Journal profile · Medicine, General & Internal
PLOS MEDICINE
ISSN 1549-1277 · eISSN 1549-1676 · Public Library of Science · UNITED STATES · Monthly · Founded 2004
PLOS MEDICINE: CAS Zone 1 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal); impact factor 9.81; fully open access; APC about USD 6,460; median 212 days to acceptance (82 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: about 20%; 196 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
PLOS MEDICINE is published by Public Library of Science and is in Zone 1 of Medicine in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions, Global Maternal and Child Health and Malaria Research and Control, together about 26% of its articles. Its main subfields are Infectious Diseases. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
PLOS Medicine publishes articles relevant to clinicians, policymakers, and researchers across a range of settings that address the major biological, environmental, social, and political determinants of health. The editors make decisions on submissions based upon their potential to directly and substantially inform clinical practice or health policy, and their relevance to our international audience. Articles given highest priority for publication are those that address conditions or risk factors that cause the greatest losses in years of healthy life and quality of life worldwide. PLOS Medicine also seeks to publish articles in the area of translational medicine that provide substantial, novel mechanistic insights into disease processes, with potential implications for clinical care. Additionally PLOS Medicine considers articles on topics relating to the integrity and ethics of the research enterprise; the practice of medicine; and the application of research to practice to fall within its scope.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Medicine, General & Internal
Editor-in-chief Till BärnighausenPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- HIV/AIDS Research and InterventionsMedicine10.2%
- Global Maternal and Child HealthMedicine9.7%
- Malaria Research and ControlMedicine6.1%
- Child Nutrition and Water AccessNursing4.8%
- Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of LifeEconomics, Econometrics and Finance4.7%
- Tuberculosis Research and EpidemiologyMedicine4.7%
- HIV Research and TreatmentImmunology and Microbiology4.7%
- Global Public Health Policies and EpidemiologyBusiness, Management and Accounting4.7%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Medicine Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Medicine, General & Internal | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Medicine, General & Internal | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Medicine Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Medicine, General & Internal | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Web of ScienceMEDLINEPMCEmbaseCASCAB AbstractsPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, Dimensions, CNKI, AGRICOLA, Crossref
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
- 9.81LetPub ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 16.4LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 3.57LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 2.97LetPub ·
- h-index
- 197LetPub ·
- h-index
- 358OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 4,330OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 8.35OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 1%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 154LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 5,856 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 231 | 231 | 213 |
| 2025 | 196 | 196 | 1,630 |
| 2024 | 158 | 158 | 3,039 |
| 2023 | 174 | 174 | 5,794 |
| 2022 | 237 | 237 | 11,202 |
| 2021 | 335 | 335 | 25,461 |
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
212 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 170 days – 283 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 32 days (82 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 251 days
- Sample
- 82 articles with submission and acceptance dates (459 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)
- 20%LetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 32 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 6,460 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | USD 6,460 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 6,300 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
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 prepare3 items from the author guidelines
- Reference style
- Vancouver
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted2
- research articleIf you are submitting content other than a research article, read the guidelines for other article types.Length not stated
- systematic reviewReports of systematic reviews and meta-analyses must adhere to the PRISMA Statement or alternative guidelines appropriate to the study design, and include the c…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- Authorship Consortia and group authorship
If a manuscript is submitted on behalf of a consortium or group, include its name in the manuscript byline. Do not add it to the author list in the submission system. You may include the full list of members in the Acknowledgments or in a supporting information file. PubMed only indexes individual consortium or group author members listed in the article byline. If included, these individuals must …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Financial Disclosure Statement
This information should describe sources of funding that have supported the work. If your manuscript is published, your statement will appear in the Funding section of the article. Include your statement in the Financial Disclosure section of the initial submission form. The statement should include: Specific grant numbers Initials of authors who received each award URLs to sponsors’ websites Also…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open Access
PLOS applies the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license to works we publish. Under this license, authors agree to make articles legally available for reuse, without permission or fees, for virtually any purpose. Anyone may copy, distribute, or reuse these articles, as long as the author and original source are properly cited. Learn more.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review
PLOS Medicine publishes research and commentary of general interest with clear implications for patient care, public policy or clinical research agendas. Model summary
PLOS Medicine publishes research and commentary of general interest with clear implications for patient care, public policy or clinical research agendas.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
PLOS encourages authors to post preprints to accelerate the dissemination of research. Posting a manuscript on a preprint server does not impact consideration of the manuscript at any PLOS journal. Authors posting on bioRxiv or medRxiv can choose to concurrently submit their manuscripts to relevant PLOS journals through the direct transfer service. Authors submitting manuscripts in the health scie…
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
- Public Library of Science
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Monthly
- Founded
- 2004
- ISSN
- 1549-1277
- Electronic ISSN
- 1549-1676
- 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 PLOS MEDICINE
What CAS zone is PLOS MEDICINE in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, PLOS MEDICINE is in Zone 1 of Medicine, and in Zone 1 of the minor category Medicine, General & Internal; it is a Top journal. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 1 of Medicine. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of PLOS MEDICINE?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 9.81; CiteScore 16.4, h-index 358.
How long does peer review take at PLOS MEDICINE?
Based on the dates recorded on 82 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 212 days (interquartile range 170–283 days); authors report an average review time of about 3 months; the community-reported acceptance is “about 20%”. 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 PLOS MEDICINE?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Reference style: Vancouver; 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.
Which databases index PLOS MEDICINE?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, PLOS MEDICINE is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Web of Science, MEDLINE, PMC, Embase, CAS and CAB Abstracts; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is PLOS MEDICINE open access, and what is the APC?
PLOS MEDICINE is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 6,460.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, DOAJ, 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: .