Journal profile · NURSING
Nursing in Critical Care
ISSN 1362-1017 · eISSN 1478-5153 · Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd · ENGLAND · Founded 1996
Nursing in Critical Care: CAS Zone 4 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.78; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,400; median 141 days to acceptance (117 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: easy; 382 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE, SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Nursing in Critical Care is published by Wiley-Blackwell Publishing 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 Family and Patient Care in Intensive Care Units, Intensive Care Unit Cognitive Disorders and Sepsis Diagnosis and Treatment, together about 41.3% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Nursing in Critical Care is an international peer-reviewed journal covering any aspect of critical care nursing practice, research, education or management. Critical care nursing is defined as the whole spectrum of skills, knowledge and attitudes utilised by practitioners in any setting where adults or children, and their families, are experiencing acute and critical illness. Such settings encompass general and specialist hospitals, and the community. Nursing in Critical Care covers the diverse specialities of critical care nursing including surgery, medicine, cardiac, renal, neurosciences, haematology, obstetrics, accident and emergency, neonatal nursing and paediatrics. Papers published in the journal normally fall into one of the following categories: research reports literature reviews developments in practice, education or management reflections on practice
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): NURSING
Editorial board by country: 1 in mainland China (about 2%); most named United Kingdom 25, Australia 5, Germany 3, Canada 3, Netherlands 3 (62 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Family and Patient Care in Intensive Care UnitsHealth Professions17.1%
- Intensive Care Unit Cognitive DisordersMedicine17%
- Sepsis Diagnosis and TreatmentMedicine7.1%
- Palliative Care and End-of-Life IssuesMedicine6.4%
- Nursing education and managementNursing5.1%
- Disaster Response and ManagementHealth Professions4.8%
- Nosocomial Infections in ICUMedicine4.7%
- Respiratory Support and MechanismsMedicine4.5%
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 | Nursing | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Nursing | 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 | Nursing | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIESSCIScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Web of ScienceMEDLINEPubMedCINAHLCurrent ContentsPublisher website
Other: EBSCO
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
- 2.78LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 2.8Publisher website ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.8Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4.4LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 4.4Publisher website ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 4.4Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.85LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.36LetPub ·
- h-index
- 36LetPub ·
- h-index
- 76OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 807OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.4OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 14.3%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 39.06%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 321LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher) 2025
- 342Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 695,170Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 3,076 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 421 | 274 | 145 |
| 2025 | 382 | 215 | 1,009 |
| 2024 | 208 | 132 | 1,269 |
| 2023 | 157 | 106 | 1,119 |
| 2022 | 138 | 64 | 1,539 |
| 2021 | 148 | 62 | 2,509 |
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
141 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 89 days – 202 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 27 days (118 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 174 days
- Sample
- 117 articles with submission and acceptance dates (825 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)
- over 12 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- EasyLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 31%Publisher website ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher) 2025
- 31%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 19 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 19 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance 2025
- 141 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 26 daysPublisher website ·
- Peer review
- Double 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 3,400 / EUR 2,850 / GBP 2,270 | — | — | |
| 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 accepted19, with length limits
- case studiesCase Studies Focusing on patient or unit cases and nursing issuesLength not stated
- case studyAuthors are strongly encouraged to use appropriate reporting guidelines from the when preparing and submitting manuscripts, to maximize transparency and reprodu…main text ≤ 2,000 words
- commentaryAuthors are strongly encouraged to use appropriate reporting guidelines from the when preparing and submitting manuscripts, to maximize transparency and reprodu…main text ≤ 1,000 words
- critical commentariesCritical Commentaries focused articles of contemporary interest critically discussing an issue, article or study.Length not stated
- editorialAuthors are strongly encouraged to use appropriate reporting guidelines from the when preparing and submitting manuscripts, to maximize transparency and reprodu…Length not stated
- meta-analysisAuthors are strongly encouraged to use appropriate reporting guidelines from the when preparing and submitting manuscripts, to maximize transparency and reprodu…Length not stated
- original research articleAuthors are strongly encouraged to use appropriate reporting guidelines from the when preparing and submitting manuscripts, to maximize transparency and reprodu…Length not stated
- original research articlesOriginal Research Articles Reports of new research findings or conceptual analyses that make a significant contribution to knowledgeLength not stated
- protocolAuthors are strongly encouraged to use appropriate reporting guidelines from the when preparing and submitting manuscripts, to maximize transparency and reprodu…main text ≤ 3,000 words
- quality improvement initiatives/ service evaluationsQuality Improvement Initiatives/ Service evaluations Papers reporting quality and safety initiativesLength not stated
