Journal profile · Neuroscience-Developmental Neuroscience
Fluids and Barriers of the CNS
ISSN 2045-8118 · BioMed Central · United Kingdom · Founded 2004
Fluids and Barriers of the CNS: CAS Zone 2 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 7.19; fully open access; APC about USD 3,490; median 110 days to acceptance (101 articles, last 24 months); 136 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Fluids and Barriers of the CNS is published by BioMed Central 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 Cerebrospinal fluid and hydrocephalus, Barrier Structure and Function Studies and Traumatic Brain Injury and Neurovascular Disturbances, together about 50.7% of its articles. Its main subfields are Neurology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Fluids and Barriers of the CNS is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that considers manuscripts on all CNS fluids and barrier systems in health and disease. Homeostatic maintenance of the internal environment of the nervous system through normal functioning of brain fluids and barriers is vital for health of the organism. The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), its composition, circulation and absorption, has multiple roles in both normal and abnormal brain function and is closely associated with the parenchymal interstitial fluid and the neurovascular unit at the blood-brain barrier. The CNS fluids and barrier systems including the blood-CSF barrier, the blood-brain barrier, the blood-retinal barrier and the blood-nerve barriers, perform functions such as fluid secretion, chemical signalling, physical and chemical buffering, specialised directional transport and facilitation of immune surveillance. The fluids and barrier systems are important in neurodevelopment and neurodevelopmental disorders such as congenital and perinatal hydrocephalus and neural tube defects, in aging and aging disorders such dementia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and normal pressure hydrocephalus. Throughout life they have an important role in brain inflammation, brain injury and repair, and neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis. The CSF can be used for the diagnosis of neurological diseases, and together with the blood-brain barrier, as a route for drug delivery to the brain. Fluids and Barriers of the CNS provides a dedicated avenue for the dissemination of research into all molecular, physiological and pharmacological aspects of brain fluids and barrier systems and their role in neurological disorders. Brain fluids and barriers in general, are subject areas that have not previously had a specialist publishing platform. Until recently, articles have been published in a variety of different journals. This journal provides a dedicated platform, offering high-quality peer-review of manuscripts. It brings together basic science and clinical experts in brain fluids and barrier systems, promotes synthesis, dialogue and translational research.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Neuroscience-Developmental Neuroscience
Editorial board by country: 4 in mainland China (about 3%); most named United States 47, Sweden 10, United Kingdom 9, Japan 7, Germany 6 (128 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Cerebrospinal fluid and hydrocephalusNeuroscience26.3%
- Barrier Structure and Function StudiesNeuroscience14.1%
- Traumatic Brain Injury and Neurovascular DisturbancesMedicine10.4%
- Fetal and Pediatric Neurological DisordersMedicine4.7%
- Spinal Dysraphism and MalformationsMedicine3.8%
- Neurosurgical Procedures and ComplicationsMedicine3.8%
- Intracerebral and Subarachnoid Hemorrhage ResearchMedicine3.6%
- Head and Neck Surgical OncologyMedicine3%
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 | Neurosciences | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Neurosciences | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Medicine Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Neurosciences | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
MEDLINEEmbaseCASPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, Baidu, Naver, OCLC, Portico, CLOCKSS
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
- 7.19LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 7.2Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 8.8Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 11.1LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 2.44LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.61LetPub ·
- h-index
- 89OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 615OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 6.78OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 6.9%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 129LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 1,400,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,123 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 137 | 137 | 81 |
| 2025 | 136 | 136 | 759 |
| 2024 | 111 | 111 | 1,762 |
| 2023 | 98 | 98 | 2,022 |
| 2022 | 103 | 103 | 4,009 |
| 2021 | 62 | 62 | 2,124 |
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
110 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 79 days – 140 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 15 days (101 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 125 days
- Sample
- 101 articles with submission and acceptance dates (299 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 14 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 6 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 14 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 2,990 / USD 3,490 / GBP 2,690 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 3,390 / EUR 2,890 / GBP 2,590 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 2,490 / USD 3,290 / EUR 2,790 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 2,690 / USD 349 / USD 3,490 / EUR 2,990 | — | — |
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 papers2, by deadline
Publisher websiteWhat to prepare1 items from the author guidelines
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
Article types accepted7
- brief reportResearch Comment Review Brief report Study protocol Correspondence Matters ArisingLength not stated
- commentResearch Comment Review Brief report Study protocol Correspondence Matters ArisingLength not stated
- correspondenceResearch Comment Review Brief report Study protocol Correspondence Matters ArisingLength not stated
- matters arisingResearch Comment Review Brief report Study protocol Correspondence Matters ArisingLength not stated
- researchResearch Comment Review Brief report Study protocol Correspondence Matters ArisingLength not stated
- reviewResearch Comment Review Brief report Study protocol Correspondence Matters ArisingLength not stated
- study protocolResearch Comment Review Brief report Study protocol Correspondence Matters ArisingLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteData availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review
- Data availability Formatting the 'Availability of data and materials' section of your manuscript
The following format for the 'Availability of data and materials section of your manuscript should be used:
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Licensing and copyright
Open access articles published under CC BY-NC-ND or CC BY licences; authors retain copyright. Model summary
Creative Commons licences Open access articles in Springer Nature journals are published under Creative Commons licences. These provide an industry-standard framework to support easy re-use of open access material. Under Creative Commons licences, authors retain copyright of their articles. Fluids and Barriers of the CNS articles are published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND (Creative Commons Attr…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Benefits of open access
Publishing open access (OA) offers a number of benefits, including greater reach and readership for your work: Cited more 1.6x more citations of OA articles than non-OA articles across all subjects Downloaded more 4x more downloads of OA articles than non-OA articles Greater impact 2.5x more Altmetric attention. OA articles attracted 1.9x more news mentions and 1.2x more policy mentions Open acces…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
Peer review is the process used to evaluate the quality of a manuscript before publication. Independent researchers in the relevant field assess submitted manuscripts to check their validity and robustness. Their feedback guides editors in making publication decisions. Typically, two or more experts evaluate each manuscript based on three main criteria: scientific robustness: is the research metho…
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
- BioMed Central
- Country or region
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- Founded
- 2004
- ISSN
- 2045-8118
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- 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 Fluids and Barriers of the CNS
What CAS zone is Fluids and Barriers of the CNS in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Fluids and Barriers of the CNS is in Zone 2 of Medicine, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Neurosciences. 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 Fluids and Barriers of the CNS?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 7.19; CiteScore 11.1, h-index 89.
How long does peer review take at Fluids and Barriers of the CNS?
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 110 days (interquartile range 79–140 days); authors report an average review time of about 14 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.
Where are the editorial board members of Fluids and Barriers of the CNS based?
Of the 128 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 4 (about 3%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (47), Sweden (10) and United Kingdom (9). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Fluids and Barriers of the CNS?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Fluids and Barriers of the CNS is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists MEDLINE, Embase and CAS; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Fluids and Barriers of the CNS open access, and what is the APC?
Fluids and Barriers of the CNS is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 3,490.
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: .