Finding Open-Access Medical Journals

There are thousands of open-access medical journals. A good list is less useful than a good way to check one. Here is where to look and what to check.

  • DOAJ, the Directory of Open Access Journals, lists open-access journals that meet its criteria and records each one's licence, fees and peer-review type.
  • Your specialty society often publishes or recommends journals in the field.
  • Your own reading. Journals whose case reports and articles you already cite are often the best fit.

What to check on any journal

  • Scope: does it publish your type of article in your field?
  • Peer review: who reviews, how many reviewers, and is it anonymous?
  • Fees: submission, publication and any extras, stated up front.
  • Licence and DOI: is every article given a DOI and a clear licence?
  • Indexing: does the journal say plainly where it is and is not listed?

ASIDE journals

All ASIDE journals are open access and charge no fee to submit or publish. Each uses double-anonymous peer review and assigns a Crossref DOI to every article.

Journals not marked above are not currently listed in DOAJ, PubMed or Scopus.

Submit your case report, free Why publish with ASIDE Case Reports →