Journal profile · Medicine-Rehabilitation
Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences
ISSN 2673-6861 · Frontiers Media S.A. · Switzerland
Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences: CAS Zone 4 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.5 (journal website); fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; median 90 days to acceptance (119 articles, last 24 months); 176 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences is published by Frontiers Media S.A. 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 Stroke Rehabilitation and Recovery, Cerebral Palsy and Movement Disorders and Spinal Cord Injury Research, together about 35.7% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences is a multidisciplinary journal publishing research that investigates rehabilitation from biological, clinical, and socio-humanistic perspectives. Rehabilitation is the health strategy of the 21st century, optimizing people's functioning in a future where people live longer, but with more disabilities. Led by Field Chief Editor Gerold Stucki (University of Lucerne and Swiss Paraplegic Research, Switzerland), Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences combines theoretical approaches and clinical practice with policy implementation to close the gap between research and practice. Its mission is to contribute to the better health, functioning, and wellbeing of people that experience disability. This journal covers the following subject areas: disability, rehabilitation, and inclusion human functioning interventions for rehabilitation medical and surgical rehabilitation pulmonary rehabilitation rehabilitation engineering rehabilitation for musculoskeletal conditions rehabilitation in children and youth rehabilitation in neurological conditions strengthening rehabilitation in health systems translational research in rehabilitation work rehabilitation. Submissions that adopt diverse methodologies, including qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, and policy briefs, are invited. The journal also welcomes submissions which support the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 3: good health and well-being. Frontiers’ journals require that manuscripts primarily comprising computational studies of public data, must include appropriate validation. Please refer to the Frontiers Standards for research methodology policy, for more information. Manuscripts not adhering to these standards will not be considered. Manuscripts that focus solely on early childhood development, pediatric care, or geriatric care without a clear connection to rehabilitation sciences are not suitable for publication in this journal. Additionally, studies that primarily focus on psychological, sociological, or educational aspects without a clear link to physical rehabilitation are also considered out of scope. Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences is committed to advancing developments in the field of rehabilitation sciences by communicating scientific knowledge to researchers and the public alike, to enable the scientific breakthroughs of the future. Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Medicine-Rehabilitation
Editorial board by country: 1 in mainland China (about 6%); most named Hong Kong, China 2, United States 2, Italy 2, Switzerland 2, Belgium 2 (17 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Stroke Rehabilitation and RecoveryMedicine15.2%
- Cerebral Palsy and Movement DisordersMedicine14.1%
- Spinal Cord Injury ResearchMedicine6.4%
- Balance, Gait, and Falls PreventionHealth Professions5.8%
- Assistive Technology in Communication and MobilityHealth Professions4.7%
- Muscle activation and electromyography studiesEngineering4.6%
- Occupational Therapy Practice and ResearchHealth Professions4.5%
- Traumatic Brain Injury ResearchMedicine4.4%
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 | Rehabilitation | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Rehabilitation | 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
ESCIScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Web of SciencePMCPublisher 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 (publisher)
- 2.5Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 3.5LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 3.5Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.66LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.95LetPub ·
- h-index
- 32OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 235OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.34OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 0%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 153LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,258 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 282 | 282 | 65 |
| 2025 | 176 | 176 | 342 |
| 2024 | 199 | 199 | 1,133 |
| 2023 | 204 | 204 | 1,650 |
| 2022 | 294 | 294 | 2,836 |
| 2021 | 103 | 103 | 1,395 |
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
90 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 57 days – 138 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 21 days (119 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 111 days
- Sample
- 119 articles with submission and acceptance dates (482 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 13 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 13 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 1,950 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | CHF 1,950 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 2,125 | 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
- 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 third-party material. 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 all articles from July 2012 onwards; authors retain copyright. 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 maintain published content and alert readers to changes. 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
- 2673-6861
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗DOAJ
- 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 ↗DOAJ
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences
What CAS zone is Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences is in Zone 4 of Medicine, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Rehabilitation. 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 Rehabilitation Sciences?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 2.5; this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 3.5, h-index 32.
How long does peer review take at Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences?
Based on the dates recorded on 119 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 90 days (interquartile range 57–138 days); authors report an average review time of about 13 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 Rehabilitation Sciences based?
Of the 17 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 1 (about 6%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Hong Kong, China (2), United States (2) and Italy (2). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Web of Science and PMC; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences open access, and what is the APC?
Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences 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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .