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Reader task: researchers deciding whether to publish in, or how to cite, BMC Medical Education can use this page to see what two independent indexer records say about its publisher, open access model, licences, fees, preservation and database indexing. Facts below come from the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) record last updated 2026-09-17 and the National Library of Medicine (NLM) Catalog record revised 2026-05-11, both read on 2026-11-07. Impact factor and quartile values are not given here because they change yearly and come from Clarivate and Scopus.
What BMC Medical Education is
BMC Medical Education is an open access journal on medical education, published by BMC. NLM records “BioMed Central medical education” as an alternate title, so “BMC” stands for BioMed Central. DOAJ gives its electronic ISSN as 1472-6920, its country of publication as the United Kingdom, its language as English and its open access start year as 2001. NLM lists the NLM ID 101088679 and the MEDLINE abbreviation “BMC Med Educ”.
Who runs it and what it covers
DOAJ lists the publisher as BMC and classifies the journal under the Library of Congress subjects “Special aspects of education” and “Medicine”. Its keywords in DOAJ are medical education, curriculum development and continuing medical education. The aims and scope statement is hosted by the journal at bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/about, and the author instructions at bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/submission-guidelines; check those pages for the current wording of scope.
Open access, licences, fees and indexing at a glance
| Item | What the record says | Source (read 2026-11-07) |
|---|---|---|
| Peer review model | Open peer review | DOAJ |
| Licences | CC BY 4.0 and CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 listed | DOAJ |
| Article processing charge | Yes; maximum listed 2,690 EUR, 3,090 USD or 2,490 GBP | DOAJ |
| Other charges | None listed | DOAJ |
| APC waiver | Yes; DOAJ links the Springer Nature APC waiver country policy | DOAJ |
| Author retains copyright | No, per the DOAJ field | DOAJ |
| Plagiarism screening | Yes | DOAJ |
| Publication time | 24 weeks, as reported to DOAJ | DOAJ |
| Preservation | LOCKSS, PMC, Library of Congress, National Library of the Netherlands, British Library | DOAJ |
| Database indexing | MEDLINE (full treatment), PubMed, PMC and Index Medicus listed; MEDLINE and PubMed marked currently indexed | NLM Catalog |
How to look up a journal’s open access and indexing status
The method below uses the same two records this page is built from, so you can repeat it for any journal.
- Search the DOAJ journal directory by title or ISSN (here 1472-6920) and open the journal record.
- Read the APC section: whether an APC exists, the listed maximum in each currency, and the waiver link.
- Read the licence and copyright fields, then follow the links DOAJ gives to the journal’s own terms.
- Check the “last updated” date on the DOAJ record, because publishers change fees.
- Search the NLM Catalog for the ISSN or NLM ID and read the indexing source list, noting the status (currently indexed or not) and the treatment.
- Confirm the current APC and licence on the journal’s own fees page, which DOAJ links as link.springer.com/journal/12909/how-to-publish-with-us.
See journal indexing in DOAJ, Scopus and Web of Science for how the indexers differ, and the DOAJ and MEDLINE entries for definitions.
Strengths and limits of what the records show
- What the records settle: open access model, licences, the existence and listed maximum of an APC, waiver existence, preservation arrangements and MEDLINE/PubMed indexing status.
- What they do not settle: the current impact factor, quartile and acceptance rate. Impact factor comes from Clarivate’s Journal Citation Reports and quartiles from Clarivate or Scopus; both are published per year, so quote the year with any figure you use.
- Fees can differ from the maximum: DOAJ reports a maximum, and the actual charge depends on the publisher’s current fees page and any waiver or institutional agreement.
- Copyright field: DOAJ lists author-retained copyright as false for this journal, while listing Creative Commons licences; read the journal’s copyright page for how the two fit together. See Creative Commons.
Alternatives indexed in DOAJ
These journals appear in a DOAJ title search for “medical education” run 2026-11-07. The table reports DOAJ fields only and is not a ranking.
| Journal | Publisher (country) | APC listed in DOAJ | Licence(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| JMIR Medical Education | JMIR Publications (CA) | 2,750 USD | CC BY |
| Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development | SAGE Publishing (GB) | 3,000 USD | CC BY, CC BY-NC |
| Advances in Medical Education and Practice | Dove Medical Press (GB) | 3,565 USD | CC BY, CC BY-NC |
| GMS Journal for Medical Education | German Medical Science GMS Publishing House (DE) | 800 EUR | CC BY |
| Canadian Medical Education Journal | Canadian Medical Education Journal (CA) | No APC | CC BY-NC-ND |
FAQ
What is the APC for BMC Medical Education?
DOAJ lists an APC with a maximum of 2,690 EUR, 3,090 USD or 2,490 GBP, no other charges, and an APC waiver policy (record updated 2026-09-17). Taxes and current terms are on the journal’s fees page; see article publication charge for the term.
Is BMC Medical Education indexed in MEDLINE and PubMed?
Yes. The NLM Catalog (revised 2026-05-11) lists MEDLINE with full indexing treatment and PubMed as currently indexed, plus PMC and Index Medicus.
What does BMC stand for in BMC Medical Education?
BioMed Central. NLM records “BioMed Central medical education” as an alternate title.
Is BMC Medical Education peer reviewed?
DOAJ lists its review process as open peer review. For the publisher-wide picture see is BMC peer reviewed.
What is the impact factor or quartile of BMC Medical Education?
Impact factors are published each year by Clarivate in Journal Citation Reports, and quartiles by Clarivate or Scopus. Look up the figure for the specific year you need and cite that year; this page does not quote one.
Can you provide a list of BMC journals, and what about BMC Public Health or the BMJ?
The publisher maintains its own journal list at biomedcentral.com. This page makes no reputation judgement of any journal; to assess any title, compare its DOAJ and NLM records as described above. The BMJ is a separate publisher’s title and its metrics are not covered here.
Sources
- DOAJ journal record, ISSN 1472-6920, last updated 2026-09-17, read 2026-11-07: doaj.org/api/search/journals/issn%3A1472-6920
- NLM Catalog record 101088679, revised 2026-05-11, read 2026-11-07: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/101088679
- Journal pages named by DOAJ as the place to check current terms: bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/about and link.springer.com/journal/12909/how-to-publish-with-us
