Tzu Chi Medical Journal

Tzu Chi Medical Journal is the peer-reviewed open access title of the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation in Taiwan, founded in 1989 and published quarterly, covering clinical and basic medicine, with a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 2.4 and a CiteScore of 3.7.《慈济医学杂志》是台湾佛教慈济基金会出版的同行评审开放获取期刊，1989 年创刊，每年出版 4 期，内容覆盖临床医学与基础医学，2025 年期刊影响因子为 2.4，CiteScore 为 3.7。

Scope

• The stated mission is to give physicians and researchers in Taiwan and worldwide practical, timely and relevant clinical and basic science information, a wording taken from the scope statement at the head of the author pages.官网写明的使命，是为台湾及世界各地的医师与研究者提供实用、及时且切题的临床与基础医学信息，这一表述出自作者页开头的宗旨声明。
• Original research on clinical medicine and on basic science forms the core of the content, so a bench study and a clinical trial sit side by side in the same pages.临床医学与基础科学的原创研究构成内容主体，基础实验与临床试验因此在刊物中并列收载。
• Clinicopathological pages hold a standing place, setting histology and laboratory findings against the clinical course, while reviews gather evidence that lies scattered across a specialty and seldom meets in one place.临床病理页占固定位置，把组织学与实验室所见对照病程展开，综述则收拢散落在一个专科内、平日难得汇合的证据。
• Papers able to improve diagnosis and treatment are explicitly invited, so a study of a diagnostic pathway or of a surgical technique sits inside the remit rather than outside.能够改进诊断与治疗的稿件被明确邀约，诊断路径或手术技术的研究因此落在范围之内，而不在范围之外。
• Work that advances basic research is named in the same sentence, which lets molecular and cellular studies appear beside clinical trials, cohort studies and case series from hospital wards.推进基础研究的工作写在同一句里，分子与细胞层面的研究因此能与临床试验、队列研究与病例系列并列出现。
• Medical education forms a third strand, carried as a standing feature labelled continuing medical education in the scope statement, and it sits beside the clinical and basic science material rather than after it.医学教育是第三条线索，以继续医学教育（CME）专栏的形式写入宗旨，与临床及基础科学内容并列，而非附在末尾。
• Original articles are capped at 3,000 words, a count that excludes the abstract, references and tables, and the abstract is structured into four headed sections in a fixed order.原创论文上限 3000 词，字数不计摘要与参考文献，也不计表格，摘要为结构式，先列目的与方法，再列结果与结论。
• That format also limits the paper to five tables and figures, asks for about thirty references, and generally keeps the authorship to six names.同一格式还要求表格与插图合计不超过 5 个，参考文献约 30 条，作者署名一般不超过 6 人。
• Reviews may reach 5,000 words with roughly one hundred references, an unstructured abstract of 250 words and at most five tables or figures in total, which leaves room for a full survey of a field.综述可写至 5000 词，参考文献约 100 条，摘要为非结构式，限 250 词，表格与插图合计不超过 5 个。
• A review must also set out how the literature was searched and screened, so that the selection of studies can be judged by readers rather than taken on trust.综述还须交代文献检索与筛选的方法，读者据此判断研究是如何选出的，而不必凭信任接受。
• Three shorter formats run to 1,500 words each, covering ethics and medical law, medical education, and clinical reviews or updates written for practising clinicians who need a brief account of a field.三类短稿各限 1500 词，分别对应伦理与医疗法律、医学教育，以及面向执业医师的临床综述与进展更新，供他们快速了解某一领域。
• A letter to the editor is held to 500 words, five references and four authors, which keeps correspondence short enough to be read in one sitting.读者来信限 500 词、5 条参考文献与 4 位作者，篇幅短到可以坐下来一次读完。
• Image-based contributions are shorter still, at 300 words with no abstract and no more than five references, and the picture is expected to carry most of the argument.影像类稿件更短，正文 300 词，不设摘要，参考文献不超过 5 条，论证主要靠图像承载。
• References follow Vancouver style and are numbered in square brackets in the order of first citation, a convention shared with most medical titles that publish clinical work.参考文献采用 Vancouver 格式，按正文首次引用的次序以方括号编号，这一做法与多数刊载临床研究的医学期刊一致。
• The readership is broad by design, and the specialties covered by the board reach from urology and nephrology through gastroenterology and orthopaedics to neurosurgery, paediatrics and imaging.读者面按设计铺得很开，编委覆盖的专科从泌尿与肾内延伸到消化、骨科与神经外科，儿科与影像同样在内。
• Manuscripts are written in English throughout, and the title addresses physicians and researchers in Taiwan and worldwide, a readership named in the mission statement.稿件全程以英文撰写，刊物面向台湾及世界各地的医师与研究者，这一读者群在宗旨声明中写明。

History

• The journal began in 1989, a date the journal's own navigation confirms through an archive of the early issues running from 1989 to 2009 and held today on the Airiti platform.刊物于 1989 年创刊，官网导航中的「Archive 1989-2009」即为此段存档，托管在 Airiti 平台。
• Volume numbering settles the question. The fourth issue of 2026 carries volume 38 and is dated October to December, so the first volume belongs to 1989 and the numbering has never restarted.卷号可以把这件事定下来，2026 年第 4 期标为第 38 卷，出版月份为 10 月至 12 月，倒推第 1 卷即 1989 年。
• One volume has covered a calendar year without interruption since then, and issues appear quarterly, with paper copies printed on demand and the full text placed online.此后每年一卷从未中断，每年出 4 期，纸质本按需印制，全文同步上网。
• The publisher is the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, which signs the imprint, while production is handled by Medknow, part of Wolters Kluwer Health in Mumbai.出版方为佛教慈济基金会（Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation），版权页署其名义，制作环节由 Wolters Kluwer Health 旗下位于孟买的 Medknow 承担。
• From 2007 to 2016 Elsevier hosted the title under its own imprint, and a second archive covering those years points to ScienceDirect, where the back files still sit today.2007 年至 2016 年由 Elsevier 承印托管，官网另设「Archive 2007-2016」指向 ScienceDirect，过刊至今仍在那里。
• Wolters Kluwer Medknow took over in 2017 from its Mumbai base, and the Ovid platform now carries the issues, with the full text served at journals.lww.com.2017 年起改由位于孟买的 Wolters Kluwer Medknow 接手，各期由 Ovid 平台承载，全文发布于 journals.lww.com。
• The National Library of Medicine dates the title from 2007 and lists India as the country, records that track the hosting arrangements rather than the year of launch.美国国家医学图书馆把起始年记为 2007 年，国别记为印度，这两项随托管方变动而变，与创刊年份不是一回事。
• PubMed coverage begins with volume 28, number 1, in 2016, and the same articles are deposited in PubMed Central, where the full text is free to read without a subscription.PubMed 的收录自 2016 年第 28 卷第 1 期起，同一批文章存入 PubMed Central，全文可免费阅读。
• Clarivate files the journal in the Emerging Sources Citation Index, which places it at 94 of 336 titles in medicine, general and internal, a Q2 position in the ESCI edition.Clarivate 把该刊收入 Emerging Sources Citation Index，在普通医学与内科类目 336 种刊物中排第 94 位，属 Q2。
• The 2025 Journal Impact Factor is 2.4 and the five-year figure matches it, with a Journal Citation Indicator of 0.47 and a percentile of 72.2 among general medicine titles. Scopus gives a CiteScore of 3.7.2025 年期刊影响因子为 2.4，五年影响因子同为 2.4，期刊引证指标为 0.47，在普通医学类目中的百分位为 72.2，Scopus 给出的 CiteScore 为 3.7。
• Impact factors read 1.4 for 2023, 1.6 for 2024 and 2.4 for 2025, and no figure exists for 2022, when the title had not yet received one, so the upward line covers three years only.影响因子依次为 2023 年 1.4，2024 年 1.6，2025 年 2.4，2022 年尚无该指标，刊物当年还没有拿到。
• Output runs at about 34 articles a year, total citations stand at 1,169 and the cited half-life is 4.9 years, figures that fit a title publishing a few dozen papers each year.年发文约 34 篇，总被引 1169 次，被引半衰期 4.9 年，这些数字与一份体量不大的刊物相称。
• Every article is open access under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, is archived in Portico and CLOCKSS, and authors may self-archive the accepted version on any OAI-compliant institutional or subject-based repository.全部文章按 CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 开放获取，另在 Portico 与 CLOCKSS 做数字存档，作者可把录用稿自存在任何符合 OAI 的机构库或学科库中。
• No submission or processing charge is levied at any stage, a point the instructions repeat twice, which sets the title apart from the open access journals that bill authors.投稿与处理均不收费，投稿指南在两处重复写明这一点，与向作者收费的开放获取刊物形成对照。

Editors

• Hann-Chorng Kuo, professor of urology at Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, holds the editor-in-chief post, and the editorial office sits at the hospital address on Chung-Yang Road in Hualien, Taiwan.主编为 Hann-Chorng Kuo，在花莲慈济医院泌尿部任教授，编辑部设在花莲的医院地址内。
• Three executive associate editors share the load. Bang-Gee Hsu works in nephrology at Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Raymond Y. Lo in neurology at Taitung St. Mary's Hospital, Chih-Wen Peng at National Dong Hwa University.三位执行副编辑分担稿件，Bang-Gee Hsu 在花莲慈济医院肾内科，Raymond Y. Lo 在台东圣玛丽医院神经内科，Chih-Wen Peng 在国立东华大学。
• About thirty section editors divide the clinical and basic disciplines, among them urology, nephrology, gastroenterology, orthopaedics, neurosurgery, anaesthesiology, paediatrics and obstetrics, each handling manuscripts in a familiar field.约 30 位栏目编辑按学科分工，泌尿与肾内设有专人，消化、骨科与神经外科同样有人负责，麻醉与儿科也在其中。
• Imaging, public health, nursing, traditional Chinese medicine, emergency medicine, psychiatry, family medicine and laboratory medicine complete the roster, so the board reaches beyond the major hospital specialties.影像与公共卫生各有栏目编辑，护理与中医同样列名，急诊与精神医学在册，家庭医学与检验医学也不例外，覆盖范围超出主要的大专科。
• Twelve international members sit on the board, among them Koji Abe of Okayama University, Malcolm Alison and Nick Wright of Queen Mary University of London, and Chawnshang Chang of Rochester.国际编委共 12 人，冈山大学的 Koji Abe 在列，伦敦玛丽女王大学的 Malcolm Alison 与 Nick Wright 也在，罗切斯特大学的 Chawnshang Chang 同样在内。
• Two more names appear at the foot of the board page. Master Cheng Yen is honorary publishing supervisor, and Chin-Lon Lin holds the publishing supervisor post at the foundation.编委页末尾另有两个名字，证严法师任基金会荣誉出版督导，Chin-Lon Lin 任出版督导。
• Manuscripts judged suitable for publication are sent to two or more expert reviewers, and an assigned editor weighs their reports before issuing a decision that closes the file.通过初筛的稿件送给两位以上专家评审，由指定编辑综合评审意见对该稿作出最终决定。
• Authors are not told who reviewed them, while reviewers can see the authors' names and affiliations in full, an arrangement that sits between full anonymity and full openness.作者不知审稿人身份，审稿人则能看到作者姓名与单位，这套安排介于完全匿名与完全公开之间。
• A first screen rejects work that lacks originality, carries serious scientific or technical flaws, or offers no significant message, and such papers are returned without external review.初筛会退掉缺乏原创性、存在严重科学或技术缺陷或没有传达重要信息的稿件，这类稿件不会进入外审。
• Submissions from board members are screened by the editor-in-chief or an executive editor and sent to independent outside reviewers, with the author excluded from the decision entirely.编委投稿由主编或执行编辑先筛，再送外部审稿人，该作者完全不参与对自己稿件的决定。
• Revisions may be requested more than once, and authors must answer each point raised, a process that keeps the exchange on the record until the file closes.修回可能不止一轮，作者须逐条答复评审提出的问题，整个过程留在记录里直到稿件定稿。
• Accepted papers appear online under the Ahead of Print label, proofs must be returned within three days of receipt, and submissions enter through Editorial Manager.录用稿件先以 Ahead of Print 上线，校样须在收到后 3 天内返回，投稿统一经 Editorial Manager 提交。
• The journal follows COPE, ICMJE and WAME guidance, and the editorial office holds the last word on advertising, which no advertiser may see in manuscript form before publication.刊物遵循 COPE 与 ICMJE 的原则，也遵循 WAME 的指引，广告内容由编辑部终审，广告主不得预先接触稿件。