Journal profile · PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH-MEDICAL ETHICS
Public Health Ethics
ISSN 1754-9973 · eISSN 1754-9981 · Oxford University Press · ENGLAND · Founded 2008
Public Health Ethics: CAS Zone 4 · Philosophy (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 4.23; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,499; review over 12 weeks (community reports); community-reported acceptance: easy; 27 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE, SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Public Health Ethics is published by Oxford University Press and is in Zone 4 of Philosophy in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Ethics in medical practice, Public Health Policies and Education and Healthcare cost, quality, practices, together about 36.5% of its articles. Its main subfields are General Health Professions. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
About Research ethics Abstracting and indexing services Features and highlights Book reviews General aims of the journal: Public Health Ethics invites submission of papers on any topic that is relevant for ethical reflection about public health, including practice and theory. Our aim is to publish readable papers of high scientific quality which will stimulate debate and discussion about ethical issues relating to all aspects of public health, understood as relating to populations and communities. It is important to note that public health ethics, as a field and a journal, does not include matters of clinical ethics even where care is provided in a publicly-funded healthcare system. Public Health Ethics aims to be an important resource for scholars and students in bioethics and public health, but also for professionals and policy makers. Contributors are particularly encouraged to discuss the practical impact of their work on public health policies. Our scope: Public Health Ethics is the first peer-reviewed international journal to focus on a systematic analysis of the normative issues in public health. It contains original articles, reviews, and case studies about the nature of population health and related concepts (e.g. populations, public health, community health, disease prevention); discussions of values in public health; and ethical issues in relation to all aspects of public health policy and practice. This includes normative issues in epidemiological research, health promotion and harm reduction, infectious disease control, sexual health, screening, population genetics, health system reform, vaccination ethics, occupational health, global public health issues, health inequity and inequality, and the social, structural, and environmental determinants of health. Public Health Ethics therefore invites submission of papers on any topic that is relevant for ethical reflection about population and community health, including practice and theory. We also welcome conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and pedagogical contributions about the field of public health ethics itself. Our main criteria for grading manuscripts include originality and potential impact, quality of normative analysis, and relevance to debates in the field of public health ethics. We are interested in publishing high-quality papers that employ the distinctive normative analytic lenses of public health ethics. Manuscripts outside of the scope of the journal may be offered a transfer
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH-MEDICAL ETHICS
Editorial board by country: 1 in mainland China (about 2%); most named United States 11, United Kingdom 8, Canada 7, Australia 6, Germany 2 (48 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Ethics in medical practiceHealth Professions15.4%
- Public Health Policies and EducationHealth Professions13.2%
- Healthcare cost, quality, practicesHealth Professions8%
- Ethics in Clinical ResearchMedicine7.8%
- Global Public Health Policies and EpidemiologyBusiness, Management and Accounting5.9%
- Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of LifeEconomics, Econometrics and Finance5.6%
- Ethics and Legal Issues in Pediatric HealthcareMedicine4.4%
- Vaccine Coverage and HesitancySocial Sciences4%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Philosophy Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Philosophy | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Ethics | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Medical Ethics | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Public, Environmental & Occupational Health | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Philosophy Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Philosophy | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Ethics | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Public, Environmental & Occupational Health | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Medical Ethics | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Philosophy Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Philosophy | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Medical Ethics | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Public, Environmental & Occupational Health | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Ethics | Zone 4 |
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
- 4.23LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 4.1Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.4Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4.1LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 4.1Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.72LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.04LetPub ·
- h-index
- 18LetPub ·
- h-index
- 50OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 289OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.28OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 4.7%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 52.08%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 18LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 123,715Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 659 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 22 | 14 | 6 |
| 2025 | 27 | 17 | 23 |
| 2024 | 12 | 9 | 49 |
| 2023 | 26 | 18 | 346 |
| 2022 | 32 | 17 | 172 |
| 2021 | 31 | 20 | 362 |
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)
- over 12 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- EasyLetPub ·
- 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 | GBP 2,653 | — | — | |
| Publisher website | No APC | — | — |
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)
- Colour charges
- No colour charges
- Page charges
- No page charges
- Submission fee
- Charged; see the journal's website for the amount
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 prepare6 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 200 words
- Keywords
- ≥ 2
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 8,000 words
- Reference style
- Harvard
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted13, with length limits
- case commentaryCase commentaries can be up to 1500 words.main text ≤ 1,500 words
- case for discussionCases For Discussion are normally 1000-2000 words.main text ≤ 2,000 words
- commentaryPublic Health Ethics publishes material in the form of editorials, original articles, case discussions, case commentaries, discussion papers, review articles an…main text ≤ 1,500 words
- correspondencePublic Health Ethics publishes material in the form of editorials, original articles, case discussions, case commentaries, discussion papers, review articles an…Length not stated
- discussion paperA discussion should be focused and not be longer that 3000 words.main text ≤ 3,000 words
- editorialPublic Health Ethics publishes material in the form of editorials, original articles, case discussions, case commentaries, discussion papers, review articles an…Length not stated
- letterPublic Health Ethics publishes material in the form of editorials, original articles, case discussions, case commentaries, discussion papers, review articles an…Length not stated
- letter to the editorPublic Health Ethics publishes material in the form of editorials, original articles, case discussions, case commentaries, discussion papers, review articles an…main text ≤ 500 words
- letters to the editorPublic Health Ethics publishes material in the form of editorials, original articles, case discussions, case commentaries, discussion papers, review articles an…Length not stated
- original articlePublic Health Ethics publishes material in the form of editorials, original articles, case discussions, case commentaries, discussion papers, review articles an…main text ≤ 8,000 words
- original paperPublic Health Ethics publishes material in the form of editorials, original articles, case discussions, case commentaries, discussion papers, review articles an…Length not stated
- reviewPublic Health Ethics publishes material in the form of editorials, original articles, case discussions, case commentaries, discussion papers, review articles an…Length not stated
- review articlePublic Health Ethics publishes material in the form of editorials, original articles, case discussions, case commentaries, discussion papers, review articles an…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, Publication ethics, Open access, Peer review, Preprints, Self-archiving
- Authorship Authorship
Authorship is limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the design and execution of the work described. Any contributors whose participation does not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged but not listed as an author. As editors we have noticed that more and more manuscripts are submitted to Public Health Ethics with multiple authors. Multiple authorship is comm…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest
Authors The Journal requires all authors to disclose any potential conflict of interest at the point of submission. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to ensure that conflicts of interest of all authors are declared to the Journal. A conflict of interest exists when the position, activities, or relationships of an individual, whether direct or indirect, financial or non-financial…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Availability of data and materials
Where ethically feasible, the Journal strongly encourages authors to make all data and software code on which the conclusions of the paper rely available to readers. Whenever possible, data should be presented in the main manuscript or additional supporting files or deposited in a public repository. Visit our Research data page for information on general repositories for all data types, and resour…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics Screening for misconduct
Manuscripts may be screened using iThenticate to help detect publication misconduct including plagiarism and redundant publication. Manuscripts may also be screened, including with services provided by third parties, to help detect integrity issues such as inappropriate image alteration and papermill activity.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open access charges
Please see the details of open access licences and charges. If you select an open access licence, you must pay the open access charge or request to use an institutional agreement to pay the open access charge through our licencing and payment portal, SciPris. Please note that prices are subject to change. All stated charges are exclusive of any applicable value added tax, goods and services tax an…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review process
Double-anonymized peer review Model summary
The Journal uses the ANSI/NISO Standard Terminology for Peer Review. If you would like further description of the peer review terms used here, please refer to the most recent standard definitions. If further clarification is needed, please contact the editorial office at phe.editorialoffice@paeditorial.co.uk. Peer review summary: Identity transparency: double anonymized Reviewer interacts with: ed…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
As an author, you retain the right to make an Author’s Original Version (preprint) available through various channels and this does not prevent submission to the Journal. If accepted, you are required to update the status of any preprint, including adding your published paper’s DOI. For full details on allowed channels and updating your preprint, please see our Author self-archiving policy.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Self-archiving Self-archiving
Self-archiving refers to posting a copy of your work on a publicly accessible website or repository. Under certain circumstances, you may self-archive versions of your work on your own webpages, on institutional webpages, and in other repositories. For information about the Journal's policy, and to learn which version(s) of your paper are acceptable for self-archiving, please see our Author self-a…
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
- Oxford University Press
- Country or region
- ENGLAND
- Language
- English
- Founded
- 2008
- ISSN
- 1754-9973
- Electronic ISSN
- 1754-9981
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 19, Issue 3 (November 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗LetPub
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Public Health Ethics
What CAS zone is Public Health Ethics in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Public Health Ethics is in Zone 4 of Philosophy, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Ethics / Medical Ethics / Public, Environmental & Occupational Health. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Philosophy. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Public Health Ethics?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 4.23; CiteScore 4.1, h-index 50.
How long does peer review take at Public Health Ethics?
Authors report an average review time of over 12 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Easy”. 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 Public Health Ethics?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 200 words; Keywords: ≥ 2; Manuscript length: ≤ 8,000 words; Reference style: Harvard; Suggested reviewers: Optional; 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 Public Health Ethics based?
Of the 48 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 1 (about 2%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (11), United Kingdom (8) and Canada (7). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Public Health Ethics?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Public Health Ethics is indexed in SCIE, SSCI and Scopus.
Is Public Health Ethics open access, and what is the APC?
Public Health Ethics is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,499.
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: .