Journal profile · Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Stem Cells
ISSN 1066-5099 · eISSN 1549-4918 · Wiley-Blackwell · UNITED STATES · Monthly · Founded 1993
Stem Cells: CAS Zone 3 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 4.7; hybrid open access; APC about USD 4,477; median 131 days to acceptance (97 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: about 31.25%; 91 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Stem Cells is published by Wiley-Blackwell 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 Pluripotent Stem Cells Research, Mesenchymal stem cell research and Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation, together about 38.3% of its articles. Its main subfields are Molecular Biology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
STEM CELLS publishes studies that change how we understand and model early development and disease using stem cells, organoids, and their derivatives, with clear mechanistic insight or pre-clinical impact. The journal welcomes a variety of article types covering novel research, confirmatory studies and negative results, paradigm shifts, and standards/best practices. Visit the Author Guidelines for information on article types and submission requirements. Disclaimer Statements of fact and opinion in the articles in STEM CELLS are those of the respective authors and contributors and not of the Journal or Oxford University Press. Neither Oxford University Press nor the Journal make any representation, express or implied, in respect of the accuracy of the material in the Journal and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made. Readers should make their own evaluation as to the appropriateness or otherwise of the information included. Scope STEM CELLS covers: Embryonic Stem Cells & Early Development Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells & Cellular Reprogramming Disease Modelling with Stem Cells Tissue-Specific Stem Cells Cancer Stem Cells Cell and Gene Therapies Tissue Engineering Organoids & Organ-on-Chip Models Stem Cells & Aging Data Science & Bioinformatics Ethics, Policies and Guidelines Stem Cells for Wildlife Conservation Microbiota and Stem Cells Abstracting and indexing information Academic OneFile (GALE Cengage) Biological Abstracts (Thomson Reuters) Biological Sciences (ProQuest) BIOSIS Previews (Thomson Reuters) Biotechnology & Bioengineering Abstracts (ProQuest) Biotechnology Research Abstracts (ProQuest) Calcium & Calcified Tissue Abstracts (ProQuest) CAS: Chemical Abstracts Service (ACS) Chemoreception Abstracts (ProQuest) CSA Engineering Research Database (ProQuest) CSA Nucleic Acids Abstracts (ProQuest) CSA Technology Research Database (ProQuest) Current Contents: Life Sciences (Thomson Reuters) Embase (Elsevier) Genetics Abstracts (ProQuest) Health Reference Center Academic (GALE Cengage) HEED: Health Economic Evaluations Database (Wiley-Blackwell) InfoTrac (GALE Cengage) Materials Science & Engineering Database (ProQuest) MEDLINE/PubMed (NLM) Neurosciences Abstracts (ProQuest) ProQuest Biological Science Collection (ProQuest) ProQuest Central (ProQuest) ProQuest Health & Medical Complete (ProQuest) ProQuest Natural Science Collection (ProQuest) ProQuest SciTech Collection (ProQuest) ProQuest Techn
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Editor-in-chief Majlinda Lako Editor-in-ChiefPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 2 in mainland China (about 4%); most named United Kingdom 11, Japan 6, Israel 5, United States 3, Germany 3 (49 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Pluripotent Stem Cells ResearchBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology17.1%
- Mesenchymal stem cell researchMedicine13.7%
- Hematopoietic Stem Cell TransplantationMedicine7.6%
- CRISPR and Genetic EngineeringBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology7.4%
- Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanismsNeuroscience5.2%
- Tissue Engineering and Regenerative MedicineMedicine5.1%
- Cancer Cells and MetastasisMedicine5%
- Epigenetics and DNA MethylationBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology3.6%
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 | Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Cell & Tissue Engineering | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Cell Biology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Hematology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Oncology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Cell & Tissue Engineering | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Oncology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Cell Biology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Hematology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Medicine Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Hematology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Cell & Tissue Engineering | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Cell Biology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Oncology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Web of ScienceMEDLINEPubMedEmbaseCASCurrent ContentsPublisher website
Other: ProQuest
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
- 4.7LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 4.5Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 7.3Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 7.3LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 7.3Publisher website ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 7.3Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.24LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.82LetPub ·
- h-index
- 205LetPub ·
- h-index
- 288OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 4,950OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.73OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 2.1%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 31.65%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 72LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 403,458Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 6,589 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 59 | 30 | 18 |
| 2025 | 91 | 52 | 307 |
| 2024 | 86 | 38 | 555 |
| 2023 | 97 | 60 | 1,342 |
| 2022 | 115 | 66 | 1,937 |
| 2021 | 160 | 86 | 3,111 |
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
131 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 87 days – 183 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 16 days (9 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 109 days
- Sample
- 97 articles with submission and acceptance dates (186 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)
- 31.25%LetPub ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 29 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to final decision 2025
- 43 daysPublisher 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 4,477 | — | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
A hybrid journal charges the APC only when the author chooses open access; publishing under the subscription model is usually free.
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)
Article types accepted5
- advance articlesAdvance ArticlesLength not stated
- concise reviewsConcise ReviewsLength not stated
- editorialsEditorialsLength not stated
- original papers and research articlesOriginal Papers and Research ArticlesLength not stated
- rapid communicationRapid CommunicationLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websitePublication ethics, Open access
- Publication ethics Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
Member of and subscribes to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Model summary
This journal is a member of and subscribes to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) publicationethics.org
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access
Open Access publishing available through institutional Read and Publish agreements with OUP Model summary
Authors interested in publishing in STEM CELLS may be able to publish their paper Open Access using funds available through their institution’s agreement with OUP.
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
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Monthly
- Founded
- 1993
- ISSN
- 1066-5099
- Electronic ISSN
- 1549-4918
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 44, Issue 9 (September 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Stem Cells
What CAS zone is Stem Cells in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Stem Cells is in Zone 3 of Medicine, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology / Cell & Tissue Engineering / Cell Biology / Hematology / Oncology. 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 Stem Cells?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 4.7; CiteScore 7.3, h-index 288.
How long does peer review take at Stem Cells?
Based on the dates recorded on 97 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 131 days (interquartile range 87–183 days); authors report an average review time of about 3 months; the community-reported acceptance is “about 31.25%”. 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.
Where are the editorial board members of Stem Cells based?
Of the 49 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 2 (about 4%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (11), Japan (6) and Israel (5). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Stem Cells?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Stem Cells is indexed in SCIE and Scopus. The journal's website also lists Web of Science, MEDLINE, PubMed, Embase, CAS and Current Contents; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Stem Cells open access, and what is the APC?
Stem Cells is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 4,477.
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 2026-08-28). Last updated: .