Journal profile · MEDICINE, RESEARCH & EXPERIMENTAL
Communications Medicine
ISSN 2730-664X · Nature Portfolio · United Kingdom
Communications Medicine: CAS Zone 2 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 7.4 (journal website); fully open access; APC about USD 3,890; median 241 days to acceptance (132 articles, last 24 months); 596 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Communications Medicine is published by Nature Portfolio and is in Zone 2 of Medicine in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research, COVID-19 epidemiological studies and COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies, together about 25.4% of its articles. Its main subfields are Infectious Diseases. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Publishes open access research in medicine and public health. Committed to rapid dissemination of important research results. Editorial collaboration between in-house editors and editorial board members.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): MEDICINE, RESEARCH & EXPERIMENTAL
Editorial board by country: 45 in mainland China (about 26%); most named Mainland China 45, United States 31, United Kingdom 15, Australia 11, Hong Kong, China 10 (170 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 ResearchMedicine10.9%
- COVID-19 epidemiological studiesMathematics7.6%
- COVID-19 Clinical Research StudiesMedicine7%
- Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and EducationMedicine6.5%
- Machine Learning in HealthcareComputer Science5.8%
- Long-Term Effects of COVID-19Medicine5.4%
- Genetic Associations and EpidemiologyBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.3%
- Dementia and Cognitive Impairment ResearchMedicine4%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Medicine, Research & Experimental | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Medicine, Research & Experimental | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
Database indexing
ESCIScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
SCIEWeb of ScienceMEDLINEPMCPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, Dimensions, CNKI
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 (publisher) 2025
- 7.4Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 7.5Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 7.7LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 2.14LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.8LetPub ·
- h-index
- 56OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 543OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 5.92OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 1.4%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 99.9%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 557LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 2,025Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 4,497,035Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,897 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 599 | 599 | 423 |
| 2025 | 596 | 596 | 3,855 |
| 2024 | 282 | 282 | 4,467 |
| 2023 | 193 | 193 | 5,158 |
| 2022 | 165 | 165 | 4,996 |
| 2021 | 62 | 62 | 2,013 |
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
241 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 187 days – 376 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 20 days (132 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 264 days
- Sample
- 132 articles with submission and acceptance dates (1,275 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 21 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 21 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Open peer review, Double anonymous 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 3,290 / USD 3,890 / GBP 2,850 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 3,690 / EUR 3,090 / GBP 2,690 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 2,490 / USD 3,490 / EUR 2,890 | Yes | — |
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 websiteAI use, Open access
- AI use Evidence, use cases, and implementation safeguards of large language models in primary care
Christof et al. provide a narrative review that synthesizes evidence on LLM applications relevant to primary care workflows and summarizes implementation safeguards. They highlight the remaining need to demonstrate improved patient outcome of clinical improvement in many studies and outline a pragmatic adoption approach in practice.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access MAKAAO, an open access resource linking human autoantibodies and autoimmune diseases
Maury et al. introduce MAKAAO, an open, FAIR-compliant database linking human autoantibodies to their targets, associated diseases, and laboratory tests. Manually curated from the literature, the resource also welcomes contributions from the autoimmune disease community. Fabien MaurySolène GrosdidierMaud de Dieuleveult
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
- Nature Portfolio
- Country or region
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2730-664X
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗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 Communications Medicine
What CAS zone is Communications Medicine in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Communications Medicine is in Zone 2 of Medicine, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Medicine, Research & Experimental. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Medicine. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Communications Medicine?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 7.4 (2025); this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 7.7, h-index 56.
How long does peer review take at Communications Medicine?
Based on the dates recorded on 132 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 241 days (interquartile range 187–376 days); authors report an average review time of about 21 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.
Where are the editorial board members of Communications Medicine based?
Of the 170 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 45 (about 26%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Mainland China (45), United States (31) and United Kingdom (15). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Communications Medicine?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Communications Medicine is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists SCIE, Web of Science, MEDLINE and PMC; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Communications Medicine open access, and what is the APC?
Communications Medicine is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 3,890.
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: .