Journal profile · Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
Heart
ISSN 1355-6037 · eISSN 1468-201X · BMJ Publishing Group · ENGLAND · Semimonthly · Founded 1996
Heart: CAS Zone 2 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal); impact factor 4.22; hybrid open access; median 147 days to acceptance (79 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: fairly hard; 333 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Heart is published by BMJ Publishing Group and is in Zone 2 of Medicine in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Cardiac Imaging and Diagnostics, Cardiac Valve Diseases and Treatments and Cardiovascular Function and Risk Factors, together about 24.7% of its articles. Its main subfields are Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Heart keeps cardiologists up to date with important research advances in cardiovascular disease and also provides key educational resources
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
Editor-in-chief Kazem RahimiPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Cardiac Imaging and DiagnosticsMedicine9%
- Cardiac Valve Diseases and TreatmentsMedicine8%
- Cardiovascular Function and Risk FactorsMedicine7.7%
- Congenital Heart Disease StudiesMedicine6.9%
- Cardiac Arrhythmias and TreatmentsMedicine6.3%
- Acute Myocardial Infarction ResearchMedicine5.6%
- Cardiac pacing and defibrillation studiesMedicine4.9%
- Atrial Fibrillation Management and OutcomesMedicine4.9%
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 | Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusLetPub
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
- 4.22LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 4.4Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 10LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 10Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.56LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.61LetPub ·
- h-index
- 165LetPub ·
- h-index
- 280OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 13,005OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.93OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 4.5%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 27.59%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 230LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 26,476 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 235 | 80 | 124 |
| 2025 | 333 | 128 | 867 |
| 2024 | 180 | 84 | 1,204 |
| 2023 | 356 | 135 | 3,055 |
| 2022 | 350 | 139 | 4,806 |
| 2021 | 420 | 164 | 7,614 |
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
147 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 103 days – 183 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 113 days (79 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 266 days
- Sample
- 79 articles with submission and acceptance dates (653 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)
- 3–6 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly hardLetPub ·
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.
No source has fee information yet; check the journal's website.
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.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- BMJ Publishing Group
- Country or region
- ENGLAND
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Semimonthly
- Founded
- 1996
- ISSN
- 1355-6037
- Electronic ISSN
- 1468-201X
- Society / sponsor
- British Cardiovascular Society
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Heart
What CAS zone is Heart in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Heart is in Zone 2 of Medicine, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems; it is a Top journal. 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 Heart?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 4.22; CiteScore 10, h-index 280.
How long does peer review take at Heart?
Based on the dates recorded on 79 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 147 days (interquartile range 103–183 days); authors report an average review time of 3–6 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly hard”. 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.
Which databases index Heart?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Heart is indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Is Heart open access, and what is the APC?
Heart is a hybrid journal. Fee information is not available yet; check the journal's website.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, 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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .