Journal profile · Pathology
JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY
ISSN 0022-3417 · eISSN 1096-9896 · John Wiley and Sons Ltd · ENGLAND · Monthly · Founded 1969
JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY: CAS Zone 2 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 5.38; hybrid open access; APC about USD 5,450; median 175 days to acceptance (80 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: fairly hard; 156 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY is published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd and is in Zone 2 of Medicine in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Cell Adhesion Molecules Research, Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics and Genetic factors in colorectal cancer, together about 21.5% of its articles. Its main subfields are Oncology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The Journal of Pathology aims to serve as a translational bridge between basic biomedical science and clinical medicine with particular emphasis on, but not restricted to, tissue based studies. The main interests of the Journal lie in publishing studies that further our understanding the pathophysiological and pathogenetic mechanisms of human disease. The Journal welcomes investigative studies on human tissues, in vitro and in vivo experimental studies, and investigations based on animal models with a clear relevance to human disease, including transgenic systems. In general, hypothesis driven studies that appropriately employ multiple investigative techniques are preferred over those that rely on a single methodology. As well as original research papers, the Journal seeks to provide rapid publication in a variety of other formats, including editorials, review articles, commentaries and perspectives and other features, both contributed and solicited. Purely descriptive papers on diagnostic pathology (including case reports and prognostic papers without mechanistic and experimental insights) are not considered central to the Journal’s purpose. Correspondence relating to papers published in the Journal will be considered, but only if of general interest. Such correspondance may be published in online versions only, at the Editor's discretion. In determining content, the primary considerations are excellence, relevance and novelty. As the journal of The Pathological Society, it seeks to reflect the broad scientific interests of the Society’s membership but its ethos, authorship, content and purpose are those expected of a leading publication in the international scientific literature.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Pathology
Editor-in-chief C SimonPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 3 in mainland China (about 4%); most named United Kingdom 28, United States 20, Netherlands 7, Canada 5, Germany 4 (84 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Cell Adhesion Molecules ResearchMedicine7.6%
- Cancer Genomics and DiagnosticsBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology7%
- Genetic factors in colorectal cancerMedicine7%
- Cancer-related Molecular PathwaysMedicine6.2%
- Lymphoma Diagnosis and TreatmentMedicine6.1%
- Cancer Cells and MetastasisMedicine5%
- Sarcoma Diagnosis and TreatmentMedicine4.8%
- Molecular Biology Techniques and ApplicationsBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology3.8%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Pathology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Oncology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Oncology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Pathology | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Pathology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Oncology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Web of ScienceMEDLINEPubMedEmbaseCASCAB AbstractsCurrent ContentsPublisher website
Other: ProQuest, AGRICOLA
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
- 5.38LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 5.4Publisher website ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2015
- 7.38Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2015
- 7.16Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 10.6LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 10.6Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 2.13LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.4LetPub ·
- h-index
- 168LetPub ·
- h-index
- 256OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 7,120OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.71OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 0%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 65.99%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 112LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher) 2025
- 121Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 1,124,154Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 11,646 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 125 | 65 | 50 |
| 2025 | 156 | 110 | 520 |
| 2024 | 152 | 96 | 1,037 |
| 2023 | 164 | 124 | 2,532 |
| 2022 | 154 | 95 | 2,934 |
| 2021 | 167 | 103 | 4,558 |
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
175 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 106 days – 241 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 41 days (82 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 213 days
- Sample
- 80 articles with submission and acceptance dates (289 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)
- 3–8 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly hardLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher) 2025
- 12%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 4 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance 2025
- 149 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 46 daysPublisher website ·
- Peer review
- Single-anonymous peer reviewPublisher website · model-extracted
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 5,450 / EUR 4,600 / GBP 3,620 | — | — | |
| Publisher website | No APC | — | — |
A hybrid journal charges the APC only when the author chooses open access; publishing under the subscription model is usually free.
Other charges and waivers (author guidelines)
- Colour charges
- GBP 400
- Page charges
- No page charges
- Submission fee
- No submission fee
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 prepare6 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 300 words
- Keywords
- ≥ 3
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 4,000 words
- Reference style
- Vancouver
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional, 5
Article types accepted7, with length limits
- brief definitive reportsBrief Definitive Reports provide a forum for the rapid publication of highly significant and timely advances. They are up to 1500 words in length from beginning…Length not stated
- commentariesBrief reviews placing recently published primary research from the Journal into context. These are usually less than 2000 words.Length not stated
- full articleelayed by editing to a suitable length. Full articles should be no more than 4000 words from the beginning of the Introduction to the end of the Dimain text ≤ 4,000 words
- in briefMini-reviews highlighting topical subjects. These are usually invited but suggestions are welcomed. Typically 1000 wordsLength not stated
- original articlesOriginal articles are our main type of primary publication. They are up to 4000 words in length from beginning of Introduction to end of Discussion with up to 6…Length not stated
- perspectivesOverview articles highlighting novel, debatable, or highly topical aspects of pathology research. These are usally less than 2000 words.Length not stated
- reviewsScholarly critical reviews of important subjects within the Journal’s scope. They are usually no more than 4000 words.Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Peer review, Plagiarism
- Authorship 4.17 Statement of author contributions
A statement outlining the specific contribution of each author to the manuscript and the work reported in it must appear eg, study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, literature search, generation of figures, writing of the manuscript. If all authors contributed equally, please state this. An example of the style we would prefer is: ABC and EF conceived and carried out exp…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest 4.7 Conflict of interest statements
Authors must disclose all financial and personal relationships that might bias their work; to prevent ambiguity, a conflict of interest statement must appear on the manuscript title page, detailing any conflicts (or the absence thereof) for each author. There is a recent Editorial on this subject (Hall PA, Poulsom R, Wixon J. How does the Journal of Pathology deal with conflict of interest? J Path…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics 4.35 COPE
As a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), adherence to these submission criteria is considered essential for publication in The Journal of Pathology; mandatory fields are included in the online submission process to ensure this. If, at a later stage in the submission process or even after publication, a manuscript or authors are found to have disregarded these criteria, it is the …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright 4.26 Copyright and Permissions
If your paper is accepted, the author identified as the formal corresponding author for the paper will receive an email prompting them to login into Author Services; where via the Wiley Author Licensing Service (WALS) they will be able to complete the license agreement on behalf of all authors on the paper. For authors signing the non-standard Copyright Transfer Agreement (CTA) If the OnlineOpen o…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review 3 THE REVIEW PROCESS
For further detail, please see this Editorial: A guide to the Editorial processes at The Journal of Pathology. J Pathol 2009;142:1-6.) On receipt, manuscripts are assessed by the Editor-in-Chief, a Senior Editor and at least one Associate Editor. At this point, those outside our scope or quality criteria are returned to the authors, typically within three working days. Manuscripts selected for ext…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Plagiarism
Plagiarism screening with iThenticate Model summary
A similarity search engine (iThenticate®) is used to detect plagiarism and duplicate publication.
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
- John Wiley and Sons Ltd
- Country or region
- ENGLAND
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Monthly
- Founded
- 1969
- ISSN
- 0022-3417
- Electronic ISSN
- 1096-9896
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗LetPub
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY
What CAS zone is JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY is in Zone 2 of Medicine, and in Zone 1 of the minor category Pathology / Oncology. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Medicine. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 5.38; CiteScore 10.6, h-index 256.
How long does peer review take at JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY?
Based on the dates recorded on 80 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 175 days (interquartile range 106–241 days); authors report an average review time of 3–8 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly hard”; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 12% (2025). 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 PATHOLOGY?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 300 words; Keywords: ≥ 3; Manuscript length: ≤ 4,000 words; Reference style: Vancouver; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; Suggested reviewers: Optional, 5. 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 PATHOLOGY based?
Of the 84 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 3 (about 4%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (28), United States (20) and Netherlands (7). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY is indexed in SCIE and Scopus. The journal's website also lists Web of Science, MEDLINE, PubMed, Embase, CAS, CAB Abstracts and Current Contents; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY open access, and what is the APC?
JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 5,450.
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: .