Journal profile · Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Tropical Doctor
ISSN 0049-4755 · eISSN 1758-1133 · SAGE Publications Ltd · ENGLAND · Quarterly · Founded 1971
Tropical Doctor: CAS Zone 4 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 0.62; subscription journal; APC about USD 4,150; review about 59 days (submission to acceptance, publisher); community-reported acceptance: about 25%; 192 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Tropical Doctor is published by SAGE Publications Ltd 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 Global Maternal and Child Health, Mosquito-borne diseases and control and Tuberculosis Research and Epidemiology, together about 22.4% of its articles. Its main subfields are Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health and Infectious Diseases. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The only journal written by and for health workers in low and middle-income countries, Tropical Doctor provides medical expertise and practical advice on how to apply current medical knowledge to the special circumstances of LMIC countries. This journal provides an ideal forum for … | View full journal description This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Editor-in-chief Michael CottonPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named India 3, Switzerland 1, Singapore 1, Pakistan 1 (6 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Global Maternal and Child HealthMedicine9.3%
- Mosquito-borne diseases and controlMedicine7.2%
- Tuberculosis Research and EpidemiologyMedicine5.8%
- Malaria Research and ControlMedicine5.8%
- Parasites and Host InteractionsImmunology and Microbiology5.3%
- Global Health and SurgeryMedicine5.1%
- Infectious Diseases and TuberculosisMedicine4.9%
- Diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosisMedicine4.9%
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 | Public, Environmental & Occupational Health | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Tropical Medicine | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Public, Environmental & Occupational Health | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Tropical Medicine | Zone 4 |
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 | Public, Environmental & Occupational Health | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Tropical Medicine | 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
- 0.62LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 0.6Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 0.7Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 1.2LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.24LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.39LetPub ·
- h-index
- 31LetPub ·
- h-index
- 58OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,193OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0.44OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 0%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 1.49%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 142LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 6,424 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 207 | 4 | 23 |
| 2025 | 192 | 4 | 91 |
| 2024 | 103 | 27 | 108 |
| 2023 | 136 | 9 | 238 |
| 2022 | 156 | 8 | 431 |
| 2021 | 180 | 10 | 654 |
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
59 dayssubmission to acceptance · community reports about 3 months
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 3 monthsLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- 25%LetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 26.4%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 2 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 59 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 20 daysPublisher website ·
- Peer review
- Single 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
Subscription journalLetPub
A subscription journal: articles are read by subscription or purchase, and authors usually pay no publication charge.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAlex | USD 4,150 / GBP 3,043 | — | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
Other charges and waivers (author guidelines)
- Colour charges
- No colour charges
- Other fees
- Charged; see the journal's website for the amount
- Submission fee
- No submission fee
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 prepare6 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 150 words
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Suggested reviewers
- Required
- Highlights
- Required
- Graphical abstract
- Required
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted12, with length limits
- case reportOriginal Articles From 1000-3000 words. The content of the paper must justify its length. For reports of original investigative work, traditional division into …Length not stated
- correspondenceOriginal Articles From 1000-3000 words. The content of the paper must justify its length. For reports of original investigative work, traditional division into …Length not stated
- editorialOriginal Articles From 1000-3000 words. The content of the paper must justify its length. For reports of original investigative work, traditional division into …Length not stated
- letterOriginal Articles From 1000-3000 words. The content of the paper must justify its length. For reports of original investigative work, traditional division into …Length not stated
- opinionOriginal Articles From 1000-3000 words. The content of the paper must justify its length. For reports of original investigative work, traditional division into …Length not stated
- original articleOriginal Articles From 1000-3000 words. The content of the paper must justify its length. For reports of original investigative work, traditional division into …main text ≤ 3,000 words
- original articlesOriginal Articles From 1000-3000 words. The content of the paper must justify its length. For reports of original investigative work, traditional division into …Length not stated
- original researchOriginal Articles From 1000-3000 words. The content of the paper must justify its length. For reports of original investigative work, traditional division into …Length not stated
- reportsReports Up to 1000 words, with a maximum of two tables or figures and 10 references. A brief, three sentence summary should be included. The majority of papers …Length not stated
- research lettersResearch Letters For original research work. Up to 700 words with a single table or figure and a maximum of five references.Length not stated
- reviewOriginal Articles From 1000-3000 words. The content of the paper must justify its length. For reports of original investigative work, traditional division into …Length not stated
- review articleOriginal Articles From 1000-3000 words. The content of the paper must justify its length. For reports of original investigative work, traditional division into …Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Data availability, Publication ethics, Open access, Peer review, Plagiarism, Preprints, Trial registration / reporting guidelines
- Authorship Author contributions
You will be asked to list the contribution of each author as part of the submission process. Please include the Author Contributions heading within your submission after the Acknowledgements section. The information you give on submission will then show under the Author Contributions heading later at the proofing stage.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data availability
The Journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages. Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to: Share your research data in a relevant public data repository Include a data ava…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics Ethical considerations
Please include your ethics approval statements under this heading, even if you have already included ethics approval information in your methods section. If ethical approval was not required, you need to explicitly state this. All papers reporting studies involving human participants, human data or human tissue must state that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board approved th…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Publishing fees and open access
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this journal. Figures submitted in colour will be published in colour in the online version of the journal at no cost. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article. Optional open access publishing is available for a fee via the Sage Choice …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
The following summary describes the peer review process for this journal: Identity transparency: Single-anonymized Reviewer interacts with: Editor Review information published: None Your manuscript will undergo an initial evaluation. If it does not conform to the requirements laid out in these guidelines, it will be returned to you for amendments prior to peer review. Manuscripts may be desk rejec…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Plagiarism Plagiarism
The journal and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. Please read Sage's complete policy on plagiarism and the actions we may take.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
The journal will consider submissions of manuscripts that have been posted on preprint servers. Please enter the preprint DOI in the designated field when submitting your manuscript. We advise that you inform the Journal Editorial office about your posted preprint at submission. Note that you should not post an updated version of your manuscript on a preprint server while it is being peer reviewed…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Trial registration / reporting guidelines Clinical trial registration
The journal conforms to the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first participant enrollment as a condition of consideration for publication. The trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.
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
- SAGE Publications Ltd
- Country or region
- ENGLAND
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Quarterly
- Founded
- 1971
- ISSN
- 0049-4755
- Electronic ISSN
- 1758-1133
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Tropical Doctor
What CAS zone is Tropical Doctor in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Tropical Doctor is in Zone 4 of Medicine, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Public, Environmental & Occupational Health / Tropical Medicine. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 4 of Medicine. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Tropical Doctor?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 0.62; CiteScore 1.2, h-index 58.
How long does peer review take at Tropical Doctor?
The publisher reports about 59 days (submission to acceptance); authors report an average review time of about 3 months; the community-reported acceptance is “about 25%”; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 26.4%. 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 Tropical Doctor?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 150 words; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; Suggested reviewers: Required; Highlights: Required; Graphical abstract: Required; 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 Tropical Doctor based?
Of the 6 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are India (3), Switzerland (1) and Singapore (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Tropical Doctor?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Tropical Doctor is indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Is Tropical Doctor open access, and what is the APC?
Tropical Doctor is a subscription journal. APC about USD 4,150.
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: .