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Epilepsia Open
Journal Title:: Epilepsia Open
Publisher:: Wiley on behalf of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE)
ISSN:: 2470-9239
Access Type:: Open Access
Impact Factor (2023):: 3.0
SJR (2024):: ~1.05 (Q1–Q2 Neurology)
Indexing:: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science (SCIE), DOAJ, Embase
🧭 General Scope
Epilepsia Open is the open-access journal of the ILAE, established to promote high-quality epilepsy research, including:
- Basic and translational neuroscience
- Clinical studies
- Negative and confirmatory trials
- Case series and historical perspectives
- Systematic reviews and policy commentaries
It offers rapid publication and accepts a broad range of manuscript types, supporting methodological transparency and underreported results.
✅ Strengths
- Rapid review and publication
- Median time to first decision: ~41 days
- Online publication post-acceptance: <3 weeks
- Support for underrepresented research
- Accepts negative, confirmatory, and hypothesis-generating studies
- Strong international visibility
- Well indexed and backed by ILAE
- Thematic flexibility
- Welcomes special issues and diverse formats (e.g., methodological notes, community perspectives)
⚠️ Limitations
- Moderate APC (~2,500 USD)
- May limit submissions from low-income countries
- Acceptance rate ~58%
- Suggests moderate editorial selectivity compared to top-tier epilepsy journals
- Lower IF than flagship journal
Epilepsiahas an IF ~6.6, indicating higher prestige and citation influence
- Review transparency limited
- Details on peer-review depth and reproducibility standards not consistently disclosed
- Risk of scope expansion dilution
- Growing submission volume may challenge editorial coherence
📈 Metrics Summary
| Metric | Value (2023/2024) |
|---|---|
| Impact Factor | 3.0 |
| SJR (SCImago) | ~1.05 |
| h-index | ~37 |
| Acceptance Rate | 57.8% |
| Time to First Decision | 41 days (median) |
| Time to Final Publication | ~73 days |
| Article Processing Charge | ~2,500 USD |
🎯 Recommendation
| For… | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Authors | Suitable for timely open-access publication of clinical/translational research, including negative studies. Ensure funding for APC. |
| Clinicians | Useful source of emerging data, especially confirmatory or methodological insights. |
| Researchers | Consider for replication studies or niche topics not easily accepted in higher-IF journals. |
| Editors/ILAEs | Opportunity to refine selectivity, introduce transparent review auditing, and offer APC waivers for resource-limited settings. |
🧩 Comparison with Related Journals
| Journal | IF 2023 | SJR | Acceptance Rate | Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Epilepsia | ~6.6 | >1.5 | ~20% | Hybrid |
| Epilepsy & Behavior | ~2.9 | ~1.0 | ~40% | Subscription |
| Epilepsia Open | ~3.0 | ~1.05 | ~58% | Open Access |
🔚 Conclusion
Epilepsia Open is a robust, fast, and methodologically open journal with increasing academic impact. It plays a critical role in balancing the publication ecosystem by hosting studies that might be filtered out of more selective journals due to publication bias or conservative editorial strategies.
Future improvements in transparency, reproducibility practices, and financial accessibility would strengthen its scientific and global relevance.
Last updated:: ~~2025-07-09~~ Reviewed by:: ChatGPT-4o