Fastest-accepting rheumatology journals 2026

38 rheumatology 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: 38
Typical median: 97 d
Under 60 days: 4
Over 180 days: 2

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.

Rheumatology journals by median days from submission to acceptance

Rheumatology journals ranked by median days from submission to acceptance in PubMed
Rank	Journal	Median days	Middle half	Articles	Quartile	2026 score
1	Musculoskeletal Care	18†	12–27	100	Q2	1.8
2	BEST PRACTICE & RESEARCH IN CLINICAL RHEUMATOLOGY	42	14–68	97	Q1	5.3
3	Journal of the Belgian Society of Radiology	45	20–87	100	Q3	0.8
4	Lancet Rheumatology	50	4–91	95	Q1	6.7
5	RHEUMATOLOGY INTERNATIONAL	62	37–80	100	Q1	3.5
6	Journal of Rheumatic Diseases	64	44–101	89	Q2	2.3
7	Mediterranean Journal of Rheumatology	69	48–112	99	Q2	1.6
8	Rheumatology and Therapy	71	53–110	100	Q1	3.2
9	JOINT BONE SPINE	75	49–119	96	Q2	2.3
10	Rheumatology and Immunology Research	78	37–110	57	Q1	2.4
10	Northern Clinics of Istanbul	78	39–145	97	Q3	1.0
12	Modern Rheumatology Case Reports	81	59–108	100	Q3	0.8
13	Reumatologia	82	57–121	98	Q3	1.0
14	Modern Rheumatology	88	60–122	99	Q2	1.9
15	Archives of Rheumatology	89	55–172	58	Q2	1.7
16	CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL RHEUMATOLOGY	94	71–125	100	Q3	1.2
17	Current Rheumatology Reviews	95	74–131	100	Q3	1.3
17	ANNALS OF THE RHEUMATIC DISEASES	95	64–146	82	Q3	1.4
19	Psoriasis-Targets and Therapy	97	77–119	69	Q1	2.6
19	CLINICAL RHEUMATOLOGY	97	67–139	100	Q2	2.0
21	SKELETAL RADIOLOGY	98	67–124	100	Q2	2.3
22	SEMINARS IN ARTHRITIS AND RHEUMATISM	100	75–144	100	Q1	3.3
23	Open Access Rheumatology-Research and Reviews	102	77–116	34	Q2	2.5
24	Lupus Science & Medicine	112	79–145	100	Q1	3.1
24	ACR Open Rheumatology	112	59–154	100	Q2	2.0
26	RHEUMATOLOGY	113	79–162	69	Q2	2.3
27	RMD Open	114	84–140	95	Q1	4.8
28	Arthritis & Rheumatology	116	79–164	99	Q1	3.8
29	International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases	122	83–199	100	Q3	1.1
30	Osteoarthritis and Cartilage Open	124	67–183	100	Q1	2.7
31	Rheumatology Advances in Practice	127	95–165	79	Q3	1.2
31	BMC Rheumatology	127	79–263	100	Q2	2.2
33	ARTHRITIS RESEARCH & THERAPY	129	89–175	99	Q1	5.0
34	Therapeutic Advances in Musculoskeletal Disease	150	119–183	100	Q1	3.5
35	Reumatismo	154	108–204	56	Q4	0.4
36	ARTHRITIS CARE & RESEARCH	155	117–196	99	Q1	2.9
37	Advances in Rheumatology	198	154–256	100	Q1	2.8
38	Clinical Medicine Insights-Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Disorders	225	161–265	22	Q3	0.8

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 rheumatology journal acceptance times

Which rheumatology journals accept papers fastest?

Among the 38 rheumatology 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 BEST PRACTICE & RESEARCH IN CLINICAL RHEUMATOLOGY (42 days), Journal of the Belgian Society of Radiology (45 days), Lancet Rheumatology (50 days), RHEUMATOLOGY INTERNATIONAL (62 days), Journal of Rheumatic Diseases (64 days). These medians include peer review and revisions, and cover accepted papers only.

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

The typical rheumatology journal on this page has a median of 97 days from submission to acceptance. 4 of 38 journals have a median under 60 days and 2 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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