Neurosurgery Journals
The first journal dedicated to the field of neurosurgery can be debated. The first recurrent publication whose major focus was in the field of neurosurgery was Travaux de Neurologie Chirurgicale, initially published by Chipault in 1896
Classification of Neurosurgical Journals
🔝 Tier 1: High-Impact, Global Influence
These journals shape clinical practice and research worldwide.
| Journal | Impact Factor (approx.) | Publisher | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Journal of Neurosurgery (JNS) | ~4.1 | AANS | Flagship journal; includes Spine and Pediatrics editions. |
| Neurosurgery | ~4.5 | CNS / Oxford UP | High impact; includes *Operative Neurosurgery*. |
| Brain | ~13 | Oxford UP | Broad neuroscience focus, includes neurosurgical research. |
| Acta Neuropathologica | ~17 | Springer | Key for neuro-oncology and tumor pathology. |
| Lancet Neurology | ~59 | Elsevier | Publishes major neurosurgical trials and reviews. |
🧪 Tier 2: Specialty or Regionally Prestigious
Well-regarded journals in subspecialties or specific geographic regions.
| Journal | Impact Factor | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Acta Neurochirurgica | ~3.0 | General clinical neurosurgery; official EANS journal. |
| World Neurosurgery | ~2.1 | Global outlook; supports case reports and LMICs. |
| Operative Neurosurgery | ~2.0 | Surgical techniques and intraoperative innovation. |
| Journal of Clinical Neuroscience | ~2.0 | Broad clinical scope including neurosurgery. |
| JNS: Spine / Pediatrics | ~2.5 | Subspecialty editions of JNS. |
| Journal of Neurological Surgery Part A & B | ~1.5 | Skull base and spine focus. |
| Neurosurgical Review | ~2.8 | Review articles and original studies (Europe-centered). |
📘 Tier 3: Niche, Emerging, or Open Access
Useful for case reports, fast-track publication, or regional content.
| Journal | Model | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Frontiers in Surgery – Neurosurgery | Open Access | Accepts diverse neurosurgical content; thematic series. |
| Cureus | Open Access | Fast publishing; case reports; variable quality. |
| Asian Journal of Neurosurgery | Open Access | Regional case series; growing visibility. |
| Neurosurgical Focus | Thematic | Monthly focused topics; part of JNS family. |
| Journal of Neuro-Oncology | ~3.5 | Interdisciplinary CNS tumor research. |
| Journal of Stroke & Cerebrovascular Diseases | ~2.2 | Stroke and vascular neurosurgery. |
🧩 Practical Recommendations
| Purpose | Recommended Journals |
|---|---|
| Early-career publications | World Neurosurgery, Acta Neurochirurgica, Cureus |
| Technical innovation | Operative Neurosurgery, Neurosurgical Focus |
| High visibility research | JNS, Neurosurgery, Brain, Lancet Neurology |
| Neuro-oncology focus | Journal of Neuro-Oncology, Acta Neuropathologica |
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF NEURORADIOLOGY
Brazilian Neurosurgery: Arquivos Brasileiros de Neurocirurgia
BRITISH JOURNAL OF NEUROSURGERY
Chinese Journal of Contemporary Neurology and Neurosurgery
Chinese Journal of Neurosurgery
CLINICAL NEUROLOGY AND NEUROSURGERY
CLINICAL ORTHOPAEDICS AND RELATED RESEARCH
CRITICAL REVIEWS IN NEUROSURGERY
EGYPTIAN JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGICAL SURGERY
Egyptian Journal of Neurosurgery
Egyptian Journal of Neurology, Psychiatry and Neurosurgery
EPILEPSY & BEHAVIOR http://www.elsevier.com/locate/issn/15255050
EPILEPSY RESEARCH http://www.elsevier.com/locate/issn/09201211
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF VASCULAR AND ENDOVASCULAR SURGERY
Evidence-Based Spine-Care Journal
FLUIDS AND BARRIERS OF THE CNS
FRONTIERS IN NEUROENDOCRINOLOGY http://www.journals.elsevier.com/frontiers-in-neuroendocrinology/
HORMONES AND BEHAVIOR http://www.journals.elsevier.com/hormones-and-behavior/
Indian Journal of Neurosurgery
Interdisciplinary Neurosurgery
JOURNAL OF BONE AND JOINT SURGERY http://jbjs.org
JOURNAL OF CEREBRAL BLOOD FLOW AND METABOLISM
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NEUROPHYSIOLOGY
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCE
JOURNAL OF KOREAN NEUROSURGICAL SOCIETY
JOURNAL OF NEURO-OPHTHALMOLOGY http://journals.lww.com/jneuro-ophthalmology
JOURNAL OF NEUROENDOCRINOLOGY http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-JNE.html
JOURNAL OF NEUROIMAGING http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-JON.html
JOURNAL OF NEUROINTERVENTIONAL SURGERY
JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGICAL SURGERY
JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGICAL SURGERY REPORTS
JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY NEUROSURGERY AND PSYCHIATRY
JOURNAL OF NEUROSURGERY http://thejns.org/
JOURNAL OF NEUROSURGERY SPINE http://thejns.org/action/showCoverGallery?journalCode=SPI
