Top 25 Easiest High-Impact Medical Journals to Publish In (2025 Guide)

Feb 12

Getting into NEJM or The Lancet can be challenging. However, respected journals with solid impact factors, strong visibility, and higher acceptance rates are more approachable, particularly for early-career researchers or those seeking faster publication.

Here are 25 journals that balance academic credibility with accessibility, plus a clear note on each journal’s focus to guide your submissions.

For writing and publishing support for your submission, please use the contact form.

Also explore the Top 25 Journals for Oncology, the Top 25 Neurology Journals, and the Top 25 Cardiology Journals by impact factor and influence.

The Top 25

1. BMJ Open

Impact Factor: ~2.3
Publisher: BMJ
Focus: Broad clinical medicine, protocols, observational studies, epidemiology, global health
Why it matters: BMJ’s open-access counterpart is widely indexed and read, ensuring strong visibility.
Why easier: Accepts a broader range of study types than The BMJ, focusing on sound methods rather than extreme novelty. Higher acceptance rates make it more accessible.
Publishing focus: Transparent peer review and quicker editorial turnaround than top-tier selective journals.

2. PLOS ONE

Impact Factor: ~3–4
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLOS)
Focus: All areas of science and medicine; emphasis on methodological soundness
Why it matters: One of the largest open-access journals, with huge global reach and indexing in all major databases.
Why easier: Peer review focuses on validity, not novelty — so incremental but solid studies can find a home.
Publishing focus: Welcomes interdisciplinary research, clinical trials, and large datasets.

3. Cureus

Impact Factor: ~1.3
Publisher: Cureus, Inc.
Focus: Case reports, clinical observations, practical studies across specialties
Why it matters: Designed for clinicians who need a fast, practical publishing platform.
Why easier: Known for quick reviews and higher acceptance rates. Very accessible for early-career clinicians.
Publishing focus: Rare cases, pragmatic clinical studies, and teaching-focused reports.

4. Frontiers in Medicine

Impact Factor: ~3
Publisher: Frontiers Media
Focus: Broad clinical medicine, translational studies, public health, specialty medicine
Why it matters: Strong indexing and open access provide wide visibility, especially in interdisciplinary work.
Why easier: More inclusive acceptance policy; structured peer review designed to improve papers.
Publishing focus: Encourages systematic reviews, clinical studies, and original research across specialties.

5. Scientific Reports

Impact Factor: ~3.9
Publisher: Nature Portfolio
Focus: Natural sciences, medicine, clinical research, multidisciplinary studies
Why it matters: A Nature-branded megajournal, widely read and cited.
Why easier: Does not require “groundbreaking” novelty, only methodological soundness.
Publishing focus: Broad coverage of valid research across biology, medicine, and applied sciences.

6. BMC Medicine

Impact Factor: ~8.3
Publisher: BMC (Springer Nature)
Focus: Clinical medicine, global health, health policy, epidemiology, translational research
Why it matters: BMC’s flagship journal offers strong visibility and a solid impact factor.
Why easier: More approachable than The Lancet or JAMA, with an open-access model.
Publishing focus: Clinical and translational research with societal or policy relevance.

7. Journal of Medical Case Reports

Impact Factor: modest (~0.5–1)
Publisher: BMC (Springer Nature)
Focus: Clinical case reports across all medical specialties
Why it matters: Among the first dedicated case report journals; widely indexed and accessible.
Why easier: Most major journals reject case reports — here, they are the focus.
Publishing focus: Educational or unusual cases that highlight new or rare presentations.

8. Frontiers in Public Health

Impact Factor: ~3.4
Publisher: Frontiers Media
Focus: Public health, epidemiology, health systems, policy, preventive medicine
Why it matters: Strong readership in global health and public health policy.
Why easier: Higher acceptance rates than legacy titles like AJPH, with faster review cycles.
Publishing focus: Practical health interventions, global and community health research.

9. BMJ Case Reports

Impact Factor: 0.4
Publisher: BMJ
Focus: Case reports across all specialties; teaching points emphasized
Why it matters: The largest collection of medical case reports, widely used for teaching.
Why easier: Acceptance is higher, provided the case is interesting or educational. Requires an author fellowship subscription.
Publishing focus: Diagnostic challenges, rare presentations, and instructive clinical stories.

10. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH)

Impact Factor: ~4–5
Publisher: MDPI
Focus: Public health, occupational health, epidemiology, environmental medicine
Why it matters: Publishes thousands of open-access articles annually with strong indexing.
Why easier: Rapid peer review and higher acceptance rates than traditional public health journals.
Publishing focus: Applied and regional studies, environmental exposures, population health.

11. BMJ Public Health

Impact Factor: 3.6
Publisher: BMJ
Focus: Population health, epidemiology, prevention, and health equity
Why it matters: A newer addition to the BMJ portfolio, BMJ Public Health leverages BMJ’s reputation for credibility while embracing open-access dissemination. It focuses on major global health challenges, including health disparities and preventive strategies.
Why easier: As a new journal, BMJ Public Health is building its content base and tends to be more open to a variety of submissions, including regional and global studies that might not be considered in ultra-elite outlets.
Publishing focus: Public health interventions, epidemiology, and community health. Its open-access format ensures immediate visibility, particularly valuable for global and policy-related work.

12. Frontiers in Psychiatry

Impact Factor: ~3.2
Publisher: Frontiers Media
Focus: Mental health, psychiatry, psychology, and neuroscience intersections
Why it matters: This journal provides a platform for psychiatric and psychological research, covering both clinical and experimental domains. Its open-access format makes it a go-to venue for disseminating mental health findings widely.
Why easier: Acceptance rates are higher compared to legacy psychiatry journals like American Journal of Psychiatry. The collaborative peer-review style emphasizes improving manuscripts, giving authors a better chance at acceptance.
Publishing focus: Clinical trials in psychiatry, interventions, epidemiological studies, and neuroscience of mental illness. Particularly strong for applied and interdisciplinary studies.

13. Frontiers in Pharmacology

Impact Factor: ~4.8
Publisher: Frontiers Media
Focus: Drug development, therapeutics, pharmacogenomics, toxicology
Why it matters: With its broad coverage, this journal captures research across all pharmacological sciences, from basic drug discovery to clinical pharmacology. It is widely indexed and downloaded, making it useful for authors in translational drug studies.
Why easier: Higher acceptance rates than top pharmacology journals and a supportive review model. Authors of solid but not necessarily groundbreaking studies often find success here.
Publishing focus: Drug efficacy studies, pharmacokinetics, preclinical models, and early-stage clinical pharmacology.

14. BMC Public Health

Impact Factor: ~3.5
Publisher: BMC (Springer Nature)
Focus: Public health, epidemiology, health promotion, and policy research
Why it matters: A long-standing open-access journal, BMC Public Health publishes thousands of articles annually and is widely read by global health professionals.
Why easier: Its broad scope and OA model allow it to accept a wide range of submissions, including regional studies and smaller cohorts that may be excluded from top-tier public health outlets.
Publishing focus: Population health, preventive programs, health systems, and health equity.

15. BMC Research Notes

Impact Factor: ~1.7
Publisher: BMC (Springer Nature)
Focus: Short reports, negative results, methods, and supplementary findings
Why it matters: This journal provides a venue for smaller or preliminary studies that still have value but are often rejected by mainstream journals for lacking “novelty.”
Why easier: Designed for inclusivity, with a relatively high acceptance rate. Particularly useful for authors who want to publish confirmatory or negative findings.
Publishing focus: Short data reports, technical notes, and small-scale studies.

16. PeerJ

Impact Factor: ~2.4
Publisher: PeerJ
Focus: Biology, medicine, health sciences, interdisciplinary research
Why it matters: PeerJ is an innovative OA publisher that emphasizes transparency in peer review and affordability for authors.
Why easier: Acceptance is based on sound methods rather than sensational results. PeerJ is particularly friendly to interdisciplinary work and early-career researchers.
Publishing focus: Broad medical and biological sciences, clinical studies, and health-related applied research.

