Journal profile · UROLOGY & NEPHROLOGY
Kidney Diseases
ISSN 2296-9381 · eISSN 2296-9357 · KARGER · SWITZERLAND
Kidney Diseases: CAS Zone 4 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 3.69; fully open access; APC about USD 2,540; median 122 days to acceptance (98 articles, last 24 months); acceptance rate 19.6% (journal website); 72 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Kidney Diseases is published by KARGER 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 Chronic Kidney Disease and Diabetes, Dialysis and Renal Disease Management and Renal Diseases and Glomerulopathies, together about 39.4% of its articles. Its main subfields are Nephrology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Kidney Diseases aims to provide a platform for the communication of novel research findings from clinical science, basic and translational research on the entire spectrum of nephrological and urological disorders. The Basic Research Section includes renal cell biology, renal pathology and pathophysiology, genetics of kidney diseases, renal immunology, hemodynamics regulation, electrolytes and acid-base balance, and other mechanisms study of renal disorders. Clinical trials, observational studies, and other original clinical research work related to kidney diseases are the focus of the Clinical Science Section. Important studies on hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis are also considered. Moreover, the journal welcomes articles addressing interdisciplinary fields, such as hypertension and associated cardiovascular disease, endocrine disorders related kidney injury, renal nutrition and health care policy. Invited review articles and editorials by renowned experts and high-quality rapid communications round off the contents of the journal.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): UROLOGY & NEPHROLOGY
Editor-in-chief Xueqing YuPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Chronic Kidney Disease and DiabetesMedicine16.3%
- Dialysis and Renal Disease ManagementMedicine13%
- Renal Diseases and GlomerulopathiesMedicine10.1%
- Acute Kidney Injury ResearchMedicine7.5%
- Diverse Scientific and Economic StudiesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance6.8%
- Human auditory perception and evaluationEngineering5.9%
- Physics and Engineering Research ArticlesEngineering4.2%
- Parathyroid Disorders and TreatmentsMedicine3.8%
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 | Urology & Nephrology | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Urology & Nephrology | 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 | Urology & Nephrology | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Web of SciencePMCEmbasePublisher website
Other: Google 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
- 3.69LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 3.7Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 6.1LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 6.1Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.08LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.08LetPub ·
- h-index
- 50OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 221OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.27OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 0%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 60LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 563 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 52 | 52 | 8 |
| 2025 | 72 | 72 | 150 |
| 2024 | 48 | 48 | 232 |
| 2023 | 53 | 53 | 522 |
| 2022 | 50 | 50 | 726 |
| 2021 | 54 | 54 | 904 |
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
122 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 92 days – 166 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 18 days (98 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 148 days
- Sample
- 98 articles with submission and acceptance dates (141 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 27 weeksLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 19.6%Publisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 20 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Single 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 2,230 / USD 2,540 / CHF 2,250 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC | |
| OpenAlex | USD 2,320 / EUR 1,980 / CHF 2,120 | — | — | |
| LetPub | EUR 2,230 / USD 2,540 / CHF 2,250 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | USD 2,890 / USD 1,730 | — | — |
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
- Keywords
- ≥ 3
- Reference style
- Vancouver
- Templates
- Word
- Graphical abstract
- Required
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted8, with length limits
- brief reportailable below. For guidance purposes, a Brief Report is typically 3000 words in length and up to 3 Tables and Figures. Document Brief Remain text ≤ 3,000 words
- commentaryailable below. For guidance purposes, a Commentary is typically 1000 words in length and up to 3 Tables and Figures. Document Commentamain text ≤ 1,000 words
- editorialilable below. For guidance purposes, an Editorial is typically 1000 words in length and up to 3 Tables and Figures. Document Editoriamain text ≤ 1,000 words
- letterailable below. For guidance purposes, a Letter is typically 1000 words in length and up to 3 Tables and Figures. Document Letter Cmain text ≤ 1,000 words
- methods articleailable below. For guidance purposes, a Methods Article is typically 3000 words in length and up to 3 Tables and Figures. Documents Methodsmain text ≤ 3,000 words
- research articleailable below. For guidance purposes, a Research Article is typically 5000 words in length with 4 to 8 Tables and Figures. Document Researchmain text ≤ 5,000 words
- review articleailable below. For guidance purposes, a Review Article is typically 5000 words in length with 4 to 8 Tables and Figures. Document Review Amain text ≤ 5,000 words
- systematic reviewailable below. For guidance purposes, a Systematic Review is typically 5000 words in length with 4 to 8 Tables and Figures. Document Systematmain text ≤ 5,000 words
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Self-archiving
- Authorship Author Contributions
In the Author Contribution statement, a short statement detailing the contributions of each person named as an author should be included. The CRediT taxonomy is a useful framework for preparing this section. Contributors to the submission who do not fulfil the ICMJE Criteria for Authorship should be credited, with their consent, in the Acknowledgement section.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Conflict of Interest Statement
Authors are required to disclose any relationship that could be perceived as a conflict of interest in the Conflict of Interest Statement. All forms of support and financial involvement which took place in the previous three years should be listed, regardless of their potential relevance to the paper. Nonfinancial relationships that may potentially influence the writing of the manuscript should al…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data Availability Statement
Authors are required to provide a Data Availability Statement that details whether data are publicly available and where the data supporting their study can be accessed. The journal’s data sharing policy strongly encourages authors to make all datasets on which the conclusions of the paper rely available to editors, reviewers and readers without unnecessary restriction wherever possible. In cases …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Licenses and Copyright
Articles published in Kidney Diseases are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, unless otherwise agreed with Karger Publishers. When sharing or reusing any article, attribution must be given to the original source, using the statement "The final, published version of this article is available at http://karger.com/?doi=[insert DOI nu…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open Access
Open Access since 2020 (All articles are published under Creative Commons licenses) Content prior to 2020 is available under the subscription model. All rights reserved.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer Review
Single-anonymous peer review system Model summary
Peer Review Policy All Karger journals employ a rigorous peer-review process to confirm the validity and ensure scientific accuracy of published articles. Independent researchers with relevant expertise assess submitted manuscripts to help journal editors determine whether a manuscript should be published in their journal. All articles, except for Editorials and some Correspondence articles, are e…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Self-archiving Archiving and Self-Archiving
All articles are archived in Portico. Articles may also be archived in PubMed Central if the journal is indexed there. Karger permits authors of Open Access articles to post the Version of Record (VOR) of their articles in Open Access repositories or on other websites. Preprints may be shared without restriction. Re-posted Open Access articles must follow the terms of the relevant Creative Commons…
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
- KARGER
- Country or region
- SWITZERLAND
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2296-9381
- Electronic ISSN
- 2296-9357
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 12, Issue 1 (December 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- 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 Kidney Diseases
What CAS zone is Kidney Diseases in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Kidney Diseases is in Zone 4 of Medicine, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Urology & Nephrology. 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 Kidney Diseases?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 3.69; CiteScore 6.1, h-index 50.
How long does peer review take at Kidney Diseases?
Based on the dates recorded on 98 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 122 days (interquartile range 92–166 days); authors report an average review time of about 27 weeks; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 19.6%. 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 Kidney Diseases?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Keywords: ≥ 3; Reference style: Vancouver; Templates: Word; Graphical abstract: 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.
Which databases index Kidney Diseases?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Kidney Diseases is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Web of Science, PMC and Embase; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Kidney Diseases open access, and what is the APC?
Kidney Diseases is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 2,540.
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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .