Journal profile · Anatomy & Morphology
Journal of Anatomy
ISSN 0021-8782 · eISSN 1469-7580 · Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd · ENGLAND · Monthly · Founded 1916
Journal of Anatomy: CAS Zone 3 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.16; hybrid open access; APC about USD 4,050; median 153 days to acceptance (93 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: fairly easy; 211 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Journal of Anatomy is published by Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd 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 Evolution and Paleontology Studies, Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology and Morphological variations and asymmetry, together about 25.5% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Journal of Anatomy is an international peer-reviewed journal sponsored by the Anatomical Society. The journal publishes original papers, invited review articles and book reviews. Its main focus is to understand anatomy through an analysis of structure, function, development and evolution. Priority will be given to studies of that clearly articulate their relevance to the anatomical community. Focal areas include: experimental studies, contributions based on molecular and cell biology and on the application of modern imaging techniques and papers with novel methods or synthetic perspective on an anatomical system. Studies that are essentially descriptive anatomy are appropriate only if they communicate clearly a broader functional or evolutionary significance. You must clearly state the broader implications of your work in the abstract. We particularly welcome submissions in the following areas: Cell biology and tissue architecture Comparative functional morphology Developmental biology Evolutionary developmental biology Evolutionary morphology Integrative vertebrate paleontology Methodological innovations in anatomical research Musculoskeletal system Neuroanatomy and neurodegeneration Significant advances in anatomical education. Priority will be given to experimental studies that provide novel insights into any of these areas. Articles covering bioinformatics and other topics that clarify or provide tools for functional anatomical understanding as well as multi-disciplinary studies crossing more than one of these areas are also welcomed. Manuscripts in the area of 'Significant advances in anatomical education will only be accepted if they are of a robust quantitative nature or will inform about international education policy. The Editors will also consider publishing Letters (1-2 pages) on scientific issues of clear relevance to the scope of interest of the Journal. There are no page charges, and charges are not made for colour, if, in the Editors' opinion it is essential. In all other cases costs must be borne by the author.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Anatomy & Morphology
Editor-in-chief Phil CoxPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 1 in mainland China (about 2%); most named United Kingdom 20, United States 6, Japan 4, Ireland 3, India 2 (49 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Evolution and Paleontology StudiesEarth and Planetary Sciences10.6%
- Paleontology and Evolutionary BiologyEarth and Planetary Sciences8.2%
- Morphological variations and asymmetryMathematics6.8%
- Anatomy and Medical TechnologyEngineering5.4%
- Ichthyology and Marine BiologyEnvironmental Science5.3%
- Amphibian and Reptile BiologyEnvironmental Science5%
- Medical and Biological SciencesMedicine4.7%
- dental development and anomaliesBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology3.9%
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 | Anatomy & Morphology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Anatomy & Morphology | Zone 1 |
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 | Anatomy & Morphology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
MEDLINEPubMedEmbaseCAB AbstractsPublisher website
Other: EBSCO, ProQuest
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
- 2.16LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 2.2Publisher website ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.2Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4.5LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 4.5Publisher website ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 4.5Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.69LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.24LetPub ·
- h-index
- 103LetPub ·
- h-index
- 167OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 3,023OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.98OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 13.6%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 59.41%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 163LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher) 2025
- 173Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 1,116,377Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 5,775 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 158 | 137 | 29 |
| 2025 | 211 | 190 | 384 |
| 2024 | 205 | 176 | 723 |
| 2023 | 196 | 180 | 1,246 |
| 2022 | 208 | 191 | 1,728 |
| 2021 | 249 | 227 | 2,884 |
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
153 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 88 days – 249 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 19 days (95 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 168 days
- Sample
- 93 articles with submission and acceptance dates (413 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)
- 4–8 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly easyLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 25%Publisher website ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher) 2025
- 25%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 7 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 7 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance 2025
- 139 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 17 daysPublisher website ·
- Peer review
- Single anonymous peer reviewPublisher website
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.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAlex | USD 4,050 / EUR 3,380 / GBP 2,700 | — | — |
A hybrid journal charges the APC only when the author chooses open access; publishing under the subscription model is usually free.
