Journal profile · Surgery
SURGEON-JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL COLLEGES OF SURGEONS OF EDINBURGH AND IRELAND
ISSN 1479-666X · eISSN 2405-5840 · Elsevier Ltd · SCOTLAND · Bimonthly · Founded 2003
SURGEON-JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL COLLEGES OF SURGEONS OF EDINBURGH AND IRELAND: CAS Zone 3 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.6; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,440; median 131 days to acceptance (100 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: fairly easy; 124 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
SURGEON-JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL COLLEGES OF SURGEONS OF EDINBURGH AND IRELAND is published by Elsevier Ltd 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 Surgical Simulation and Training, Diverse Scientific and Economic Studies and Human auditory perception and evaluation, together about 22.2% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Journal of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of Edinburgh and Royal College of Surgeons in IrelandSince its establishment in 2003, The Surgeon has established itself as one of the leading multidisciplinary surgical titles. The Surgeon is published for the worldwide surgical and dental communities. The goal of the Journal is to achieve wider national and international recognition, through a commitment to excellence in original research. In addition, both Colleges see the Journal as an important educational service, and consequently there is a particular focus on post-graduate development. Much of our educational role will continue to be achieved through publishing expanded review articles by leaders in their field.Articles in related areas to surgery and dentistry, such as healthcare management and education, are also welcome. We aim to educate, entertain, give insight into new surgical techniques and technology, and provide a forum for debate and discussion. All are welcome to submit manuscripts for review. The submission and review of manuscripts is now conducted entirely online, and further details may be found at the submission site: https://www.editorialmanager.com/SURGE/default.aspx. The editorial office may be contacted by email: thesurgeon@elsevier.com.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Surgery
Editor-in-chief Nicola MaffulliPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United Kingdom 20, Ireland 15, United States 7, Hong Kong, China 4, Malaysia 2 (52 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Surgical Simulation and TrainingMedicine8.9%
- Diverse Scientific and Economic StudiesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance6.8%
- Human auditory perception and evaluationEngineering6.6%
- Cardiac, Anesthesia and Surgical OutcomesMedicine6.3%
- Total Knee Arthroplasty OutcomesMedicine4.7%
- Diversity and Career in MedicineSocial Sciences4.5%
- Colorectal Cancer Surgical TreatmentsMedicine4.4%
- Appendicitis Diagnosis and ManagementMedicine4.1%
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 | Surgery | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Surgery | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Medicine Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Surgery | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusLetPub
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
- 2.6LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 2.7Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.1LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 5.1Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.68LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.24LetPub ·
- h-index
- 41LetPub ·
- h-index
- 77OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 899OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.88OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 3.7%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 26.82%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 73LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 2,608 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 62 | 18 | 25 |
| 2025 | 124 | 32 | 170 |
| 2024 | 112 | 27 | 364 |
| 2023 | 97 | 30 | 574 |
| 2022 | 91 | 22 | 999 |
| 2021 | 143 | 35 | 2,059 |
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 75 days – 213 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 11 days (100 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 141 days
- Sample
- 100 articles with submission and acceptance dates (213 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)
- 6–12 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly easyLetPub ·
- First decision after review
- 77 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 102 daysPublisher website ·
- 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 | USD 3,440 / EUR 3,220 / GBP 2,750 / JPY 426,660 | — | — | |
| Publisher website | USD 3,610 | — | — |
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)
What to prepare5 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 250 words
- Reference style
- Numbered, in order of citation
- Highlights
- Required
- Graphical abstract
- Optional
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted9, with length limits
- case reports• Case Reports: The Surgeon will consider novel case reports on topics of interest to the journal's readership and are considered on a case by case basisLength not stated
- commissioned reviews• Commissioned ReviewsLength not stated
- correspondence: letters to the editor• Correspondence: Letters to the editor (published online only)Length not stated
- correspondence: surgical technique• Correspondence: Surgical technique (for details, see section at the end of this Guide)Length not stated
- editorialFailure to submit a paper in accordance with these instructions may result in a delay in processing of a manuscript and its subsequent publication. The Editoria…Length not stated
- editorials• EditorialsLength not stated
- original articles• Original articlesLength not stated
- reviewReviewsThe Surgeon usually solicits reviews relating to the scientific basis and clinical practice of surgery in general, as well as subspecialty areas of surge…main text ≤ 2,000 words · references ≤ 20
- review articles• Review ArticlesLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Authorship, Conflicts of interest, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- AI use Declaration of generative AI in scientific writing
Authors must declare the use of generative AI tools in the manuscript preparation process upon submission of the paper.Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies (“AI tools”) have been rapidly adopted in research and scholarly publishing, offering significant benefits while requiring clear standards for responsible and transparent use.Authors preparing a manuscript for this journal may use AI tool…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Authorship Authorship
All authors should have made substantial contributions to all of the following: (1) the conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, (3) final approval of the version to be submitted.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Declaration of interest
All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential competing interests include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. Authors must disclose any interests in two places:…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Copyright
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (see more information on this). An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this agreement.Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles includ…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open access
Please visit our Open Access page for more information about open access publishing in this journal.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review
Double-blind peer review process Model summary
This journal operates a double anonymized review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor'…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprint references
Where a preprint has subsequently become available as a peer-reviewed publication, the formal publication should be used as the reference. If there are preprints that are central to your work or that cover crucial developments in the topic, but are not yet formally published, these may be referenced. Preprints should be clearly marked as such, for example by including the word preprint, or the nam…
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
- Elsevier Ltd
- Country or region
- SCOTLAND
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Bimonthly
- Founded
- 2003
- ISSN
- 1479-666X
- Electronic ISSN
- 2405-5840
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about SURGEON-JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL COLLEGES OF SURGEONS OF EDINBURGH AND IRELAND
What CAS zone is SURGEON-JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL COLLEGES OF SURGEONS OF EDINBURGH AND IRELAND in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, SURGEON-JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL COLLEGES OF SURGEONS OF EDINBURGH AND IRELAND is in Zone 3 of Medicine, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Surgery. 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 SURGEON-JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL COLLEGES OF SURGEONS OF EDINBURGH AND IRELAND?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.6; CiteScore 5.1, h-index 77.
How long does peer review take at SURGEON-JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL COLLEGES OF SURGEONS OF EDINBURGH AND IRELAND?
Based on the dates recorded on 100 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 131 days (interquartile range 75–213 days); authors report an average review time of 6–12 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly 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 SURGEON-JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL COLLEGES OF SURGEONS OF EDINBURGH AND IRELAND?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 250 words; Reference style: Numbered, in order of citation; Highlights: Required; Graphical abstract: 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 SURGEON-JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL COLLEGES OF SURGEONS OF EDINBURGH AND IRELAND based?
Of the 52 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (20), Ireland (15) and United States (7). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index SURGEON-JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL COLLEGES OF SURGEONS OF EDINBURGH AND IRELAND?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, SURGEON-JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL COLLEGES OF SURGEONS OF EDINBURGH AND IRELAND is indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Is SURGEON-JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL COLLEGES OF SURGEONS OF EDINBURGH AND IRELAND open access, and what is the APC?
SURGEON-JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL COLLEGES OF SURGEONS OF EDINBURGH AND IRELAND is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,440.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, OpenAlex; 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: .