Journal profile · HEALTH POLICY & SERVICES
Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation
ISSN 1478-7547 · BMC · United Kingdom
Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation: CAS Zone 4 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 3.08; fully open access; APC about USD 2,890; median 201 days to acceptance (110 articles, last 24 months); 96 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation is published by BMC 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 Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life, Healthcare Systems and Reforms and Global Maternal and Child Health, together about 42.4% of its articles. Its main subfields are Economics and Econometrics. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation considers manuscripts on all aspects of cost-effectiveness analysis, including conceptual or methodological work, economic evaluations, and policy analysis related to resource allocation at a national or international level. Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation is aimed at health economists, health services researchers, and policy-makers with an interest in enhancing the flow and transfer of knowledge relating to efficiency in the health sector. Manuscripts are encouraged from researchers based in low- and middle-income countries, with a view to increasing the international economic evidence base for health. The journal particularly solicits manuscripts on the costs, effectiveness, or cost-effectiveness of health interventions, based on primary empirical research/data collection or via a modelling approach. A health intervention is defined broadly as any action whose primary intent is to improve health - promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative actions at the clinical or population level. As well as manuscripts reporting cost or cost-effectiveness data, the journal also considers contributions that report or discuss methodological aspects of economic evaluation - such as disease modelling, cost estimation, or uncertainty - and policy-related issues such as the interplay between efficiency and other decision-making criteria. There will never be sufficient resources available to allow all possible means of improving health to be provided to all people who might benefit from them. Information on the health improvements resulting from possible uses of scarce resources is critical to informed decision making about where scarce resources should be allocated. Nowhere is this truer than in low- and middle-income countries, where there is greatest pressure on limited resources for health and health care. Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation aims to be a home for this type of information.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): HEALTH POLICY & SERVICES
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of LifeEconomics, Econometrics and Finance21.6%
- Healthcare Systems and ReformsEconomics, Econometrics and Finance11.6%
- Global Maternal and Child HealthMedicine9.3%
- Global Health Care IssuesHealth Professions6.6%
- Healthcare Policy and ManagementEconomics, Econometrics and Finance5.8%
- Economic and Financial Impacts of CancerEconomics, Econometrics and Finance4.8%
- Pharmaceutical Economics and PolicyEconomics, Econometrics and Finance4%
- Economic and Environmental ValuationEconomics, 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 | Health Policy & Services | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Health Policy & Services | 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 | Health Policy & Services | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SSCIScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
SCIEEmbaseCASCAB AbstractsPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, Baidu, Naver, OCLC, Portico, CLOCKSS, Semantic Scholar
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
- 3.08LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 3.1Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.9Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 3.9LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.79LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.92LetPub ·
- h-index
- 62OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 454OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.36OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 0%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 96LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 2,025Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 763,400Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 985 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 125 | 125 | 33 |
| 2025 | 96 | 96 | 157 |
| 2024 | 92 | 92 | 550 |
| 2023 | 97 | 97 | 1,028 |
| 2022 | 74 | 74 | 686 |
| 2021 | 81 | 81 | 1,253 |
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
201 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 113 days – 324 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 16 days (110 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 222 days
- Sample
- 110 articles with submission and acceptance dates (238 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 34 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 12 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 34 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 | EUR 2,490 / USD 2,890 / GBP 2,190 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 2,790 / EUR 2,390 / GBP 2,090 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 1,990 / USD 2,690 / EUR 2,290 | Yes | — | |
| 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)
Open calls for papers5, by deadline
- The Role of AI-Enabled Wearable Technologies in Supporting Sustainable and Inclusive Home-Based HealthcareDeadline
- Economic Evaluation of Traditional (Herbal) MedicineDeadline
- Impact of Chronic Diseases Medical Care Demand on Drug, Medicinal Device and Nursing Staff ShortagesDeadline
- Cost Effectiveness Evidence in Latin AmericaDeadline
- Measuring Efficiency and Opportunity Cost in Health Care SystemsDeadline
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
- BMC
- Country or region
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1478-7547
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- 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 Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation
What CAS zone is Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation is in Zone 4 of Medicine, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Health Policy & Services. 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 Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 3.08; CiteScore 3.9, h-index 62.
How long does peer review take at Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation?
Based on the dates recorded on 110 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 201 days (interquartile range 113–324 days); authors report an average review time of about 34 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.
Which databases index Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation is indexed in SSCI, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists SCIE, Embase, CAS and CAB Abstracts; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation open access, and what is the APC?
Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 2,890.
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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .