Journal profile · Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Drug Delivery
ISSN 1071-7544 · eISSN 1521-0464 · Informa Healthcare · UNITED STATES · Bimonthly · Founded 1993
Drug Delivery: CAS Zone 2 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 7.91; JCR Q1 (journal website); fully open access; APC about USD 3,300; median 130 days to acceptance (101 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: fairly easy; 114 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Drug Delivery is published by Informa Healthcare 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 Advanced Drug Delivery Systems, Nanoparticle-Based Drug Delivery and Advancements in Transdermal Drug Delivery, together about 44.2% of its articles. Its main subfields are Pharmaceutical Science and Molecular Biology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Drug Delivery publishes open access comprehensive peer-reviewed research articles on the development and application principles of drug delivery and targeting at molecular, cellular, and higher levels. Drug Delivery aims to serve both the academic and industrial communities and accepts research on the following topics: All aspects of drug delivery systems design and engineering for main routes of administration, including oral, pulmonary, nasal, parenteral, and transdermal delivery All aspects of formulations, such as controlled release systems and 3D printed dosage forms Nanomedicine and targeted drug delivery including lipid- and polymer-based nanoparticles, macromolecular conjugates, antibodies and nucleic acid delivery and gene editing systems Development of new materials with emphasis on biologics and biopharmaceutical delivery Biomimetic strategies for the design of drug delivery systems Personalized and recession drug delivery Theranostics Fundamental studies on interactions between drug delivery systems and nanomedicines with biological systems in vitro and in vivo Systems approaches to drug delivery and targeting Toxicology and safety of drug delivery systems Artificial intelligence, machine learning and mathematical and computational analysis in drug delivery and formulation engineering Controlled drug delivery in veterinary medicine Alternative methods to animal testing in drug delivery Industrial and regulatory issues Papers on drug dosage forms and their optimization will not be considered unless they directly relate to the original drug delivery issues listed above. In addition to comprehensive and cutting-edge research articles, the journal welcomes for consideration the following paper types: Critical reviews, Systematic reviews, Brief reports (cutting-edge short papers describing significant advances in an area of drug delivery of broad interest), Case report, Discussion (perspective), Data note and Editorials. Perspectives and Editorials are by invitation only. Chief criteria for acceptance are novelty, originality, quality and clarity. All articles received by the Journal will be subject to a single-anonymous peer review. The journal does not accept bibliometric analyses.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Editor-in-chief Moein MoghimiPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 6 in mainland China (about 13%); most named United States 13, Mainland China 6, United Kingdom 3, Germany 3, Italy 3 (46 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Advanced Drug Delivery SystemsPharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics18.5%
- Nanoparticle-Based Drug DeliveryMaterials Science14.3%
- Advancements in Transdermal Drug DeliveryPharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics11.4%
- RNA Interference and Gene DeliveryBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology8.7%
- Drug Solubulity and Delivery SystemsPharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics8.5%
- Nanoplatforms for cancer theranosticsEngineering5.4%
- Lipid Membrane Structure and BehaviorBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology3.1%
- Advanced biosensing and bioanalysis techniquesBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology2.9%
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 | Pharmacology & Pharmacy | Zone 1 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Pharmacology & Pharmacy | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Pharmacology & Pharmacy | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
JCR / CiteScore quartiles on the journal's website
- JCR Q1 · best quartile · 2025
- CiteScore Q1 · 2025
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
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
MEDLINEPubMedEmbaseCASPublisher website
Other: Academic Search Complete, Biochemistry and Biophysics Citation Index, Biomedical Reference Collection: Comprehensive, Biotechnology Abstracts, HINARI, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, SciSearch
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
- 7.91LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 8Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 8.3Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 20.2LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 20.2Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.34LetPub ·
- SJR (publisher) 2025
- 1.34Publisher website ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.43LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher) 2025
- 1.43Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 52LetPub ·
- h-index
- 132OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 2,385OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 6.08OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 0%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 85LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher)
- 1,400,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 3,203 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 91 | 91 | 84 |
| 2025 | 114 | 114 | 731 |
| 2024 | 45 | 45 | 704 |
| 2023 | 108 | 108 | 2,919 |
| 2022 | 275 | 275 | 10,102 |
| 2021 | 226 | 226 | 8,060 |
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
130 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 96 days – 184 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 13 days (101 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 154 days
- Sample
- 101 articles with submission and acceptance dates (167 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 3 monthsLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly easyLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 19%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 9 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review 2025
- 82 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 10 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 9 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 3,300 / GBP 2,640 / EUR 3,170 / AUD 4,595 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC | |
| OpenAlex | GBP 2,335 | — | — | |
| LetPub | EUR 2,875 / USD 2,990 / GBP 2,392 | 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)
What to prepare1 items from the author guidelines
- Not considered
- Papers on drug dosage forms and their optimization; bibliometric analyses
Article types accepted7
- brief reportsIn addition to comprehensive and cutting-edge research articles, the journal welcomes for consideration the following paper types: Critical reviews, Systematic …Length not stated
- case reportIn addition to comprehensive and cutting-edge research articles, the journal welcomes for consideration the following paper types: Critical reviews, Systematic …Length not stated
- critical reviewsIn addition to comprehensive and cutting-edge research articles, the journal welcomes for consideration the following paper types: Critical reviews, Systematic …Length not stated
- data noteIn addition to comprehensive and cutting-edge research articles, the journal welcomes for consideration the following paper types: Critical reviews, Systematic …Length not stated
- discussion (perspective)In addition to comprehensive and cutting-edge research articles, the journal welcomes for consideration the following paper types: Critical reviews, Systematic …Length not stated
- editorialsIn addition to comprehensive and cutting-edge research articles, the journal welcomes for consideration the following paper types: Critical reviews, Systematic …Length not stated
- systematic reviewsIn addition to comprehensive and cutting-edge research articles, the journal welcomes for consideration the following paper types: Critical reviews, Systematic …Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteOpen access, Peer review
- Open access Open access
Drug Delivery is an open access journal and only publishes open access articles. Publishing open access means that your article will be free to access online immediately on publication, increasing the visibility, readership, and impact of your research. Why choose open access? Increase the discoverability and readership of your article Make an impact and reach new readers, not just those with easy…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review
Single-anonymous peer review Model summary
All articles received by the Journal will be subject to a single-anonymous peer review.
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
- Informa Healthcare
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Bimonthly
- Founded
- 1993
- ISSN
- 1071-7544
- Electronic ISSN
- 1521-0464
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 33, Issue 1 (2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- 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 Drug Delivery
What CAS zone is Drug Delivery in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Drug Delivery is in Zone 2 of Medicine, and in Zone 1 of the minor category Pharmacology & Pharmacy. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 1 of Medicine. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Drug Delivery?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 7.91; CiteScore 20.2, h-index 132.
How long does peer review take at Drug Delivery?
Based on the dates recorded on 101 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 130 days (interquartile range 96–184 days); authors report an average review time of about 3 months; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly easy”; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 19%. 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 Drug Delivery in?
The journal's website gives JCR Q1 (best quartile). JCR quartiles are Clarivate's to confirm and a different system from the CAS zones; in the CAS ranking the journal is in Zone 2 of Medicine.
Where are the editorial board members of Drug Delivery based?
Of the 46 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 6 (about 13%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (13), Mainland China (6) and United Kingdom (3). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Drug Delivery?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Drug Delivery is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists MEDLINE, PubMed, Embase and CAS; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Drug Delivery open access, and what is the APC?
Drug Delivery is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 3,300.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, OpenAlex, DOAJ; 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: .