Journal profile · Orthopedics
Journal of Orthopaedic Science
ISSN 0949-2658 · eISSN 1436-2023 · Springer Japan · UNITED STATES · Bimonthly · Founded 1996
Journal of Orthopaedic Science: CAS Zone 4 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.57; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,000; median 127 days to acceptance (107 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: easy; 156 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Journal of Orthopaedic Science is published by Springer Japan 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 Legal and Regulatory Analysis, Linguistic, Cultural, and Literary Studies and Military Technology and Strategies, together about 35.5% of its articles. Its main subfields are Surgery. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Official Journal of the Japanese Orthopaedic AssociationThe Journal of Orthopaedic Science is the official peer-reviewed journal of the Japanese Orthopaedic Association. The journal publishes the latest researches and topical debates in all fields of clinical and experimental orthopaedics, including musculoskeletal medicine, sports medicine, locomotive syndrome, trauma, paediatrics, oncology and biomaterials, as well as basic researches.The journal accepts articles dealing with the entire human body, including spine, upper extremities and lower extremities. Article types accepted include original articles, review articles, rapid short communications, and letters to the editor. The journal welcomes articles from all sources worldwide.Important note: The Japanese Orthopaedic Association launched an open access case report journal (JOS Case Reports). Case report articles are received by JOS Case Reports. For authors who submit case report manuscripts, please refer to the guide for authors of JOS Case Reports (https://www.elsevier.com/journals/jos-case-reports/2772-9648/guide-for-authors) and acknowledge to pay a fee upon acceptance. Please check the APC on the journal homepage.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Orthopedics
Editor-in-chief Kazuhiro ChibaPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named Japan 66, United States 4, Hong Kong, China 3 (73 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Legal and Regulatory AnalysisSocial Sciences11.8%
- Linguistic, Cultural, and Literary StudiesSocial Sciences11.8%
- Military Technology and StrategiesEngineering11.8%
- Total Knee Arthroplasty OutcomesMedicine5.8%
- Orthopaedic implants and arthroplastyMedicine5.4%
- Spine and Intervertebral Disc PathologyMedicine5.2%
- Shoulder Injury and TreatmentMedicine3.3%
- Bone fractures and treatmentsMedicine3.3%
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 | Orthopedics | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Orthopedics | Zone 4 |
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 | Orthopedics | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
ScienceDirectPublisher website
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
- 1.57LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 1.7Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 3.3LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 3.3Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.53LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.81LetPub ·
- h-index
- 58LetPub ·
- h-index
- 102OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 2,256OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.15OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 5.9%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 8.61%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 159LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 7,668 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 139 | 25 | 21 |
| 2025 | 156 | 24 | 134 |
| 2024 | 122 | 44 | 323 |
| 2023 | 204 | 74 | 886 |
| 2022 | 213 | 75 | 1,293 |
| 2021 | 278 | 101 | 2,078 |
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
127 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 83 days – 169 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 21 days (107 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 146 days
- Sample
- 107 articles with submission and acceptance dates (439 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)
- 4–8 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- EasyLetPub ·
- First decision after review
- 52 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 146 daysPublisher website ·
- Peer review
- Double anonymous peer reviewPublisher 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
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 3,000 / EUR 2,810 / GBP 2,400 / JPY 372,090 | — | — | |
| Publisher website | USD 3,000 | — | — |
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.
Submission
Article types and submission policies (journal website)
What to prepare5 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 300 words
- Keywords
- ≥ 2
- Reference style
- Vancouver
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted6, with length limits
- editorialKazuhiro Chiba, MD, PhD, Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Orthopaedic Science Editorial Office, Kyorinsha Co., Ltd., 3-46-10 Nishigahara, Kita-ku, Tokyo 114-0024, Ja…Length not stated
- letterest will be considered for publication. Letters should be typed double-spaced and limited to 1000 words. A copy of the letter will be sent to the previous artic…main text ≤ 1,000 words
- letters to the editorLetters to the Editor on published articles of sufficient interest will be considered for publication. Letters should be typed double-spaced and limited to 1000…main text ≤ 1,000 words
- original articlesArticle types accepted include original articles, review articles, rapid short communications, and letters to the editor.Length not stated
- rapid short communicationsArticle types accepted include original articles, review articles, rapid short communications, and letters to the editor.Length not stated
- review articlesArticle types accepted include original articles, review articles, rapid short communications, and letters to the editor.Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Authorship, Conflicts of interest, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- AI use Declaration of generative AI in scientific writing
Generative AI declaration required Model summary
Authors must declare the use of generative AI tools in the manuscript preparation process upon submission of the paper.Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies (“AI tools”) have been rapidly adopted in research and scholarly publishing, offering significant benefits while requiring clear standards for responsible and transparent use.Authors preparing a manuscript for this journal may use AI tool…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Authorship Authorship
All authors should have made substantial contributions to all of the following: (1) the conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, (3) final approval of the version to be submitted.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Conflict of Interest Disclosure and Copyright Transfer Agree
The corresponding author, on behalf of all authors, should be aware of the requirements of completing a 'Conflict of Interest Disclosure and Copyright Transfer Agreement' form. (This form can be downloaded). The form must be signed by the corresponding author. When submitting a paper, the author(s) must make a full statement to the editor about all submissions and previous reports that might be re…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Copyright
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (see more information on this). An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this agreement.Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles includ…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open access
Please visit our Open Access page for more information about open access publishing in this journal.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer-Review Process
Double anonymized review policy Model summary
The journal uses a double-anonymized peer-review system, meaning that the authors and reviewers have been anonymized each other. At initial submission, a manuscript is reviewed by editorial staff for compliance with journal style and to make sure the submission is clear and legible for reviewers and editors. Once the editorial staff have checked in the paper, it is assigned to the Editor-in-Chief,…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprint references
Where a preprint has subsequently become available as a peer-reviewed publication, the formal publication should be used as the reference. If there are preprints that are central to your work or that cover crucial developments in the topic, but are not yet formally published, these may be referenced. Preprints should be clearly marked as such, for example by including the word preprint, or the nam…
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 Japan
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Bimonthly
- Founded
- 1996
- ISSN
- 0949-2658
- Electronic ISSN
- 1436-2023
- Society / sponsor
- Japanese Orthopaedic Association
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Journal of Orthopaedic Science
What CAS zone is Journal of Orthopaedic Science in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Journal of Orthopaedic Science is in Zone 4 of Medicine, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Orthopedics. 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 Orthopaedic Science?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 1.57; CiteScore 3.3, h-index 102.
How long does peer review take at Journal of Orthopaedic Science?
Based on the dates recorded on 107 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 127 days (interquartile range 83–169 days); authors report an average review time of 4–8 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “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.
What are the manuscript requirements of Journal of Orthopaedic Science?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 300 words; Keywords: ≥ 2; Reference style: Vancouver; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; Cover letter: Required. A model extracted these from the author guidelines and each was checked against the text; check the latest version on the journal's website before submitting.
Where are the editorial board members of Journal of Orthopaedic Science based?
Of the 73 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Japan (66), United States (4) and Hong Kong, China (3). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Journal of Orthopaedic Science?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Journal of Orthopaedic Science is indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Is Journal of Orthopaedic Science open access, and what is the APC?
Journal of Orthopaedic Science is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,000.
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: .