17. Journal of Global Health

Impact Factor: ~4.3
Publisher: Edinburgh University Global Health Society
Focus: Global health, epidemiology, health systems, and interventions in low-resource settings
Why it matters: A strong journal for global health practitioners, it emphasizes applied research relevant to global health policy and practice.
Why easier: While rigorous, it is more accessible to authors working in LMICs and encourages regional data that might be overlooked elsewhere.
Publishing focus: Epidemiological studies, interventions, and health metrics with global or regional impact.

18. Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR)

Impact Factor: ~6
Publisher: JMIR Publications
Focus: Digital health, eHealth, telemedicine, health apps, and AI in healthcare
Why it matters: The leading OA journal for digital medicine, JMIR is widely cited and highly relevant given the surge in telehealth and digital interventions.
Why easier: Faster peer review and strong author support compared to older IT/healthcare journals. Its acceptance rate is higher than traditional informatics outlets.
Publishing focus: Digital health interventions, health IT, mobile health, and online patient engagement.

19. NPJ Digital Medicine

Impact Factor: ~15.1
Publisher: Nature Portfolio
Focus: Digital health, artificial intelligence, big data in medicine
Why it matters: A high-profile OA journal in the Nature family, dedicated to the intersection of medicine and technology.
Why easier: While still selective, it is more open to applied and interdisciplinary studies than top-tier clinical titles.
Publishing focus: AI, wearable devices, data-driven healthcare, and precision medicine.

20. Global Health Action

Impact Factor: ~2.6
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Focus: Health equity, health policy, community health interventions
Why it matters: Widely read in global health circles, with strong contributions from developing countries.
Why easier: Open to regional health data and applied studies; emphasizes real-world impact over extreme novelty.
Publishing focus: Health policy, social determinants of health, and interventions for underserved populations.

21. BMC Health Services Research

Impact Factor: ~3
Publisher: BMC (Springer Nature)
Focus: Health systems, services, policy, and healthcare delivery
Why it matters: A widely indexed OA journal with steady citations and global readership.
Why easier: Accepts applied and service-related studies often overlooked by higher-impact journals.
Publishing focus: Health service delivery, quality improvement, policy analysis, and access to care.

22. JMIR Formative Research

Impact Factor: 2.1
Publisher: JMIR Publications
Focus: Pilot studies, formative trials, and early-phase interventions
Why it matters: A specialty JMIR journal that welcomes early-stage work that might not be accepted by JMIR’s flagship.
Why easier: Explicitly created to give space to formative or small-scale digital health studies, offering a realistic publishing pathway.
Publishing focus: Pilot trials, protocol development, usability studies in digital health.

23. BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health

Impact Factor: ~2.5
Publisher: BMJ
Focus: Nutrition science, preventive health, diet-related disease, health promotion
Why it matters: A BMJ specialty title, increasingly popular as nutrition and prevention gain importance in medicine.
Why easier: More approachable than flagship BMJ; accepts a wide range of nutrition-related clinical and public health studies.
Publishing focus: Diet and health outcomes, preventive medicine, interventions, and epidemiology.

24. Global Advances in Health and Medicine (GAHM)

Impact Factor: 1.3
Publisher: SAGE
Focus: Integrative medicine, complementary therapies, preventive health
Why it matters: One of the few peer-reviewed journals with a focus on integrative and holistic health approaches.
Why easier: Inclusive in scope, open to diverse methodologies, and less competitive than mainstream journals.
Publishing focus: Complementary medicine, integrative therapies, global health practices.

25. Health Science Reports

Impact Factor: ~2.1
Publisher: Wiley
Focus: Broad medical and health sciences research, including interdisciplinary studies
Why it matters: Open access and indexed, designed for inclusivity across disciplines.
Why easier: Acceptance criteria emphasize methodological soundness; faster review times than selective specialty titles.
Publishing focus: General medical science, public health, and applied clinical studies.

Science Writing Support

Publishing in medical journals is both rewarding and challenging. If you would like professional support with preparing or polishing your manuscript for submission, find out more about my services.
I provide specialized medical writing services to help researchers, clinicians, and healthcare organizations increase their chances of publication success.

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