Journal profile · Clinical Neurology
JOURNAL OF HEADACHE AND PAIN
ISSN 1129-2369 · eISSN 1129-2377 · Springer Milan · ITALY · Bimonthly · Founded 2000
JOURNAL OF HEADACHE AND PAIN: CAS Zone 1 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal); impact factor 8.68; fully open access; APC about USD 4,190; median 52 days to acceptance (117 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: fairly easy; 321 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
JOURNAL OF HEADACHE AND PAIN is published by Springer Milan and is in Zone 1 of Medicine in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Migraine and Headache Studies, Trigeminal Neuralgia and Treatments and Neurological Complications and Syndromes, together about 55.8% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The Journal of Headache and Pain is a peer-reviewed open access journal published under the brand BMC, part of Springer Nature. It is specifically dedicated to researchers involved in all aspects of headache and related pain syndromes, including epidemiology, public health, basic science, translational medicine, clinical trials, and real-world data. With a multidisciplinary perspective, The Journal of Headache and Pain covers headache medicine and related pain syndromes in all medical disciplines and particularly encourages clinical, translational, and basic science submissions in the areas of pain management, genetics, neurology, and internal medicine. The journal publishes research articles, reviews, correspondence, as well as consensus articles and guidelines, which promote best practice in the management of patients with headaches and related pain.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Clinical Neurology
Editorial board by country: 8 in mainland China (about 10%); most named Italy 17, United States 9, Mainland China 8, Taiwan, China 5, Denmark 5 (80 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Migraine and Headache StudiesMedicine40.2%
- Trigeminal Neuralgia and TreatmentsMedicine9.2%
- Neurological Complications and SyndromesMedicine6.4%
- Sympathectomy and Hyperhidrosis TreatmentsMedicine4.4%
- Traumatic Brain Injury ResearchMedicine4.3%
- Ophthalmology and Eye DisordersMedicine3.7%
- Pain Mechanisms and TreatmentsMedicine3.3%
- Vestibular and auditory disordersNeuroscience3%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Medicine Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Clinical Neurology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Neurosciences | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Clinical Neurology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Neurosciences | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Medicine Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Clinical Neurology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Neurosciences | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
MEDLINEEmbasePsycINFOCASPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, EBSCO, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, Baidu, AGRICOLA, 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
- 8.68LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 8.7Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 8.1Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 11.9LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.97LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 2.37LetPub ·
- h-index
- 50LetPub ·
- h-index
- 131OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 2,028OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 7.61OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 18.4%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 301LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 3,700,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 4,190 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 264 | 264 | 155 |
| 2025 | 321 | 321 | 2,074 |
| 2024 | 228 | 228 | 3,959 |
| 2023 | 171 | 171 | 5,319 |
| 2022 | 164 | 164 | 6,355 |
| 2021 | 158 | 158 | 5,587 |
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
52 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 38 days – 69 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 13 days (117 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 70 days
- Sample
- 117 articles with submission and acceptance dates (644 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)
- 6–12 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly easyLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 1 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 13 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 3,290 / USD 4,190 / GBP 2,990 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 3,990 / EUR 3,190 / GBP 2,890 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 2,790 / USD 3,790 / EUR 3,090 | Yes | — |
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 papers4, by deadline
- Chronobiology of HeadachesDeadline
- Concussion: From Mechanisms to ManagementDeadline
- Focus IndiaDeadline
- Headache and SDGDeadline
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use
- AI use Professor Timothy J. Steiner BSc, PhD, MB, BS, LLM, MA, MSc, DIC, FFPM, FRCP
Editorial Representative Lifting The Burden, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
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
- Springer Milan
- Country or region
- ITALY
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Bimonthly
- Founded
- 2000
- ISSN
- 1129-2369
- Electronic ISSN
- 1129-2377
- 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 JOURNAL OF HEADACHE AND PAIN
What CAS zone is JOURNAL OF HEADACHE AND PAIN in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, JOURNAL OF HEADACHE AND PAIN is in Zone 1 of Medicine, and in Zone 1 of the minor category Clinical Neurology / Neurosciences; it is a Top journal. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 1 of Medicine. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of JOURNAL OF HEADACHE AND PAIN?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 8.68; CiteScore 11.9, h-index 131.
How long does peer review take at JOURNAL OF HEADACHE AND PAIN?
Based on the dates recorded on 117 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 52 days (interquartile range 38–69 days); authors report an average review time of 6–12 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly easy”. 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 HEADACHE AND PAIN based?
Of the 80 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 8 (about 10%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Italy (17), United States (9) and Mainland China (8). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index JOURNAL OF HEADACHE AND PAIN?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, JOURNAL OF HEADACHE AND PAIN is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO and CAS; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is JOURNAL OF HEADACHE AND PAIN open access, and what is the APC?
JOURNAL OF HEADACHE AND PAIN is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 4,190.
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: .