Aims and scope

A world-leading general medical journal

Every week, The Lancet publishes the best science from the best scientists worldwide, providing an unparalleled global reach and impact on health.

Since Thomas Wakley founded The Lancet in 1823, we have strived to make science widely available so that medicine can serve and transform society, and positively impact the lives of people. We are proud to have published papers that have made a crucial contribution to science and human health. You can view a selection of our research landmarks from more than 10 000 published issues. In 2023, The Lancet celebrated its 200th anniversary. Explore how we marked our bicentennial year across The Lancet Group.

The Lancet invites submissions of any original contribution that advances or illuminates medical science or practice. We publish Articles (including randomised controlled trials and meta-analyses), Review, Seminar, Health Policy, Therapeutics, Comment, Clinical Picture, Correspondence, and World Report. We also publish Series and Commissions that aim to shape and drive positive change in clinical practice, and public and global health policy. Learn more about the types of papers we publish.

Reach and impact

The Lancet journals are both a destination for publication and a platform to advance the global impact of research. The Lancet Group cares that your work is highly visible to a global network of researchers, clinicians, industry professionals, policy makers, media outlets, patients, and the wider public, and we work with you and your affiliated institutions to maximise the impact of your research on the world.

  • Lancet journals have extensive global reach with more than 36·8 million annual visits and 98·8 million downloaded articles across TheLancet.com and ScienceDirect.
  • Lancet Alerts, including our electronic Table of Contents, have over 3·6 million subscriptions.
  • Lancet journals have nearly 2·4 million followers on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram , WeChat, Weibo, and YouTube.
  • With over 275 000 annual mentions in news articles, research published in Lancet journals receives regular coverage in influential media such as the Associated Press, BBC, CNN, Financial Times, The Guardian, The New York Times, NPR, and The Washington Post.
  • Lancet podcasts receive over 85 000 listens each month.
  • Lancet Webinars have been viewed more than 5000 times by audiences in 170 countries.

The Lancet is a world-leading source of clinical, public health, and global health knowledge. The journal has an Impact Factor of 168·9 (2022 Journal Citation Reports®, Clarivate 2023) and ranks first among 167 general and internal medicine journals globally, and a Scopus CiteScore of 133·2—ranking second among 830 general medicine journals.

We recognise that Journal Impact Factor and Scopus CiteScore are just two measures of a journal's performance and encourage you to explore additional journal impact metrics, which provide a means to assess our journals. The Lancet is also indexed by the following abstracting and indexing services:

  • Abridged Index Medicus
  • APA PsychInfo
  • BIOSIS Previews
  • Biological Abstracts
  • CAB Direct
  • Chemical Abstracts
  • Crossref
  • Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL)
  • Current Contents - Clinical Medicine
  • Current Contents - Life Sciences
  • Embase
  • Essential Science Indicators
  • MEDLINE
  • PubMed
  • Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE)
  • Scopus

Information for authors

Manuscript preparation must adhere to relevant reporting standards on the EQUATOR network website.

Manuscripts must be solely the work of the author(s) stated, must not have been previously published elsewhere, and must not be under consideration by another journal.

Whether you are an existing author or are thinking of submitting to us for the first time, we are committed to supporting you on whatever stage of your publication journey you find yourself.

Publishing excellence

As trusted sources of information, The Lancet Group sets extremely high standards for publishing, and we are committed to ensuring that our editorial processes meet our standards of excellence. From acceptance of your paper through to publication and beyond, our Editors, Assistant Editors, Illustrators, Production Editors, Journal Managers and Marketing and Communications experts provide guidance to strengthen the accuracy, accessibility, timeliness, and impact of your research.

Lancet journals are signatories of the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE Recommendations) and to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) code of conduct for editors. We follow COPE's guidelines.

Fast-track publication

We understand the pressure you face to have your voice heard first, and we are committed to publishing important papers fast. Research papers—which will usually be randomised controlled trials—judged eligible for consideration by the journal’s editors will be peer-reviewed within 72 h and, if accepted, published within 4 weeks of receipt.

