Journal profile · Medicine, General & Internal
Pain Medicine
ISSN 1526-2375 · eISSN 1526-4637 · VICER Publishing · UNITED STATES · Bimonthly · Founded 2000
Pain Medicine: CAS Zone 3 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 3.95; hybrid open access; APC about USD 5,036; median 83 days to acceptance (105 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: about 75%; 231 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Pain Medicine is published by VICER Publishing 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 Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation, Pain Management and Opioid Use and Pain Mechanisms and Treatments, together about 38.3% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
About the journal Pain Medicine is dedicated to pain clinicians, educators, and researchers with an interest in pain from various medical specialties and related health disciplines. The journal reflects the rapid growth in pain science and practice, as well as the field's need for policy, ethical, and forensic commentary on pain and its management. It promotes the visibility and development of pain medicine as a worldwide interdisciplinary medical specialty within a collaborative, multidisciplinary pain field. Readers benefit from both cutting-edge original clinical and translational research and scientific reviews. Sections include: Acute, Regional Anesthesiology & Perioperative Pain Section Interventional Pain & Spine Medicine Section Neuromodulation & Minimally Invasive Surgery Section Psychology, Psychiatry & Brain Neuroscience Section Musculoskeletal, Rehabilitation & Regenerative Medicine Section Neuropathic Pain Section Headache & Facial Pain Section Integrative Medicine Section Co-Morbid Pain & Substance Use Disorders Section Primary Care & Health Services Section Special Populations Section Cancer Pain & Palliative Care Section Pain & Aging Section Education & Training Section Book/Web Reviews Pain Medicine provides: A supportive, international Editorial Board led by Professor Robert Hurley, MD, PhD. A speedy peer-review process with an average of 3.2 weeks from manuscript submission to first decision. Open Access publishing options with discounts for members of the AAPM. A simple publishing process with format free submission. Vast readership with over 2 million article downloads per year. Global expertise with papers published from authors in 37 countries in 2020. Dedicated social media channels sharing published research and topical news. Facebook Twitter Article-level metrics showing where your research has been mentioned online and in the news. Journal metrics Citation metrics Clarivate 2025 Impact Factor 4.0 2025 5 Year Impact Factor 4.0 Anesthesiology (Rank by Impact Factor) 12/72 Medicine, General & Internal (Rank by Impact Factor) 57/336 Scopus 2025 CiteScore 6.6 Anesthesiology And Pain Medicine (Rank by CiteScore) 15/147 About metrics More from Pain Medicine Read the latest issue. Read the author guidelines to find out more about the submissions process and requirements. Visit the submission site to submit your papers. Meet the Editorial Board. Browse our archive of virtual issues, featuring article collections on topics such as opioids,
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Medicine, General & Internal
Editor-in-chief Robert W. HurleyPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United States 18, United Kingdom 1 (19 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitationMedicine15.7%
- Pain Management and Opioid UseMedicine13%
- Pain Mechanisms and TreatmentsMedicine9.6%
- Opioid Use Disorder TreatmentMedicine9.1%
- Spine and Intervertebral Disc PathologyMedicine8.5%
- Anesthesia and Pain ManagementMedicine7.2%
- Pain Management and TreatmentMedicine6.5%
- Pediatric Pain Management TechniquesMedicine4.9%
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 | Medicine, General & Internal | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Anesthesiology | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Anesthesiology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Medicine, General & Internal | 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 | Medicine, General & Internal | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Anesthesiology | Zone 3 |
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
- 3.95LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 6.6Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 4Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 6.6LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 6.6Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.02LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.39LetPub ·
- h-index
- 85LetPub ·
- h-index
- 156OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 3,390OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.71OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 5%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 30.8%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 98LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 37Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher)
- 2,000,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 6,616 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 131 | 39 | 16 |
| 2025 | 231 | 84 | 366 |
| 2024 | 133 | 98 | 462 |
| 2023 | 169 | 119 | 1,352 |
| 2022 | 209 | 102 | 2,516 |
| 2021 | 362 | 155 | 5,248 |
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 PubMed · to
83 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 49 days – 130 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 11 days (55 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 88 days
- Sample
- 105 articles with submission and acceptance dates (382 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)
- about 3 monthsLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- 75%LetPub ·
- 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 5,036 | — | — |
A hybrid journal charges the APC only when the author chooses open access; publishing under the subscription model is usually free.
Other charges and waivers (author guidelines)
- Page charges
- No page charges
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 prepare4 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 350 words, structured
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 4,000 words
- Graphical abstract
- Optional
- Not considered
- basic science articles; narrative reviews; survey research
Article types accepted11, with length limits
- commentaryThe table below summarizes the requirements for each article type. Full descriptions follow in Section 3. Article type Words* Refs Abstract Tables/figures Key r…main text ≤ 1,500 words
- editorialThe table below summarizes the requirements for each article type. Full descriptions follow in Section 3. Article type Words* Refs Abstract Tables/figures Key r…main text ≤ 1,500 words
- letterThe table below summarizes the requirements for each article type. Full descriptions follow in Section 3. Article type Words* Refs Abstract Tables/figures Key r…main text ≤ 1,000 words
- letter to the editorThe table below summarizes the requirements for each article type. Full descriptions follow in Section 3. Article type Words* Refs Abstract Tables/figures Key r…Length not stated
- original research articleThe table below summarizes the requirements for each article type. Full descriptions follow in Section 3. Article type Words* Refs Abstract Tables/figures Key r…main text ≤ 4,000 words
- protocolThe table below summarizes the requirements for each article type. Full descriptions follow in Section 3. Article type Words* Refs Abstract Tables/figures Key r…Length not stated
- research article3.1 Original Research Articles Maximum 4,000 words; 50 references. Original Research Articles present the results of original clinical or translational research…Length not stated
- reviewThe table below summarizes the requirements for each article type. Full descriptions follow in Section 3. Article type Words* Refs Abstract Tables/figures Key r…Length not stated
- review articleThe table below summarizes the requirements for each article type. Full descriptions follow in Section 3. Article type Words* Refs Abstract Tables/figures Key r…main text ≤ 5,000 words
- survey3.1 Original Research Articles Maximum 4,000 words; 50 references. Original Research Articles present the results of original clinical or translational research…Length not stated
- technical noteThe table below summarizes the requirements for each article type. Full descriptions follow in Section 3. Article type Words* Refs Abstract Tables/figures Key r…main text ≤ 1,000 words
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints, Self-archiving
- Authorship 6.2 Authorship
Authorship is an explicit way of assigning responsibility, giving credit for intellectual work, and ensuring transparency. Pain Medicine follows the ICMJE criteria; additional information is available from COPE. All 4 criteria must be met by each author: Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND Draf…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics 6.6 Publication Ethics and Misconduct
Authors should observe high standards of publication ethics as set out by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Falsification or fabrication of data (including inappropriate image manipulation), plagiarism (including duplicate publication of the authors’ own work without proper citation), and misappropriation of work — both directly and through social media — are all unacceptable practices. …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright 8.2 Licensing and Copyright
Upon receipt of an accepted manuscript at OUP, authors will be invited to complete an online copyright license to publish form. It is a condition of publication in Pain Medicine that authors grant an exclusive license to the American Academy of Pain Medicine. By submitting an article for publication, you confirm that you are the corresponding/submitting author and that OUP may retain your email ad…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access 8.3 Open Access
Authors of accepted articles have the option to publish open access (OA) by selecting a Creative Commons license: Attribution (CC BY), Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC), or Non-Commercial No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND). More information about Creative Commons licenses is available. Upon acceptance, authors will be directed to OUP’s Author Portal. The OA charges are $5,500 for non-members and $4,400 for memb…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review 5. Peer Review and Editorial Process
All submissions are initially reviewed by one of the Executive Editors. At this stage, manuscripts may be rejected without peer review if they are judged not to be of high enough priority or not relevant to the journal. This fast rejection process gives authors a quick decision so they do not need to wait for the full review process. Manuscripts that are not immediately rejected are sent for peer …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
You may reference preprint articles that have not yet been formally published if they are significant to your work or include vital developments in the topic. Preprints must be clearly marked by including the word “preprint” or the name of the preprint server in the reference, and the preprint DOI must be provided. If a preprint has subsequently been published as a peer-reviewed publication, cite …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Self-archiving 8.4 Self-Archiving
On publication, you will receive a URL giving access to the published article on the journal website, with information on its use. For details, see the Author Self-Archiving policy.
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
- VICER Publishing
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Bimonthly
- Founded
- 2000
- ISSN
- 1526-2375
- Electronic ISSN
- 1526-4637
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 27, Issue 9 (September 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗LetPub
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Pain Medicine
What CAS zone is Pain Medicine in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Pain Medicine is in Zone 3 of Medicine, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Medicine, General & Internal / Anesthesiology. 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 Pain Medicine?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 3.95; CiteScore 6.6, h-index 156.
How long does peer review take at Pain Medicine?
Based on the dates recorded on 105 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 83 days (interquartile range 49–130 days); authors report an average review time of about 3 months; the community-reported acceptance is “about 75%”. 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 Pain Medicine?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 350 words, structured; Manuscript length: ≤ 4,000 words; Graphical abstract: 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 Pain Medicine based?
Of the 19 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (18) and United Kingdom (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Pain Medicine?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Pain Medicine is indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Is Pain Medicine open access, and what is the APC?
Pain Medicine is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 5,036.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, Publisher website; 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: .