Journal profile · Medicine-Health Policy
Implementation Science Communications
ISSN 2662-2211 · BMC · United Kingdom
Implementation Science Communications: CAS Zone 2 · Medicine (2026 Xinrui edition); impact factor 3.5 (journal website); fully open access; APC about USD 2,390; median 163 days to acceptance (107 articles, last 24 months); 164 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Implementation Science Communications is published by BMC and is classed under Medicine in the CAS Journal Ranking. By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Health Policy Implementation Science, Mental Health and Patient Involvement and Community Health and Development, together about 54.2% of its articles. Its main subfields are General Health Professions. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Implementation Science Communications, an official companion journal to Implementation Science, is a forum to publish research relevant to the systematic study of approaches to foster uptake of evidence based practices and policies that affect health care delivery and health outcomes, in clinical, organizational, or policy contexts. Health related research constantly produces new findings but often these are not routinely used in practice. Implementation research is the scientific study of methods to promote the systematic uptake of effective clinical treatments, practices, organizational, and management interventions into routine practice, and hence to improve health. This also encompasses the de-implementation of interventions demonstrated to be of low or no clinical benefit and the study of influences on patient, healthcare professional, and organizational behavior in either healthcare or population settings. Scientific inquiry related to implementation of evidence based practice and policy is an inherently interdisciplinary research area. Implementation Science Communications will publish articles based on sound science using appropriate methods to produce valid and ideally generalizable answers to research questions. We focus on implementation intervention development, process evaluations, economic evaluations, and theory-based studies. We consider implementation to be on a continuum that ranges from planned implementation to evaluations of natural experiments to planned de-implementation of practices without clear evidence of benefit, and which may have evidence of harm. While we are interested in broadly applicable knowledge, we recognize that smaller studies, with limited generalizability or transferability, conducted with scientific principles, still inform the field. Our goal is to support publishing these smaller, more narrowly focused, articles. We welcome study protocols, but these will only be considered if the study has received ethics approval and been approved for funding through external peer review via an established funding body at a regional or national level in the respective country. We do not consider protocols for systematic reviews or protocols for studies that have begun data cleaning or analysis, considering the value of a protocol to be in in early or prospective publication. As a result, we will only consider protocol papers submitted within 12 months of the funding decision. We are advocates for theoretically informed researc
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Medicine-Health Policy
Editor-in-chief Elvin GengPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 14 in mainland China (about 7%); most named United States 70, Australia 30, Canada 20, United Kingdom 17, Mainland China 14 (190 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Health Policy Implementation ScienceHealth Professions37.2%
- Mental Health and Patient InvolvementHealth Professions9.9%
- Community Health and DevelopmentHealth Professions7.1%
- HIV/AIDS Research and InterventionsMedicine4%
- Health Sciences Research and EducationHealth Professions3.5%
- Evaluation and Performance AssessmentDecision Sciences3.4%
- Primary Care and Health OutcomesHealth Professions3.4%
- Global Maternal and Child HealthMedicine3%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
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)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
Google Scholar, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, Baidu, Naver, OCLC, Portico, CLOCKSS, Semantic ScholarPublisher website
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) 2025
- 3.5Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 4.1Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.6LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.34LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.36LetPub ·
- h-index
- 50OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 349OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.49OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 8.6%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 158LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 1,100,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,081 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 240 | 240 | 68 |
| 2025 | 164 | 164 | 391 |
| 2024 | 144 | 144 | 907 |
| 2023 | 157 | 157 | 2,243 |
| 2022 | 133 | 133 | 2,902 |
| 2021 | 144 | 144 | 3,726 |
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
163 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 115 days – 229 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 15 days (107 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 175 days
- Sample
- 107 articles with submission and acceptance dates (443 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 24 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 20 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 24 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Open 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 1,990 / USD 2,390 / GBP 1,790 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 2,290 / EUR 1,890 / GBP 1,690 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 1,590 / USD 2,190 / EUR 1,790 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 1,790 / USD 2,390 / EUR 1,990 | — | — |
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
- protocols for systematic reviews
Article types accepted9
- commentFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Comment Debate Correspondence Methodology Research Short report Study protocol Systematic r…Length not stated
- correspondenceFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Comment Debate Correspondence Methodology Research Short report Study protocol Systematic r…Length not stated
- debateFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Comment Debate Correspondence Methodology Research Short report Study protocol Systematic r…Length not stated
- matters arisingFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Comment Debate Correspondence Methodology Research Short report Study protocol Systematic r…Length not stated
- methodologyFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Comment Debate Correspondence Methodology Research Short report Study protocol Systematic r…Length not stated
- researchFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Comment Debate Correspondence Methodology Research Short report Study protocol Systematic r…Length not stated
- short reportFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Comment Debate Correspondence Methodology Research Short report Study protocol Systematic r…Length not stated
- study protocolFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Comment Debate Correspondence Methodology Research Short report Study protocol Systematic r…Length not stated
- systematic reviewFormatting guidelines for specific article types can be found below. Comment Debate Correspondence Methodology Research Short report Study protocol Systematic r…Length 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 articles published 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. Implementation Science Communications articles are published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND (Creative Commo…
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
- BMC
- Country or region
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2662-2211
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- 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 Implementation Science Communications
What CAS zone is Implementation Science Communications in?
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 Implementation Science Communications?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 3.5 (2025); this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 5.6, h-index 50.
How long does peer review take at Implementation Science Communications?
Based on the dates recorded on 107 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 163 days (interquartile range 115–229 days); authors report an average review time of about 24 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 Implementation Science Communications based?
Of the 190 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 14 (about 7%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (70), Australia (30) and Canada (20). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Implementation Science Communications?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Implementation Science Communications is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Implementation Science Communications open access, and what is the APC?
Implementation Science Communications is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 2,390.
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: .