Journal profile · Neurosciences
Molecular Pain
ISSN 1744-8069 · BioMed Central · ENGLAND · Irregular · Founded 2005
Molecular Pain: CAS Zone 3 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 3.74; fully open access; APC about USD 2,650; review 6–12 weeks (community reports); community-reported acceptance: moderate; 73 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Molecular Pain is published by BioMed Central 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 Pain Mechanisms and Treatments, Neuropeptides and Animal Physiology and Ion channel regulation and function, together about 52.1% of its articles. Its main subfields are Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Journal Highlights Impact Factor: 3.370 Indexed In: Clarivate Analytics: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), PubMed: MEDLINE, PubMed, SCOPUS, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) Publication is subject to payment of an article processing charge (APC) Submit here Molecular Pain (MPX) is a peer-reviewed open access journal which focuses on providing a forum for molecular pain scientists to communicate their research findings in a targeted manner to others in this important and growing field. Please see the Aims and Scope tab for further information. This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Submission Information Submit your manuscript today at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/molecularpain. Please see the Submission Guidelines tab for more information on how to submit your article to the journal. Open access article processing charge (APC) information Publication in the journal is subject to payment of an article processing charge (APC). The APC serves to support the journal and ensures that articles are freely accessible online in perpetuity under a Creative Commons license. The APC for this journal is currently $3200 for regular articles and $2560 for Micro Reports. The article processing charge (APC) is payable when a manuscript is accepted after peer review, before it is published. The APC is subject to taxes where applicable. Please see further details here. Contact Please direct any queries to MPX@sagepub.com.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Neurosciences
Editor-in-chief Jianguo GuPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 10 in mainland China (about 13%); most named United States 36, Japan 11, Mainland China 10, Canada 6, United Kingdom 4 (79 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Pain Mechanisms and TreatmentsMedicine37.5%
- Neuropeptides and Animal PhysiologyNeuroscience7.9%
- Ion channel regulation and functionBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology6.7%
- Ion Channels and ReceptorsNeuroscience6.6%
- Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology ResearchNeuroscience5.5%
- Nerve injury and regenerationNeuroscience5%
- Pain Management and TreatmentMedicine3%
- Pain Management and Opioid UseMedicine2.3%
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 | Neurosciences | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Neurosciences | 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 | Neurosciences | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
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
- 3.74LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 3.8Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 3.6Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.1LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.06LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.91LetPub ·
- h-index
- 72LetPub ·
- h-index
- 116OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,260OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.58OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 2.6%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 64LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,696 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 63 | 63 | 21 |
| 2025 | 73 | 73 | 174 |
| 2024 | 53 | 53 | 293 |
| 2023 | 59 | 59 | 785 |
| 2022 | 67 | 67 | 940 |
| 2021 | 67 | 67 | 1,193 |
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
- Average review time (community reports)
- 6–12 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- ModerateLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 23.9%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 4 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 42 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 11 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 | USD 2,650 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC | |
| OpenAlex | USD 2,650 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 2,650 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | USD 3,200 / USD 2,560 / USD 1,250 | — | — |
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
- Abstract
- ≤ 250 words
- Reference style
- Numbered, in order of citation
- Templates
- LaTeX and Word
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
Article types accepted13
- brief reportResearch: reports of data from original research. We anticipate that a research article will contain 5-10 figures. Authors should try to limit the Background an…Length not stated
- commentaryResearch: reports of data from original research. We anticipate that a research article will contain 5-10 figures. Authors should try to limit the Background an…Length not stated
- conflicting reportConflicting report: brief reports of data from original research that conflict with a recent key finding published in a high-impact, broad-scope journal, such a…Length not stated
- full research articleResearch: reports of data from original research. We anticipate that a research article will contain 5-10 figures. Authors should try to limit the Background an…Length not stated
- meeting reportMeeting report: a short description of a conference that the author has attended, which focuses on the key developments presented and discussed at the meeting.Length not stated
- methodologyMethodology: present a new experimental method, test or procedure.Length not stated
- micro reportMicro report: Micro Reports offer researchers an option to publish on a small portion of data in a brief report without the need to expand into a full research …Length not stated
- opinionResearch: reports of data from original research. We anticipate that a research article will contain 5-10 figures. Authors should try to limit the Background an…Length not stated
- original researchResearch: reports of data from original research. We anticipate that a research article will contain 5-10 figures. Authors should try to limit the Background an…Length not stated
- researchResearch: reports of data from original research.Length not stated
- research articleResearch: reports of data from original research. We anticipate that a research article will contain 5-10 figures. Authors should try to limit the Background an…Length not stated
- reviewResearch: reports of data from original research. We anticipate that a research article will contain 5-10 figures. Authors should try to limit the Background an…Length not stated
- short reportShort report: brief reports of data from original research that present very important findings in the field.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 Authorship
Please view our authorship policies, which includes information on criteria for authorship, who should be the corresponding author and more. Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.
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
Molecular Pain is an open access, peer-reviewed journal. All accepted articles are made freely available online immediately upon publication, are published under a Creative Commons license, and hosted online in perpetuity. If, after peer review, your manuscript is accepted for publication, a one-time article processing charge (APC) is payable to cover the cost of publishing, paid by the funder, in…
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
- BioMed Central
- Country or region
- ENGLAND
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Irregular
- Founded
- 2005
- ISSN
- 1744-8069
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- 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 Molecular Pain
What CAS zone is Molecular Pain in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Molecular Pain is in Zone 3 of Medicine, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Neurosciences. 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 Molecular Pain?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 3.74; CiteScore 5.1, h-index 116.
How long does peer review take at Molecular Pain?
Authors report an average review time of 6–12 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Moderate”; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 23.9%. 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 Molecular Pain?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 250 words; Reference style: Numbered, in order of citation; Templates: LaTeX and Word; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; Suggested reviewers: Optional. 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 Molecular Pain based?
Of the 79 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 10 (about 13%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (36), Japan (11) and Mainland China (10). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Molecular Pain?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Molecular Pain is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Molecular Pain open access, and what is the APC?
Molecular Pain is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 2,650.
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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .