Journal profile · Rheumatology
Lupus
ISSN 0961-2033 · eISSN 1477-0962 · SAGE Publications Ltd · ENGLAND · Bimonthly · Founded 1991
Lupus: CAS Zone 4 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.78; hybrid open access; APC about USD 4,150; review about 164 days (submission to acceptance, publisher); community-reported acceptance: about 50%; 181 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Lupus is published by SAGE Publications Ltd 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 Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Research, T-cell and B-cell Immunology and Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research, together about 52.1% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The only fully peer reviewed international journal devoted exclusively to lupus (and related disease) research. Lupus includes the most promising new clinical and laboratory-based studies from leading specialists in all lupus-related disciplines.If you wish your article to be freely available online immediately upon publication (as some funding bodies now require), you can opt for it to be included in SAGE Choice upon payment of a publication fee. Manuscript submission and refereeing procedure is unchanged, but on acceptance of your article you will be asked to let SAGE know directly if you are choosing SAGE Choice. If funding has been provided for your research, convention dictates that you acknowledge the source and grant information in the Acknowledgements section of your article. Please note that in some cases, grant funders require authors to attribute the funding source, describe the role of the study funding body and include the relevant grant reference numbers.For further information please visit http:/www.sagepub.co.uk/sagechoice.sp.This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Submit your manuscript today at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/lupus.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Rheumatology
Editorial board by country: 1 in mainland China (about 2%); most named United States 19, United Kingdom 8, Italy 6, Germany 3, Spain 3 (59 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Systemic Lupus Erythematosus ResearchMedicine40.1%
- T-cell and B-cell ImmunologyImmunology and Microbiology6.2%
- Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies ResearchMedicine5.9%
- Atherosclerosis and Cardiovascular DiseasesImmunology and Microbiology4.9%
- Rheumatoid Arthritis Research and TherapiesMedicine4.7%
- Systemic Sclerosis and Related DiseasesMedicine4.5%
- Renal Diseases and GlomerulopathiesMedicine3.9%
- Liver Diseases and ImmunityMedicine3.3%
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 | Rheumatology | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Rheumatology | 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 | Rheumatology | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
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
- 1.78LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 1.8Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 2.2Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 3.6LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.66LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.75LetPub ·
- h-index
- 94LetPub ·
- h-index
- 142OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 4,419OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.06OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 5.6%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 8.95%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 163LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 6,884 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 144 | 43 | 37 |
| 2025 | 181 | 54 | 269 |
| 2024 | 188 | 72 | 750 |
| 2023 | 179 | 63 | 915 |
| 2022 | 241 | 52 | 2,255 |
| 2021 | 241 | 58 | 3,178 |
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
Publisher-reported review time from the journal's website
164 dayssubmission to acceptance · community reports about 1 month
The publisher's own definition applies; dates from this journal's articles in the last 24 months are not available yet, so the publisher's figure is used.
Figures by source
- Average review time (community reports)
- about 1 monthLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- 50%LetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 29.3%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 2 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 164 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 12 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 4,150 / GBP 3,043 | — | — | |
| 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)
Article types accepted7, with length limits
- case reportLupus is published fourteen times a year. The Editor will consider for publication all suitable papers dealing directly or indirectly with lupus or related dise…Length not stated
- editorialLupus is published fourteen times a year. The Editor will consider for publication all suitable papers dealing directly or indirectly with lupus or related dise…Length not stated
- letterLupus is published fourteen times a year. The Editor will consider for publication all suitable papers dealing directly or indirectly with lupus or related dise…Length not stated
- letters to the editorLupus is published fourteen times a year. The Editor will consider for publication all suitable papers dealing directly or indirectly with lupus or related dise…Length not stated
- original paperLupus is published fourteen times a year. The Editor will consider for publication all suitable papers dealing directly or indirectly with lupus or related dise…Length not stated
- original research articleLupus is published fourteen times a year. The Editor will consider for publication all suitable papers dealing directly or indirectly with lupus or related dise…main text ≤ 4,000 words
- research paperLupus is published fourteen times a year. The Editor will consider for publication all suitable papers dealing directly or indirectly with lupus or related dise…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Data availability, Publication ethics, Open access, Peer review, Plagiarism, Preprints, Trial registration / reporting guidelines
- Authorship Author contributions
You will be asked to list the contribution of each author as part of the submission process. Please include the Author Contributions heading within your submission after the Acknowledgements section. The information you give on submission will then show under the Author Contributions heading later at the proofing stage.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data availability
The Journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages. Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to: Share your research data in a relevant public data repository Include a data ava…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics Ethical considerations
Please include your ethics approval statements under this heading, even if you have already included ethics approval information in your methods section. If ethical approval was not required, you need to explicitly state this. All papers reporting studies involving human participants, human data or human tissue must state that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board approved th…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Publishing fees and open access
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this journal. Figures submitted in color will be published in color in the online version of the journal at no cost. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article. Optional open access publishing is available for a fee via the Sage Choice pr…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
The following summary describes the peer review process for this journal: Identity transparency: Single anonymized Reviewer interacts with: Editor Review information published: None Your manuscript will undergo an initial evaluation. If it does not conform to the requirements laid out in these guidelines, it will be returned to you for amendments prior to peer review. Manuscripts may be desk rejec…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Plagiarism Plagiarism
The journal and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. Please read Sage's complete policy on plagiarism and the actions we may take.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
The journal will consider submissions of manuscripts that have been posted on preprint servers. Please enter the preprint DOI in the designated field when submitting your manuscript. We advise that you inform the Journal Editorial office about your posted preprint at submission. Note that you should not post an updated version of your manuscript on a preprint server while it is being peer reviewed…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Trial registration / reporting guidelines Clinical trial registration
The journal conforms to the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first participant enrollment as a condition of consideration for publication. The trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.
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
- SAGE Publications Ltd
- Country or region
- ENGLAND
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Bimonthly
- Founded
- 1991
- ISSN
- 0961-2033
- Electronic ISSN
- 1477-0962
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Lupus
What CAS zone is Lupus in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Lupus is in Zone 4 of Medicine, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Rheumatology. 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 Lupus?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 1.78; CiteScore 3.6, h-index 142.
How long does peer review take at Lupus?
The publisher reports about 164 days (submission to acceptance); authors report an average review time of about 1 month; the community-reported acceptance is “about 50%”; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 29.3%. 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 Lupus based?
Of the 59 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 1 (about 2%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (19), United Kingdom (8) and Italy (6). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Lupus?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Lupus is indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Is Lupus open access, and what is the APC?
Lupus is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 4,150.
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: .