Journal profile · Arts and Humanities-Philosophy
Research Ethics
ISSN 1747-0161 · eISSN 2047-6094 · SAGE · United Kingdom
Research Ethics: CAS Zone 2 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.9 (journal website); fully open access; APC about USD 500; review about 126 days (submission to acceptance, publisher); acceptance rate 21.9% (journal website); 48 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Research Ethics is published by SAGE and is in Zone 2 of Medicine in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Ethics in Clinical Research, Ethics in medical practice and Biomedical Ethics and Regulation, together about 58.5% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Research Ethics publishes original articles and review articles as well as informative case studies on the ethical issues associated with the design and conduct of research, the regulation of research, the procedures and process of ethical review, and issues related to scientific integrity.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Arts and Humanities-Philosophy
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named Australia 8, United Kingdom 4, Canada 4, United States 3, Singapore 2 (34 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Ethics in Clinical ResearchMedicine30%
- Ethics in medical practiceHealth Professions17.1%
- Biomedical Ethics and RegulationMedicine11.5%
- Academic integrity and plagiarismSocial Sciences5.2%
- Qualitative Research Methods and EthicsSocial Sciences5.1%
- Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of LifeEconomics, Econometrics and Finance3.2%
- Ethics and Legal Issues in Pediatric HealthcareMedicine3.2%
- Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and EducationMedicine2.4%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Ethics | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Medical Ethics | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Social Issues | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Ethics | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Medical Ethics | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Social Issues | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
Database indexing
ESCIScopusDOAJLetPub
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 (publisher)
- 2.9Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 2.7Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.5LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.74LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.52LetPub ·
- h-index
- 39OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 204OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.77OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 3.4%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 44LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 869 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 31 | 31 | 8 |
| 2025 | 48 | 48 | 79 |
| 2024 | 60 | 60 | 437 |
| 2023 | 44 | 44 | 664 |
| 2022 | 25 | 25 | 328 |
| 2021 | 26 | 26 | 453 |
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
Publisher-reported review time from the journal's website
126 dayssubmission to acceptance · community reports about 15 weeks
The publisher's own definition applies; dates from this journal's articles in the last 24 months are not available yet, so the publisher's figure is used.
Figures by source
- Average review time (community reports)
- about 15 weeksLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 21.9%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 3 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 126 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 31 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 15 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Double 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 500 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC | |
| OpenAlex | USD 500 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 500 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | No APC | — | — |
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 prepare8 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 300 words
- Keywords
- ≥ 3
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 7,000 words
- Reference style
- Harvard
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
- Highlights
- Required
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted12, with length limits
- case studyView our Special Collections currently accepting submissions. Research Ethics publishes original articles and review articles as well as informative case studie…main text ≤ 3,000 words
- editorialView our Special Collections currently accepting submissions. Research Ethics publishes original articles and review articles as well as informative case studie…Length not stated
- letterView our Special Collections currently accepting submissions. Research Ethics publishes original articles and review articles as well as informative case studie…Length not stated
- lettersLetters: submissions must be concise and respond to recently published articles with a goal of furthering academic discussion. They will undergo editorial revie…Length not stated
- meeting reportsMeeting reports: these articles summarise findings or consensus statements from meetings and symposia about research ethics. They should include an overview of …Length not stated
- original articleView our Special Collections currently accepting submissions. Research Ethics publishes original articles and review articles as well as informative case studie…Length not stated
- original articlesOriginal articles: these manuscripts present original empirical content and/or an original theoretical perspective. Submissions that present original empirical …Length not stated
- perspectiveView our Special Collections currently accepting submissions. Research Ethics publishes original articles and review articles as well as informative case studie…main text ≤ 5,000 words
- reviewView our Special Collections currently accepting submissions. Research Ethics publishes original articles and review articles as well as informative case studie…Length not stated
- review articleView our Special Collections currently accepting submissions. Research Ethics publishes original articles and review articles as well as informative case studie…main text ≤ 6,000 words
- review articlesReview articles: these articles address key issues in research ethics or integrity with a focus on under-researched topics. Rather than introducing new material…Length not stated
- topic piecesTopic Pieces: these articles are intended to form a snapshot of, or perspective on, contemporary thinking on a topic or issue in research ethics or research int…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
Member of Committee on Publication Ethics Model summary
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 by your institution or in any of the jurisdictions was data we collected, you need to explicitly state this. You can find information on what to say in your ethical statements as well as example statements on …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Publishing fees and open access
Research Ethics 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. Research Ethics is a Community Open Access title which means there is no article processing charge (APC) to pay if, after peer review, your manuscript is accepted for publicati…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
Double anonymized peer review Model summary
The following summary describes the peer review process for this journal: Identity transparency: Double-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
- SAGE
- Country or region
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1747-0161
- Electronic ISSN
- 2047-6094
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- 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 Research Ethics
What CAS zone is Research Ethics in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Research Ethics is in Zone 2 of Medicine, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Ethics / Medical Ethics / Social Issues. 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 Research Ethics?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 2.9; this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 5.5, h-index 39.
How long does peer review take at Research Ethics?
The publisher reports about 126 days (submission to acceptance); authors report an average review time of about 15 weeks; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 21.9%. 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 Research Ethics?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 300 words; Keywords: ≥ 3; Manuscript length: ≤ 7,000 words; Reference style: Harvard; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; Suggested reviewers: Optional; Highlights: 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.
Where are the editorial board members of Research Ethics based?
Of the 34 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Australia (8), United Kingdom (4) and Canada (4). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Research Ethics?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Research Ethics is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Research Ethics open access, and what is the APC?
Research Ethics is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 500.
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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .