PLOS One acceptance rate26%Reported by PLOS, 2025
PLOS One's 2026 Journal Metrics Score is 3.0, ranking Q1 in Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics and 1 other subfield. Two-year citation average from OpenAlex data, updated August 2026.
Bookmark this page — track observed submission-to-acceptance timing, FWCI and field-normalized citation data for this journal in one view.
Journal Metrics Score 2026 · 2021–2024 window citedness 3.48.
Middle 50%: 126–221 days
99 of 100 PubMed-indexed articles · 99% coverage · 2024–2025
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Each spoke is a 0–100 percentile within a comparable journal cohort—not a percentage grade or a single black-box rating.
16412 of 65,387 works · same type, year & subfield
1437 works · same type, year & subfield
Above field-year expectation
of 4,307 topic-associated OpenAlex sources by lifetime output
FWCI compares papers with the same publication year, type, and field. 1.0 is the world average; above 1.0 is above expectation. This journal's median is 1.33, so its typical recent paper runs about 33% above its field benchmark.
25.1% of recent papers rank in the global top 10% after field normalization. This is easier to compare across specialties than raw citation totals.
Volume is separated from citation accumulation so newer papers are not presented as weaker simply because they are newer.
OpenAlex source records · 2016–2025
65,387 OpenAlex works · 2021–2024
OpenAlex topics show research communities; MeSH keeps the medical taxonomy recognizable.
Select a MeSH signal to see how much PLOS One publishes on it, from PubMed counts for the last five complete years.
Candidates share at least one OpenAlex subfield (or field, if too few do) with this journal's main research topics, ignoring generic catch-all topics, and are ordered by topic overlap, then current Journal Metrics Score.
* Cost is indicative only. APCs, taxes, waivers, and member discounts can change—always verify on the journal's official website.
| Category | Quartile |
|---|---|
| Infectious Diseases | Q2 |
| Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics | Q1 |
| Virology | Q2 |
| Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health | Q1 |
Yes. A Q1 journal by citation data
Yes. By citation data, PLOS One is a strong journal: it is Q1 in Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics and 1 other subfield and ranks #1,436 of 6,272 Medicine journals by Journal Metrics Score (top 23%). PLOS One's 2026 Journal Metrics Score is 3.0. PLOS reports an acceptance rate of 26% for 2025. Recent papers took a median of 166 days from submission to acceptance, according to PubMed dates. OpenAlex lists an indicative article processing charge of $2,382 USD. OpenAlex classifies its papers in subfields including Infectious Diseases, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, and Virology, so check that your topic fits its scope.
Verdict from citation data only: quartile and field rank by Journal Metrics Score (OpenAlex), publisher-reported acceptance rates, and PubMed submission and acceptance dates. See how we rank journals and how to verify indexing.
Confirm the exact title and ISSNs against the publisher homepage before a high-stakes submission decision.
2026 Journal Metrics Scores for all 12 PLOS journals published by Public Library of Science, highest score first. Each journal is scored separately; there is no combined score for the PLOS family.
These topic links come from cached PubMed keyword snapshots where PLOS One is one of the leading matched journals.
Source: the current OpenAlex source record. OpenAlex works can include multiple work types. Fully Open Access is a source-level flag. Recent OA Works is summed from OpenAlex's counts_by_year series (up to the latest ten years); it is not a lifetime OA percentage. Any APC shown here is an indicative OpenAlex value—verify current charges on the journal's official website.
OpenAlex classifies PLOS One's papers in subfields including Infectious Diseases, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, and Virology. Read the aims and scope page and a few recent papers close to your topic before you prepare the manuscript.
Article types, word and figure limits, reference style, and the required statements (data availability, ethics, conflicts of interest, author contributions) are set by the journal. Prepare the cover letter and files to match them.
PLOS One homepage ↗PLOS journals take submissions through Editorial Manager; each journal has its own Editorial Manager site, linked from its Submit Now page.
OpenAlex lists an indicative article processing charge of $2,382 USD for this open-access journal. Check the current fee, waivers, and any institutional agreement on the journal website.
Recent accepted papers took a median of 166 days from submission to acceptance, including revisions (PubMed dates). PLOS reports an acceptance rate of 26% for 2025.
Submission system from the publisher's author information, checked 2026-10-27. Individual journals can differ, so follow the link in the journal's own author guidelines.
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See what the report coversYes. By citation data, PLOS One is a strong journal: it is Q1 in Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics and 1 other subfield and ranks #1,436 of 6,272 Medicine journals by Journal Metrics Score (top 23%). PLOS One's 2026 Journal Metrics Score is 3.0. PLOS reports an acceptance rate of 26% for 2025. Recent papers took a median of 166 days from submission to acceptance, according to PubMed dates. OpenAlex lists an indicative article processing charge of $2,382 USD. OpenAlex classifies its papers in subfields including Infectious Diseases, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, and Virology, so check that your topic fits its scope.
PLOS One's 2026 Journal Metrics Score is 3.0, from the August 2026 data release. The score is a two-year citation average computed from OpenAlex (CC0) data: citations received in the most recent complete year to works published in the two prior years, divided by the number of those works.
PLOS reports a 2025 acceptance rate of 26% for PLOS One. Accepted papers took a median of 166 days from submission to acceptance in recent PubMed records. Publishers calculate acceptance rates differently, for example whether desk rejections are counted, so compare rates from the same publisher.
PLOS One's best quartile is Q1. By OpenAlex subfield: Q2 in Infectious Diseases; Q1 in Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Q2 in Virology; Q1 in Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health. Quartiles rank journals by Journal Metrics Score within each subfield.
No. Journal Metrics computes the score independently from OpenAlex open data. Other providers use different citation databases, document types, and counting rules, so their published figures for PLOS One will not match this score exactly. Compare journals using one source at a time.
Across 99 recent PubMed records with both dates, PLOS One took a median of 166 days from submission to acceptance; the middle half took 126–221 days. This interval includes editorial handling and revisions, so it is not the time to a first decision.
OpenAlex lists an indicative article processing charge of $2,382 USD for PLOS One. This journal-level estimate may exclude taxes, waivers, discounts, or article-type fees, so confirm the current charge on the journal's website.
Comparable journals include Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health, Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, Pan African Medical Journal, and Indian Journal of Community Health. Compare their scores, acceptance times, and costs in the recommended alternatives on this page before choosing where to submit.
PLOS journals take submissions through Editorial Manager; each journal has its own Editorial Manager site, linked from its Submit Now page. Before submitting, check the scope, follow the author guidelines for article type, length, and required statements, and prepare a cover letter. Accepted papers took a median of 166 days from submission to acceptance in recent PubMed records.
Explore related journals before choosing where to submit.