Journal profile · ORTHOPEDICS
Foot & Ankle Specialist
ISSN 1938-6400 · eISSN 1938-7636 · SAGE
Foot & Ankle Specialist: CAS Zone 4 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.7 (journal website); hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,900; review about 171 days (submission to acceptance, publisher); acceptance rate 36.4% (journal website); 80 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Foot & Ankle Specialist is published by SAGE 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 Foot and Ankle Surgery, Tendon Structure and Treatment and Lower Extremity Biomechanics and Pathologies, together about 50.4% of its articles. Its main subfields are Orthopedics and Sports Medicine and Surgery. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Foot & Ankle Specialist (FAS) is a bimonthly journal offering peer-reviewed clinical information for foot and ankle caregivers. Written and edited by podiatrists and orthopaedic surgeons, FAS offers the latest techniques and advancements in foot and ankle treatment through research reports and reviews, technical perspectives, case studies, and other evidence-based articles. FAS enables practitioners to address a broad range of disorders and provide their patients with the best current diagnosis and therapy.Foot and Ankle Specialist is a must-read for foot and ankle specialists such as:Podiatric SurgeonsOrthopaedic Surgeons Plastic SurgeonsNerve SpecialistsWound SpecialistsPhysiciansNurse Practitioners Physician AssistantsPodiatric AssistantsPhysical TherapistsTopics covered in the journal include:Ankle Instability & ArthritisSports Podiatry/OrthopaedicsDiabetic Foot & Wound CareHeel Pain/Plantar Fasciitis/Heel SpursDermatology/Skin CareSurgeries and InfectionThe content is divided into four sections: Practice, Research, Business, and Equipment.This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Submit your manuscript today at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/FAS.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): ORTHOPEDICS
Editor-in-chief John R. ClementsPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 2 in mainland China (about 6%); most named United States 26, Mainland China 2, Hong Kong, China 1, United Kingdom 1, Germany 1 (34 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Foot and Ankle SurgeryMedicine26.9%
- Tendon Structure and TreatmentMedicine13%
- Lower Extremity Biomechanics and PathologiesEngineering10.5%
- Orthopedic Surgery and RehabilitationMedicine9.8%
- Bone fractures and treatmentsMedicine6.5%
- Diabetic Foot Ulcer Assessment and ManagementMedicine6.1%
- Sports injuries and preventionMedicine3.6%
- Shoulder Injury and TreatmentMedicine2.4%
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 | Orthopedics | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Orthopedics | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
Database indexing
ESCIScopusLetPub
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)
- 1.7Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 1.6Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 3.7LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.65LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.03LetPub ·
- h-index
- 48OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 529OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0.9OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 5.9%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 5.99%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 76LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,600 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 87 | 28 | 11 |
| 2025 | 80 | 31 | 48 |
| 2024 | 58 | 22 | 143 |
| 2023 | 76 | 24 | 245 |
| 2022 | 102 | 7 | 527 |
| 2021 | 83 | 6 | 537 |
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
Publisher-reported review time from the journal's website
171 dayssubmission to acceptance
The publisher's own definition applies; dates from this journal's articles in the last 24 months are not available yet, so the publisher's figure is used.
Figures by source
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 36.4%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 17 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 171 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 49 daysPublisher website ·
- Peer review
- Double anonymous peer reviewPublisher 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
Hybrid open accessLetPub
A subscription journal in which authors can pay to publish their article open access.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAlex | USD 3,900 / GBP 2,859 | — | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
A hybrid journal charges the APC only when the author chooses open access; publishing under the subscription model is usually free.
