Journal profile · Medicine-Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
The Saudi Journal of Health Systems Research
ISSN 2673-6136 · Karger Publishers · Switzerland
The Saudi Journal of Health Systems Research: impact factor 1.1 (journal website); diamond open access (no APC); no APC; review about 34 days (submission to final decision, publisher); acceptance rate 22.3% (journal website); 24 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
The Saudi Journal of Health Systems Research is published by Karger Publishers. By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Healthcare Systems and Reforms, Patient Satisfaction in Healthcare and Healthcare Policy and Management, together about 21.7% of its articles. Its main subfields are General Health Professions. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The Saudi Journal of Health Systems Research is a peer-reviewed, Open Access online journal dedicated to healthcare management. It is the official publication of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ´s Ministry of Health and the Ministry’s voice to the global scientific community. The journal fosters an environment of research excellence to elevate scientific research in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This journal welcomes papers that cover research, trends, and techniques covering the following topics: Health systems and administration Healthcare law, policies, quality assurance, and ethics Healthcare financial sustainability and economics Healthcare resource planning and management Patient advocacy and safety Digital health Manuscripts on these topics can be submitted in the form of original research articles, case studies and reports, review articles, systematic reviews, guidelines and brief reports. In this forum, clinicians and researchers can communicate their findings to a broader scientific community and contribute to the development of public health and well-being.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Medicine-Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Editor-in-chief Mohammed Khaled Al-HanawiPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Healthcare Systems and ReformsEconomics, Econometrics and Finance8.6%
- Patient Satisfaction in HealthcareHealth Professions7.9%
- Healthcare Policy and ManagementEconomics, Econometrics and Finance5.3%
- Pharmaceutical Practices and Patient OutcomesMedicine5.3%
- Mobile Health and mHealth ApplicationsHealth Professions5.3%
- Healthcare Quality and ManagementHealth Professions5.3%
- Medical Malpractice and Liability IssuesHealth Professions4.6%
- COVID-19 and Mental HealthPsychology4%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
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)
- 1.1Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 2LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 2Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.28LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.56LetPub ·
- h-index
- 13OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 17OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.14OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 9.1%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 26LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 137 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 20 | 20 | 2 |
| 2025 | 24 | 24 | 23 |
| 2024 | 19 | 19 | 47 |
| 2023 | 28 | 28 | 87 |
| 2022 | 20 | 20 | 116 |
| 2021 | 25 | 25 | 260 |
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
34 dayssubmission to final decision · community reports about 6 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 6 weeksLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 22.3%Publisher website ·
- Submission to final decision
- 34 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 6 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
Diamond open access (no APC)DOAJ
Every article is open access and authors pay no article processing charge.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | No APC | No | CC BY, CC BY-NC | |
| LetPub | No APC | No | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
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
- Keywords
- ≥ 3
- Reference style
- Vancouver
- Templates
- Word
- Graphical abstract
- Required
- Not considered
- non-English papers
Article types accepted9, with length limits
- brief reportailable below. For guidance purposes, a Brief Report is typically 3000 words in length and up to 3 Tables and Figures. Documents Brief Rmain text ≤ 3,000 words
- case reportailable below. For guidance purposes, a Case Report is typically 2500 words in length and up to 3 Tables and Figures. Documents Case Remain text ≤ 2,500 words
- commentaryailable below. For guidance purposes, a Commentary is typically 1000 words in length and up to 3 Tables and Figures. Documents Commentmain text ≤ 1,000 words
- editorialilable below. For guidance purposes, an Editorial is typically 1000 words in length and up to 3 Tables and Figures. Documents Editorimain text ≤ 1,000 words
- letterailable below. For guidance purposes, a Letter is typically 1000 words in length and up to 3 Tables and Figures. Documents Lettermain text ≤ 1,000 words
- methods articleailable below. For guidance purposes, a Methods Article is typically 3000 words in length and up to 3 Tables and Figures. Documents Methodsmain text ≤ 3,000 words
- research articleailable below. For guidance purposes, a Research Article is typically 5000 words in length with 4 to 8 Tables and Figures. Documents Researcmain text ≤ 5,000 words
- review articleailable below. For guidance purposes, a Review Article is typically 5000 words in length with 4 to 8 Tables and Figures. Documents Reviewmain text ≤ 5,000 words
- systematic reviewailable below. For guidance purposes, a Systematic Review is typically 5000 words in length with 4 to 8 Tables and Figures. Documents Systemamain text ≤ 5,000 words
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Self-archiving
- Authorship Author Contributions
In the Author Contribution statement, a short statement detailing the contributions of each person named as an author should be included. The CRediT taxonomy is a useful framework for preparing this section. Contributors to the submission who do not fulfil the ICMJE Criteria for Authorship should be credited, with their consent, in the Acknowledgement section.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Conflict of Interest Statement
Authors are required to disclose any relationship that could be perceived as a conflict of interest in the Conflict of Interest Statement. All forms of support and financial involvement which took place in the previous three years should be listed, regardless of their potential relevance to the paper. Nonfinancial relationships that may potentially influence the writing of the manuscript should al…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data Availability Statement
Data Availability Statement required. Model summary
Authors are required to provide a Data Availability Statement that details whether data are publicly available and where the data supporting their study can be accessed. The journal’s data sharing policy strongly encourages authors to make all datasets on which the conclusions of the paper rely available to editors, reviewers and readers without unnecessary restriction wherever possible. In cases …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics
Statement of Ethics required with ethical approval details. Model summary
The Statement of Ethics must provide detail about the ethical approval process for the study reported in the manuscript, including the name and affiliation of the committee who approved the study and the decision reference number.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Licenses and Copyright
Open access licensing under CC BY-NC 4.0. Model summary
Articles published in Saudi Journal of Health Systems Research are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, unless otherwise agreed with Karger Publishers. When sharing or reusing any article, attribution must be given to the original source, using the statement "The final, published version of this article is available at http://karge…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open Access
Open Access (All articles are published under Creative Commons licenses)
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer Review
Peer review policy: all articles except Editorials and some Correspondence are externally peer reviewed, typically by at least two experts. Model summary
Peer Review Policy All Karger journals employ a rigorous peer-review process to confirm the validity and ensure scientific accuracy of published articles. Independent researchers with relevant expertise assess submitted manuscripts to help journal editors determine whether a manuscript should be published in their journal. All articles, except for Editorials and some Correspondence articles, are e…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Self-archiving Archiving and Self-Archiving
All articles are archived in Portico. Articles may also be archived in PubMed Central if the journal is indexed there. Karger permits authors of Open Access articles to post the Version of Record (VOR) of their articles in Open Access repositories or on other websites. Preprints may be shared without restriction. Re-posted Open Access articles must follow the terms of the relevant Creative Commons…
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
- Karger Publishers
- Country or region
- Switzerland
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2673-6136
- Society / sponsor
- Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 5, Issue 3 (September 2025)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗LetPub
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about The Saudi Journal of Health Systems Research
What is the impact factor of The Saudi Journal of Health Systems Research?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 1.1; this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 2, h-index 13.
How long does peer review take at The Saudi Journal of Health Systems Research?
The publisher reports about 34 days (submission to final decision); authors report an average review time of about 6 weeks; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 22.3%. 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 The Saudi Journal of Health Systems Research?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Keywords: ≥ 3; Reference style: Vancouver; Templates: Word; 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.
Which databases index The Saudi Journal of Health Systems Research?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, The Saudi Journal of Health Systems Research is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is The Saudi Journal of Health Systems Research open access, and what is the APC?
The Saudi Journal of Health Systems Research is a diamond open-access journal (no APC). It charges no article processing charge.
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: .