Other charges and waivers (author guidelines)
- Other fees
- Charged; see the journal's website for the amount
- Page charges
- Charged; see the journal's website for the amount
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)
What to prepare1 items from the author guidelines
- Reference style
- Author–date
Article types accepted4
- brief communicationThe majority of manuscripts published in Journal of Anatomy are Original Articles. There are no limits regarding the word count or number of display figures for…Length not stated
- methods paperThe majority of manuscripts published in Journal of Anatomy are Original Articles. There are no limits regarding the word count or number of display figures for…Length not stated
- original articleThe majority of manuscripts published in Journal of Anatomy are Original Articles. There are no limits regarding the word count or number of display figures for…Length not stated
- reviewDue to space restrictions and to the volume of high quality papers submitted, the Editors reserve the right to return immediately those papers that are unlikely…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Data availability, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access, Plagiarism, Preprints
- Authorship AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
Journal of Anatomy recommends that authors submit a short description of all contributions to their manuscript. Each author’s contribution should be described in brief, to appear immediately before the references. Authorship credit might include contributions to concept/design, acquisition of data, data analysis/interpretation, drafting of the manuscript, critical revision of the manuscript and ap…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability DATA SHARING, ACCESSIBILITY AND CITATION
Data archiving in public repository expected; data availability statement required. Model summary
Journal of Anatomy recognizes the many benefits of archiving research data. Journal of Anatomy expects that data supporting the results in the paper will be archived in an appropriate public repository. Authors are required to provide a data availability statement to describe the availability, or the absence of shared data. When data have been shared, authors are required to include in their data …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics
Endorses ARRIVE guidelines for reporting experiments; authors expected to refer to them before submission. Model summary
The Editors-in-Chief of Journal of Anatomy endorse the ARRIVE guidelines for reporting experiments (https://www.nc3rs.org.uk/arrive-guidelines), and expect authors to refer to these guidelines before submission of a manuscript.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright
Copyright assignment to the Anatomical Society required upon acceptance. Model summary
Authors will be required to assign copyright to the Anatomical Society.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access
Hybrid Open Access service available; open access without 12 month embargo. Model summary
If authors wish to make their final published article openly accessible and without a 12 month embargo, they can choose to publish via the Hybrid Open Access service.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Plagiarism PLAGIARISM
Authors must obtain permission to reproduce any copyright material, and include an acknowledgement of the source in their Article. Authors should be aware that the unreferenced use of the published and unpublished ideas, writing or illustrations of others, from whatever source (including research grant applications), or submission of a complete paper under 'new' authorship in the same or a differe…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints PREPRINTS
Preprints on non-commercial servers accepted for review; authors may post submitted version at any time. Model summary
This journal will consider for review articles previously available as preprints on non-commercial servers such as ArXiv, bioRxiv, psyArXiv, SocArXiv, engrXiv, etc. Authors may also post the submitted version of their manuscript to non-commercial servers at any time. Authors are requested to update any pre-publication versions with a link to the final published article.
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
- Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd
- Country or region
- ENGLAND
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Monthly
- Founded
- 1916
- ISSN
- 0021-8782
- Electronic ISSN
- 1469-7580
- Society / sponsor
- Anatomical Society
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 249, Issue 4 (October 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Journal of Anatomy
What CAS zone is Journal of Anatomy in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Journal of Anatomy is in Zone 3 of Medicine, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Anatomy & Morphology. 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 Journal of Anatomy?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.16; CiteScore 4.5, h-index 167.
How long does peer review take at Journal of Anatomy?
Based on the dates recorded on 93 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 153 days (interquartile range 88–249 days); authors report an average review time of 4–8 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly easy”; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 25% (2025). 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 Journal of Anatomy based?
Of the 49 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 1 (about 2%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (20), United States (6) and Japan (4). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Journal of Anatomy?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Journal of Anatomy is indexed in SCIE and Scopus. The journal's website also lists MEDLINE, PubMed, Embase and CAB Abstracts; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Journal of Anatomy open access, and what is the APC?
Journal of Anatomy is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 4,050.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, OpenAlex; 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: .