Journal profile · Medicine-Critical Care and Intensive Care Medicine
Critical Care Explorations
ISSN 2639-8028 · Wolters Kluwer · United States
Critical Care Explorations: CAS Zone 3 · Medicine (2026 Xinrui edition); impact factor 2.9 (journal website); JCR Q2 (journal website); fully open access; APC about USD 1,600; review about 8 weeks (community reports); 167 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Critical Care Explorations is published by Wolters Kluwer and is classed under Medicine in the CAS Journal Ranking. By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Sepsis Diagnosis and Treatment, Respiratory Support and Mechanisms and Intensive Care Unit Cognitive Disorders, together about 43.7% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
We examined what happens when a published machine learning model for post-transfer mortality, SafeNET, is deployed in an independent health system with substantial data fragmentation and missingness and assessed the extent to which local model development can compensate for cross-system data limitations.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Medicine-Critical Care and Intensive Care Medicine
Editor-in-chief Tamás SzakmányPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Sepsis Diagnosis and TreatmentMedicine21.9%
- Respiratory Support and MechanismsMedicine11.2%
- Intensive Care Unit Cognitive DisordersMedicine10.7%
- COVID-19 Clinical Research StudiesMedicine7.2%
- Mechanical Circulatory Support DevicesEngineering5.1%
- Nosocomial Infections in ICUMedicine4.2%
- Hemodynamic Monitoring and TherapyMedicine3.4%
- Cardiac Arrest and ResuscitationMedicine3.3%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Critical Care Medicine | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
JCR / CiteScore quartiles on the journal's website
- JCR Q2 · CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE · rank 28/66
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
ESCIScopusDOAJLetPub
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 (publisher)
- 2.9Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.94LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.01LetPub ·
- h-index
- 48OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 522OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.14OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 3.4%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 99.59%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 147LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,485 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 130 | 130 | 13 |
| 2025 | 167 | 167 | 228 |
| 2024 | 171 | 171 | 759 |
| 2023 | 190 | 190 | 1,397 |
| 2022 | 228 | 228 | 2,782 |
| 2021 | 293 | 293 | 4,186 |
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
- Average review time (community reports)
- about 8 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 8 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 | USD 1,600 | No | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 1,600 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 1,600 | No | — |
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)
Article types accepted14, with length limits
- case reportal prognosis or diagnosis (TRIPOD) $850 Case Report 800 – 1,500 words 150 words, including at least Background:��������������� Whmain text ≤ 1,500 words
- case reports and case seriesCase reports and case series that illuminate novel approaches to rare and/or vexing conditionsLength not stated
- commentaryse Reporting Guideline Development $850 Commentary 800 – 1,500 words 150 words, unstructured Three or fewer tables or figures Remain text ≤ 1,500 words
- communications of new studiesCommunications of new studies including trial design, implementation progress, intermediate analyses, and other real-time reporting that may be required by fund…Length not stated
- comparisons of existing and new technologiesComparisons of existing and new technologiesLength not stated
- complementary and alternative medical approachesComplementary and alternative medical approaches to critical illness and recoveryLength not stated
- contemporary narrative and systematic reviewsContemporary narrative and systematic reviews that provide immediate and reliable guidance at the bedsideLength not stated
- contemporary surveysContemporary surveys that illuminate aspects of patient care, provider experience, and/or community beliefs and attitudesLength not stated
- educational approaches and outcomesEducational approaches and outcomes, with a special interest in interprofessional educationLength not stated
- experimental insightsExperimental insights into new and/or unexpected mechanismsLength not stated
- follow-up studiesFollow-up studies that illuminate long-term outcomes of previously reported studiesLength not stated
- letter to the editorthan what is previously described. $700 Letter to the Editor 1000-2500 words 150 words, unstructured Three or fewer tables Ten or fewermain text ≤ 2,500 words
- pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic reportsPharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic reports that may enhance therapeutic accuracyLength not stated
- reports detailing experiences, strategies and outcomesReports detailing experiences, strategies and outcomes of efforts to improve health and wellness of those who surround the critically ill patient, including fri…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteLicense & copyright, Self-archiving
- License & copyright
Copyright retained by authors; journal licensed to publish. Model summary
Authors retain copyright for all articles. Authors grant the journal a license to publish the article and identify itself as the original publisher.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Self-archiving
Post-print deposit to PubMed Central for NIH/Wellcome/HHMI-funded research. Model summary
As a service to our authors, LWW will identify to the National Library of Medicine (NLM) articles that require deposit and will transmit the post-print of an article based on research funded in whole or in part by the National Institutes of Health, Wellcome Trust, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, or other funding agencies to PubMed Central.
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
- Wolters Kluwer
- Country or region
- United States
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2639-8028
- Society / sponsor
- Society of Critical Care Medicine
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- 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 Critical Care Explorations
What CAS zone is Critical Care Explorations in?
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 Critical Care Explorations?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 2.9; this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 5, h-index 48.
How long does peer review take at Critical Care Explorations?
Authors report an average review time of about 8 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 Critical Care Explorations in?
The journal's website gives JCR Q2; by category, CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE Q2 (28/66). JCR quartiles are Clarivate's to confirm and a different system from the CAS zones.
Which databases index Critical Care Explorations?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Critical Care Explorations is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Critical Care Explorations open access, and what is the APC?
Critical Care Explorations is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 1,600.
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 2026-08-30). Last updated: .