Papers are subjected to The Lancet's usual rigorous standards of external and statistical peer review, and edited by experienced technical copy editors to the highest standards.

Publishing open access

The Lancet is a hybrid journal, which offers authors of original research with funding that requires open access publication either a gold open access or a subscription green open access solution for their submission. Open access publication in our hybrid journals is available for authors whose research is funded by specific funders. Explore your options for publishing open access.

Meet the editorial team

The Editor-in-Chief is the final arbitrator of all decisions on each of the Lancet journals—for example, the decision to take a paper to peer review, the decision to publish or reject in light of the peer reviewers’ remarks, journal scope and commissioning, consideration of appeals, general enquiries, and editorial priorities at any given time. The Lancet Group does not permit the Editor-in-Chief, or any in-house editors, to submit full-length articles to any of our journals.

Richard Horton , Editor-in-Chief

Richard Horton , Editor-in-Chief
I qualified in physiology and medicine with honours from the University of Birmingham in 1986. I joined The Lancet in 1990, moving to New York as North American Editor in 1993. In 2016, I chaired the Expert Group for the High Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth, convened by Presidents Hollande of France and Zuma of South Africa. From 2011 to 2015, I was co-chair of the UN's independent Expert Review Group on Information and Accountability for Women's and Children's Health. In 2011, I was elected a Foreign Associate of the US Institute of Medicine and, in 2015, I received the Friendship Award from the Government of China. In 2019 I was awarded the WHO Director-General’s Health Leaders Award for outstanding leadership in global health and the Roux Prize in recognition of innovation in the application of global health evidence. I now work to develop the idea of planetary health—the health of human civilizations and the ecosystems on which they depend. In 2020, I published The COVID-19 Catastrophe: What’s Gone Wrong and How to Stop It Happening Again. A revised, updated, and expanded second edition was published in 2021.

Sabine Kleinert, Senior Executive Editor

Sabine Kleinert, Deputy Editor
I am a member of The Lancet Group’s Senior Management Team with responsibilities for research integrity, publication ethics, and Open Access policies. In 2018, I initiated Preprints with The Lancet in partnership with SSRN as one of the first medical preprint offerings. I served as Vice-Chair of the Committee on Publication Ethics from 2006 to March 2012 and was involved with the Conferences on Research Integrity from their beginning in 2007. I am a member of the Governing Board of the World Conferences on Research Integrity Foundation and Co-Chair of the 7th World Conference on Research Integrity, held in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2022. My background is qualification as a medical doctor in Germany and training as a Paediatrician and Paediatric Cardiologist in the UK, Belgium, USA, and Australia.

Jessamy Bagenal

Jessamy Bagenal, Senior Executive Editor
I co-lead the Comment section for The Lancet where we commission and work on Comments that interpret the research published in the journal as well as unlinked Comments that provide thought leadership on important topics in health and policy. I am the co-host of The Lancet Voice, The Lancet’s flagship podcast for global stories in health. Across The Lancet Group I act as the Ombudsperson’s liaison. I previously worked as a clinical editor at BMJ and the founding Editor-in-Chief of BMJ Open Quality. I qualified in medicine from UCL (UK) in 2009 with a BSc in medical anthropology (2007) and worked as a general and breast surgeon in the NHS. I co-founded a medical education company in 2014 that later partnered with the Royal Society of Medicine. In 2015 I won an NHS England National Clinical Director’s fellowship in association with the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management, working with arms-length government bodies such as CQC and NHS England. I am completing a part-time Master’s in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (2023), with a focus on net-zero for health systems as a complex intervention.

Pam Das, Senior Executive Editor

Pam Das, Senior Executive Editor
I joined The Lancet Group in 2001. I am currently a Senior Executive Editor at The Lancet, where I oversee the journal’s global health work. My areas of knowledge and interest are infectious diseases and tropical medicine, global health, public health, and international health policy. My roles include commissioning, peer review, and writing editorials and for other sections of the journal, as well as overseeing The Lancet’s Comment and News sections. I convened the Group for Racial Equity (GRacE) at The Lancet Group, of which I am currently a member, and I am an advisory board member of the Global Health Film Festival. I am a PhD Science graduate in Biochemistry, and prior to working at The Lancet spent a few years as a medical writer and a journalist.

