Journal profile · ONCOLOGY-IMMUNOLOGY
Infectious Agents and Cancer
ISSN 1750-9378 · BioMed Central · ENGLAND · Founded 2006
Infectious Agents and Cancer: CAS Zone 3 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 3.22; fully open access; APC about USD 3,290; median 81 days to acceptance (102 articles, last 24 months); 96 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Infectious Agents and Cancer 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 Cervical Cancer and HPV Research, Viral-associated cancers and disorders and Head and Neck Cancer Studies, together about 47.4% of its articles. Its main subfields are Epidemiology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Infectious Agents and Cancer is an open access, peer-reviewed online journal that encompasses all aspects of basic, clinical, epidemiological and translational research providing an insight into the association between chronic infections and cancer. The journal welcomes submissions in the pathogen-related cancer areas and other related topics, in particular: • HPV and anogenital cancers, as well as head and neck cancers; • EBV and Burkitt lymphoma; • HCV/HBV and hepatocellular carcinoma as well as lymphoproliferative diseases; • HHV8 and Kaposi sarcoma; • HTLV and leukemia; • Cancers in Low- and Middle-income countries. The link between infection and cancer has become well established over the past 50 years, and infection-associated cancer contribute up to 16% of cancers in developed countries and 33% in less developed countries. Preventive vaccines have been developed for only two cancer-causing viruses, highlighting both the opportunity to prevent infection-associated cancers by vaccination and the gaps that remain before vaccines can be developed for other cancer-causing agents. These gaps are due to incomplete understanding of the basic biology, natural history, epidemiology of many of the pathogens that cause cancer, the mechanisms they exploit to cause cancer, and how to interrupt progression to cancer in human populations. Early diagnosis or identification of lesions at high risk of progression represent the current most critical research area of the field supported by recent advances in genomics and proteomics technologies. Moreover “omics” is contributing to and accelerating the discovery not only of novel pathogens, but of genetic predisposition as the genetic make-up of organisms and individuals is unraveled. The hunt for molecular signatures of cancer causation, early cancer, or cancer Achilles heels promises new ways to practice precision medicine and public health. The explosion of knowledge in tumor genomics, tumor biology, targeted therapies, gene-environment interactions, immunology and immunotherapy needs a space for robust and vigorous debate. Infectious Agents and Cancer covers all these areas of biomedical research and any other topics pertinent to the development of preventive strategies, innovative diagnostic and biomolecular methodologies, promising therapeutic strategies for chronic infections and cancer. Immunotherapeutic strategies will include: profiling and activation of dendritic cells; reactivation of the immune system; break
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): ONCOLOGY-IMMUNOLOGY
Editor-in-chief Franco M BuonaguroPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 3 in mainland China (about 5%); most named Italy 18, United States 14, Germany 4, Brazil 4, Mainland China 3 (63 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Cervical Cancer and HPV ResearchMedicine19.8%
- Viral-associated cancers and disordersMedicine16.5%
- Head and Neck Cancer StudiesMedicine11.1%
- Lymphoma Diagnosis and TreatmentMedicine7.2%
- Reproductive tract infections researchImmunology and Microbiology4.5%
- Hepatitis B Virus StudiesMedicine4.1%
- Cytomegalovirus and herpesvirus researchMedicine3.6%
- Endometrial and Cervical Cancer TreatmentsMedicine3.2%
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 | Immunology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Oncology | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Oncology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Immunology | Zone 3 |
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 | Immunology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Oncology | Zone 3 |
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
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
- 3.22LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 3.2Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 3.4Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.4LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.92LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.02LetPub ·
- h-index
- 30LetPub ·
- h-index
- 66OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 636OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.03OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 3.1%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 92LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 2,025Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 943,900Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,329 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 77 | 77 | 32 |
| 2025 | 96 | 96 | 317 |
| 2024 | 65 | 65 | 373 |
| 2023 | 84 | 84 | 861 |
| 2022 | 64 | 64 | 979 |
| 2021 | 72 | 72 | 1,261 |
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
81 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 62 days – 103 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 16 days (102 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 104 days
- Sample
- 102 articles with submission and acceptance dates (188 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 17 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 7 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 17 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 2,790 / USD 3,290 / GBP 2,490 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 3,190 / EUR 2,690 / GBP 2,390 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 2,290 / USD 3,090 / EUR 2,590 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 2,490 / USD 3,290 / EUR 2,790 | — | — |
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
Publisher websiteWhat to prepare4 items from the author guidelines
- Reference style
- Numbered, in order of citation
- Highlights
- Optional
- Graphical abstract
- Optional
- Not considered
- Do not include any individual participant details.
Article types accepted9
- brief reportResearch Comment Hypothesis Correspondence Meeting report Methodology Review Brief Report Matters ArisingLength not stated
- commentResearch Comment Hypothesis Correspondence Meeting report Methodology Review Brief Report Matters ArisingLength not stated
- correspondenceResearch Comment Hypothesis Correspondence Meeting report Methodology Review Brief Report Matters ArisingLength not stated
- hypothesisResearch Comment Hypothesis Correspondence Meeting report Methodology Review Brief Report Matters ArisingLength not stated
- matters arisingResearch Comment Hypothesis Correspondence Meeting report Methodology Review Brief Report Matters ArisingLength not stated
- meeting reportResearch Comment Hypothesis Correspondence Meeting report Methodology Review Brief Report Matters ArisingLength not stated
- methodologyResearch Comment Hypothesis Correspondence Meeting report Methodology Review Brief Report Matters ArisingLength not stated
- researchResearch Comment Hypothesis Correspondence Meeting report Methodology Review Brief Report Matters ArisingLength not stated
- reviewResearch Comment Hypothesis Correspondence Meeting report Methodology Review Brief Report Matters ArisingLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Data availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review
- Authorship
Manuscripts must be submitted by an author, not a third party. Model summary
Please note that a manuscript can only be submitted by an author of the manuscript and may not be submitted by a third party.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Formatting the 'Availability of data and materials' section of your manuscript
Data sharing is strongly encouraged or required; datasets should be deposited in public repositories or included in the paper/supporting files. 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
Open access articles are 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. Infectious Agents and Cancer articles are published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND (Creative Commons Attrib…
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
- 2006
- ISSN
- 1750-9378
- 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 Infectious Agents and Cancer
What CAS zone is Infectious Agents and Cancer in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Infectious Agents and Cancer is in Zone 3 of Medicine, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Immunology / Oncology. 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 Infectious Agents and Cancer?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 3.22; CiteScore 5.4, h-index 66.
How long does peer review take at Infectious Agents and Cancer?
Based on the dates recorded on 102 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 81 days (interquartile range 62–103 days); authors report an average review time of about 17 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.
What are the manuscript requirements of Infectious Agents and Cancer?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Reference style: Numbered, in order of citation; Highlights: Optional; Graphical abstract: Optional. A model extracted these from the author guidelines and each was checked against the text; check the latest version on the journal's website before submitting.
Where are the editorial board members of Infectious Agents and Cancer based?
Of the 63 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 3 (about 5%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Italy (18), United States (14) and Germany (4). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Infectious Agents and Cancer?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Infectious Agents and Cancer 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 Infectious Agents and Cancer open access, and what is the APC?
Infectious Agents and Cancer is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 3,290.
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 2026-08-24). Last updated: .