Is Cancer Cell Indexed in PubMed? Yes, and MEDLINE Is Active
Cancer Cell is indexed in PubMed and currently indexed for MEDLINE, which matters because strong cancer-biology papers there often need translational reach too.
Associate Professor, Clinical Medicine & Public Health
Author context
Specializes in clinical and epidemiological research publishing, with direct experience preparing manuscripts for NEJM, JAMA, BMJ, and The Lancet.
Next step
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Use the guide or checklist that matches this page's intent before you ask for a manuscript-level diagnostic.
Quick answer: yes. Cancer Cell is indexed in PubMed, and the NLM Catalog shows that it is currently indexed for MEDLINE.
Direct answer
If you publish in Cancer Cell, your article is discoverable in PubMed and sits inside the active MEDLINE system.
The NLM record shows:
- publication start year: 2002
- PubMed coverage from volume 1, issue 1
- current indexing status: Currently indexed for MEDLINE
That is the clean indexing answer authors usually need.
Why this matters for Cancer Cell
Cancer Cell is not just a prestige journal for mechanistic cancer biology. Its strongest papers often need to travel into:
- translational oncology
- biomarker and target-literature searches
- therapy-resistance reasoning
- clinically adjacent review workflows
That is why PubMed indexing matters here. It helps the paper move beyond one lab niche and into the broader oncology search environment where translational readers are already working.
PubMed versus MEDLINE
For this journal, the distinction is simple:
- PubMed means the paper is discoverable in the main biomedical search system.
- MEDLINE means the journal is actively inside the curated NLM journal index.
For a top oncology journal with translational ambition, that combination supports real cross-audience reach.
What indexing does and does not tell you
This page answers the discoverability question. It does not answer whether the manuscript is actually strong enough for Cancer Cell.
Indexing tells you the paper will be visible. It does not tell you whether the study has the conceptual closure, disease relevance, and mechanistic force the journal expects.
That is why the better next reads are:
- Is Cancer Cell a good journal?
- Cancer Cell submission guide
- Cancer Cell submission process
- Cancer Cell acceptance rate
Practical verdict
Yes, Cancer Cell is indexed in PubMed and currently indexed for MEDLINE. If your question is whether the paper will be visible in the main biomedical and oncology search workflow, the answer is yes.
If your real question is whether the manuscript truly belongs in Cancer Cell, that is a separate fit judgment. A free Manusights scan is the best next step if you want that call before submission.
Sources
- 1. Cancer Cell NLM Catalog record, NLM.
- 2. NLM Catalog help: current indexing status, NLM.
- 3. Cancer Cell journal homepage, Cell Press.
- 4. Cancer Cell guide for authors, Cell Press.
Reference library
Use the core publishing datasets alongside this guide
This article answers one part of the publishing decision. The reference library covers the recurring questions that usually come next: how selective journals are, how long review takes, and what the submission requirements look like across journals.
Dataset / reference guide
Peer Review Timelines by Journal
Reference-grade journal timeline data that authors, labs, and writing centers can cite when discussing realistic review timing.
Dataset / benchmark
Biomedical Journal Acceptance Rates
A field-organized acceptance-rate guide that works as a neutral benchmark when authors are deciding how selective to target.
Reference table
Journal Submission Specs
A high-utility submission table covering word limits, figure caps, reference limits, and formatting expectations.
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