Helen Frankish, Executive Editor

Helen Frankish, Senior Executive Editor
I obtained a BSc in Physiology and a PhD in Neuroendocrinology, both from the University of Liverpool (UK). I began my career in publishing as an editor at the Medicom Publishing Group (UK) before joining The Lancet in 2001 as a Senior Editor, then The Lancet Neurology as Deputy Editor in 2005. After 9 years at The Lancet Neurology, including 6 years as Editor-in-Chief, I returned to The Lancet in 2014 as an Executive Editor. In 2022, I became a Senior Executive Editor and my role is to oversee the implementation of The Lancet’s research strategy. I also handle peer review and commissioning across a broad range of subjects, specialising mainly in neurology, psychiatry, and obstetrics and gynaecology.

Miriam Sabin, Senior Editor

Miriam Sabin, North American Executive Editor, New York
I have been with The Lancet since 2020, as a Senior Editor at The Lancet and The Lancet Group’s Preprints Editor. Prior to that, I lived for over 12 years in Geneva, Switzerland where I worked primarily at WHO Headquarters and at the Global Fund and UNAIDS. Prior to Geneva, I was in the US Public Health Service at the US CDC, first in the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) and as a Senior Research Scientist Officer in the Division of Viral Hepatitis and in the Division of Global HIV/AIDS. I have also lived and worked in Tunisia, Bangladesh, Denmark, and Brazil and hold a PhD in Social Work from the University of Georgia (USA), where I was also an Assistant Professor and a researcher in the global epidemiology of refugee mental health and posttraumatic stress disorder. I have a MSc in Social Work with a minor in Research from Columbia University (USA) and a BA in English from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA).

Helena Wang, Asia Executive Editor, Beijing

Helena Wang, Asia Executive Editor, Beijing
I was the first China-based editor at The Lancet Group. I joined The Lancet as the Asia Editor in 2010, and became the Asia Executive Editor in 2016. I led a few editorial projects including The Lancet-Chinese Academy Medical Sciences Medical Conferences, The Lancet China themed issues, The Lancet China relevant Commissions, and The Wakley- Wu Lien Teh prize, and etc. I was also a Council Member of COPE (Committee of Publishing Ethics) from 2016-2019. I was initially trained to be a medical doctor in Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (China) and obtained my medical degree in 2000. I also had a master’s degree in Pathology and Pathophysiology from Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (China) in 2003, specialising in Alzheimer's diseases.

Sean Cleghorn, Senior Editor

Sean Cleghorn, Executive Editor
I studied Zoology at Durham University (UK) before starting work as a medical editor. I was an Assistant Editor at The Lancet, then a Senior Editor at The Lancet Infectious Diseases. I moved back to The Lancet in 2019, where I oversee the World Report section and handle original research.

 Ana Mateus, Senior Editor

Ana Mateus, Executive Editor
After entering the Gulbenkian Postgraduate Programme in Biomedicine (Portugal), I completed a PhD in cell biology and post-doctoral work on stem cells, both at the University of Cambridge (UK), followed by a research associate position at Kings College London (UK) to work on cancer cell biology. In 2015 I joined Nature Communications, then Nature Metabolism as a launching editor and finally Nature Cell Biology , acquiring editorial expertise from basic science to translational research. During this time, I became interested in public and global health and the role of science in improving society and joined The Lancet as Senior Editor in 2021. I am particularly passionate about health promotion and equity, commercial and social determinants of health and health policy.

Joanna Palmer - Executive Editor

Joanna Palmer, Executive Editor
I have worked at The Lancet for more than 20 years and I currently work on the Comment and Perspectives sections of the journal as an Executive Editor.

Vania Coelho Wisdom, Senior Editor

Vania Coelho Wisdom, Executive Editor
I joined The Lancet in 2017 as a Senior Editor. I now lead the oncology strategy at The Lancet, as the Oncology Ambassador for the journal. Alongside this work, I handle peer review and commissioning across a broad range of subjects including my specialist areas of oncology and haematology. Before joining The Lancet, I had a 14-year career as a scientific researcher in oncology, terminating with a lectureship position at the cancer research institute at University College London (UK). During my research career I developed a strong academic and award-winning scientific research background in oncology, including teaching and management experience in the UK, Germany, and Portugal. I was awarded my PhD in cancer immunology in 2006 by Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Germany). I am now based in London.

Mabel Chew, Senior Editor

Mabel Chew, Senior Editor
I qualified in medicine with honours from The University of Sydney (Australia) and am a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. Before joining The Lancet as Senior Editor, I was Practice Editor at The BMJ for 10 years, following 8 years as Deputy Editor at the Medical Journal of Australia. I am a Council Member of COPE (Committee of Publishing Ethics) and co-Chair of the Group for Racial Equity (GRacE), which advocates for the opportunities and resources needed to achieve racial and ethnic equity within and outside The Lancet Group. I have been working as a part time general practitioner in Sydney, Australia since 1995, with an interest in chronic pain, mental health, and women’s health, and previous experience in palliative medicine, care of older people, and microbiology. I have also been a Lecturer in the Department of General Practice, The University of Sydney (Australia).

Callam Davidson

Callam Davidson, Senior Editor
I obtained a BSc in Anatomical Sciences from the University of Manchester in 2013, and a PhD in Cardiovascular Science from the University of Edinburgh in 2018. For several years after graduating, I worked in science communication and public engagement. I began my editorial career as an Associate Editor at PLOS Medicine in 2021, before joining The Lancet as a Senior Editor in 2023. My clinical interests include diabetes, endocrinology, and mental health. I’m also interested in nutritional epidemiology and the commercial determinants of health.

Flávia Oliveira Geraldes,  Senior Editor
Flávia Oliveira Geraldes, Senior Editor

I received my degree in Biomedical Science in Histocellular Pathology from the Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon (Portugal), after which I spent nearly 2 years at the Division of Clinical Studies of the Institute of Cancer Research (UK), working on phase 1 and 2 clinical trials of targeted therapies mainly for ovarian, lung, and prostate cancer. I began working in scientific publishing as Review Operations Specialist and later Journal Development Specialist for the open access journal Frontiers in Oncology. In November, 2020, I joined The Lancet Group as Assistant Editor, and later spent two years as Acting Senior Editor at The Lancet Oncology and The Lancet Healthy Longevity before moving to The Lancet as Senior Editor.

Sherrie Kelly, Senior Editor
Sherrie Kelly, Senior Editor

I joined The Lancet in 2024 as the first Canadian-based editor at The Lancet Group. For the past 20 years, I collaborated with over 30 low- and middle-income countries to better invest in their HIV, TB, malaria, maternal-child health, and COVID responses. My research interests also extend to climate health and health systems strengthening. Before joining The Lancet, I served as a Deputy Editor with JIAS, and scientific researcher at UNAIDS in Switzerland and at health institutions in Australia, Denmark, and Canada. I was honoured to have been a keynote speaker at IAS2019 and a speaker at AIDS2020. I was awarded my PhD in disease modelling in 2017 from Monash University (Australia) and hold an MSc in biochemistry and medical genetics and a BScH in medical genetics. I am now based in Ottawa.

Rebekka Park, Senior Editor

Rebekka Park, Senior Editor
I am based in Munich, Germany and I joined The Lancet as a Senior Editor in October 2020. The Lancet Group’s Munich office was established with the aim of strengthening the relationship with key European medical and public/global health researchers and institutions. Before joining The Lancet I worked at Frontiers and was responsible for the development of a few biomedical and medical journals. Prior to that I was Managing Editor for The Journal of Molecular Medicine published by Springer Nature. I hold a PhD in Molecular Health Sciences from the ETH Zurich (Switzerland) and studied Molecular Life Sciences at the University of Erlangen (Germany).

Jonathan Pimm, Senior Editor

Jonathan Pimm, Senior Editor
I obtained my undergraduate degree in medicine from Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of London (UK). I have an MD in molecular genetics from UCL (UK) and an MSc in public health from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (UK). I also have a master’s degree from the University of Edinburgh (UK) where I completed my training in psychiatry. Prior to joining The Lancet in 2018, I worked as an NHS consultant in general adult psychiatry and an honorary senior clinical lecturer based at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry. I gained experience in publishing as an editor of a psychiatric journal and as a reporter on a provincial daily newspaper. I am an elected Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Beatriz Gomez Perez-Nievas, Senior Editor

Beatriz Gomez Perez-Nievas, Senior Editor
I joined The Lancet in October 2023 as a Senior Editor, where I am a peer review editor and I also work in the Comment section. I have a PhD in Neuroscience from Universidad Complutense from Madrid. After a Fulbright postdoctoral fellowship in MGH-Harvard Medical School, I joined King’s College London as a research fellow and a group leader. During my years in Academia my research interests were around cellular mechanisms of inflammation in neurological diseases, with special focus on Alzheimer’s Disease. Before joining The Lancet, I was an associate editor for Nature Neuroscience. .

Maneet Virdi

Maneet Virdi, Senior Editor
I joined The Lancet in 2019, where I worked in the Assistant Editor team, before becoming a Senior Editor. I lead the Correspondence section of The Lancet, where we welcome letters in response to content published in The Lancet or on other topics of interest to our readers. I am a founding member of The Lancet’s Group for Racial Equity (GRacE), which advocates for advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion in research and publishing. Before moving from Kenya to the UK in 2013, I implemented sustainable projects that tackled gender-based violence and advanced maternal and newborn health in Kenya. I am now based in London. I have a BSc in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Sheffield (UK) and an MSc in Neuroscience from King’s College London (UK). I have also studied Global Health at Imperial College London (UK). My interests include neurology; global health; health inequities; maternal and newborn health; and gender-based violence.

 Ana Mateus, Senior Editor

Chloe Wilson, Senior Editor
I studied medicine at the University of Bristol (UK) and completed academic foundation training in Cardiff, working as a coinvestigator in clinical trials and developing research projects. In 2019, I was a specialty doctor in cystic fibrosis before moving to general practice. I joined The Lancet in 2021 as a Senior Assistant Editor, before becoming Senior Editor at The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology. I moved back to The Lancet as a Senior Editor in 2022, where I work on the Comment section. My interests include genetic diseases, otolaryngology, and medical training and workforce issues.

Selina Namchee Lo, Consulting Editor, Melbourne

Matt Gilbert

Matthew Gilbert, Outreach Editor, New York
I studied integrative and medical biology at Beloit College and worked as a proofreader and medical editor for pharmaceutical and healthcare-communication companies before joining The Lancet as North American Outreach Editor in January 2023.

If you have additional queries, we will be pleased to help. Please email us directly or at [email protected].

Learn more about the teams and people supporting The Lancet.

International Advisory Board

Our International Advisory Board consists of key opinion leaders and researchers from around the world who lend their expertise to the journal. The Board offer the journal subject, academic, and geographical advice on an ad hoc basis when requested by the editorial team. Board members have no formal involvement in content selection or in any part of the peer review process, nor do they have editorial oversight of any section of the journal. Board members are occasionally invited to peer review individual submissions at the request of the editorial team. Submissions authored by members of the Board are handled solely by The Lancet's editors according to our standard peer review processes; these submissions are never discussed by the Board or members thereof.

We are very grateful for their support and advice on editorial matters.

Ombudsperson

If you need to question an editorial decision, your first step should be to contact the editorial team. If you are not satisfied with our response, your next point of contact is our Ombudsperson whose task is to record and, when required, investigate allegations of editorial maladministration. Our files will be freely open to their inspection, and confidentiality will be respected in all cases. Our Ombudsperson’s remit does not extend to areas normally covered in our correspondence columns—namely, issues of editorial content and editorial policy.