Journal profile · Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Current Drug Targets
ISSN 1389-4501 · eISSN 1873-5592 · Bentham Science Publishers B.V. · NETHERLANDS · Bimonthly · Founded 2000
Current Drug Targets: CAS Zone 4 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 3.42; subscription journal; median 84 days to acceptance (85 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: fairly hard; 61 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Current Drug Targets is published by Bentham Science Publishers B.V. 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 Computational Drug Discovery Methods, Cancer Mechanisms and Therapy and Inflammatory Bowel Disease, together about 22.3% of its articles. Its main subfields are Molecular Biology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Current Drug Targets aims to cover the latest and most outstanding developments on the medicinal chemistry and pharmacology of molecular drug targets e.g. disease specific proteins, receptors, enzymes, genes. Current Drug Targets publishes guest edited thematic issues written by leaders in the field covering a range of current topics of drug targets. The journal also accepts for publication mini- & full-length review articles and drug clinical trial studies. As the discovery, identification, characterization and validation of novel human drug targets for drug discovery continues to grow; this journal is essential reading for all pharmaceutical scientists involved in drug discovery and development.
Source: LetPub
Research area (LetPub): Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Computational Drug Discovery MethodsComputer Science9.6%
- Cancer Mechanisms and TherapyMedicine6.5%
- Inflammatory Bowel DiseaseBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology6.2%
- Diverse Scientific and Economic StudiesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance5.7%
- Nanoparticle-Based Drug DeliveryMaterials Science5.4%
- RNA Interference and Gene DeliveryBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5.3%
- 14-3-3 protein interactionsBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5.1%
- Cholinesterase and Neurodegenerative DiseasesMedicine4%
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 | Pharmacology & Pharmacy | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: yes
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Pharmacology & Pharmacy | 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 | Pharmacology & Pharmacy | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: yes
Database indexing
SCIEScopusLetPub
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
- 3.42LetPub ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 6LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.73LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.7LetPub ·
- h-index
- 92LetPub ·
- h-index
- 140OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 2,216OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.89OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 2.9%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 3.77%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 73LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 3,501 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 95 | 1 | 32 |
| 2025 | 61 | 3 | 162 |
| 2024 | 77 | 7 | 713 |
| 2023 | 90 | 7 | 620 |
| 2022 | 117 | 3 | 968 |
| 2021 | 160 | 21 | 2,675 |
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
84 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 69 days – 106 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 157 days (85 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 250 days
- Sample
- 85 articles with submission and acceptance dates (175 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)
- 3–8 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly hardLetPub ·
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
Subscription journalLetPub
A subscription journal: articles are read by subscription or purchase, and authors usually pay no publication charge.
No source has fee information yet; check the journal's website.
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
- Bentham Science Publishers B.V.
- Country or region
- NETHERLANDS
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Bimonthly
- Founded
- 2000
- ISSN
- 1389-4501
- Electronic ISSN
- 1873-5592
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗LetPub
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Current Drug Targets
What CAS zone is Current Drug Targets in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Current Drug Targets is in Zone 4 of Medicine, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Pharmacology & Pharmacy. 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 Current Drug Targets?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 3.42; CiteScore 6, h-index 140.
How long does peer review take at Current Drug Targets?
Based on the dates recorded on 85 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 84 days (interquartile range 69–106 days); authors report an average review time of 3–8 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly hard”. 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 Current Drug Targets?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Current Drug Targets is indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Is Current Drug Targets open access, and what is the APC?
Current Drug Targets is a subscription journal. Fee information is not available yet; check the journal's website.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex; 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: .