Journal profile · Environmental Sciences
Conservation Biology
ISSN 0888-8892 · eISSN 1523-1739 · Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd · UNITED STATES · Bimonthly · Founded 1987
Conservation Biology: CAS Zone 1 · Environmental Science & Ecology (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal); impact factor 5.13; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,400; median 266 days to acceptance (86 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: fairly hard; 239 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Conservation Biology is published by Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd and is in Zone 1 of Environmental Science & Ecology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies and Species Distribution and Climate Change, together about 38.6% of its articles. Its main subfields are Ecology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
<em>Conservation Biology</em> is the leading global journal in the field of conservation, publishing groundbreaking papers contributing to the conservation of biological diversity.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Environmental Sciences
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Wildlife Ecology and ConservationEnvironmental Science13.9%
- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics StudiesEnvironmental Science12.8%
- Species Distribution and Climate ChangeEnvironmental Science11.9%
- Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource ManagementEnvironmental Science5.6%
- Rangeland and Wildlife ManagementEnvironmental Science5.4%
- Plant and animal studiesAgricultural and Biological Sciences5%
- Conservation, Ecology, Wildlife EducationEnvironmental Science4.6%
- Economic and Environmental ValuationEconomics, Econometrics and Finance3.6%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Environmental Science & Ecology Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Environmental Science & Ecology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Biodiversity Conservation | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Ecology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Environmental Sciences | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Environmental Science & Ecology Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Environmental Science & Ecology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Biodiversity Conservation | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Ecology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Environmental Sciences | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Environmental Science & Ecology Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Environmental Science & Ecology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Biodiversity Conservation | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Ecology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Environmental Sciences | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusLetPub
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
- 5.13LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 5.2Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 10.1LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 10.1Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 2LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 2LetPub ·
- h-index
- 201LetPub ·
- h-index
- 340OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 5,748OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 4.4OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 3.8%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 70.65%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 192LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher) 2025
- 223Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 2,134,002Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 8,810 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 198 | 154 | 122 |
| 2025 | 239 | 196 | 911 |
| 2024 | 206 | 172 | 1,794 |
| 2023 | 191 | 168 | 2,931 |
| 2022 | 171 | 112 | 3,570 |
| 2021 | 199 | 112 | 6,092 |
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 Crossref · to
266 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 195 days – 327 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 81 days (87 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 354 days
- Sample
- 86 articles with submission and acceptance dates (472 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)
- about 2 monthsLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly hardLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher) 2025
- 17%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 8 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance 2025
- 224 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 90 daysPublisher website ·
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
Hybrid open accessLetPub
A subscription journal in which authors can pay to publish their article open access.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAlex | USD 3,400 / EUR 2,850 / GBP 2,270 | — | — |
A hybrid journal charges the APC only when the author chooses open access; publishing under the subscription model is usually free.
The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Bimonthly
- Founded
- 1987
- ISSN
- 0888-8892
- Electronic ISSN
- 1523-1739
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Conservation Biology
What CAS zone is Conservation Biology in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Conservation Biology is in Zone 1 of Environmental Science & Ecology, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Biodiversity Conservation / Ecology / Environmental Sciences; it is a Top journal. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 1 of Environmental Science & Ecology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Conservation Biology?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 5.13; CiteScore 10.1, h-index 340.
How long does peer review take at Conservation Biology?
Based on the dates recorded on 86 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 266 days (interquartile range 195–327 days); authors report an average review time of about 2 months; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly hard”; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 17% (2025). 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.
Which databases index Conservation Biology?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Conservation Biology is indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Is Conservation Biology open access, and what is the APC?
Conservation Biology is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,400.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, OpenAlex; 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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .