Journal profile · Health Professions-Health Information Management
Journal of Patient-Reported Outcomes
ISSN 2509-8020 · Springer Nature · United Kingdom
Journal of Patient-Reported Outcomes: CAS Zone 3 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.9 (journal website); fully open access; APC about USD 2,090; median 208 days to acceptance (116 articles, last 24 months); 157 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Journal of Patient-Reported Outcomes is published by Springer Nature 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 Cancer survivorship and care, Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life and Patient-Provider Communication in Healthcare, together about 34.7% of its articles. Its main subfields are General Health Professions. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The Journal of Patient-Reported Outcomes (JPRO) is an international, open-access, multi-disciplinary journal dedicated to advancing the science and practice of patient-reported outcomes (PROs). JPRO publishes high-quality original research, and serves as a leader in the field, providing innovative insights and methodologies with broad cross-disciplinary relevance. JPRO welcomes submissions of original research articles, comprehensive literature reviews, brief communications, commentaries, editorials, and reviews of recent books and software advances relevant to the topics described below. Submissions should demonstrate innovation, employ novel methodologies, or significantly contribute to the advancement of PROs science. Manuscripts reporting results with broad implications across disciplines are particularly encouraged. Note: JPRO generally does not publish case reports, study protocols, or pilot and feasibility studies. The journal uses the ISOQOL Dictionary of Quality of Life and Health Outcomes Measurement definitions of PROs, patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), and patient-reported experience measures (PREMs).1 Listed below are some examples of the types of papers to be considered for publication in JPRO. Innovative methods of capturing patient perspectives that are directly linked to outcomes relevant to the patient and analyzing: PROs in clinical trials, observational studies, and real-world research designs PROMs and PREMs in clinical practice and/or clinical research Observer-reported outcomes (e.g. caregivers) and clinician-reported outcome measures in clinical practice and/or clinical research, observational studies and real-world research designs Performance Outcomes and Digital Health Measures that promote health and wellbeing including Artificial Intelligence (AI). Patient, family, community, and public engagement in PRO research. Methods to engage patients, family members, and the public in the process of PRO-related research, policy formulation, and clinical guidelines development, and the evaluation of the effects of such engagement. Novel and innovative, quantitative and qualitative studies, on the development, psychometric evaluation, and application of PROMs and PREMs. This does NOT include simple linguistic validation and psychometric properties studies of already validated PROMs. Studies of the social and behavioral determinants of health using PROMs and PREMs. Reviews of PROMs and PREMs (e.g.: systematic, scoping, etc.) Defini
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Health Professions-Health Information Management
Editor-in-chief Rasa RuseckaitePublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United States 16, United Kingdom 6, Australia 3, Taiwan, China 2, Germany 2 (38 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Cancer survivorship and careMedicine18.8%
- Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of LifeEconomics, Econometrics and Finance9.8%
- Patient-Provider Communication in HealthcareHealth Professions6.2%
- Childhood Cancer Survivors' Quality of LifeMedicine5.4%
- Mental Health and Patient InvolvementHealth Professions5.1%
- Patient Satisfaction in HealthcareHealth Professions5%
- Total Knee Arthroplasty OutcomesMedicine3.8%
- Delphi Technique in ResearchSocial Sciences3.7%
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 | Health Policy & Services | 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 | Health Policy & Services | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
Database indexing
ESCIScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
MEDLINECASPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, EBSCO, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, Baidu, 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 (publisher) 2025
- 2.9Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 3.4Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4.5LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.92LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.15LetPub ·
- h-index
- 54OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 410OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.28OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 3.4%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 151LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 2,025Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 919,500Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,196 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 223 | 223 | 40 |
| 2025 | 157 | 157 | 341 |
| 2024 | 154 | 154 | 837 |
| 2023 | 136 | 136 | 1,522 |
| 2022 | 130 | 130 | 2,001 |
| 2021 | 134 | 134 | 2,291 |
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
208 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 143 days – 281 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 15 days (116 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 228 days
- Sample
- 116 articles with submission and acceptance dates (414 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)
- about 20 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 9 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 20 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 | EUR 1,790 / USD 2,090 / GBP 1,490 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | USD 1,990 / EUR 1,690 / GBP 1,390 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 1,390 / USD 1,990 / EUR 1,690 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 1,490 / USD 2,090 / EUR 1,790 | — | — |
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 papers3, by deadline
Publisher websiteWhat to prepare2 items from the author guidelines
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
- Not considered
- case reports; study protocols; pilot and feasibility studies
Article types accepted6
- book reviewBook reviewLength not stated
- commentaryCommentaryLength not stated
- researchResearchLength not stated
- reviewReviewLength not stated
- short reportShort reportLength not stated
- software reviewSoftware reviewLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteData availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review
- Data availability Formatting the 'Availability of data and materials' section of your manuscript
The following format for the 'Availability of data and materials section of your manuscript should be used:
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Licensing and copyright
Open access under CC BY licence (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International). Model summary
Creative Commons licences Open access articles in Springer Nature journals are published under Creative Commons licences. These provide an industry-standard framework to support easy re-use of open access material. Under Creative Commons licences, authors retain copyright of their articles. Journal of Patient-Reported Outcomes articles are published open access under a CC BY licence (Creative Comm…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Benefits of open access
Publishing open access (OA) offers a number of benefits, including greater reach and readership for your work: Cited more 1.6x more citations of OA articles than non-OA articles across all subjects Downloaded more 4x more downloads of OA articles than non-OA articles Greater impact 2.5x more Altmetric attention. OA articles attracted 1.9x more news mentions and 1.2x more policy mentions Open acces…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
Peer review is the process used to evaluate the quality of a manuscript before publication. Independent researchers in the relevant field assess submitted manuscripts to check their validity and robustness. Their feedback guides editors in making publication decisions. Typically, two or more experts evaluate each manuscript based on three main criteria: scientific robustness: is the research metho…
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 Nature
- Country or region
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2509-8020
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- 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 Patient-Reported Outcomes
What CAS zone is Journal of Patient-Reported Outcomes in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Journal of Patient-Reported Outcomes is in Zone 3 of Medicine, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Health Care Sciences & Services / Health Policy & Services. 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 Patient-Reported Outcomes?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 2.9 (2025); this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 4.5, h-index 54.
How long does peer review take at Journal of Patient-Reported Outcomes?
Based on the dates recorded on 116 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 208 days (interquartile range 143–281 days); authors report an average review time of about 20 weeks. 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 Patient-Reported Outcomes based?
Of the 38 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (16), United Kingdom (6) and Australia (3). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Journal of Patient-Reported Outcomes?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Journal of Patient-Reported Outcomes is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists MEDLINE and CAS; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Journal of Patient-Reported Outcomes open access, and what is the APC?
Journal of Patient-Reported Outcomes is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 2,090.
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: .