Journal profile · Surgery
Journal of Investigative Surgery
ISSN 0894-1939 · eISSN 1521-0553 · Informa Healthcare · UNITED STATES · Bimonthly · Founded 1988
Journal of Investigative Surgery: CAS Zone 4 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.63; JCR Q1 (journal website); fully open access; APC about USD 3,300; median 122 days to acceptance (97 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: easy; 66 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Journal of Investigative Surgery is published by Informa Healthcare 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 Organ Transplantation Techniques and Outcomes, Intestinal and Peritoneal Adhesions and Hernia repair and management, together about 21.2% of its articles. Its main subfields are Surgery. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The Journal of Investigative Surgery publishes international peer-reviewed scientific articles related to the advancement of surgery and surgical techniques; crucial research that improves understanding of surgical disease, patient care, and the rehabilitation of surgical patients. It is the only journal in the world that encompasses individual and collaborative efforts of scientists in the following sectors, as each pertains to surgery: Human and Veterinary Medicine Dentistry Basic and Applied Sciences Engineering Law and Ethics The journal is dedicated to the publication of primary, outstanding and expert articles of interest to the surgical research community. *Please note that the Journal of Investigative Surgery converted to a full Open Access journal from Volume 36 (2023). Previous volumes will continue to provide access through a Pay to Read model.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Surgery
Editor-in-chief Marc BassonPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Organ Transplantation Techniques and OutcomesMedicine9.3%
- Intestinal and Peritoneal AdhesionsMedicine6%
- Hernia repair and managementMedicine5.8%
- Cardiac Ischemia and ReperfusionMedicine5.7%
- History of Medical PracticeMedicine5.2%
- Colorectal Cancer Surgical TreatmentsMedicine4.8%
- Liver Disease and TransplantationMedicine4.6%
- Surgical Sutures and AdhesivesMedicine4.6%
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 | Surgery | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Surgery | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Medicine Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Surgery | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
JCR / CiteScore quartiles on the journal's website
- JCR Q1 · best quartile · 2025
- CiteScore Q1 · 2025
Publisher-reported: JCR figures are Clarivate's and CiteScore figures Scopus's to confirm; both are a different system from the CAS zones.Publisher website
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Web of ScienceMEDLINEPubMedEmbaseCurrent ContentsPublisher website
Other: ProQuest, OCLC
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
- 2.63LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.7Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.5Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 6.4LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 6.4Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.66LetPub ·
- SJR (publisher) 2025
- 0.66Publisher website ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.99LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher) 2025
- 0.99Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 37LetPub ·
- h-index
- 63OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,007OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.33OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 3.7%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 61LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 2,023Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher)
- 255,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 2,776 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 74 | 74 | 23 |
| 2025 | 66 | 66 | 96 |
| 2024 | 28 | 28 | 104 |
| 2023 | 34 | 34 | 245 |
| 2022 | 119 | 39 | 1,366 |
| 2021 | 111 | 33 | 1,086 |
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
122 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 86 days – 187 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 24 days (97 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 152 days
- Sample
- 97 articles with submission and acceptance dates (138 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)
- EasyLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 9%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 4 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review
- 50 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 22 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 6 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Double 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 | USD 3,300 / GBP 2,640 / EUR 3,170 / AUD 4,595 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC | |
| OpenAlex | USD 2,970 / GBP 2,335 / EUR 2,710 / AUD 4,055 | — | — | |
| Publisher website | USD 3,940 / GBP 2,920 / EUR 3,505 / AUD 5,485 | — | — |
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 accepted9, with length limits
- data noteShould be written with the following elements in the following order: title page; abstract; keywords; main text introduction, materials and methods, Data descri…main text ≤ 3,000 words · abstract ≤ 250 words
- letter to the editorThe journal accepts letters (not to exceed 750 words) concerning articles already published in Journal of Investigative Surgery. A “Letter to the Editor” should…main text ≤ 750 words · references ≤ 5
