Journal profile · SUBSTANCE ABUSE
Journal of Drug Issues
ISSN 0022-0426 · eISSN 1945-1369 · SAGE
Journal of Drug Issues: CAS Zone 4 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.46; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,650; 54 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Journal of Drug Issues is published by SAGE and is in Zone 4 of Medicine in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes, HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk and Opioid Use Disorder Treatment, together about 42% of its articles. Its main subfields are Sociology and Political Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Research area (LetPub): SUBSTANCE ABUSE
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Substance Abuse Treatment and OutcomesMedicine24.5%
- HIV, Drug Use, Sexual RiskMedicine10.3%
- Opioid Use Disorder TreatmentMedicine7.2%
- Homelessness and Social IssuesHealth Professions6.1%
- Crime Patterns and InterventionsSocial Sciences5.1%
- Cannabis and Cannabinoid ResearchMedicine5%
- Crime, Illicit Activities, and GovernanceSocial Sciences4.9%
- Prenatal Substance Exposure EffectsMedicine3.3%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Medicine Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Substance Abuse | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Substance Abuse | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Sociology Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Substance Abuse | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SSCIScopusLetPub
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
- 1.46LetPub ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 3.3LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.57LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.82LetPub ·
- h-index
- 88OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,190OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.02OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 6.7%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 21.29%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 53LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 2,593 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 46 | 22 | 1 |
| 2025 | 54 | 32 | 38 |
| 2024 | 49 | 26 | 113 |
| 2023 | 54 | 36 | 276 |
| 2022 | 59 | 22 | 365 |
| 2021 | 43 | 14 | 387 |
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
Too few articlesOnly 1 articles from the last 24 months carry both submission and acceptance dates, too few for a median
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".
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 3,650 / GBP 2,676 | — | — |
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
- SAGE
- ISSN
- 0022-0426
- Electronic ISSN
- 1945-1369
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Journal of Drug Issues
What CAS zone is Journal of Drug Issues in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Journal of Drug Issues is in Zone 4 of Medicine, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Substance Abuse. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 4 of Medicine. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Journal of Drug Issues?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 1.46; CiteScore 3.3, h-index 88.
Which databases index Journal of Drug Issues?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Journal of Drug Issues is indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Is Journal of Drug Issues open access, and what is the APC?
Journal of Drug Issues is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,650.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, 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: .