Journal profile · Medicine, Research & Experimental
Trials
ISSN 1745-6215 · BioMed Central · ENGLAND · Bimonthly · Founded 2000
Trials: CAS Zone 4 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.08; fully open access; APC about USD 2,890; median 207 days to acceptance (119 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: easy; 680 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Trials is published by BioMed Central and is in Zone 4 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, Meta-analysis and systematic reviews and Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials, together about 26.3% of its articles. Its main subfields are General Health Professions. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Trials encompasses all aspects of the performance and findings of randomized controlled trials in human health. We publish articles on general trial methodology and research into trial processes, as well as study protocols and statistical analysis plans for randomised controlled trials, commentaries and traditional results papers - regardless of outcome or significance of findings. Our aim is to promote transparency in the reporting of randomised trials and build an evidence base that will help inform the design and reporting of future trials. Within this remit, we consider articles or study protocols assessing aspects of the design, conduct or reporting of trials, as well as assessment and evaluation of lessons learnt from past trials, including those that were prematurely ended. We advocate for the collective success for trials and the importance of linking publications together (the thread of evidence). To facilitate complete and transparency reporting of research, Trials does not ask authors to adhere to strict word limits. We request that authors provide the detail required to make the research replicable. We ask that authors communicate not only all outcome measures, as well as varying analyses and interpretations, but also in-depth descriptions of what they did and what they learnt. This sharing of direct experience is fundamental to improving the quality and conduct of trials worldwide. Trials aims to experiment with, and refine, innovative approaches to improving communication about randomized controlled trials. We are keen to move beyond publishing traditional trial results articles (although these are included), and we believe this journal represents an exciting opportunity to advance the science and reporting of trials.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Medicine, Research & Experimental
Editor-in-chief Thomas BraunPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Ethics in Clinical ResearchMedicine10.8%
- Meta-analysis and systematic reviewsDecision Sciences9.2%
- Statistical Methods in Clinical TrialsMathematics6.4%
- Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of LifeEconomics, Econometrics and Finance6.1%
- Health Policy Implementation ScienceHealth Professions5.8%
- Digital Mental Health InterventionsPsychology5.2%
- Acupuncture Treatment Research StudiesMedicine4.2%
- Stroke Rehabilitation and RecoveryMedicine4.2%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Medicine Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Medicine, Research & Experimental | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Medicine, Research & Experimental | 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 | Medicine, Research & Experimental | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
MEDLINEEmbaseCASPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, 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
- 2.08LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.1Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.3Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 3.9LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.89LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.84LetPub ·
- h-index
- 64LetPub ·
- h-index
- 133OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 5,994OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.39OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 4.8%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 99.68%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 643LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 10,300,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 12,334 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 617 | 617 | 125 |
| 2025 | 680 | 680 | 1,069 |
| 2024 | 858 | 858 | 3,952 |
| 2023 | 823 | 823 | 5,888 |
| 2022 | 1,080 | 1,080 | 11,463 |
| 2021 | 970 | 970 | 14,031 |
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
207 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 142 days – 285 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 16 days (119 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 231 days
- Sample
- 119 articles with submission and acceptance dates (1,527 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 4 monthsLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- EasyLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 67 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 15 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Open 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 | EUR 2,490 / USD 2,890 / GBP 2,190 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 2,790 / EUR 2,390 / GBP 2,090 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 1,890 / USD 2,590 / EUR 2,190 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | GBP 2,190 / USD 2,890 / EUR 2,490 / GBP 1,205 / USD 1,735 / EUR 1,420 | — | — |
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)
Open calls for papers2, by deadline
Publisher websiteArticle types accepted7
- commentResearch Methodology Review Study protocol Comment Editorial UpdateLength not stated
- editorialResearch Methodology Review Study protocol Comment Editorial UpdateLength not stated
- methodologyResearch Methodology Review Study protocol Comment Editorial UpdateLength not stated
- researchResearch Methodology Review Study protocol Comment Editorial UpdateLength not stated
- reviewResearch Methodology Review Study protocol Comment Editorial UpdateLength not stated
- study protocolResearch Methodology Review Study protocol Comment Editorial UpdateLength not stated
- updateResearch Methodology Review Study protocol Comment Editorial UpdateLength 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 sharing strongly encouraged or required 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. Trials articles are published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND (Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial N…
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
- BioMed Central
- Country or region
- ENGLAND
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Bimonthly
- Founded
- 2000
- ISSN
- 1745-6215
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗DOAJ
- Aims & Scope ↗DOAJ
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Fee waivers ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗DOAJ
- Editorial board ↗DOAJ
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Trials
What CAS zone is Trials in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Trials is in Zone 4 of Medicine, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Medicine, Research & Experimental. 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 Trials?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.08; CiteScore 3.9, h-index 133.
How long does peer review take at Trials?
Based on the dates recorded on 119 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 207 days (interquartile range 142–285 days); authors report an average review time of about 4 months; the community-reported acceptance is “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.
Which databases index Trials?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Trials is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists MEDLINE, Embase and CAS; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Trials open access, and what is the APC?
Trials is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 2,890.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, DOAJ, 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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .