zones; in the CAS ranking the journal is in Zone 4 of Medicine.
Which databases index Clinical Nurse Specialist?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Clinical Nurse Specialist is indexed in SCIE, SSCI and Scopus.
Is Clinical Nurse Specialist open access, and what is the APC?
Clinical Nurse Specialist is a hybrid journal. Fee information is not available yet; check the journal's website.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, 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 2026-08-24). Last updated: .