- research article:e13048. doi:10.1111/nicc.130486. Short research articles Word Limit: Maximum of up to 1,500 words with a 150-word unstructured abstract; maximum of 25 referemain text ≤ 1,500 words
- research reportAuthors are strongly encouraged to use appropriate reporting guidelines from the when preparing and submitting manuscripts, to maximize transparency and reprodu…main text ≤ 1,500 words
- reviewAuthors are strongly encouraged to use appropriate reporting guidelines from the when preparing and submitting manuscripts, to maximize transparency and reprodu…main text ≤ 4,000 words
- review articleAuthors are strongly encouraged to use appropriate reporting guidelines from the when preparing and submitting manuscripts, to maximize transparency and reprodu…main text ≤ 4,000 words
- review articlesReview Articles Critical reviews of the literature, including systematic reviews, meta-analyses and meta-analysessynthesesLength not stated
- short communicationAuthors are strongly encouraged to use appropriate reporting guidelines from the when preparing and submitting manuscripts, to maximize transparency and reprodu…Length not stated
- short manuscriptShort Manuscript A short communication under one of the following categories: Evidence Based Critical Care Ethical dilemmas Short research reports Short (non-re…Length not stated
- study protocolsStudy Protocols Protocols of proposed or ongoing research studiesLength not stated
- systematic reviewAuthors are strongly encouraged to use appropriate reporting guidelines from the when preparing and submitting manuscripts, to maximize transparency and reprodu…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Authorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints, Trial registration / reporting guidelines
- AI use Disclosing the use of artificial intelligence (AI)
If you or your co-authors have used Artificial Intelligence Generated Content (AIGC) tools such as ChatGPT and others based on large language models (LLMs) to develop any portion of a manuscript, their use must be described transparently and in detail in the Methods section.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Authorship Authorship
All listed authors should have contributed to the manuscript substantially and have agreed to the final submitted version. Review editorial standards and scroll down for a description of authorship criteria.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Conflicts of interest (COIs)
Authors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest that could influence the work. If no conflicts exist, include: “The authors declare no conflicts of interest.” All authors must also complete the COI question in the submission system and provide any required forms. To preserve anonymity, do not include COI statements in the manuscript—these must be provided only through the submission syst…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data Sharing and Data Availability
Data availability statement required Model summary
This journal expects data sharing. Review Wiley’s Data Sharing policy where you will be able to see and select the data availability statement that is right for your submission.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Reproduction of Copyright Material
If you have included excerpts from copyrighted works owned by third parties, all sources must be credited within the manuscript. At minimum, the title and author should be provided.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open Access
This is a subscription journal that offers an open access publication option.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review 1. Submission and Peer Review Process
Double-anonymised peer review policy Model summary
New submissions should be made via the Research Exchange submission portal, https://authors.wiley.com/journal/NICC. You may check the status of your submission at any time by logging on to submission.wiley.com and clicking the “My Submissions” button. For technical help with the submission system, please review our FAQs or contact submissionhelp@wiley.com. For manuscript queries, please contact ni…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints
Preprint policy Model summary
This journal accepts articles previously published on preprint servers.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Trial registration / reporting guidelines Reporting guidelines
For empirical methodological mixed methods research articles, authors should also consider using other guidelines that are not specific to methodological articles, such as the Good Reporting of A Mixed Methods Study (GRAMMS) guidelines found here or the APA Mixed Methods Design Reporting Standards (JARS–Mixed) here, both included in the EQUATOR Network database. The manuscripts must fit the defini…
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-Blackwell Publishing Ltd
- Country or region
- ENGLAND
- Language
- English
- Founded
- 1996
- ISSN
- 1362-1017
- Electronic ISSN
- 1478-5153
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 31, Issue 5 (September 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Nursing in Critical Care
What CAS zone is Nursing in Critical Care in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Nursing in Critical Care is in Zone 4 of Medicine, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Nursing. 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 Nursing in Critical Care?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.78; CiteScore 4.4, h-index 76.
How long does peer review take at Nursing in Critical Care?
Based on the dates recorded on 117 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 141 days (interquartile range 89–202 days); authors report an average review time of over 12 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Easy”; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 31% (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.
Where are the editorial board members of Nursing in Critical Care based?
Of the 62 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 1 (about 2%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (25), Australia (5) and Germany (3). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Nursing in Critical Care?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Nursing in Critical Care is indexed in SCIE, SSCI and Scopus. The journal's website also lists Web of Science, MEDLINE, PubMed, CINAHL and Current Contents; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Nursing in Critical Care open access, and what is the APC?
Nursing in Critical Care is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,400.
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: .