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 prepare2 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 300 words
- Reference style
- AMA
Article types accepted11
- brief communicationFoot & Ankle Specialist accepts the following article types: Case Report: Case Reports describe a potentially unusual or interesting case in the course of stand…Length not stated
- case reportFoot & Ankle Specialist accepts the following article types: Case Report: Case Reports describe a potentially unusual or interesting case in the course of stand…Length not stated
- clinical researchClinical Research: Research Articles should present novel work within the scope of the journal which represents an important advancement in knowledge or underst…Length not stated
- letter to the editorFoot & Ankle Specialist accepts the following article types: Case Report: Case Reports describe a potentially unusual or interesting case in the course of stand…Length not stated
- letters to the editorFoot & Ankle Specialist accepts the following article types: Case Report: Case Reports describe a potentially unusual or interesting case in the course of stand…Length not stated
- research articleFoot & Ankle Specialist accepts the following article types: Case Report: Case Reports describe a potentially unusual or interesting case in the course of stand…Length not stated
- reviewFoot & Ankle Specialist accepts the following article types: Case Report: Case Reports describe a potentially unusual or interesting case in the course of stand…Length not stated
- roundtable discussionRoundtable Discussion: The manuscript is typed on white paper, 22 × 28 cm (8½ × 11 in.), with margins of at least 2.5 cm (1 in.) at top, bottom, and both sides.Length not stated
- supplement article techniquesSupplement Article Techniques: The technique is a 3,000-word (4 pages max) article that must follow the following criteria: the technique must be innovative and…Length not stated
- technology (column)Technology (Column): A first-person column (1,500-word max) about technological developments or what is going on in a foot and ankle surgeon's practice.Length not stated
- viewpointFoot & Ankle Specialist accepts the following article types: Case Report: Case Reports describe a potentially unusual or interesting case in the course of stand…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Data availability, Publication ethics, Open access, Peer review, Plagiarism, Preprints, Trial registration / reporting guidelines
- Authorship Author contributions
You will be asked to list the contribution of each author as part of the submission process. Please include the Author Contributions heading within your submission after the Acknowledgements section. The information you give on submission will then show under the Author Contributions heading later at the proofing stage.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data availability
The Journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages. Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to: Share your research data in a relevant public data repository Include a data ava…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics Ethical considerations
Please include your ethics approval statements under this heading, even if you have already included ethics approval information in your methods section. If ethical approval was not required, you need to explicitly state this. All papers reporting studies involving human participants, human data or human tissue must state that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board approved th…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Publishing fees and open access
No submission or publication fees; optional OA via Sage Choice Model summary
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this journal. Optional open access publishing is available for a fee via the Sage Choice program, and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. Open Access agreement …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
Peer review type: double anonymized Model summary
The following summary describes the peer review process for this journal: Identity transparency: Double-anonymized Reviewer interacts with: Editor Review information published: None Your manuscript will undergo an initial evaluation. If it does not conform to the requirements laid out in these guidelines, it will be returned to you for amendments prior to peer review. Manuscripts may be desk rejec…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Plagiarism Plagiarism
The journal and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. Please read Sage's complete policy on plagiarism and the actions we may take.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
The journal will consider submissions of manuscripts that have been posted on preprint servers. Please enter the preprint DOI in the designated field when submitting your manuscript. We advise that you inform the Journal Editorial office about your posted preprint at submission. Note that you should not post an updated version of your manuscript on a preprint server while it is being peer reviewed…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Trial registration / reporting guidelines Clinical trial registration
The journal conforms to the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first participant enrollment as a condition of consideration for publication. The trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.
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
- SAGE
- ISSN
- 1938-6400
- Electronic ISSN
- 1938-7636
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Foot & Ankle Specialist
What CAS zone is Foot & Ankle Specialist in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Foot & Ankle Specialist is in Zone 4 of Medicine, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Orthopedics. 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 Foot & Ankle Specialist?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 1.7; this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 3.7, h-index 48.
How long does peer review take at Foot & Ankle Specialist?
The publisher reports about 171 days (submission to acceptance); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 36.4%. 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 are the manuscript requirements of Foot & Ankle Specialist?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 300 words; Reference style: AMA. A model extracted these from the author guidelines and each was checked against the text; check the latest version on the journal's website before submitting.
Where are the editorial board members of Foot & Ankle Specialist based?
Of the 34 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 2 (about 6%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (26), Mainland China (2) and Hong Kong, China (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Foot & Ankle Specialist?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Foot & Ankle Specialist is indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Is Foot & Ankle Specialist open access, and what is the APC?
Foot & Ankle Specialist is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,900.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, 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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .