Journal profile · Health Care Sciences & Services
Medical Decision Making
ISSN 0272-989X · eISSN 1552-681X · SAGE Publications Inc. · UNITED STATES · Bimonthly · Founded 1981
Medical Decision Making: CAS Zone 3 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.88; hybrid open access; APC about USD 4,400; review about 233 days (submission to acceptance, publisher); community-reported acceptance: fairly easy; 100 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE, SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Medical Decision Making is published by SAGE Publications 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 Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life, Patient-Provider Communication in Healthcare and Healthcare Policy and Management, together about 42.7% of its articles. Its main subfields are Economics and Econometrics. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Medical Decision Making (MDM), a journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making, offers rigorous and systematic approaches to decision making that are designed to improve the health and clinical care of individuals and to assist with health policy development. Published eight times a year, MDM presents theoretical, statistical, and modeling techniques and methods from a variety of disciplines including decision psychology, health economics, clinical epidemiology, and evidence synthesis. This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Please read more about the Journal on the website here: https://www.journals.smdm.org/Submit your manuscript today at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/MDM
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Health Care Sciences & Services
Editor-in-chief Brian J. Zikmund-FisherPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United States 59, United Kingdom 9, Canada 9, Australia 4, Germany 3 (90 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of LifeEconomics, Econometrics and Finance26.7%
- Patient-Provider Communication in HealthcareHealth Professions9.2%
- Healthcare Policy and ManagementEconomics, Econometrics and Finance6.8%
- Economic and Environmental ValuationEconomics, Econometrics and Finance6.1%
- Decision-Making and Behavioral EconomicsDecision Sciences5.4%
- Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic SkillsMedicine4.7%
- Healthcare cost, quality, practicesHealth Professions4.5%
- Meta-analysis and systematic reviewsDecision Sciences3.9%
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 |
| Minor | Medical Informatics | 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 |
| Minor | Medical Informatics | 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 | Health Care Sciences & Services | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Health Policy & Services | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Medical Informatics | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIESSCIScopusLetPub
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
- 1.88LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 2Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 4Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4.7LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.91LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.14LetPub ·
- h-index
- 93LetPub ·
- h-index
- 166OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 2,044OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.93OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 10%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 51.5%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 93LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 3,953 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 70 | 53 | 13 |
| 2025 | 100 | 78 | 188 |
| 2024 | 103 | 84 | 325 |
| 2023 | 71 | 57 | 441 |
| 2022 | 88 | 48 | 853 |
| 2021 | 137 | 105 | 3,573 |
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
233 dayssubmission to acceptance · community reports 6–12 weeks
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)
- 6–12 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly easyLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 9.4%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 12 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 233 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 72 daysPublisher 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 4,400 / GBP 3,226 | — | — |
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 prepare2 items from the author guidelines
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Cover letter
- Required
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 Inc.
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Bimonthly
- Founded
- 1981
- ISSN
- 0272-989X
- Electronic ISSN
- 1552-681X
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Medical Decision Making
What CAS zone is Medical Decision Making in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Medical Decision Making is in Zone 3 of Medicine, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Health Care Sciences & Services / Health Policy & Services / Medical Informatics. 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 Medical Decision Making?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 1.88; CiteScore 4.7, h-index 166.
How long does peer review take at Medical Decision Making?
The publisher reports about 233 days (submission to acceptance); authors report an average review time of 6–12 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly easy”; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 9.4%. 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 Medical Decision Making?
According to the journal's author guidelines: First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not 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.
Where are the editorial board members of Medical Decision Making based?
Of the 90 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (59), United Kingdom (9) and Canada (9). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Medical Decision Making?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Medical Decision Making is indexed in SCIE, SSCI and Scopus.
Is Medical Decision Making open access, and what is the APC?
Medical Decision Making is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 4,400.
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: .