Journal profile · GASTROENTEROLOGY & HEPATOLOGY-MICROBIOLOGY
Gut Pathogens
ISSN 1757-4749 · BioMed Central · ENGLAND · Founded 2009
Gut Pathogens: CAS Zone 3 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 4.97; fully open access; APC about USD 3,390; median 112 days to acceptance (101 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: fairly easy; 116 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Gut Pathogens is published by BioMed Central 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 Gut microbiota and health, Clostridium difficile and Clostridium perfringens research and Salmonella and Campylobacter epidemiology, together about 35.1% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Gut Pathogens is a fast publishing, inclusive and prominent international journal which recognizes the need for a publishing platform uniquely tailored to reflect the full breadth of research in the biology and medicine of pathogens, commensals and functional microbiota of the gut, in the context of infections caused by gastric/enteric bacteria, viruses and other causative agents. The journal publishes basic, clinical and cutting-edge research on all aspects of the above mentioned organisms including probiotic bacteria and yeasts and their products. The scope also covers the related ecology, molecular genetics, physiology and epidemiology of these pathogens. The journal actively invites timely reports on the novel aspects of genomics, metagenomics, microbiota profiling and systems biology in the context of the infections caused by E. coli, Salmonella, Shigella, Campylobacters, Helicobacters, Vibrio and other important enteropathogens. Gut Pathogens will also consider, at the discretion of the editors, descriptive studies identifying a new genome sequence of a gut pathogen or a series of related microbial pathogens or commensals (such as those obtained from new hosts, niches, settings, outbreaks and epidemics) and those obtained from single or multiple hosts at one or different time points (chronological evolution). Short articles that briefly and concisely describe the isolation and characterization of new pathogenic species or variants thereof, or a new strain or type based on sequence analysis or association studies of host and pathogen genetic repertoires or polymorphisms (functional molecular infection epidemiology) are also welcome. Topical areas include, but are not limited to: Microbial etiology of gut ailments Gut invasion mechanisms Microbial toxins and virulence factors in infections of the gut and associated glands - liver, pancreas Bacterial adaptation to gut niches and evolution of pathogenicity Biology and ecology of gut commensals and microbiota in health and disease, in the context of infection and immunity Biology and ecology of probiotic organisms in the context of infections Host susceptibility or resistance to gut pathogens Immune mechanisms of gut infections Etiology of inflammatory bowel diseases and the underlying pathogen triggers Molecular and serological diagnosis of gut infections Treatment and drug resistance mechanisms Molecular epidemiology, transmission dynamics and evolutionary genetics of gut pathogens Vaccines for gut path
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): GASTROENTEROLOGY & HEPATOLOGY-MICROBIOLOGY
Editor-in-chief Niyaz Ahmed BVScPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 6 in mainland China (about 11%); most named India 8, United States 7, Germany 7, Mainland China 6, Italy 5 (54 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Gut microbiota and healthBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology16.1%
- Clostridium difficile and Clostridium perfringens researchMedicine10.5%
- Salmonella and Campylobacter epidemiologyAgricultural and Biological Sciences8.5%
- Escherichia coli research studiesBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology7%
- Probiotics and Fermented FoodsAgricultural and Biological Sciences6.6%
- Helicobacter pylori-related gastroenterology studiesMedicine6.6%
- Viral gastroenteritis research and epidemiologyMedicine6%
- Antibiotic Resistance in BacteriaBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5.2%
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 | Gastroenterology & Hepatology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Microbiology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Gastroenterology & Hepatology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Microbiology | 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 | Microbiology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Gastroenterology & Hepatology | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
EmbaseCASCAB AbstractsPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, Baidu, Naver, OCLC, Portico, CLOCKSS, Semantic Scholar
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
- 4.97LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 5Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 4.9Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 6.4LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.17LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.12LetPub ·
- h-index
- 31LetPub ·
- h-index
- 78OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 618OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 5.46OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 4%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 112LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 816,700Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,012 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 90 | 90 | 46 |
| 2025 | 116 | 116 | 544 |
| 2024 | 78 | 78 | 961 |
| 2023 | 66 | 66 | 905 |
| 2022 | 51 | 51 | 1,144 |
| 2021 | 77 | 77 | 2,000 |
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
112 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 78 days – 160 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 17 days (102 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 140 days
- Sample
- 101 articles with submission and acceptance dates (230 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)
- over 12 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly easyLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 6 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 5 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 2,890 / USD 3,390 / GBP 2,490 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 3,390 / EUR 2,890 / GBP 2,490 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 2,290 / USD 3,190 / EUR 2,690 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 2,490 / USD 3,390 / EUR 2,890 | — | — |
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 papers1, by deadline
- Gut virome and viral infectionsDeadline
Article types accepted9
- brief reportBrief reportLength not stated
- case reportCase reportLength not stated
- commentCommentLength not stated
- correspondenceCorrespondenceLength not stated
- genome reportGenome reportLength not stated
- hypothesisHypothesisLength not stated
- meeting reportMeeting reportLength not stated
- research articleResearch articleLength not stated
- reviewReviewLength 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 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. Gut Pathogens articles are published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND (Creative Commons Attribution Non-Comme…
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
- ENGLAND
- Language
- English
- Founded
- 2009
- ISSN
- 1757-4749
- 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 Gut Pathogens
What CAS zone is Gut Pathogens in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Gut Pathogens is in Zone 3 of Medicine, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Gastroenterology & Hepatology / Microbiology. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Medicine. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Gut Pathogens?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 4.97; CiteScore 6.4, h-index 78.
How long does peer review take at Gut Pathogens?
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 112 days (interquartile range 78–160 days); authors report an average review time of over 12 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly easy”. 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 Gut Pathogens based?
Of the 54 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 6 (about 11%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are India (8), United States (7) and Germany (7). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Gut Pathogens?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Gut Pathogens is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Embase, CAS and CAB Abstracts; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Gut Pathogens open access, and what is the APC?
Gut Pathogens is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 3,390.
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: .