About Chinese Journal of Rehabilitation Theory and Practice

Chinese Journal of Rehabilitation Theory and Practice

The Chinese Journal of Rehabilitation Theory and Practice (中国康复理论与实践) is a monthly Chinese-language academic journal that reports new theories, technologies and methods across the field of rehabilitation. Founded in 1995 and published in Beijing, it is sponsored by the China Association of Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons, the Chinese Medical Doctor Association and the China Rehabilitation Research Center. It carries ISSN 1006-9771 and the Chinese national journal number CN 11-3759/R, publishes 124 pages per issue, and is a Chinese core journal whose stated aim is to combine theory with practice and to promote comprehensive rehabilitation — clinical, community and social as well as medical.

The journal's identity is distinctive within Chinese rehabilitation publishing. Where the older association journal of rehabilitation medicine concentrates on the clinical specialty, this title was created in the 1990s around the broader rehabilitation of disabled persons: its sponsors include the national association for the rehabilitation of disabled persons and the China Rehabilitation Research Center, the country's first rehabilitation hospital, and its contents deliberately extend from basic research to assistive technology, community rehabilitation, social rehabilitation and disability statistics.

Founding and Sponsors

The journal was founded in 1995. Its volume numbering confirms the run: volume 22 appeared in 2016, volume 30 in 2024 and volume 32 in 2026 — one volume per year since the founding. Its three sponsors, as stated in its official description, are the China Association of Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons, the Chinese Medical Doctor Association and the China Rehabilitation Research Center, and the journal is published by its own editorial office in Beijing.

The sponsoring centre gives the journal a notable institutional anchor. The China Rehabilitation Research Center was founded in Beijing in 1988 — construction began in 1986 and the opening ceremony took place on 28 October 1988 — as China's first rehabilitation hospital, a government-owned centre that became the hub of a network of rehabilitation hospitals across the country. The centre also advises the China Disabled Persons' Federation and the government on medical rehabilitation. A journal published in that environment, holding the copyright-transfer arrangements for its articles through the centre, sits at the meeting point of clinical rehabilitation, disability policy and research.

Aim and Editorial Approach

The journal's official statement of purpose is explicit: it mainly reports on new theories, technologies and methods in the field of rehabilitation; its aim is to combine theory with practice, promoting basic and advanced research, advocating debate, promoting comprehensive rehabilitation, reporting significant progress in rehabilitation medicine and relevant fields, promoting academic exchange, and continuously increasing its community rehabilitation content. Each issue is built around a special topic, and manuscripts supported by scientific research projects at national, provincial or ministerial level, or falling within the scope of an issue's special topic, are processed on a fast track.

The journal is an open-access title in its current operation: its copyright transfer agreement states that once published, all articles will be immediately and permanently available for readers to read and download free of charge, with copyright transferred to the China Rehabilitation Research Center covering electronic, multimedia and online publication. Its official website, cjrtponline.com, provides submission facilities and an archive of past articles.

Columns and Subject Coverage

The journal's column list, published in its official description, is one of the most detailed in Chinese rehabilitation publishing. Its main columns are: Special Topics; Basic Research; Review; Clinical Research; Clinical Observation; Rehabilitation Evaluation; Rehabilitation Engineering; Assistive Technology; Community Rehabilitation; Social Rehabilitation; Psychological Rehabilitation; Rehabilitation Nursing; Rehabilitation Management; Rehabilitation Education; Occupational Rehabilitation; Speech Rehabilitation; Art and Sports Rehabilitation; Rehabilitation Technology; Traditional Medical Rehabilitation; Experience Exchange; Case Report; Case Discussion; Standards and Norms; and Disability Investigation and Statistics.

Read as a map, those columns show how the journal defines rehabilitation. Alongside the expected clinical and basic-research columns sit columns for the social and vocational dimensions of disability — social rehabilitation, occupational rehabilitation, disability investigation and statistics — and for fields rarely given their own space elsewhere, such as art and sports rehabilitation and traditional medical rehabilitation. Rehabilitation evaluation, engineering and assistive technology receive dedicated columns, reflecting the journal's commitment to the technical infrastructure of independent living. A paper on digitally empowered precision rehabilitation services for rural persons with disabilities based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), accepted in January 2026, is characteristic of this breadth: technology, rural service delivery, disability and an international framework in a single study.

Community and Social Rehabilitation

The journal's deliberate emphasis on community rehabilitation distinguishes it from purely clinical titles. Its founding mission promises continuously increasing community content, and community rehabilitation, social rehabilitation and psychological rehabilitation are standing columns rather than occasional themes. This orientation follows its sponsors' remit: the China Association of Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons and the China Rehabilitation Research Center are concerned with disabled persons' participation in society, not only with their treatment in hospital.

The wider context reinforces that mission. The World Health Organization estimates that about one-third of people worldwide currently need rehabilitation, and Chinese research on rehabilitation education and services — which cites this journal's studies, including its analysis of the occupational status of physical therapists in seven countries — documents rapidly growing demand driven by population ageing. A journal that covers community and social rehabilitation alongside clinical science speaks to where most rehabilitation actually happens: in homes, communities and workplaces.

Indexing and Recognition

The journal's official site lists extensive indexing. It is included in the China Science Citation Database core edition (CSCD-C), the China Scientific and Technical Papers and Citations core edition (CSTPCD-CJCR), and A Guide to the Core Journals of China; it is indexed in the World Health Organization's Western Pacific Region Index Medicus (WPRIM); it is a source journal of the China Academic Journal Comprehensive Evaluation Database and the core edition of China Academic Journal Abstracts; and its full text is included in the Wanfang Data resource system, the China Journals Network and China Academic Journals (CD Edition), among the first group of journals released in the online edition of China Academic Journals. It is also a CBM and CMCC indexed journal.

Its honours are displayed on the same record: inclusion in the Chinese Core Journals Catalogue 2023, China Science Citation Database source-journal certification in 2023, source-journal certification for Chinese scientific and technical papers and citations, Outstanding Science and Technology Journals of China awards including 2023, RCCSE core journal (A) status, and recognition in the World Journal Clout Index report for scientific and technological periodicals. The journal has also been named among the third, fourth and sixth groups of China Elite Science and Technology Journals. For a specialist rehabilitation title, this is a comprehensive set of national credentials.

Publication Details

The journal's practical details are stated in its official description. It is published monthly, with 124 pages per issue, under ISSN 1006-9771 and CN 11-3759/R; its domestic postal distribution code is 82-35 and its overseas distribution code is M-6607. Articles carry DOIs in the form 10.3969/j.issn.1006-9771, visible in citations of its papers in international literature. Its publisher of record is the Editorial Office of the Chinese Journal of Rehabilitation Theory and Practice in Beijing, and its website is www.cjrtponline.com, where submissions are made and archived articles can be read.

Readers should distinguish it from the similarly named Chinese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine (ISSN 1001-1242), the journal of the Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine: the two Beijing titles are complementary — one centred on the clinical medical specialty, this one on rehabilitation theory and practice in the broad, disability-inclusive sense — but they have different sponsors, different ISSNs and different editorial offices, and citations must not be interchanged.

Readership and Role

The journal serves rehabilitation physicians and therapists, rehabilitation engineers and assistive-technology specialists, community and social rehabilitation workers, disability researchers and statisticians, rehabilitation educators and managers, and policy staff in the disability sector. Its special-topic issues give each of these audiences a periodic synthesis of a theme, while its standards and norms column supports the professionalisation of rehabilitation practice, and its disability investigation and statistics column supplies data for planning services.

Within Chinese rehabilitation publishing, the journal's role is to hold the field's theory and its practice in one title — the commitment written into its name. Its three decades of publication since 1995 record how Chinese rehabilitation expanded from a hospital specialty into a comprehensive system spanning medicine, engineering, community services and social participation.

Conclusion

Founded in 1995 and sponsored by the China Association of Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons, the Chinese Medical Doctor Association and the China Rehabilitation Research Center, the Chinese Journal of Rehabilitation Theory and Practice (ISSN 1006-9771, CN 11-3759/R) is a monthly, core-listed, openly accessible journal whose columns run from basic research and rehabilitation engineering to community, social and occupational rehabilitation. For readers seeking the full breadth of rehabilitation science and disability practice in China, it is an essential source.