Journal profile · Health Care Sciences & Services
Health and Quality of Life Outcomes
ISSN 1477-7525 · BioMed Central · ENGLAND · Irregular · Founded 2003
Health and Quality of Life Outcomes: CAS Zone 2 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 3.91; fully open access; APC about USD 3,390; median 138 days to acceptance (116 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: fairly easy; 141 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE, SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 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 Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life, Cancer survivorship and care and Childhood Cancer Survivors' Quality of Life, together about 36.1% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Health and Quality of Life Outcomes is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal primarily focused on original research related to the measurement and valuation of HRQoL and wider measures of health, including quality of life, wellbeing, and carer-related outcomes, provided the central focus is on health. We welcome contributions in the following areas: Articles creating or applying theoretical frameworks to develop, validate, or use instruments specific to HRQoL, wellbeing, or carer-related outcomes; Submissions evaluating the psychometric properties of new or existing instruments measuring HRQoL, well-being, or carer-related outcomes (using any applicable method, such as item-response theory, structural equation modelling, etc.); Articles describing theoretical or applied valuation research using existing preference elicitation exercises (e.g., time trade-off, discrete choice experiment) to explore societal and patient preferences or to estimate value sets; Development of new empirical approaches to validating health, wellbeing, or carer-related outcomes; Hypothesis-based or theory-driven primary or secondary epidemiological research containing HRQoL, wellbeing, or carer-related outcomes (measured using generic or disease-specific HRQoL/wellbeing instruments), but not research exclusively measuring clinical outcomes such as disease incidence or prevalence, mortality, etc.; and Systematic reviews or meta-analyses of studies containing HRQoL, wellbeing, or carer-related outcomes, given the same restrictions outlined in point 5 above. Please note the following important items: 1. To encourage the submission of high-quality work, all manuscripts submitted to the journal should conform to relevant reporting guidelines (e.g., PRISMA, MOOSE, STROBE, CONSORT, SRQR, COREQ); 2. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and randomized controlled trials, must be pre-registered or preceded by a published protocol; 3. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes will immediately reject study protocols or manuscripts focused exclusively on providing univariate or bivariate descriptions of data; 4. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes will consider manuscripts reporting the results of cross-sectional, epidemiologic studies on associations between health-related quality-of-life, wellbeing, or carer-related measures, and other health variables; however, these manuscripts will generally be given lower priority for initiation of peer review; 5. Manuscripts whose intent is to validate the use
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Health Care Sciences & Services
Editor-in-chief Mark OremusPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 7 in mainland China (about 8%); most named Canada 8, Mainland China 7, United States 7, Germany 7, Italy 7 (85 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of LifeEconomics, Econometrics and Finance16.2%
- Cancer survivorship and careMedicine12.5%
- Childhood Cancer Survivors' Quality of LifeMedicine7.4%
- Diabetes Management and EducationMedicine6.1%
- Health disparities and outcomesSocial Sciences5.5%
- Chronic Disease Management StrategiesMedicine5.1%
- Cardiac Health and Mental HealthMedicine3.8%
- Dental Health and Care UtilizationDentistry3.4%
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 | Health Care Sciences & Services | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Health Policy & Services | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Health Care Sciences & Services | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Health Policy & Services | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Health Care Sciences & Services | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Health Policy & Services | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIESSCIScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
MEDLINEEmbasePsycINFOCASPublisher 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
- 3.91LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 3.9Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 4.9Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 6.3LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 1.6Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.11LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.69LetPub ·
- h-index
- 97LetPub ·
- h-index
- 184OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 3,001OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.28OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 5.1%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 138LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 3,600,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 3,905 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 163 | 163 | 25 |
| 2025 | 141 | 141 | 457 |
| 2024 | 113 | 113 | 884 |
| 2023 | 135 | 135 | 1,722 |
| 2022 | 171 | 171 | 3,086 |
| 2021 | 273 | 273 | 6,876 |
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
138 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 96 days – 201 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 14 days (116 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 155 days
- Sample
- 116 articles with submission and acceptance dates (324 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)
- 3–8 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly easyLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 7 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 22 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 2,590 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 3,190 / EUR 2,690 / GBP 2,390 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 2,190 / USD 2,990 / EUR 2,490 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 2,590 / 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 papers2, by deadline
Publisher websiteWhat to prepare2 items from the author guidelines
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
- Not considered
- study protocols
Article types accepted6
- brief reportResearch article Comment Review Brief Report Study protocol Matters ArisingLength not stated
- commentResearch article Comment Review Brief Report Study protocol Matters ArisingLength not stated
- matters arisingResearch article Comment Review Brief Report Study protocol Matters ArisingLength not stated
- research articleResearch article Comment Review Brief Report Study protocol Matters ArisingLength not stated
- reviewResearch article Comment Review Brief Report Study protocol Matters ArisingLength not stated
- study protocolResearch article Comment Review Brief Report Study protocol Matters ArisingLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Data availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Plagiarism, Preprints
- Authorship
Cross-sectional epidemiologic studies considered but given lower priority for peer review Model summary
Health and Quality of Life Outcomes will consider manuscripts reporting the results of cross-sectional, epidemiologic studies on associations between health-related quality-of-life, wellbeing, or carer-related measures, and other health variables; however, these manuscripts will generally be given lower priority for initiation of peer review;
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Formatting the 'Availability of data and materials' section of your manuscript
Reporting guidelines required (e.g., PRISMA, MOOSE, STROBE, CONSORT, SRQR, COREQ) Model summary
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
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. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes articles are published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND (Creative Commons…
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 ·- Plagiarism
Immediate rejection of study protocols or manuscripts focused exclusively on univariate or bivariate descriptions of data Model summary
Health and Quality of Life Outcomes will immediately reject study protocols or manuscripts focused exclusively on providing univariate or bivariate descriptions of data;
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints
Systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and RCTs must be pre-registered or preceded by a published protocol Model summary
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and randomized controlled trials, must be pre-registered or preceded by a published protocol;
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
- Frequency
- Irregular
- Founded
- 2003
- ISSN
- 1477-7525
- 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 Health and Quality of Life Outcomes
What CAS zone is Health and Quality of Life Outcomes in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Health and Quality of Life Outcomes is in Zone 2 of Medicine, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Health Care Sciences & Services / Health Policy & Services. 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 Health and Quality of Life Outcomes?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 3.91; CiteScore 6.3, h-index 184.
How long does peer review take at Health and Quality of Life Outcomes?
Based on the dates recorded on 116 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 138 days (interquartile range 96–201 days); authors report an average review time of 3–8 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 Health and Quality of Life Outcomes based?
Of the 85 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 7 (about 8%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Canada (8), Mainland China (7) and United States (7). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Health and Quality of Life Outcomes?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Health and Quality of Life Outcomes is indexed in SCIE, SSCI, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO and CAS; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Health and Quality of Life Outcomes open access, and what is the APC?
Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 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: .