Last Updated on August 27, 2026 by Dr. Bhagat
Science Translational Medicine has a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 15.6 in the 2026 Journal Citation Reports release. It is a Q1, weekly journal published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). This guide brings together the current JIF, the complete 2017–2025 trend, five-year JIF, CiteScore, SJR, indexing, publishing model, manuscript fit and submission guidance.
Science Translational Medicine: Key Metrics
| Metric | Current reported value |
|---|---|
| 2025 Journal Impact Factor | 15.6 |
| Five-year Journal Impact Factor | 16.8 |
| JCR quartile | Q1 |
| Journal Citation Indicator | 3.13 |
| 2024 CiteScore | 27.9 |
| 2024 SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) | 6.722 |
| SCImago h-index | 303 |
| Print ISSN | 1946-6234 |
| Online ISSN | 1946-6242 |
| ISO 4 abbreviation | Sci. Transl. Med. |
| Publisher | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
| Publication frequency | Weekly online |
| Launch year | 2009 |
Metric-year note: the Journal Impact Factor uses the 2025 JCR data year released in 2026. CiteScore and SJR above are labeled with their own 2024 metric year and should not be treated as JCR values.
About Science Translational Medicine
Science Translational Medicine is a peer-reviewed biomedical journal at the intersection of science, medicine and engineering. AAAS launched the journal in October 2009 to connect mechanistic discovery with work that can improve human health.
The journal is deliberately translational. A technically strong laboratory study is not automatically a good fit unless it establishes a convincing path toward diagnosis, prevention, treatment, prognosis or another meaningful medical application. Likewise, a clinical observation normally needs sufficient mechanistic or technological depth to interest the journal’s broad interdisciplinary readership.
Science Translational Medicine Impact Factor 2025
The Science Translational Medicine Impact Factor for 2025 is 15.6. This is the figure associated with the 2025 data year in the Journal Citation Reports released in 2026. The journal also has a reported five-year JIF of 16.8.
The annual JIF is calculated from citations received during the metric year to eligible articles and reviews published in the preceding two years, divided by the number of citable items published in those two years. The five-year JIF uses a longer publication window and can be useful in fields where citations accumulate over several years.
A JIF is a journal-level average, not a score for every paper. It should be considered together with editorial scope, audience, peer-review standards, access model, data requirements and the relevance of the journal to a specific manuscript.
Impact Factor History (2017–2025)
| JCR data year | Journal Impact Factor | Change from previous year |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 15.6 | +1.0 |
| 2024 | 14.6 | −1.2 |
| 2023 | 15.8 | −1.3 |
| 2022 | 17.1 | −2.219 |
| 2021 | 19.319 | +1.363 |
| 2020 | 17.956 | +1.652 |
| 2019 | 16.304 | −0.857 |
| 2018 | 17.161 | +0.451 |
| 2017 | 16.710 | — |
The series peaked at 19.319 in 2021, declined through 2024 and rose to 15.6 in 2025. The latest increase is approximately 6.8% compared with 14.6 in 2024. Year-to-year changes can reflect citation timing, the number and mix of citable papers, and a small group of highly cited articles; they do not by themselves show that the quality of every paper changed.
Quartile, Ranking and Journal Position
Science Translational Medicine is a Q1 journal, placing it in the top quartile of its JCR category or categories. It is associated with research and experimental medicine and also publishes work spanning cell biology, immunology, oncology, infectious disease, neuroscience, bioengineering and other biomedical areas.
Category ranks can differ because a journal may appear in more than one JCR category. Anyone citing an exact rank in a grant, promotion dossier or institutional report should record the category name, numerator, denominator and JCR release year from the live Clarivate profile rather than quoting a category-free rank.
CiteScore, SJR and h-index
The journal’s reported 2024 CiteScore is 27.9. CiteScore is produced from Scopus data and uses a different citation window and document definition from the Journal Impact Factor, so the two values should not be compared as if they were the same metric.
The SCImago journal profile reports a 2024 SJR of 6.722 and an h-index of 303. SJR weights citations according to the prestige of the citing sources, while the h-index reflects cumulative publication and citation history. These are SCImago/Scopus-derived indicators, not Clarivate metrics.
Scope and Research Areas
The journal seeks research that moves knowledge toward human application. Suitable topics include:
- cancer biology, therapeutics, biomarkers and treatment response;
- immunology, vaccines, immune-mediated disease and immunotherapy;
- infectious diseases, antimicrobial interventions and host–pathogen biology;
- neuroscience, neurological and psychiatric disease;
- cardiovascular, metabolic and endocrine disorders;
- genomic medicine, precision medicine and gene therapy;
- regenerative medicine, stem cells and tissue engineering;
- bioengineering, imaging, diagnostics, drug delivery and medical devices;
- pharmacology, toxicology, drug discovery and clinically relevant models.
Strong submissions usually combine novelty with evidence of translational significance. Depending on the question, that may require validation in independent cohorts, clinically relevant specimens, appropriate animal models, rigorous controls, comparison with existing approaches and a clear explanation of how the findings could influence medicine.
Article Types
According to the AAAS information for authors, Science Translational Medicine publishes original research as well as Reviews, Editorials, Focus articles and Viewpoints. Research Articles and Reviews are peer reviewed; some commentary-style content may also be sent to outside experts when the editors consider it appropriate.
Authors should use the instructions for their exact article type because limits for structure, figures, references and supplementary material can differ. Reviews are generally editorially commissioned or invited, so researchers considering a review should check the current guidance before preparing a full manuscript.
Publishing Model and Publication Fees
Science Translational Medicine is not a fully open-access journal. It is distributed through the Science/AAAS access and subscription model. AAAS also maintains open-access and manuscript-sharing policies, but authors should not assume that every article is immediately free to read under a Creative Commons licence.
The current Research Article instructions state that there is no cost to have a manuscript evaluated. AAAS also states that figure-processing fees may be assessed for Research Articles, including color and black-and-white illustrations. Because charges and access options can change, authors should obtain the current quotation and licence terms from AAAS before submission or acceptance. This page does not present an unsupported flat APC.
Acceptance Rate and Review Time
AAAS does not prominently publish an official acceptance-rate percentage for Science Translational Medicine on the journal and author pages reviewed for this update. Therefore, unsupported third-party percentages should not be reported as official journal statistics. The previous version contained an unsupported acceptance-rate claim, and it has been removed.
The publisher describes its peer-review process as rapid, thorough and fair, but a current journal-wide median time to first decision was not found on the official pages used here. Actual timing depends on editorial triage, reviewer availability, revision rounds, the complexity of the study and whether additional experiments are requested. Authors should check the latest AAAS journal profile or submission system for any current turnaround statistics.
Submission and Peer-Review Workflow
- Check translational fit. State the unmet medical need and explain how the work advances diagnosis, prevention or treatment.
- Select the correct article type. Follow the current AAAS instructions rather than adapting a template from another Science journal.
- Prepare an initial submission. Present the main question, evidence, limitations and translational implications clearly for a broad biomedical audience.
- Complete editorial screening. Editors assess novelty, importance, technical credibility, scope and likely interest before external review.
- Respond to peer review. If revision is invited, address every point, identify all changes and justify any request that cannot be completed.
- Complete publication requirements. Verify authorship, conflicts of interest, data availability, permissions, reporting checklists and figure specifications.
What Authors Should Prepare
- A concise statement of the clinical or translational problem.
- Evidence that the advance is meaningfully different from current practice or prior technology.
- Appropriate biological replicates, statistical analysis and clearly defined endpoints.
- Independent validation when the claim depends on biomarkers, prediction models or patient cohorts.
- Transparent inclusion and exclusion criteria for clinical samples and studies.
- Data, code and materials availability statements that match AAAS policies.
- Ethics approvals, informed consent and animal-welfare information where applicable.
- Conflict-of-interest disclosures and a complete description of author contributions.
- Figures that remain interpretable without relying on decorative presentation.
Is Science Translational Medicine Right for Your Paper?
The journal may be a strong target when a study combines rigorous science with a direct and credible medical application. It is less suitable for purely descriptive datasets, incremental optimization, small exploratory cohorts without validation, disease-mechanism studies lacking translational relevance, or engineering work without meaningful biological or clinical testing.
Before submission, authors should be able to answer three questions: What medical problem is being solved? What evidence shows that the finding can move beyond a laboratory observation? Why does the result matter to readers outside one narrow specialty? If these answers are weak, another high-quality specialist journal may provide a better fit even if its JIF is lower.
Indexing and Journal Identity
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Full title | Science Translational Medicine |
| NLM title abbreviation | Sci Transl Med |
| ISO 4 abbreviation | Sci. Transl. Med. |
| Publisher | AAAS |
| Country | United States |
| MEDLINE/PubMed | Indexed from volume 1, issue 1 (2009) |
| Web of Science/JCR | Included; current JIF reported |
| Scopus/SCImago | Covered |
The NLM Catalog confirms the journal identity, ISSNs, AAAS publisher, 2009 start date and current MEDLINE indexing. Science Translational Medicine should not be confused with the separate Journal of Translational Medicine, which is published by BMC/Springer Nature and has different metrics and editorial policies.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Science Translational Medicine Impact Factor in 2026?
The 2026 JCR release reports a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 15.6.
Is Science Translational Medicine a Q1 journal?
Yes. It is placed in Q1. Exact numerical ranks should be quoted together with the relevant JCR category and release year.
Is Science Translational Medicine open access?
It is not a fully open-access journal. It uses the Science/AAAS subscription and access model, with AAAS sharing and open-access policies that authors should review for their funder or institution.
What is the official journal abbreviation?
The ISO 4 abbreviation is Sci. Transl. Med., and the NLM title abbreviation is Sci Transl Med.
Does the journal publish an official acceptance rate?
No official acceptance-rate percentage was found on the AAAS journal and author pages reviewed for this update. Unsupported estimates should not be treated as publisher data.
Sources and Data Notes
- Science Translational Medicine journal homepage
- AAAS information for authors
- AAAS Research Article initial-submission instructions
- AAAS revised Research Article instructions
- NLM Catalog journal record
- SCImago journal profile
- Ovid journal record and current JIF
Last checked: August 2026. Journal metrics and author policies can change. Verify the current publisher and JCR records before using a figure in a formal submission, grant or institutional report.
