Best Endocrinology Journals (2026): Ranked by Impact and Accessibility

1. The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology for practice-changing clinical diabetes, obesity, and endocrine medicine.
2. Diabetes Care for clinical diabetes management, complications, technology, and health services.
3. Diabetologia for EASD-aligned clinical, epidemiologic, translational, or mechanistic diabetes.
4. JCEM for non-diabetes clinical endocrinology across thyroid, adrenal, pituitary, reproductive, and bone disease.
5. Thyroid for thyroid-specific manuscripts that need ATA readers.

The Lancet D&E is the highest-impact dedicated endocrinology journal. It publishes major clinical trials (GLP-1 agonists, SGLT2 inhibitors, insulin formulations), epidemiological studies on diabetes complications, and endocrine research with broad clinical impact. The journal wants papers that interest internists and primary care doctors, not just endocrinologists.

The GLP-1 agonist revolution has made The Lancet D&E the go-to venue for obesity and diabetes pharmacotherapy trials in recent years.

Acceptance rate: ~5-7%. APC: None. Review time: 4-8 weeks. Scope: Diabetes trials, obesity, clinical endocrinology, metabolic disease.

Nature Reviews Endocrinology publishes reviews and perspectives across all endocrinology subfields. It's primarily invited content, not a target for original research. But the reviews published here indicate what topics the field considers most important.

Diabetes Care is the American Diabetes Association's clinical practice journal. It publishes clinical trials, clinical practice statements, epidemiological analyses, and health services research focused on diabetes management. If your paper addresses how to care for people with diabetes, from screening to treatment to complication prevention, Diabetes Care is the standard venue.

ADA Standards of Care are published annually in Diabetes Care, giving the journal disproportionate citation influence.

Acceptance rate: ~10-12%. APC: None (hybrid OA). Review time: 4-6 weeks. Scope: Clinical diabetes, ADA guidelines, treatment trials, diabetes complications, type 1 and type 2.

Endocrine Reviews (Endocrine Society) publishes thorough review articles across all endocrinology subfields. It's the highest-impact review journal in endocrinology after Nature Reviews Endocrinology. If you're writing a review, Endocrine Reviews is the target for authoritative, field-defining surveys of a subfield.

Acceptance rate: ~15% (mostly invited). APC: None. Review time: 6-12 weeks. Scope: Thorough reviews, all endocrinology.

For the article-plan route, use the Endocrine Reviews submission guide before drafting a full review.

These journals publish strong endocrinology research across the full range of endocrine conditions. They are often better targets for well-designed thyroid, adrenal, pituitary, reproductive, bone, metabolism, or obesity manuscripts that need specialist endocrine readers.

Diabetes is the ADA's basic and translational science journal. While Diabetes Care covers clinical practice, Diabetes covers diabetes pathophysiology: beta cell biology, insulin resistance mechanisms, diabetic complications, and metabolic regulation. If your paper is about the biology of diabetes rather than its clinical management, Diabetes is the top venue.

Acceptance rate: ~12-15%. APC: None (hybrid OA). Review time: 4-8 weeks. Scope: Diabetes pathophysiology, beta cell biology, metabolic research, translational diabetes.

Diabetologia is the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD). It publishes clinical and translational diabetes research with a European perspective. Diabetologia competes with Diabetes Care and Diabetes for high-quality submissions, with slightly different editorial emphasis. The journal is particularly strong in type 1 diabetes, diabetes epidemiology, and genetic studies.

Acceptance rate: ~15%. APC: None (hybrid OA). Review time: 4-8 weeks. Scope: All diabetes research, EASD perspective, epidemiology, genetics, type 1 diabetes.

JCEM is the Endocrine Society's clinical journal and the broadest endocrinology journal by scope. It covers all endocrine conditions: thyroid, adrenal, pituitary, reproductive, bone, and metabolic disorders, alongside diabetes. For non-diabetes endocrinology research, JCEM is often the top realistic target.

JCEM publishes Endocrine Society clinical practice guidelines, which drives some of its citations.

Acceptance rate: ~15-20%. APC: None (hybrid OA). Review time: 4-8 weeks. Scope: All endocrinology, Endocrine Society guidelines, thyroid, adrenal, pituitary, bone, reproductive.

Thyroid is the journal of the American Thyroid Association and the top specialty journal for thyroid research. If your paper is about thyroid cancer, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, thyroid nodules, or thyroid hormone physiology, Thyroid's specialized audience will evaluate it properly.

