Fastest-accepting pediatrics journals 2026

31 pediatrics journals ranked by the median number of days from submission to acceptance, measured from the dates publishers deposit in PubMed for articles published 2024–2025. The interval includes peer review and revisions.

Journals: 31
Typical median: 131 d
Under 60 days: 2
Over 180 days: 4

Read this before using the ranking

Accepted papers only. Rejected manuscripts never receive an acceptance date, so these figures say nothing about desk-rejection speed, rejection rates or your chance of acceptance.
Not the time to a first decision. The interval runs from the “received” date to the “accepted” date the publisher deposits in PubMed. It includes editorial handling, peer review, every round of revision and the time authors spent revising.
Journals record dates differently. Some reset the received date when a revised manuscript arrives, and manuscripts transferred from another journal may keep or lose their earlier dates. Short medians are therefore not always comparable with long ones.
Past timelines are not a promise. Each figure comes from up to 100 recent articles published 2024–2025. Article types, special issues, editors and workload all change, and your paper may take much longer or much less time.
Fast is not the same as good. Check the journal’s scope, indexing, peer-review policy and editorial board before submitting. An unusually quick acceptance can be a warning sign of light peer review.

Journal Metrics is independent and is not affiliated with any journal or publisher listed. The figures are for information only, may contain errors and change as PubMed records are updated. Confirm current timelines on the journal’s own website. See how to spot predatory journals.

Pediatrics journals by median days from submission to acceptance

Pediatrics journals ranked by median days from submission to acceptance in PubMed
Rank	Journal	Median days	Middle half	Articles	Quartile	2026 score
1	Seminars in Pediatric Neurology	53	37–97	69	Q1	2.7
2	EARLY HUMAN DEVELOPMENT	57	45–79	100	Q2	2.1
3	JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY	83	61–110	97	Q2	1.9
4	CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY & THERAPEUTICS	102	75–136	99	Q1	3.7
5	BMJ Paediatrics Open	105	66–153	90	Q2	2.2
5	Case Reports in Perinatal Medicine	105	84–169	32	Q4	0.6
7	INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GYNECOLOGY & OBSTETRICS	109	66–167	100	Q1	2.0
8	Belitung Nursing Journal	113	91–133	100	Q2	1.9
8	Neonatology	113	71–139	100	Q1	2.8
10	PRENATAL DIAGNOSIS	115	87–147	100	Q2	1.9
11	Paediatrics & Child Health	117	69–163	99	Q3	0.7
12	PLACENTA	119	94–171	99	Q3	1.1
12	BRITISH JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY	119	82–178	99	Q1	2.3
14	NEUROTOXICOLOGY AND TERATOLOGY	123	93–180	87	Q2	1.9
15	Archives of Disease in Childhood-Fetal and Neonatal Edition	131	82–159	100	Q1	2.7
15	Journal of Pediatric Nursing-Nursing Care of Children & Families	131	88–186	96	Q1	2.4
17	Journal of Perinatology	133	92–197	100	Q2	2.0
18	FETAL DIAGNOSIS AND THERAPY	148	117–190	100	Q2	1.3
19	BJOG-AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNAECOLOGY	149	115–212	100	Q1	2.8
20	PEDIATRICS IN REVIEW	151	109–287	100	Q3	1.1
21	EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PAEDIATRIC NEUROLOGY	156	121–224	100	Q1	2.4
22	JOURNAL OF PEDIATRIC PSYCHOLOGY	157	126–216	100	Q1	2.1
23	PEDIATRIC RESEARCH	159	100–216	100	Q1	2.4
24	DEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE AND CHILD NEUROLOGY	164	8–260	94	Q2	1.6
25	PEDIATRIC NEUROLOGY	165	117–246	100	Q2	1.6
26	Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing	169	96–261	25	Q4	0.6
27	ULTRASOUND IN OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY	179	141–235	98	Q3	1.1
28	JOURNAL OF CLINICAL ULTRASOUND	186	132–247	100	Q3	1.0
29	Journal of Genetic Counseling	192	131–273	100	Q2	1.9
30	Obstetrics and Gynecology International	193	112–297	47	Q3	1.1
31	Pregnancy Hypertension-An International Journal of Womens Cardiovascular Health	210	148–305	100	Q3	0.9

Median days: half of the journal’s accepted articles took less time from submission to acceptance and half took more. Middle half: the 25th to 75th percentile. Articles: how many recent PubMed articles had both dates. Journals with the same rounded median share a rank.

Median under 30 days. Very short intervals usually reflect how a journal records its dates (for example a new received date after revision) or invited and fast-track article types such as reviews and editorials, not unusually quick peer review. Check the journal’s peer-review policy before reading anything into them.

Questions about pediatrics journal acceptance times

Which pediatrics journals accept papers fastest?

Among the 31 pediatrics journals with enough PubMed dates, the shortest median times from submission to acceptance (leaving out medians under 30 days, which usually reflect how dates are recorded) are Seminars in Pediatric Neurology (53 days), EARLY HUMAN DEVELOPMENT (57 days), JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY (83 days), CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY & THERAPEUTICS (102 days), BMJ Paediatrics Open (105 days). These medians include peer review and revisions, and cover accepted papers only.

How long does a pediatrics journal take to accept a paper?

The typical pediatrics journal on this page has a median of 131 days from submission to acceptance. 2 of 31 journals have a median under 60 days and 4 take more than 180 days.

Is this the peer review time?

No. PubMed records when a manuscript was received and when it was accepted, not the individual review stages. The interval includes editorial handling, peer review, revisions and the time authors spent revising, so it is longer than the time to a first decision. For first-decision times, check the journal’s own website.

Does a fast journal mean my paper is more likely to be accepted?

No. Only accepted papers have an acceptance date, so this ranking says nothing about acceptance rates or how quickly a journal rejects papers. A very fast acceptance can also be a sign of light peer review. Check the journal’s scope, indexing and peer-review policy before submitting.

About this data

Source: the received and accepted dates publishers deposit in PubMed, read through the public NCBI E-utilities for articles published 2024-01-01 to 2025-12-31, up to 100 recent articles per journal. Data checked 2026-11-03.
A journal is ranked only when at least 20 articles have both dates and at least half of the articles checked have them. Journals that do not deposit dates in PubMed, including most journals outside the life sciences, cannot be ranked here.
The ranking uses each journal’s median: half of its accepted articles took less time and half took more. The middle-half range shows the 25th to 75th percentile.
Fields come from the OpenAlex classification of each journal’s research topics. A journal joins a field when at least two of its four main topics are in it, so a journal can appear in more than one field and some classifications are imperfect.
Quartile and score are the journal’s best OpenAlex subfield quartile and its Journal Metrics Score, shown for context; they play no part in the order.

The full journal-level dataset is in the journal acceptance times study (with a CSV download). Spot an error or a journal whose dates look wrong? Tell us.

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