Neurosurgery: review time and acceptance speed
ISSN 0148-396X · ISSN 1081-1281 · Lippincott Williams & Wilkins · Medicine
Half of the articles Neurosurgery accepted in 2025 were accepted within 69 days of submission (n = 516); the middle half took 10–123 days.
Accepted articles only · dates deposited by the publisher in PubMed · data as of Sep 15, 2026
How long does Neurosurgery take to accept a paper?
| Year | Articles (n) | 25th pct | Median | 75th pct | 90th pct | Accepted <14 days | Have a revised date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 516 | 10 | 69 | 123 | 176 | 25.8% | 0% |
| 2024 | 487 | 42 | 83 | 127 | 177 | 17.9% | 0% |
| 2023 | 327 | 50 | 79 | 117 | 161 | 10.7% | 0% |
| 2022 | 303 | 74 | 110 | 153 | 220 | 5.9% | 0% |
| 2021 | 246 | 106 | 154 | 188 | 241 | 8.1% | 0% |
| 2020 | 274 | 100 | 155 | 220 | 283 | 3.6% | 0% |
- 2026: not shown yet — a year is reported once late-indexed articles have arrived (at least 180 days after it ends).
Distribution in 2025
Show as a table
| Days | Articles | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 0–29 | 152 | 29.5% |
| 30–59 | 82 | 15.9% |
| 60–89 | 86 | 16.7% |
| 90–119 | 62 | 12.0% |
| 120–149 | 43 | 8.3% |
| 150–179 | 42 | 8.1% |
| 180–209 | 13 | 2.5% |
| 210–239 | 10 | 1.9% |
| 240–269 | 11 | 2.1% |
| 270–299 | 5 | 1.0% |
| 300–329 | 2 | 0.4% |
| 330–359 | 3 | 0.6% |
| 360+ | 5 | 1.0% |
From acceptance to online publication
After acceptance, half of the 2025 articles appeared online within 70 days (middle half 56–92 days, n = 489).
From submission to online publication, the median was 151 days (middle half 94–208 days, n = 489).
Read these numbers carefully
- These times describe articles the journal accepted. Rejected manuscripts never appear in public data, so they cannot tell you how long a rejection takes.
- Dates are the ones the publisher deposited with PubMed. Some publishers record the date a revised manuscript arrived as the submission date, which makes review look faster.
- Invited articles and special issues can move faster than regular submissions.
Open access status and publishing fees
Subscription or hybrid (not determined). No listed APC found in DOAJ or OpenAlex. That does not mean publishing is free — check the journal's author guidelines.
No institutional payments for this journal are recorded in OpenAPC.
Many journals waive or reduce fees for authors from eligible countries or institutions with publishing agreements — check with the journal and your library.
Integrity and indexing signals
Facts from public records, shown without judgement. See the methodology for why each can be worth a closer look.
| Listed in DOAJ | No |
|---|---|
| Articles indexed for MEDLINE in 2025 | Yes |
| Retractions | 0 retracted articles among 1,884 added to PubMed in 2021–2025 (0.00 per 1,000), per the Retraction Watch Database. |
| Accepted within 14 days of submission | 25.8% of 2025 articles |
| Publication volume | 553 articles added to PubMed in 2025 (+29% vs 2024). |
Topics and scope
- Intracranial Aneurysms: Treatment and Complications (11% of indexed topics)
- Traumatic Brain Injury and Neurovascular Disturbances (8% of indexed topics)
- Meningioma and schwannoma management (7% of indexed topics)
- Cerebrospinal fluid and hydrocephalus (7% of indexed topics)
- Glioma Diagnosis and Treatment (7% of indexed topics)
- Vascular Malformations Diagnosis and Treatment (6% of indexed topics)
Similar journals — faster or cheaper, side by side
Journals publishing on the most similar topics (OpenAlex), ordered by similarity. Only 2025 figures are compared with the 2025 median of Neurosurgery, 69 days.
| Paid APC median | DOAJ | MEDLINE | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neurosurgical Review | 112 (2025, n = 809) | ≈$4,590 | — | No | Yes |
| Journal of neurosurgery | 136 (2025, n = 298) | — | — | No | Yes |
| Acta Neurochirurgica | 80 (2025, n = 305) | $3,990 | — | Yes | Yes |
| Journal of Clinical Neuroscience | 78 (2025, n = 609) | ≈$3,830 | — | No | Yes |
| World Neurosurgery | 18 (2025, n = 814) | ≈$3,943 | — | No | Yes |
| Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery | 62 (2025, n = 406) | ≈$3,740 | — | No | Yes |
| Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society | 92 (2025, n = 89) | $300 | — | Yes | No |
| Surgical Neurology International | 56 (2025, n = 592) | — | — | No | No |
No journals match these filters.
Frequently asked questions
How long does Neurosurgery take to accept a paper?
Half of the articles Neurosurgery accepted in 2025 were accepted within 69 days of submission (n = 516); the middle half took 10–123 days. Based on dates in PubMed for accepted articles only.
How long after acceptance are Neurosurgery articles published online?
Half of the articles accepted in 2025 appeared online within 70 days of acceptance (n = 489).
Does Neurosurgery charge an article processing charge (APC)?
No listed APC found in DOAJ or OpenAlex. That does not mean publishing is free — check the journal's author guidelines.
Sources and method
Journal identity: ISSN-L 0148-396X; NLM ID 7802914; OpenAlex record. Speed figures use 516 articles accepted in 2025 with valid dates; excluded records for that year: online date out of range 1.
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Data sources. Submission, acceptance and publication dates: Courtesy of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (PubMed, entries through Sep 15, 2026). NLM does not endorse Journal Clock, and these figures may not reflect the most current PubMed data. Journal fees and open-access listing: DOAJ (CC0, retrieved Sep 16, 2026). Fees paid by institutions: OpenAPC (Open Database License, retrieved Sep 16, 2026). Retractions: Retraction Watch Database via Crossref (retrieved Sep 16, 2026). Journal identifiers and topics: OpenAlex (CC0). Currency conversion: ECB reference rates (Sep 15, 2026). How these numbers are calculated · For organisations.