Publication Guide
Medknow is one of the most distinctive publishers in medical publishing: an India-based, open-access-first house that publishes peer-reviewed journals on behalf of learned societies rather than owning them outright. Founded in Mumbai in 1997 by Devkumar (D.K.) Sahu, Medknow adopted open access from its earliest years - well before OA became mainstream - and grew from 33 titles in 2006 to several hundred society journals across 40+ medical specialties. Wolters Kluwer acquired the company in December 2011, and Medknow now operates as the Wolters Kluwer India imprint within the group's Health division, with journals hosted on the Lippincott (journals.lww.com) platform.
For authors, the headline is cost: a large share of Medknow journals charge no article-processing fee at all, because the owning society funds publication. That makes Medknow one of the cheapest legitimate routes to Gold open access in medicine. This guide covers how to pick a journal, what the portfolio contains, fees and licensing, peer review, and the submission workflow.
Which Medknow journal fits your paper?
Medknow titles are society journals, so the right venue is usually the official journal of the specialty society closest to your topic. Use the table below to orient yourself.
| You're most likely to... | Choose this route |
|---|---|
| Have a clinical or surgical ophthalmology paper | Indian Journal of Ophthalmology - the All India Ophthalmological Society's journal; PubMed-indexed, high visibility, no APC. |
| Work in neurology or neurosurgery | Neurology India - official journal of the Neurological Society of India; one of Medknow's flagship titles. |
| Have oncology research with an Indian or LMIC context | Indian Journal of Cancer or Journal of Cancer Research and Therapeutics - established, indexed oncology venues. |
| Write broad internal medicine, education, or general clinical papers | Journal of Postgraduate Medicine - a general medical journal published since 1955. |
| Do primary care, community, or public-health research | Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care or Indian Journal of Community Medicine - large, fast-growing OA venues. |
| Work in psychiatry, anaesthesia, or respiratory medicine | Indian Journal of Psychiatry, Indian Journal of Anaesthesia, or Lung India - each the official journal of its national specialty society. |
What Medknow actually publishes
Medknow publishes roughly 250-300 peer-reviewed journals (253 are currently indexed in DOAJ under Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications), nearly all in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, and allied health sciences. Key characteristics:
- Society ownership - most titles are the official journals of Indian national specialty societies (ophthalmology, psychiatry, anaesthesia, dermatology, urology, and dozens more), plus a growing number of international society journals from the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
- Open access by default - full text is free to read online; most titles have been OA since Medknow's founding era.
- Regional reach, global indexing - many flagship titles are indexed in PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science, though coverage varies title by title; always check the specific journal's indexing before submitting.
- English-language, Vancouver style - the portfolio follows ICMJE recommendations and Vancouver referencing throughout.
Open access, APCs and licensing
Medknow's economics are unusual and author-friendly:
| Item | What to expect |
|---|---|
| OA model | Gold OA on nearly all titles; free online full text on journals.lww.com |
| APC | Many titles charge no APC; fee-charging titles typically run 500, with a few up to ~$2,000. Check the journal's Information for Authors page. |
| Default license | CC BY-NC-SA on most titles (some use CC BY or CC BY-NC) - check the journal page if commercial reuse matters for your funder |
| Waivers | Available on fee-charging titles for authors who cannot pay; many LMIC authors never face a fee at all |
| Self-archiving | Green OA permitted - authors may deposit accepted manuscripts in institutional repositories |
| Transformative agreements | Limited - largely unnecessary given zero or low APCs |
Because fees are set by each owning society, always verify the current charge on the journal's own page before submission rather than assuming the portfolio-wide pattern.
Peer review process
- Model: single-anonymized peer review is standard across the portfolio; individual societies may run variations.
- Editorial control: each journal's editor-in-chief and board are appointed by the owning society, so editorial standards and acceptance rates vary meaningfully between titles.
- Turnaround: typically 2-4 months to first decision, though high-volume flagships and smaller quarterly titles differ; check recent published papers' submission-to-acceptance dates for a realistic estimate.
How to submit
- Pick the journal. Match your paper to the relevant society journal; confirm its scope and indexing status (PubMed, Scopus, DOAJ).
- Read the Information for Authors. Every Medknow journal publishes title-specific instructions covering article types, word limits, and fees.
- Format in Vancouver style. Use the journal's SciSpace template to get structure and references right the first time.
- Submit online. Medknow's long-running Journal on Web (journalonweb.com) system has been permanently discontinued; submissions now go through Editorial Manager on the journal's page at journals.lww.com - the journal site links to the correct portal.
- Respond to reviews and proofs. Societies handle copyediting through Wolters Kluwer's production workflow after acceptance.
Ethics and integrity
Medknow is a member of COPE, OASPA, and STM, and follows ICMJE recommendations across the portfolio. The company was briefly and controversially included on Beall's list years ago but was removed, and it is widely recognized as the legitimate publisher of well-respected Indian professional societies' journals. One title (Journal of Natural Pharmaceuticals) was closed by Wolters Kluwer in 2013 after failing a sting-style peer-review test - evidence the parent company acts on integrity problems. As with any large society portfolio, quality varies by title: check indexing and recent issues before you commit a manuscript.