Acceptance rate: ~20%. APC: None (hybrid OA). Review time: 4-8 weeks. Scope: All thyroid research, thyroid cancer, autoimmune thyroid disease, thyroid hormones.

Obesity (The Obesity Society) is the top journal specifically for obesity research. With GLP-1 agonists transforming the field, Obesity has seen a surge in high-quality submissions. The journal covers obesity biology, clinical trials, behavioral interventions, and bariatric surgery outcomes.

Acceptance rate: ~20%. APC: None (hybrid OA). Review time: 4-8 weeks. Scope: Obesity biology, weight management, bariatric surgery, GLP-1 agonists, behavioral interventions.

These journals publish solid endocrinology research at accessible thresholds. They can be appropriate when the manuscript is useful and well reported but does not have the breadth, novelty, or practice-changing signal expected by the elite tier.

Endocrinology (Endocrine Society) covers basic endocrine science: hormone signaling, receptor biology, neuroendocrinology, and reproductive endocrinology. It's the translational and basic science counterpart to JCEM's clinical focus.

Acceptance rate: ~20-25%. APC: None (hybrid OA). Review time: 4-8 weeks. Scope: Basic endocrine science, hormone biology, neuroendocrinology, reproductive endocrinology.

Frontiers in Endocrinology is a large open-access journal covering all endocrine topics. It provides fast turnaround and open-access visibility with a relatively generous acceptance rate. The journal is organized into specialty sections for targeted peer review.

Acceptance rate: ~35-40%. APC: $2,950. Review time: 3-6 weeks. Scope: All endocrinology, open access, section-based organization.

BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care is an open-access journal focused specifically on diabetes and metabolic disease. It's published by BMJ and provides credible open-access publication for diabetes research that doesn't reach the threshold of Diabetes Care or Diabetologia.

Acceptance rate: ~30%. APC: $2,365. Review time: 4-6 weeks. Scope: Diabetes, metabolic disease, open access.

If your paper is a large diabetes clinical trial, start with The Lancet D&E (highest IF), Diabetes Care (ADA), or Diabetologia (EASD). All three publish major trials.

If your paper is about diabetes biology or pathophysiology, Diabetes (ADA) is the top venue. Endocrinology covers broader endocrine basic science.

If your paper is about thyroid disease, Thyroid (ATA) is the specialty home. JCEM also publishes thyroid research within its broader scope.

If your paper is about obesity, Obesity (TOS) is the specialty journal. The Lancet D&E publishes major obesity trials. International Journal of Obesity (IF ~5.4) is another option.

If your paper is about non-diabetes endocrinology (adrenal, pituitary, reproductive, bone), JCEM is usually the first target. These subfields don't have single dominant specialty journals, so JCEM's broad endocrine scope works in your favor.

If your paper is about reproductive endocrinology, consider Fertility and Sterility (IF ~8.1) or Human Reproduction (IF ~6.8) alongside JCEM. Reproductive endocrinology straddles endocrinology and reproductive medicine.

Submitting non-diabetes research to diabetes journals when they won't fit. Diabetes Care and Diabetologia are diabetes-specific. A paper about Addison's disease or acromegaly won't fit, even if these journals have high IFs. Target JCEM or the appropriate specialty journal instead.

Ignoring JCEM for non-diabetes work. JCEM is undervalued by researchers who only look at IF. For thyroid, adrenal, pituitary, and bone research, JCEM is often the most appropriate and visible venue. It's the journal endocrinologists actually read across all subfields.

Conflating Diabetes and Diabetes Care. These are different journals with different scopes. Diabetes (basic/translational science) and Diabetes Care (clinical practice). Submitting a beta-cell biology paper to Diabetes Care, or a clinical management study to Diabetes, wastes time.

Not considering the GLP-1/obesity journal boom. The surge in GLP-1 agonist and obesity research has created intense competition at The Lancet D&E, Obesity, and NEJM. If your paper is in this space, plan for possible rejection and have alternative journals ready.

Overlooking Endocrine Society journals. JCEM, Endocrinology, and Endocrine Reviews are the Endocrine Society's three journals. They provide a natural cascade system: JCEM for clinical, Endocrinology for basic, and Endocrine Reviews for reviews.

In our pre-submission review work on endocrinology manuscripts, journal-selection failures usually come from confusing an endocrine measurement with an endocrine contribution. A manuscript can measure insulin, thyroid hormones, cortisol, sex steroids, bone markers, or BMI and still not be a good fit for an endocrine journal unless the endocrine claim is central.