- methodJournal of Investigative Surgery accepts the following types of article: Research Article Method Data Note Registered Report Rapid communication Letter to the E…Length not stated
- methods articleResearch Article Research Articles are of interest to a general medical audience, especially those that have clear implications for clinical management and trea…Length not stated
- protocolResearch Article Research Articles are of interest to a general medical audience, especially those that have clear implications for clinical management and trea…Length not stated
- rapid communicationShould be written with the following elements in the following order: title page; abstract; keywords; main text introduction, materials and methods, results, di…main text ≤ 200 words · abstract ≤ 200 words
- registered reportShould be written with the following elements in the following order: title page; abstract; keywords; main text introduction, materials and methods, results, di…main text ≤ 300 words · abstract ≤ 300 words
- research articleResearch Article Research Articles are of interest to a general medical audience, especially those that have clear implications for clinical management and trea…Length not stated
- systematic reviewResearch Article Research Articles are of interest to a general medical audience, especially those that have clear implications for clinical management and trea…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteData availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- Data availability Data Sharing Policy
Data sharing policy: share upon reasonable request Model summary
This journal applies the Taylor & Francis share upon reasonable request data sharing policy. Authors agree to make data and materials supporting the results or analyses presented in their paper available upon reasonable request. It is up to the author to determine whether a request is reasonable. Authors are required to cite any data sets referenced in the article and provide a Data Availability S…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Copyright Options
Copyright allows you to protect your original material, and stop others from using your work without your permission. Taylor & Francis offers a number of different license and reuse options, including Creative Commons licenses when publishing open access. Read more on publishing agreements.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open access
Only publishes manuscripts in English Model summary
Overview Open journals Open Select Dove Medical Press F1000Research
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer Review and Ethics
Double anonymous peer review by two independent, anonymous experts Model summary
Taylor & Francis is committed to peer-review integrity and upholding the highest standards of review. Once your paper has been assessed for suitability by the editor, it will then be double anonymous peer reviewed by two independent, anonymous expert. If you have shared an earlier version of your Author’s Original Manuscript on a preprint server, please be aware that anonymity cannot be guaranteed…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
Format-free submission Model summary
If you do decide to upload your AOM to a non-commercial preprint server, you can subsequently submit the manuscript to a Taylor & Francis or Routledge journal. We do not consider posting on a preprint server to be duplicate publication and this will not jeopardize consideration for publication. If you’ve posted your AOM to a preprint server, we ask that, upon acceptance, you acknowledge that the a…
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
- Informa Healthcare
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Bimonthly
- Founded
- 1988
- ISSN
- 0894-1939
- Electronic ISSN
- 1521-0553
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 39, Issue 1 (2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗DOAJ
- Aims & Scope ↗DOAJ
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Fee waivers ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗DOAJ
- Editorial board ↗DOAJ
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Journal of Investigative Surgery
What CAS zone is Journal of Investigative Surgery in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Journal of Investigative Surgery is in Zone 4 of Medicine, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Surgery. 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 Investigative Surgery?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.63; CiteScore 6.4, h-index 63.
How long does peer review take at Journal of Investigative Surgery?
Based on the dates recorded on 97 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 122 days (interquartile range 86–187 days); authors report an average review time of 6–12 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Easy”; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 9%. 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 JCR quartile is Journal of Investigative Surgery in?
The journal's website gives JCR Q1 (best quartile). JCR quartiles are Clarivate's to confirm and a different system from the CAS zones; in the CAS ranking the journal is in Zone 4 of Medicine.
Which databases index Journal of Investigative Surgery?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Journal of Investigative Surgery is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Web of Science, MEDLINE, PubMed, Embase and Current Contents; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Journal of Investigative Surgery open access, and what is the APC?
Journal of Investigative Surgery is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 3,300.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, OpenAlex, DOAJ; 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: .