Journal profile · SPORT SCIENCES
Sports Medicine-Open
ISSN 2199-1170 · eISSN 2198-9761 · SPRINGER · GERMANY
Sports Medicine-Open: CAS Zone 2 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 6.09; fully open access; APC about USD 4,290; median 229 days to acceptance (107 articles, last 24 months); 166 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Sports Medicine-Open is published by SPRINGER 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 Sports Performance and Training, Sports injuries and prevention and Cardiovascular and exercise physiology, together about 39.6% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Sports Medicine - Open focuses on original research and definitive reviews in the field of sport and exercise medicine. The Journal includes medical and scientific research relating to: Sporting performance enhancement including nutrition, equipment and training Medical syndromes associated with sport and exercise Injury prevention and treatment Exercise for rehabilitation and health The application of physiological and biomechanical principles to specific sporting codes Key Points Articles published in Sports Medicine - Open will include a Key Points table. Please provide approximately three short, stand-alone lines/statements summarizing the key findings/implications of the paper. These should be provided after the Abstract under the heading 'Key Points’.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): SPORT SCIENCES
Editor-in-chief Steve McMillanPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 2 in mainland China (about 6%); most named New Zealand 7, Australia 5, Spain 3, Mainland China 2, Italy 2 (31 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Sports Performance and TrainingMedicine16%
- Sports injuries and preventionMedicine14.8%
- Cardiovascular and exercise physiologyMedicine8.7%
- Exercise and Physiological ResponsesMedicine6.7%
- Sport Psychology and PerformancePsychology6.3%
- Knee injuries and reconstruction techniquesMedicine4.6%
- Lower Extremity Biomechanics and PathologiesEngineering4.6%
- Physical Activity and HealthMedicine4.2%
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 | Sport Sciences | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Sport Sciences | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Sport Sciences | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
EmbaseCurrent ContentsPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, EBSCO, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, Baidu, Naver, OCLC, Portico, CLOCKSS, Semantic Scholar
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
- 6.09LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 6.2Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 6.9Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 10.3LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 2.02LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 2.63LetPub ·
- h-index
- 81OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 626OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 6.95OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 3.2%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 154LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 2,300,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,103 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 143 | 143 | 76 |
| 2025 | 166 | 166 | 934 |
| 2024 | 134 | 134 | 2,067 |
| 2023 | 118 | 118 | 2,389 |
| 2022 | 152 | 152 | 4,892 |
| 2021 | 100 | 100 | 2,486 |
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
229 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 138 days – 320 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 22 days (107 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 256 days
- Sample
- 107 articles with submission and acceptance dates (337 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 13 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 36 daysPublisher website ·
- Peer review
- Anonymous peer reviewLetPub
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 accessOpenAlex
Every article is open access; authors usually pay an article processing charge (APC).
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAlex | USD 4,290 / EUR 3,290 / GBP 2,890 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 2,690 / USD 3,990 / EUR 3,090 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 2,990 / USD 4,390 / EUR 3,390 | — | — |
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
- Reference style
- Vancouver
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
- Highlights
- Required
- Graphical abstract
- Required
Article types accepted7
- current opinionsOriginal Research Articles Current Opinions Leading Articles Letters to the Editor Review Articles Short Communications Systematic ReviewsLength not stated
- leading articlesOriginal Research Articles Current Opinions Leading Articles Letters to the Editor Review Articles Short Communications Systematic ReviewsLength not stated
- letters to the editorOriginal Research Articles Current Opinions Leading Articles Letters to the Editor Review Articles Short Communications Systematic ReviewsLength not stated
- original research articlesOriginal Research Articles Current Opinions Leading Articles Letters to the Editor Review Articles Short Communications Systematic ReviewsLength not stated
- review articlesOriginal Research Articles Current Opinions Leading Articles Letters to the Editor Review Articles Short Communications Systematic ReviewsLength not stated
- short communicationsOriginal Research Articles Current Opinions Leading Articles Letters to the Editor Review Articles Short Communications Systematic ReviewsLength not stated
- systematic reviewsOriginal Research Articles Current Opinions Leading Articles Letters to the Editor Review Articles Short Communications Systematic ReviewsLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteData availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review
- Data availability Formatting the 'Availability of data and materials' section of your manuscript
Data availability strongly encouraged or required; deposit in public repositories or include in paper/supporting files. Model summary
The following format for the 'Availability of data and materials section of your manuscript should be used:
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Licensing and copyright
Open access under CC BY-NC-ND or CC BY licence. Model summary
Creative Commons licences Open access articles in Springer Nature journals are published under Creative Commons licences. These provide an industry-standard framework to support easy re-use of open access material. Under Creative Commons licences, authors retain copyright of their articles. Sports Medicine - Open articles are published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND (Creative Commons Attribution …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Benefits of open access
Publishing open access (OA) offers a number of benefits, including greater reach and readership for your work: Cited more 1.6x more citations of OA articles than non-OA articles across all subjects Downloaded more 4x more downloads of OA articles than non-OA articles Greater impact 2.5x more Altmetric attention. OA articles attracted 1.9x more news mentions and 1.2x more policy mentions Open acces…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
Peer review is the process used to evaluate the quality of a manuscript before publication. Independent researchers in the relevant field assess submitted manuscripts to check their validity and robustness. Their feedback guides editors in making publication decisions. Typically, two or more experts evaluate each manuscript based on three main criteria: scientific robustness: is the research metho…
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
- SPRINGER
- Country or region
- GERMANY
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2199-1170
- Electronic ISSN
- 2198-9761
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- Peer review process ↗LetPub
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Sports Medicine-Open
What CAS zone is Sports Medicine-Open in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Sports Medicine-Open is in Zone 2 of Medicine, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Sport Sciences. 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 Sports Medicine-Open?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 6.09; CiteScore 10.3, h-index 81.
How long does peer review take at Sports Medicine-Open?
Based on the dates recorded on 107 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 229 days (interquartile range 138–320 days); authors report an average review time of about 13 weeks. 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 Sports Medicine-Open?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Reference style: Vancouver; Suggested reviewers: Optional; Highlights: Required; Graphical abstract: 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 Sports Medicine-Open based?
Of the 31 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 2 (about 6%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are New Zealand (7), Australia (5) and Spain (3). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Sports Medicine-Open?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Sports Medicine-Open is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Embase and Current Contents; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Sports Medicine-Open open access, and what is the APC?
Sports Medicine-Open is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 4,290.
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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .