Journal profile · Zoology
Animal Welfare
ISSN 0962-7286 · eISSN 2054-1538 · Universities Federation for Animal Welfare · ENGLAND · Quarterly · Founded 1992
Animal Welfare: CAS Zone 3 · Agricultural & Forestry Sciences (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.66; fully open access; APC about USD 3,655; median 162 days to acceptance (92 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: easy; 81 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Animal Welfare is published by Universities Federation for Animal Welfare and is in Zone 3 of Agricultural & Forestry Sciences in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies, Human-Animal Interaction Studies and Animal Nutrition and Physiology, together about 47.1% of its articles. Its main subfields are Animal Science and Zoology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Animal Welfare ISSN: 0962-7286 (Print), 2054-1538 (Online) Frequency: 1 volume per year Animal Welfare is an international, animal welfare science journal. It publishes the results of peer-reviewed scientific research and reviews relating to the welfare of animals. Papers on ethical and legal issues related to animal welfare are also considered for publication, as are Horizon and Opinion papers. Animal Welfare is published gold open access by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Science for Animal Welfare.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Zoology
Editor-in-chief Birte NielsenPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United Kingdom 10, Canada 4, Germany 2, Australia 2, Netherlands 2 (29 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Animal Behavior and Welfare StudiesVeterinary26.5%
- Human-Animal Interaction StudiesBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology13.7%
- Animal Nutrition and PhysiologyAgricultural and Biological Sciences6.9%
- Wildlife Ecology and ConservationEnvironmental Science4.9%
- Animal testing and alternativesVeterinary4.7%
- Meat and Animal Product QualityAgricultural and Biological Sciences4.1%
- Primate Behavior and EcologyPsychology3.8%
- Effects of Environmental Stressors on LivestockAgricultural and Biological Sciences3.5%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Agricultural & Forestry Sciences Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Agricultural & Forestry Sciences | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Veterinary Sciences | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Zoology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Agricultural & Forestry Sciences Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Agricultural & Forestry Sciences | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Veterinary Sciences | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Zoology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Agricultural & Forestry Sciences Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Agricultural & Forestry Sciences | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Veterinary Sciences | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Zoology | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Editions, and major and minor categories, are shown separately and never merged into one zone; check which edition your institution uses before you submit or report.
Metrics
Impact metrics and publication volume
Impact
- Impact factor
- 2.66LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 22Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.55LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.12LetPub ·
- h-index
- 57LetPub ·
- h-index
- 102OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,161OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.42OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 10.3%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 69LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 3,514 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 76 | 76 | 20 |
| 2025 | 81 | 81 | 182 |
| 2024 | 65 | 65 | 336 |
| 2023 | 79 | 79 | 608 |
| 2022 | 84 | 54 | 672 |
| 2021 | 67 | 36 | 413 |
Sources count differently and were observed at different times, so each source's own value is kept; "publisher" marks figures from the journal's website.
Review & acceptance
Review time and acceptance
Review time from article dates manuscript dates registered with PubMed · to
162 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 118 days – 223 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 42 days (93 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 211 days
- Sample
- 92 articles with submission and acceptance dates (147 in the window); the latest was accepted on
Only articles that were accepted and published are counted, not the time spent on rejected manuscripts, so this usually runs longer than a publisher's "time to first decision".
Other sources
- Average review time (community reports)
- 18–36 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- EasyLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 34 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Single anonymous peer reviewDOAJ
Community reports come from authors' own submissions (confidence 0.5) and are not a promise from the journal; for publisher figures, the journal's own definitions apply.
Fees & open access
APC and open-access policy
Fully open accessDOAJ
Every article is open access; authors usually pay an article processing charge (APC).
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | GBP 2,610 / USD 3,655 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC BY-ND, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-SA, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 3,550 / GBP 2,460 | — | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.
