Journal profile · PHYSIOLOGY
Frontiers in Physiology
ISSN 1664-042X · Frontiers Media S.A. · SWITZERLAND
Frontiers in Physiology: CAS Zone 3 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 4.27; fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; median 59 days to acceptance (199 articles, last 24 months); 1,173 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Frontiers in Physiology is published by Frontiers Media S.A. and is in Zone 3 of Medicine in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Sports Performance and Training, Cardiovascular and exercise physiology and Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control, together about 26.2% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Frontiers in Physiology explores the physiology of living systems across all levels, from the molecular and subcellular to the intact organism and its interaction with the environment. Led by Field Chief Editor Prof John D Imig (University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, USA) and indexed in Scopus, Web of Science (SCIE), PubMed Central (PMC), and DOAJ, the journal welcomes human and animal studies across all areas of physiology, including technologies for investigating physiological function. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: avian, aquatic, and invertebrate physiology biophysics, medical physics and imaging cancer-related physiology and pathophysiology cardiac electrophysiology cell, membrane, metabolic, mitochondrial and redox physiology chronobiology computational physiology and medicine craniofacial, tooth, skin, skeletal, and striated muscle physiology developmental physiology environmental, aviation, and space physiology exercise physiology gastrointestinal and physiology integrative, clinical, and translational physiology neurophysiology and autonomic neuroscience physio-logging reproductive and mating physiology respiratory, vascular, renal and red blood cell physiology. Frontiers in Physiology particularly welcomes studies that support and advance the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), notably SDG 3: good health and well-being. Manuscripts that focus solely on clinical or medical research, including cancer studies, traditional medicine, and patient prognosis, are not suitable for publication in this journal. Additionally, research that is purely statistical or computational, such as regression analysis or network analysis, without a clear physiological context or application, is not within the scope of this journal. Frontiers in Physiology welcomes cancer-related research which focuses on the physiology and pathophysiology of the disease from cellular mechanisms to altered organ physiology. Should a manuscript purely focus on cancer etiology, cancer bioinformatics identifying novel biomarkers, cancer treatments, and cancer disease progression, it will not be considered in scope for the journal. Similarly, manuscripts on disease etiology, purely pathological processes, identification of novel biomarkers, and the progression, treatment, or management of disease – including clinical trials, and pilot studies – or purely bibliometric studies are not suitable for publication in this journal, and will be redirected to Frontie
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): PHYSIOLOGY
Editorial board by country: 3 in mainland China (about 18%); most named United States 5, Mainland China 3, Japan 2, Germany 2, Italy 2 (17 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Sports Performance and TrainingMedicine9.1%
- Cardiovascular and exercise physiologyMedicine9%
- Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic ControlMedicine8.1%
- Cardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmiasMedicine6.1%
- Adipose Tissue and MetabolismMedicine5.9%
- Sports injuries and preventionMedicine5.5%
- Exercise and Physiological ResponsesMedicine4.9%
- Neurobiology and Insect Physiology ResearchNeuroscience4.3%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Physiology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Physiology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Physiology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Web of SciencePMCEmbasePublisher website
Other: EBSCO, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, CLOCKSS, Crossref
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
- 4.27LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 4.3Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 8LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 8Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.07LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.32LetPub ·
- h-index
- 75LetPub ·
- h-index
- 238OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 12,270OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 4OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 2.3%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 99.97%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 1,080LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 20,258 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1,232 | 1,232 | 501 |
| 2025 | 1,173 | 1,173 | 4,326 |
| 2024 | 1,034 | 1,034 | 8,941 |
| 2023 | 1,900 | 1,900 | 24,079 |
| 2022 | 2,950 | 2,950 | 46,896 |
| 2021 | 2,489 | 2,489 | 58,781 |
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 PubMed · to
59 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 40 days – 90 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 18 days (199 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 78 days
- Sample
- 199 articles with submission and acceptance dates (2,569 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 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 | CHF 3,150 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | CHF 3,150 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 3,295 | Yes | — |
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
- Keywords
- 5–8
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Conflicts of interest, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review
- AI use Use of AI to create written or visual content
Authors should not list a generative AI technology as a co-author or author of any submitted manuscript. Generative AI technologies cannot be held accountable for all aspects of a manuscript and consequently do not meet the criteria required for authorship. If the author of a submitted manuscript has used written or visual content produced by or edited using a generative AI technology, this use mu…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Safeguards against financial conflicts of interest
Only leading researchers acting as Associate Editors, who are not part of Frontiers' staff, can make acceptance decisions based on reviews performed by external experts acting as Community Reviewers or Reviewers. None have a financial incentive to accept articles, i.e. they are not paid for their role as Associate Editor or community Reviewer, and any award scheme is not linked to acceptances of m…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Open access and copyright
Figures, tables, and images published under CC-BY; permission required for copyrighted material from other sources. Model summary
All Frontiers' articles from July 2012 onwards are published with open access under the Creative Commons CC-BY license (the current version is CC-BY, version 4.0). This means that the author(s) retains copyright, but the content is free to download, distribute, and adapt for commercial or non-commercial purposes, given appropriate attribution to the original article. Upon submission, the author(s)…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open access and copyright
Open access under CC-BY license (version 4.0) for articles from July 2012 onwards. Model summary
All Frontiers' articles from July 2012 onwards are published with open access under the Creative Commons CC-BY license (the current version is CC-BY, version 4.0). This means that the author(s) retains copyright, but the content is free to download, distribute, and adapt for commercial or non-commercial purposes, given appropriate attribution to the original article. Upon submission, the author(s)…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review
CrossMark policy to locate current version of content. Model summary
Our rigorous, transparent peer review process combines expert review and constructive dialogue to strengthen your manuscript.
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
- Frontiers Media S.A.
- Country or region
- SWITZERLAND
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1664-042X
- 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 Frontiers in Physiology
What CAS zone is Frontiers in Physiology in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Frontiers in Physiology is in Zone 3 of Medicine, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Physiology. 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 Frontiers in Physiology?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 4.27; CiteScore 8, h-index 238.
How long does peer review take at Frontiers in Physiology?
Based on the dates recorded on 199 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 59 days (interquartile range 40–90 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 Frontiers in Physiology based?
Of the 17 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 3 (about 18%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (5), Mainland China (3) and Japan (2). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Frontiers in Physiology?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Frontiers in Physiology is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Web of Science, PMC and Embase; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Frontiers in Physiology open access, and what is the APC?
Frontiers in Physiology 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, 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: .