JOURNAL OF NEUROSURGERY PEDIATRICS http://thejns.org/action/showCoverGallery?journalCode=ped
Journal of Neurosurgical Anesthesiology
JOURNAL OF NEUROSURGICAL SCIENCES
JOURNAL OF NEUROTRAUMA http://www.liebertpub.com/overview/journal-of-neurotrauma/39/
JOURNAL OF ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY http://www.josonline.org/
JOURNAL OF SPINAL DISORDERS & TECHNIQUES http://www.jspinaldisorders.com
Journal of Spine & Neurosurgery
Journal of the neurological sciences
JOURNAL OF THE PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM
JOURNAL OF VASCULAR AND INTERVENTIONAL RADIOLOGY http://www.jvir.org
JOURNAL OF VASCULAR SURGERY http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/07415214
MINIMALLY INVASIVE NEUROSURGERY
NEURONEWS http://www.cxvascular.com/neuronews
NEUROCRITICAL CARE http://www.springer.com/medicine/internal/journal/12028
NEUROENDOCRINOLOGY http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?Aktion=JournalHome&ProduktNr=223855
NEUROIMAGE http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/10538119
NEUROINTERVENTIONS http://neurointervention.kr
NEUROLOGIA I NEUROCHIRURGIA POLSKA http://www.termedia.pl/magazine.php?magazine_id=15
NEUROMODULATION http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/ner
NEUROPATHOLOGY http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/neu
NEUROPATHOLOGY AND APPLIED NEUROBIOLOGY http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/nan
NEUROPEDIATRICS http://www.thieme.com/SID2101845644925/journals/pubid1432672485.html
NEUROSURGERY CLINICS OF NORTH AMERICA
NEUROSURGERY NEWS http://www.neurosurgery.pitt.edu/news/neuronews/
NEUROSURGERY QUARTERLY http://www.neurosurgery-quarterly.com
OPERATIVE TECHNIQUES IN NEUROSURGERY
ORTHOPEDICS http://www.orthobluejournal.com/
PAIN MEDICINE http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/pme
PARKINSON´S DISEASE http://www.hindawi.com/journals/pd/
PEDIATRIC NEUROSURGERY http://www.karger.com/pne
PITUITARY http://www.springerlink.com/link.asp?id=103316
PROGRESS IN NEUROLOGICAL SURGERY
PUBLICACIONES DE LA SOCIEDAD CIENTIFICA IBEROAMERICANA (NEUROCIRUGIA) http://www.siicsalud.com/main/siicsaprof.htm
REVISTA ARGENTINA DE NEUROCIRUGIA
REVISTA CHILENA DE NEUROCIRUGIA
REVISTA DE LA SOCIEDAD ESPAÑOLA DEL DOLOR http://revista.sedolor.es/
STEREOTACTIC AND FUNCTIONAL NEUROSURGERY
SURGICAL NEUROLOGY INTERNATIONAL
THE CANADIAN JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGICAL SCIENCES http://www.cjns.org
THE CEREBELLUM http://www.springerlink.com/content/1473-4222/
The Internet Journal of Neurosurgery
THE ORTHOPEDIC CLINICS OF NORTHAMERICA http://orthopedic.theclinics.com/
Core Journals
see Core Journals
Journals of Neurosurgical Interest ordered by citation
Spine
European Spine Journal
The Spine Journal
Spine
Journal of Spinal Disorders and Techniques
Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine
Predatory Journals
With the rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence tools, important questions about their applicability to manuscript preparation have been raised.
Schneider et al. explore the methodological challenges of detecting AI-generated content in neurosurgical publications, using existing detection tools to highlight both the presence of AI content and the fundamental limitations of current detection approaches.
They analyzed 100 randomly selected manuscripts published between 2023 and 2024 in high-impact neurosurgery journals using a two-tiered approach to identify potential AI-generated text. The text was classified as AI-generated if both robustly optimized bidirectional encoder representations from transformers pretraining approach (RoBERTa)-based AI classification tool yielded a positive classification and the text's perplexity score was less than 100. Chi-square tests were conducted to assess differences in the prevalence of AI-generated text across various manuscript sections, topics, and types. To eliminate bias introduced by the more structured nature of abstracts, a subgroup analysis was conducted that excluded abstracts as well.
Approximately one in five (20%) manuscripts contained sections flagged as AI-generated. Abstracts and methods sections were disproportionately identified. After excluding abstracts, the association between section type and AI-generated content was no longer statistically significant.
The findings highlight both the increasing integration of AI in manuscript preparation and a critical challenge in academic publishing as AI language models become increasingly sophisticated and traditional detection methods become less reliable. This suggests the need to shift focus from detection to transparency, emphasizing the development of clear disclosure policies and ethical guidelines for AI use in academic writing 1).