Submission
Article types and submission policies (journal website)
What to prepare1 items from the author guidelines
- Not considered
- case studies
Article types accepted18
- article commentariesArticle Commentaries**Length not stated
- book reviewResearch Articles*Systematic Reviews*Scoping Reviews*Technical Contributions*Horizon Topics*Opinion Paper*Meta-Analysis*Book Reviews (by invitation-only)**Artic…Length not stated
- book reviews (by invitation-only)Book Reviews (by invitation-only)**Length not stated
- commentaryResearch Articles*Systematic Reviews*Scoping Reviews*Technical Contributions*Horizon Topics*Opinion Paper*Meta-Analysis*Book Reviews (by invitation-only)**Artic…Length not stated
- editorialResearch Articles*Systematic Reviews*Scoping Reviews*Technical Contributions*Horizon Topics*Opinion Paper*Meta-Analysis*Book Reviews (by invitation-only)**Artic…Length not stated
- editorialsEditorialsLength not stated
- horizon topicsHorizon Topics*Length not stated
- letters to the editorResearch Articles*Systematic Reviews*Scoping Reviews*Technical Contributions*Horizon Topics*Opinion Paper*Meta-Analysis*Book Reviews (by invitation-only)**Artic…Length not stated
- meta-analysisResearch Articles*Systematic Reviews*Scoping Reviews*Technical Contributions*Horizon Topics*Opinion Paper*Meta-Analysis*Book Reviews (by invitation-only)**Artic…Length not stated
- opinionResearch Articles*Systematic Reviews*Scoping Reviews*Technical Contributions*Horizon Topics*Opinion Paper*Meta-Analysis*Book Reviews (by invitation-only)**Artic…Length not stated
- opinion paperOpinion Paper*Length not stated
- research articleResearch Articles*Systematic Reviews*Scoping Reviews*Technical Contributions*Horizon Topics*Opinion Paper*Meta-Analysis*Book Reviews (by invitation-only)**Artic…Length not stated
- research articlesResearch Articles*Length not stated
- reviewResearch Articles*Systematic Reviews*Scoping Reviews*Technical Contributions*Horizon Topics*Opinion Paper*Meta-Analysis*Book Reviews (by invitation-only)**Artic…Length not stated
- scoping reviewsScoping Reviews*Length not stated
- systematic reviewResearch Articles*Systematic Reviews*Scoping Reviews*Technical Contributions*Horizon Topics*Opinion Paper*Meta-Analysis*Book Reviews (by invitation-only)**Artic…Length not stated
- systematic reviewsSystematic Reviews*Length not stated
- technical contributionsTechnical Contributions*Length not stated
Excerpts are quoted from the journal's website; "model summary" lines are written by Workers AI and checked against the text. The journal's website is authoritative.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- Universities Federation for Animal Welfare
- Country or region
- ENGLAND
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Quarterly
- Founded
- 1992
- ISSN
- 0962-7286
- Electronic ISSN
- 2054-1538
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗DOAJ
- Aims & Scope ↗DOAJ
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Fee waivers ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗DOAJ
- Editorial board ↗DOAJ
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Animal Welfare
What CAS zone is Animal Welfare in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Animal Welfare is in Zone 3 of Agricultural & Forestry Sciences, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Veterinary Sciences / Zoology. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Agricultural & Forestry Sciences. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Animal Welfare?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.66; CiteScore 4, h-index 102.
How long does peer review take at Animal Welfare?
Based on the dates recorded on 92 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 162 days (interquartile range 118–223 days); authors report an average review time of 18–36 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Easy”. Article statistics cover accepted papers only, publisher figures follow the journal's own definitions, and community reports come from authors' own submissions; none is a promise from the journal.
Where are the editorial board members of Animal Welfare based?
Of the 29 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (10), Canada (4) and Germany (2). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Animal Welfare?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Animal Welfare is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Animal Welfare open access, and what is the APC?
Animal Welfare is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 3,655.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, DOAJ, Publisher website; every figure is tagged with its source and the date it was observed, and conflicting values are kept per source. LetPub source page: view ↗ (archived 2026-08-24). Last updated: .