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BMJ Open is an online-only, open access medical journal published by BMJ Publishing Group Ltd (London). It is a separate title from The BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal). This page is a fact sheet built from the records that indexers keep about the journal, so you can check what it is, how it is indexed and what licence its articles carry before you cite it or submit to it. Facts below were read from the NLM Catalog and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) on 2026-11-07.
What BMJ Open is
The NLM Catalog lists the journal under the title “BMJ open” (MEDLINE abbreviation BMJ Open), NLM ID 101552874, electronic ISSN 2044-6055, with a start year of 2011. “British Medical Journal Open” is the expanded form of the name; the journal is not the same publication as The BMJ, which carries its own record.
DOAJ describes the subject area as Medicine (Library of Congress class R) and lists the keywords clinical science, clinical practice, health policy, healthcare delivery and medical education. The journal’s own aims and scope statement, which is the authoritative wording, is at bmjopen.bmj.com/pages/about/, the URL DOAJ lists for it.
Who publishes it and how it is indexed
| Item | Record | Source (read 2026-11-07) |
|---|---|---|
| Publisher | BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, London, England | NLM Catalog |
| ISSN | 2044-6055 (electronic) | NLM Catalog; DOAJ |
| Start year | 2011 | NLM Catalog; DOAJ lists open access from 2011 |
| MEDLINE | Currently indexed, full indexing, coverage from volume 4 issue 1 (2014) | NLM Catalog |
| PubMed | Currently indexed, from volume 1 issue 1 (2011) | NLM Catalog |
| PubMed Central | Listed as included in PMC | NLM Catalog |
| DOAJ | Listed (record last updated 2026-09-17) | DOAJ |
| Persistent identifiers | DOI | DOAJ |
| Preservation | Portico and LOCKSS | DOAJ |
Open access, licence and charges
All articles are open access. DOAJ lists three Creative Commons licences that can apply: CC BY, CC BY-NC and CC BY-NC-ND (each version 4.0). DOAJ records that authors do not retain copyright, so read the BMJ author licence terms the journal links before you rely on reuse rights.
DOAJ records that the journal charges an article processing charge (APC), lists a maximum of 2,390 GBP, reports no other charges, and reports that waivers exist. Treat that figure as an indexer’s record from 2026-11-07: the journal’s author page (bmjopen.bmj.com/pages/authors/) is the authoritative source for the current charge, discounts and waiver rules.
Is BMJ Open peer reviewed?
Yes, by its own declared model. DOAJ records the review process as “Open peer review” and links the journal’s peer review section, and records that plagiarism detection is used. In an open peer review model, review reports or reviewer identities are made visible in some form; see open peer review and peer review for the definitions, and what counts as a peer-reviewed reference for a checklist you can apply to any citation. The exact steps and what is published for each article are set out on the journal’s author instructions page.
This page does not cover whether The BMJ itself is a peer-reviewed source, because that is a different title with its own policies; look up its own journal page and NLM Catalog record.
Where to find the journal’s own pages
Use the publisher’s site rather than a search result for anything account-related. The journal home page is bmjopen.bmj.com; DOAJ lists the author instructions at /pages/authors/, aims and scope at /pages/about/ and the editorial board at /pages/editorial-board/. Submission and sign-in for authors and reviewers are reached from the journal site’s author section, so follow the links from the journal home page to avoid look-alike sites. For authorship criteria that BMJ journals apply, see BMJ authorship guidelines.
Impact factor and acceptance rate
The impact factor is a Clarivate Journal Citation Reports figure that changes every year and is not part of the NLM or DOAJ record, so this page gives no number. Look it up in Journal Citation Reports through your library, or use the journal’s own metrics page. Neither the NLM Catalog nor DOAJ publishes an acceptance rate for the journal, and no figure is given here.
Strengths and limits of what the records show
- What indexer records confirm: publisher, ISSN, start year, MEDLINE, PubMed and PMC status, open access licences, DOI use and long-term preservation.
- What they do not confirm: article quality, current turnaround times, the present APC, or any ranking of the journal. Those come from the journal and from metric providers.
- Indexing is dated: MEDLINE coverage here starts at 2014 (volume 4 issue 1), although PubMed coverage starts in 2011, so older articles may be in PubMed without being MEDLINE-indexed.
Lookup tools and what each confirms
| Tool | What it confirms for BMJ Open | What it does not confirm |
|---|---|---|
| NLM Catalog | NLM ID, ISSN, publisher, start year, MEDLINE, PubMed and PMC status | Licence terms, charges, impact factor |
| DOAJ | Open access listing, licences, APC record, review model, preservation, subject and keywords | MEDLINE status, impact factor |
| Journal Citation Reports (Clarivate) | Yearly impact factor and citation metrics, where your library subscribes | Indexing status, licences, fees |
| The journal’s own site | Current aims and scope, author instructions, charges, waiver rules | Independent indexing status |
How to check these records yourself
- Open the NLM Catalog and search for
BMJ Open[ta](the title-abbreviation search used for this page); open the record with NLM ID 101552874 and read the indexing status fields. - Query DOAJ for ISSN 2044-6055 (this page used the DOAJ search API at
doaj.org/api/search/journals/issn%3A2044-6055) and read the licence, APC, review process and preservation fields. - Compare the two records with the journal’s own author page before you cite or submit, because the indexers’ copies can lag the journal.
- For an impact factor, look the title up in Journal Citation Reports through your library.
This page does not reproduce step-by-step help text from the NLM Catalog or DOAJ interfaces; use their own help pages for interface options.
Alternatives and related fact sheets
For another journal checked the same way (NLM Catalog plus DOAJ), see BMC Medical Education: scope, open access, indexing and fees. To search for other open access medicine journals, use the DOAJ journal search and filter by subject; the NLM Catalog lets you check any title’s MEDLINE and PubMed status. For the concept itself, see open access.
FAQ
What does BMJ Open stand for?
The name expands to British Medical Journal Open. The NLM Catalog title is “BMJ open”, published by BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.
What is the impact factor for BMJ Open?
The impact factor is published each year in Clarivate’s Journal Citation Reports and is not included in the NLM or DOAJ records, so check the current edition there.
Is BMJ Open indexed in MEDLINE and PubMed?
Per the NLM Catalog on 2026-11-07, it is currently indexed in MEDLINE (full indexing, coverage from 2014) and in PubMed (from 2011), and it is included in PMC.
Does BMJ Open charge a publication fee?
DOAJ records an APC with a listed maximum of 2,390 GBP and says waivers exist (record checked 2026-11-07). Confirm the current amount on the journal’s author page.
What is BMJ Best Practice, and which journals cover public health?
BMJ Best Practice is a separate BMJ product and is not covered by the journal records used here. For public health titles, filter the DOAJ journal search or the NLM Catalog by subject.
Sources
- NLM Catalog record for BMJ Open, NLM ID 101552874, read 2026-11-07: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog
- DOAJ record for ISSN 2044-6055 (last updated 2026-09-17), read 2026-11-07: doaj.org
- Journal pages as listed by DOAJ: bmjopen.bmj.com/pages/about/ and bmjopen.bmj.com/pages/authors/
