Journal profile · HEALTH CARE SCIENCES & SERVICES-MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL
Journal of Medical Economics
ISSN 1369-6998 · eISSN 1941-837X · Taylor and Francis Ltd. · UNITED STATES
Journal of Medical Economics: CAS Zone 3 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 3.17; JCR Q1 (journal website); fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; median 58 days to acceptance (94 articles, last 24 months); acceptance rate 69% (journal website); 191 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Journal of Medical Economics is published by Taylor and Francis 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 Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life, Economic and Financial Impacts of Cancer and Medication Adherence and Compliance, together about 32.4% of its articles. Its main subfields are Economics and Econometrics. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Journal of Medical Economics is a MEDLINE-indexed, international journal publishing rigorously peer-reviewed review articles and original papers in the pharmacoeconomics and healthcare research community. Journal of Medical Economics aims to help translate research advances into patient care and lead in transparency/disclosure. The journal publishes high-quality economic assessments of novel therapeutic and device interventions for an international audience. Journal of Medical Economics also specializes in the publication of studies that determine the effectiveness of medical treatment, involving measurements of therapeutic and/or preventative outcomes. Methods employed in the studies commonly involve sets of patients with comparable clinical characteristics and include measurements of mortality, morbidity and patient-reported outcomes (including the patient’s quality of life, functional status and satisfaction with healthcare). Articles focus on the following key areas: Economic analyses (in the form of cost minimization, cost effectiveness, cost utility, cost benefits, cost consequence, cost of illness, burden of disease) Health economics methodology Discussions on policy issues Resource utilization studies Disease management Modelling studies Meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials, outcomes and clinical trials data All manuscripts submitted to the journal are peer-reviewed in a single-anonymized fashion. Authors can choose to publish gold open access in this journal. *Please note that Journal of Medical Economic converted to a fully Open Access journal beginning with Volume 24 (2021). The 1998-2020 volumes will be free to access from 1 January 2021.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): HEALTH CARE SCIENCES & SERVICES-MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL
Editor-in-chief Kenneth KC LeePublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United States 1, Malaysia 1, Saudi Arabia 1 (3 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of LifeEconomics, Econometrics and Finance18.6%
- Economic and Financial Impacts of CancerEconomics, Econometrics and Finance8.4%
- Medication Adherence and ComplianceMedicine5.4%
- Diabetes Treatment and ManagementMedicine5.3%
- Atrial Fibrillation Management and OutcomesMedicine4.9%
- Rheumatoid Arthritis Research and TherapiesMedicine4.7%
- Diabetes Management and ResearchMedicine4.5%
- Pharmaceutical Economics and PolicyEconomics, Econometrics and Finance4.2%
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 | Health Care Sciences & Services | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Medicine, General & Internal | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Health Care Sciences & Services | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Medicine, General & Internal | 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 | Medicine, General & Internal | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Health Care Sciences & Services | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
JCR / CiteScore quartiles on the journal's website
- JCR Q1 · best quartile · 2025
- CiteScore Q2 · 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
SCIEScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
MEDLINEPubMedEmbaseCAB AbstractsPublisher website
Other: International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, Pharm-line, Cochrane Registry, Health Service Abstracts, NHS EED, HEED
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
- 3.17LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 3.1Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.9Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4.4LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 4.4Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.84LetPub ·
- SJR (publisher) 2025
- 0.84Publisher website ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.98LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher) 2025
- 0.98Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 37LetPub ·
- h-index
- 72OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,333OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.56OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 6.5%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 185LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher)
- 1,400,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 2,775 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 177 | 177 | 56 |
| 2025 | 191 | 191 | 397 |
| 2024 | 193 | 193 | 982 |
| 2023 | 171 | 171 | 1,716 |
| 2022 | 135 | 135 | 1,891 |
| 2021 | 162 | 162 | 2,287 |
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
58 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 41 days – 80 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 15 days (94 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 75 days
- Sample
- 94 articles with submission and acceptance dates (426 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
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 69%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 19 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review
- 19 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 19 daysPublisher 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
Fully open accessOpenAlex
Every article is open access; authors usually pay an article processing charge (APC).
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
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)
Article types accepted3
- letter to the editorLetter to the Editor | Published online: 3 Sep 2026Length not stated
- research articleResearch Article | Published online: 11 Sep 2026Length not stated
- research letterResearch Letter | Published online: 5 Dec 2024Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteOpen access, Peer review
- Open access Open access
Journal of Medical Economics is an open access journal and only publishes open access articles. Publishing open access means that your article will be free to access online immediately on publication, increasing the visibility, readership, and impact of your research. Why choose open access? Increase the discoverability and readership of your article Make an impact and reach new readers, not just …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review
Single-anonymized peer review Model summary
All manuscripts submitted to the journal are peer-reviewed in a single-anonymized fashion.
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
- Taylor and Francis Ltd.
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1369-6998
- Electronic ISSN
- 1941-837X
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 29, Issue 1 (2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Journal of Medical Economics
What CAS zone is Journal of Medical Economics in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Journal of Medical Economics is in Zone 3 of Medicine, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Health Care Sciences & Services / Medicine, General & Internal. 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 Medical Economics?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 3.17; CiteScore 4.4, h-index 72.
How long does peer review take at Journal of Medical Economics?
Based on the dates recorded on 94 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 58 days (interquartile range 41–80 days); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 69%. 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 Medical Economics 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 3 of Medicine.
Where are the editorial board members of Journal of Medical Economics based?
Of the 3 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (1), Malaysia (1) and Saudi Arabia (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Journal of Medical Economics?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Journal of Medical Economics 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 Medical Economics open access, and what is the APC?
Journal of Medical Economics is a fully open-access journal. APC charged, amount not published.
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: .