Diabetes gravity pulls non-diabetes papers into the wrong journals. Diabetes Care, Diabetes, and Diabetologia are powerful titles, but they are not generic endocrine venues. We see thyroid, pituitary, adrenal, bone, and reproductive manuscripts aimed at diabetes journals because the table looks impressive. Editors can usually reject that mismatch from the abstract and first figure: if the manuscript does not answer a diabetes question, the ADA or EASD venue is usually the wrong first stop.

Check whether your endocrine manuscript has the right disease-area fit ->

Metabolic markers are used as decoration rather than mechanism. A paper that reports HbA1c, cortisol, thyroid function, or inflammatory-metabolic biomarkers may still be a cardiology, oncology, reproductive medicine, or primary-care paper. For JCEM, Endocrinology, or Diabetes, the endocrine mechanism has to carry the claim. The audit point is whether the abstract, first table, and main figure explain endocrine causality, endocrine management, or endocrine disease biology, not just an associated lab value.

Check whether your endocrine mechanism supports the target claim ->

Review-only titles are treated like original-research destinations. Nature Reviews Endocrinology and Endocrine Reviews have very high citation metrics, but they do not function like ordinary original-research journals. For an original paper, The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, Diabetes Care, Diabetologia, Diabetes, JCEM, Thyroid, Obesity, or Endocrinology are more realistic targets. For a review article, the question becomes author authority, synthesis novelty, article type, and whether the review says something sharper than a generic literature summary.

Check whether your article type matches the journal ladder ->

The check we use is simple: name the manuscript's durable contribution before choosing the journal. If the durable contribution is diabetes care, Diabetes Care is plausible. If it is diabetes mechanism, Diabetes or Diabetologia may be cleaner. If it is broad clinical endocrine disease, JCEM often beats a higher-JIF diabetes title. If it is thyroid-specific, Thyroid may be the better reader fit. If it is hormone biology without clinical management, Endocrinology may be more coherent than a clinical journal.

This guide tells you what endocrinology editors look for by venue type; the review tells you whether YOUR paper passes the disease-area fit, endocrine-mechanism, article-type, methods, statistics, and cover letter checks for that target. Paid Manusights reviews include a 60-day money-back guarantee, and we do not train models on submitted manuscripts.

Submit to a higher-tier endocrinology journal if:

• the abstract can name the endocrine disease, mechanism, clinical implication, or management consequence without borrowing importance from a different field
• the first two figures or tables prove why the endocrine claim matters beyond one narrow cohort, assay, or subgroup
• the methods, statistics, follow-up, and limitation language match the target journal's reviewer pool

Impact factor is one signal, not the whole picture. The journals ranked above vary in scope, editorial culture, and what they consider a strong submission. The right journal for your paper depends on how your study sits within the field's research agenda, not just on which title has the highest number next to it.

A paper with solid methodology and honest conclusions that doesn't quite reach the novelty bar of the top-ranked journals will fare better at the second or third tier than a round of rejections from journals above its weight class. Start with an honest assessment of where your work sits, not where you wish it sat.

Before targeting any journal on this list, verify the current author guidelines directly. Word limits, submission system requirements, and scope boundaries change. The rankings above reflect current editorial positioning and 2025 JIF data from the 2026 JCR release, but journals evolve.

Before submitting to any endocrinology journal, run your manuscript through a manuscript readiness and scope check to check formatting, statistical reporting, and reference accuracy. Endocrinology papers with complex metabolic data, multiple biomarker panels, and longitudinal outcomes especially benefit from a pre-submission quality check.

• Match scope precisely. A endocrinology paper on clinical outcomes fits different journals than one on mechanisms.

• Check your constraints. Funder OA mandates, APC budgets, and timeline requirements all narrow the list.

• Prioritize your audience. The best journal is where researchers who should cite your work actually read.

• Be realistic about selectivity. If acceptance is <10%, have your backup journal identified before submitting.

Last verified: July 7, 2026 against the local 2025 JIF master from the 2026 JCR release, SCImago, ADA journals, Endocrine Society journals, The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, and Manusights endocrinology submission-fit review patterns. Check JCR directly for exact rank tables, as annual updates shift rankings.

This page was created from Clarivate JCR-release context, SCImago endocrinology category context, official scope pages from The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, ADA, EASD, Endocrine Society, BMJ, Frontiers, and our pre-submission review work on endocrinology submission fit. In that work, the recurring mistake is choosing by citation tier before deciding whether the manuscript is diabetes care, diabetes mechanism, broad clinical endocrine disease, thyroid-specific work, obesity, reproductive endocrinology, or basic hormone biology.