Journal profile · MEDICINE, RESEARCH & EXPERIMENTAL
Discovery Medicine
ISSN 1539-6509 · eISSN 1944-7930 · Timonium, MD : Discovery Medicine · UNITED STATES · Monthly · Founded 2001
Discovery Medicine: CAS Zone 4 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.73; fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; review 6–12 weeks (community reports); community-reported acceptance: fairly easy; 260 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Discovery Medicine is published by Timonium, MD : Discovery Medicine 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 Ferroptosis and cancer prognosis, Autophagy in Disease and Therapy and Immune cells in cancer, together about 22.9% of its articles. Its main subfields are Molecular Biology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Discovery Medicine publishes innovative, provocative, and disruptive ideas, insights, and discoveries in clinical medicine, preclinical research, basic biomedical sciences, and all other fields of life sciences.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): MEDICINE, RESEARCH & EXPERIMENTAL
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Ferroptosis and cancer prognosisMedicine12.1%
- Autophagy in Disease and TherapyMedicine5.6%
- Immune cells in cancerImmunology and Microbiology5.2%
- Cancer, Hypoxia, and MetabolismBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.9%
- Cancer-related molecular mechanisms researchBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.7%
- Inflammasome and immune disordersBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.7%
- RNA modifications and cancerBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.5%
- Cancer-related gene regulationBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.3%
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 | Medicine, Research & Experimental | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Medicine, Research & Experimental | 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 | Medicine, Research & Experimental | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIELetPub
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
- 2.73LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 3.2Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.4LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.81LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.75LetPub ·
- h-index
- 25LetPub ·
- h-index
- 18OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 66OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.14OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 3.1%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 3.07%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 247LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 838 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 235 | 163 | 12 |
| 2025 | 260 | 160 | 325 |
| 2024 | 228 | 185 | 1,208 |
| 2023 | 115 | 113 | 791 |
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)
- 6–12 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly easyLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 8 daysPublisher website ·
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 accessLetPub
Every article is open access; authors usually pay an article processing charge (APC).
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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)
Article types accepted11, with length limits
- articleArticle An article is a report summary based on original research or investigation, usually a form of presentation that advances theoretical, empirical, experim…Length not stated
- case reportA case report is a detailed report based on rare diseases or complications, used to describe the symptoms, signs, pathological characteristics, diagnosis, treat…Length not stated
- commentaryContent Scope Discovery Medicine publishes innovative, provocative, and disruptive ideas, insights, and discoveries in clinical medicine, preclinical research, …Length not stated
- editorialContent Scope Discovery Medicine publishes innovative, provocative, and disruptive ideas, insights, and discoveries in clinical medicine, preclinical research, …Length not stated
- lettersLetters Letters are short communications that provide critical comments, additional perspectives, or alternative viewpoints on articles previously published in …Length not stated
- meta-analysisContent Scope Discovery Medicine publishes innovative, provocative, and disruptive ideas, insights, and discoveries in clinical medicine, preclinical research, …Length not stated
- original researchContent Scope Discovery Medicine publishes innovative, provocative, and disruptive ideas, insights, and discoveries in clinical medicine, preclinical research, …Length not stated
- protocolContent Scope Discovery Medicine publishes innovative, provocative, and disruptive ideas, insights, and discoveries in clinical medicine, preclinical research, …Length not stated
- reviewContent Scope Discovery Medicine publishes innovative, provocative, and disruptive ideas, insights, and discoveries in clinical medicine, preclinical research, …main text ≤ 7,000 words
- systematic reviewContent Scope Discovery Medicine publishes innovative, provocative, and disruptive ideas, insights, and discoveries in clinical medicine, preclinical research, …Length not stated
- viewpointContent Scope Discovery Medicine publishes innovative, provocative, and disruptive ideas, insights, and discoveries in clinical medicine, preclinical research, …Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, License & copyright, Peer review, Preprints
- Authorship 3.3.2 Author Contributions
An 'author' is generally considered to be someone who has made substantive intellectual contributions to a published study. According to the ICMJE guidelines, to qualify as an author, one should have (i) made substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; and (ii) been involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest 3.3.6 Conflict of Interest
Authors must include a statement fully disclosing any known or potential conflicts of interest. More details.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability 3.3.1 Availability of Data and Materials
To promote transparency, authors are encouraged to state the availability of their data in the submission. This may be a requirement of the funding body or institution. If the data are unavailable for access or unsuitable for posting, authors should indicate the reason during the submission process (for example, by stating that the research data is confidential). More details.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright
Copyright and permissions specifications are provided in Copyright & License. Model summary
9. Copyright and Permissions For specifications, please refer to Copyright & License.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review 7. Peer-Review Process
Peer-review process specifications are provided in The Discovery Medicine Editorial Process. Model summary
For specifications, please refer to The Discovery Medicine Editorial Process.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints 5. Preprint
Preprint policy: authors should disclose detailed information about the article published on the preprint server, including URL link and licensing terms; once published, authors must update the preprint publication reference including DOI and URL link to the published version. Model summary
When submitting the manuscript to Discovery Medicine, authors should disclose the detailed information about the article published on the preprint server, including a URL link and licensing terms. Once the article is published, it is the authors' responsibility to ensure that the publication reference on the preprint servers is updated, including the DOI and a URL link to the published version of …
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
- Timonium, MD : Discovery Medicine
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Monthly
- Founded
- 2001
- ISSN
- 1539-6509
- Electronic ISSN
- 1944-7930
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Discovery Medicine
What CAS zone is Discovery Medicine in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Discovery Medicine is in Zone 4 of Medicine, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Medicine, Research & Experimental. 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 Discovery Medicine?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.73; CiteScore 5.4, h-index 18.
How long does peer review take at Discovery Medicine?
Authors report an average review time of 6–12 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly 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.
Which databases index Discovery Medicine?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Discovery Medicine is indexed in SCIE.
Is Discovery Medicine open access, and what is the APC?
Discovery Medicine is a fully open-access journal. APC charged, amount not published.
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 2026-08-28). Last updated: .