Journal profile · Surgery
Lasers in Surgery and Medicine
ISSN 0196-8092 · eISSN 1096-9101 · Wiley-Liss Inc. · UNITED STATES · Monthly
Lasers in Surgery and Medicine: CAS Zone 3 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.08; hybrid open access; APC about USD 4,620; median 109 days to acceptance (79 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: fairly easy; 124 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Lasers in Surgery and Medicine is published by Wiley-Liss Inc. 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 Laser Applications in Dentistry and Medicine, Dermatologic Treatments and Research and Photodynamic Therapy Research Studies, together about 52.9% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Lasers in Surgery and Medicine publishes the highest quality research and clinical manuscripts in areas relating to the use of lasers, light-based and other related energy modalities in medicine and biology. The journal publishes basic and clinical studies on the therapeutic and diagnostic use of lasers in all the surgical and medical specialties. Contributions regarding clinical trials, new photonic-based therapeutic techniques or instrumentation, laser biophysics and bioengineering, photobiology and photochemistry, outcomes research, cost-effectiveness, and other aspects of biomedicine are welcome. Using a process of rigorous yet rapid review of submitted manuscripts, findings of high scientific and medical interest are published with a minimum delay.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Surgery
Editor-in-chief Bahman AnvariPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 1 in mainland China (about 8%); most named United States 2, France 2, Mainland China 1, United Kingdom 1, Japan 1 (12 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Laser Applications in Dentistry and MedicineMedicine24.3%
- Dermatologic Treatments and ResearchMedicine19.5%
- Photodynamic Therapy Research StudiesMedicine9.1%
- Ocular and Laser Science ResearchMedicine4.1%
- Laser Material Processing TechniquesEngineering3.4%
- Migraine and Headache StudiesMedicine3.1%
- Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy TechniquesMedicine2.9%
- Optical Coherence Tomography ApplicationsEngineering2.8%
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 | Dermatology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Surgery | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Dermatology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Surgery | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Dermatology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Surgery | Zone 3 |
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 ScienceMEDLINEPubMedINSPECEmbaseCurrent ContentsPublisher website
Other: ProQuest
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
- 2.08LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 2.1Publisher website ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.1Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4.6LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 4.6Publisher website ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 4.6Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.58LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.03LetPub ·
- h-index
- 103LetPub ·
- h-index
- 161OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 3,334OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.62OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 9.5%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 37.15%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 81LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher) 2025
- 87Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 307,209Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 6,042 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 129 | 64 | 23 |
| 2025 | 124 | 71 | 165 |
| 2024 | 132 | 82 | 434 |
| 2023 | 132 | 86 | 662 |
| 2022 | 129 | 39 | 786 |
| 2021 | 154 | 45 | 1,891 |
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
109 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 67 days – 154 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 10 days (79 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 121 days
- Sample
- 79 articles with submission and acceptance dates (264 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)
- Fairly easyLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 25%Publisher website ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher) 2025
- 25%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 21 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 21 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance 2025
- 124 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 11 daysPublisher website ·
- Peer review
- Single 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 4,620 / EUR 3,800 / GBP 3,080 | — | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
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 prepare6 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 300 words
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 3,000 words
- Reference style
- AMA
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Suggested reviewers
- Required, 3
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted3
- case reportIn order to facilitate a faster submission process and initial evaluation, Lasers in Surgery and Medicine participates in Free Format submission. Once your manu…Length not stated
- editorialThe acceptance criteria for all papers are the quality and originality of the research and its significance to journal readership. All manuscript submissions ar…Length not stated
- reviewIn order to facilitate a faster submission process and initial evaluation, Lasers in Surgery and Medicine participates in Free Format submission. Once your manu…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, Publication ethics, Trial registration / reporting guidelines
- Authorship Authorship
Please refer to the journal’s Authorship policy in the Editorial Policies and Ethical Considerations section for details on author listing eligibility.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Conflict of Interest Statement
Authors will be asked to provide a conflict of interest statement during the submission process. For details on what to include in this section, see the 'Conflict of Interest' section in the Editorial Policies and Ethical Considerations section below. Authors should ensure they liaise with all co-authors to confirm agreement with the final statement.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics 5. EDITORIAL POLICIES AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Publication Policies and Procedures All Editors, Editorial Board members, and publisher’s staff at Lasers in Surgery and Medicine take great responsibility to ensure that the highest ethical publication standards are maintained by assisting in safeguarding the medical scientific literature against fraudulent publications. All manuscripts are submitted for plagiarism detection through iThenticate. …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Trial registration / reporting guidelines Clinical Trial Registration
The journal requires that clinical trials are prospectively registered in a publicly accessible database and clinical trial registration numbers should be included in all papers that report their results. Authors are asked to include the name of the trial register and the clinical trial registration number at the end of the abstract. If the trial is not registered, or was registered retrospectivel…
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
- Wiley-Liss Inc.
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Monthly
- ISSN
- 0196-8092
- Electronic ISSN
- 1096-9101
- Society / sponsor
- American Society for Laser Medicine & Surgery
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 58, Issue 8 (October 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Lasers in Surgery and Medicine
What CAS zone is Lasers in Surgery and Medicine in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Lasers in Surgery and Medicine is in Zone 3 of Medicine, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Dermatology / Surgery. 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 Lasers in Surgery and Medicine?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.08; CiteScore 4.6, h-index 161.
How long does peer review take at Lasers in Surgery and Medicine?
Based on the dates recorded on 79 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 109 days (interquartile range 67–154 days); authors report an average review time of 4–8 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly easy”; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 25% (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 Lasers in Surgery and Medicine?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 300 words; Manuscript length: ≤ 3,000 words; Reference style: AMA; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; Suggested reviewers: Required, 3; 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 Lasers in Surgery and Medicine based?
Of the 12 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 1 (about 8%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (2), France (2) and Mainland China (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Lasers in Surgery and Medicine?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Lasers in Surgery and Medicine is indexed in SCIE and Scopus. The journal's website also lists Web of Science, MEDLINE, PubMed, INSPEC, Embase and Current Contents; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Lasers in Surgery and Medicine open access, and what is the APC?
Lasers in Surgery and Medicine is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 4,620.
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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .