Journal profile · Social Sciences-Health (social science)
Journal of Cannabis Research
ISSN 2522-5782 · BMC · United Kingdom
Journal of Cannabis Research: CAS Zone 3 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 3.8 (journal website); fully open access; APC about USD 2,690; median 144 days to acceptance (109 articles, last 24 months); 120 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Journal of Cannabis Research is published by BMC 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 Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research, Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes and Psychedelics and Drug Studies, together about 66.3% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The Journal of Cannabis Research is an international, fully open-access, peer-reviewed journal which welcomes submissions covering all topics pertaining to cannabis. Sponsored by the Institute of Cannabis Research at Colorado State University-Pueblo. The Journal publishes a broad range of articles including, but not limited to: the agriculture, plant biology, and commercial and industrial uses of the cannabis plant (including non-psychoactive varieties such as hemp) and its constituents; the endocannabinoid system; the preclinical and clinical pharmacology and toxicology of cannabis and cannabinoids; epidemiology and public health aspects and social impacts of cannabis use and cannabis-related disorders; prevention, screening, diagnosis, and treatment of cannabis-related disorders; therapeutic uses of cannabis and cannabinoids in humans and animals; business, economic, and environmental aspects of the cannabis industry; and historical, public policy, legal, ethical, and international aspects of cannabis. The Journal of Cannabis Research welcomes original research articles and brief reports, study protocols, narrative and systematic reviews and meta-analyses, technical notes, commentaries and perspectives, conference reports, case reports, and letters to the editor. Submission enquiries are welcomed for manuscripts that fall outside these classifications; contact information can be found at the bottom of this page. Cannabinoids are broadly defined as comprising all constituents of the cannabis plant (phytocannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids) as well as synthetic cannabinoids. The Journal of Cannabis Research is the leading outlet for cannabis research globally, as well as one of few that are fully open access and is the only broad, interdisciplinary cannabis journal. Its intended audience is not only clinicians and biological scientists, but also social scientists, lawyers, economists, business experts, ethicists, public policy experts, and public officials. The goal is to provide an outlet for experts across disciplines and foster innovation and collaboration, driving public and scientific discourse around this timely issue and furthering this exciting area of research. The open access nature of the journal ensures that authoritative and accurate information pertaining to all aspects of cannabis is available to both the academic community and public policy makers in a timely manner. The Journal is firmly committed to scientific and publication ethics. I
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Social Sciences-Health (social science)
Editor-in-chief David A. GorelickPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Cannabis and Cannabinoid ResearchMedicine40.5%
- Substance Abuse Treatment and OutcomesMedicine13.2%
- Psychedelics and Drug StudiesPsychology12.6%
- Forensic Toxicology and Drug AnalysisPharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics9.8%
- Opioid Use Disorder TreatmentMedicine4.2%
- Smoking Behavior and CessationMedicine2.3%
- Prenatal Substance Exposure EffectsMedicine1.6%
- GABA and Rice ResearchAgricultural and Biological Sciences1.6%
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 | Pharmacology & Pharmacy | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Pharmacology & Pharmacy | 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
EmbaseCAB AbstractsPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, Baidu, ACM Digital Library, 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 (publisher) 2025
- 3.8Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 4.8Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.5LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.9LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.29LetPub ·
- h-index
- 34OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 146OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.32OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 10.5%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 116LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 697,100Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 501 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 131 | 131 | 39 |
| 2025 | 120 | 120 | 294 |
| 2024 | 44 | 44 | 352 |
| 2023 | 40 | 40 | 486 |
| 2022 | 58 | 58 | 1,250 |
| 2021 | 53 | 53 | 1,554 |
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
144 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 88 days – 224 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 14 days (109 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 168 days
- Sample
- 109 articles with submission and acceptance dates (253 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 7 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 7 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 7 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 2,290 / USD 2,690 / GBP 1,790 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | USD 2,590 / EUR 2,190 / GBP 1,690 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 1,490 / USD 2,390 / EUR 1,990 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 1,790 / USD 2,690 / EUR 2,290 | — | — |
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 prepare1 items from the author guidelines
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Data availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review
- AI use Generative AI - Usage Guidelines
We believe in using AI responsibly and for the benefit of the research community. Read these guidelines carefully if considering the use of GenAI with Journal of Cannabis Research.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- 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
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. Journal of Cannabis Research articles are published open access under a CC BY licence (Creative Commons Attr…
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
- 2522-5782
- 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 Journal of Cannabis Research
What CAS zone is Journal of Cannabis Research in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Journal of Cannabis Research is in Zone 3 of Medicine, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Pharmacology & Pharmacy. 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 Journal of Cannabis Research?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 3.8 (2025); this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 5.5, h-index 34.
How long does peer review take at Journal of Cannabis Research?
Based on the dates recorded on 109 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 144 days (interquartile range 88–224 days); authors report an average review time of about 7 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.
Which databases index Journal of Cannabis Research?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Journal of Cannabis Research is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Embase and CAB Abstracts; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Journal of Cannabis Research open access, and what is the APC?
Journal of Cannabis Research is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 2,690.
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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .