About Die Rehabilitation

Die Rehabilitation

Die Rehabilitation is a German-language scientific specialist journal for rehabilitation, published six times a year in Stuttgart by the Georg Thieme Verlag, one of Germany's leading medical publishers. Published in German, it serves the German-speaking rehabilitation community across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland today, with its organ function extending to the national associations of the field. It describes itself as the scientific specialist journal for all scientists and practitioners in rehabilitation, and it is the organ of three professional bodies: the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Rehabilitationswissenschaften (DGRW), the Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft für Rehabilitation (BAR), and the Deutsche Vereinigung für Rehabilitation (DVfR). This triple organ function makes it the central publication of the German rehabilitation system, connecting research, practice, and policy. The journal carries an Impact Factor of 2.4 (2025) and is listed in EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, MEDLINE, PSYNDEX, the Science Citation Index Expanded, and SCOPUS. Its print ISSN is 0034-3536, and it appears in a hybrid publishing model with CME continuing-education content, combining the traditional journal format with digital access, certified training, and an international readership today.

Overview

Die Rehabilitation is a bimonthly journal that bridges rehabilitation practice and rehabilitation research. It is aimed at staff in rehabilitation facilities, research institutions, and the funding bodies of rehabilitation, and it reports on the medical, legal, political, and societal foundations and framework conditions of rehabilitation as well as international developments in the field. This audience, spanning practice, research, and administration, gives the journal a readership that shapes rehabilitation policy as well as clinical practice.

Its focus areas are rehabilitation practice, including medical, occupational, and social rehabilitation, quality management, new concepts and care models for applying the ICF (International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health), and exercise therapy; rehabilitation research, including practice-relevant results, methods and assessments, guideline development, and social-medicine questions; public health; social medicine; and health-systems research. The journal thus covers the full chain from clinical rehabilitation practice through research methodology to the political and legal frameworks that govern rehabilitation in Germany, a breadth that reflects the interdisciplinary character of the field.

The journal's publisher reports a total usage of 333,000 per year, reflecting its reach within the German rehabilitation community. The print edition has a print run of 510 copies, with a distributed and sold circulation of 500 copies each, a figure typical of a highly specialized scientific journal whose readership is concentrated in institutions, research bodies, and funding organizations, and whose digital usage far exceeds its print circulation.

History

Die Rehabilitation is published by the Georg Thieme Verlag, one of Germany's leading medical and scientific publishers, based in Stuttgart. The journal has established itself as the leading German-language rehabilitation specialist journal, serving as the shared organ of the three central organizations of the German rehabilitation field: the DGRW, the scientific society for rehabilitation research; the BAR, the federal working group for rehabilitation, which coordinates the rehabilitation funding bodies; and the DVfR, the German association for rehabilitation, which brings together the field's stakeholders.

The journal's development has mirrored the professionalization of rehabilitation in Germany, from a primarily medical field to an interdisciplinary domain spanning medicine, occupational and social participation, public health, and health-systems research. Its focus on the ICF reflects the international standardization of functioning and disability concepts that has shaped rehabilitation practice and research in recent decades, and its coverage of quality management and new care models addresses the ongoing reform of rehabilitation provision.

The journal's archive extends back to 2000 in digital form, documenting more than two decades of German rehabilitation research and practice. Its Impact Factor of 2.4 (2025) and its indexing in the major biomedical databases underline its standing as a peer-reviewed scientific journal with international visibility, and the publisher positions it as the venue for publishing with impact in the German rehabilitation field.

Coverage and Content

The journal covers the full spectrum of rehabilitation: medical rehabilitation, social and occupational participation, quality management, new concepts and care models for applying the ICF, and exercise therapy. Its research content includes practice-relevant research results, methods and assessments, guideline development, and social-medicine questions. It also addresses the legal, political, and societal framework conditions of rehabilitation, a distinctive feature that reflects the German rehabilitation system's close ties to social legislation and funding structures, where rehabilitation benefits are governed by complex statutory provisions and administered by pension, health, and accident insurance bodies.

The journal carries news from the professional associations for which it serves as an organ, keeping readers informed about the activities of the DGRW, the BAR, and the DVfR. Its content is peer-reviewed by experts and listed in international databases, and the journal offers CME continuing education through the Thieme CME portal, where subscribers can earn, submit, and manage CME points, with up to 18 CME points available per annual subscription, making the journal a practical tool for the continuing professional development of its readers.

The journal's coverage of public health and health-systems research positions it at the intersection of clinical rehabilitation and health policy, addressing questions of care provision, quality, and the organization of rehabilitation services. This systems perspective distinguishes it from purely clinical journals and makes it a forum for the structural questions that shape the future of rehabilitation in Germany.

Organization and Ownership

Die Rehabilitation is published by the Georg Thieme Verlag KG, based in Stuttgart. It is the organ of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Rehabilitationswissenschaften (DGRW), the Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft für Rehabilitation (BAR), and the Deutsche Vereinigung für Rehabilitation (DVfR), giving it an official standing within the German rehabilitation community.

The editorial board includes C. Bergelt, M. Bethge, R. Buschmann-Steinhage, B. Greitemann, T. Meyer, A. Schlitt, M. Schmidt-Ohlemann, and H. Seel, reflecting the journal's interdisciplinary character with expertise spanning rehabilitation science, social medicine, and clinical rehabilitation practice. The journal appears six times a year, and subscriptions start with the first issue of the current calendar year, with the subscription period extending by one calendar year unless cancelled by 30 September.

Digital Presence

Die Rehabilitation is published in a hybrid model with a strong digital presence. All issues published since 2000 are available through Thieme E-Journals, and digital editions can be used in the Thieme knowledge portal eRef, with the eRef app allowing mobile reading including offline mode. The Thieme CME portal provides access to the journal's continuing-education modules, where readers can earn CME points and manage their training record, and the publisher's subscription pages offer the journal with print and online access for institutions and multi-site licensing through the publisher's sales team.

The journal's media data and subscription pages are maintained on the publisher's platforms, and the journal invites manuscript submissions online with the promise of publishing with impact and greater visibility in the leading German rehabilitation specialist journal, and its author guidelines and submission portal are maintained on the publisher's platforms. For advertisers, the publisher's Thieme Media unit offers the journal as an advertising medium reaching opinion leaders and decision-makers in rehabilitation facilities and among the funding bodies of rehabilitation measures, with rate cards and special advertising formats published in the journal's media data. Whether the journal maintains dedicated social media channels is not publicly confirmed from the sources consulted, and its online presence remains centred on the publisher's platforms, which serve authors, readers, institutional subscribers, and advertisers.