Journal profile · Agricultural and Biological Sciences-Agronomy and Crop Science
Crop Journal
ISSN 2095-5421 · eISSN 2214-5141 · Institute of Crop Sciences (ICS) · China
Crop Journal: CAS Zone 1 · Agricultural & Forestry Sciences (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal); impact factor 6.6; fully open access; APC about USD 990; review about 22 weeks (community reports); 223 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Crop Journal is published by Institute of Crop Sciences (ICS) and is in Zone 1 of Agricultural & Forestry Sciences in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Genetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and Animals, Wheat and Barley Genetics and Pathology and Plant Molecular Biology Research, together about 26.9% of its articles. Its main subfields are Plant Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The Crop Journal is a bi-monthly, international, peer-reviewed research journal covering all aspects of crop sciences, including crop genetics,...
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Agricultural and Biological Sciences-Agronomy and Crop Science
Editor-in-chief Jianmin WanPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 81 in mainland China (about 56%); most named Mainland China 81, United States 20, Australia 7, Germany 6, Canada 5 (145 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Genetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and AnimalsBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology10.1%
- Wheat and Barley Genetics and PathologyAgricultural and Biological Sciences8.7%
- Plant Molecular Biology ResearchAgricultural and Biological Sciences8.1%
- Plant nutrient uptake and metabolismAgricultural and Biological Sciences6.7%
- Plant Stress Responses and ToleranceAgricultural and Biological Sciences6.2%
- Genetics and Plant BreedingAgricultural and Biological Sciences5.7%
- Rice Cultivation and Yield ImprovementAgricultural and Biological Sciences5.4%
- Crop Yield and Soil FertilityAgricultural and Biological Sciences4.9%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Agricultural & Forestry Sciences Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Agricultural & Forestry Sciences | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Agronomy | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Plant Sciences | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Agricultural & Forestry Sciences Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Agricultural & Forestry Sciences | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Agronomy | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Plant Sciences | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Agricultural & Forestry Sciences Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Agricultural & Forestry Sciences | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Agronomy | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Plant Sciences | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview 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
- 6.6LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 6.7Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 12LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 12Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.69LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.61LetPub ·
- h-index
- 16LetPub ·
- h-index
- 90OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 987OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 6.46OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 4.5%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 95.73%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 180LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,662 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 174 | 174 | 90 |
| 2025 | 223 | 223 | 1,209 |
| 2024 | 179 | 179 | 2,420 |
| 2023 | 131 | 131 | 2,374 |
| 2022 | 179 | 179 | 4,342 |
| 2021 | 170 | 170 | 7,026 |
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
- Average review time (community reports)
- about 22 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 22 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 | USD 990 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 1,890 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 990 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | USD 1,890 | — | — |
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)
Article types accepted9, with length limits
- editorialThe Crop Journal article types include Research papers and Short communications that are submitted through journal’s manuscript submission portal (https://www.e…Length not stated
- highlightA Highlight paper should contain no more than 2000 words, no abstract, with a maximum of 1 figure/table and up to 20 references.Length not stated
- letterThe Crop Journal article types include Research papers and Short communications that are submitted through journal’s manuscript submission portal (https://www.e…main text ≤ 1,200 words
- perspectiveThe Crop Journal article types include Research papers and Short communications that are submitted through journal’s manuscript submission portal (https://www.e…Length not stated
- research paperThe Crop Journal article types include Research papers and Short communications that are submitted through journal’s manuscript submission portal (https://www.e…main text ≤ 7,000 words
- reviewThe Crop Journal article types include Research papers and Short communications that are submitted through journal’s manuscript submission portal (https://www.e…Length not stated
- review articleThe Crop Journal article types include Research papers and Short communications that are submitted through journal’s manuscript submission portal (https://www.e…main text ≤ 8,000 words
- short communicationThe Crop Journal article types include Research papers and Short communications that are submitted through journal’s manuscript submission portal (https://www.e…main text ≤ 3,000 words
- spotlightA Spotlight paper should have no more than 2000 words, no abstract, with a maximum of 1 figure/table and up to 20 references.Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Authorship, Conflicts of interest, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- AI use Declaration of generative AI in scientific writing
Authors are encouraged to declare the use of generative AI in scientific writing upon submission of the paper. The following guidance refers only to the writing process, and not to the use of AI tools to analyse and draw insights from data as part of the research process: Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies should only be used in the writing process to improve the readability and language o…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Authorship Changes to authorship
Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor. To request such a change, …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Declaration of interest
All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential competing interests include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. Authors must disclose any interests in two places:…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Copyright
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (see more information on this). An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this agreement. Author rights As an author you (or your employer or institution) have certain r…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open access
Open access Model summary
Every peer-reviewed research article appearing in this journal will be published open access. This means that the article is universally and freely accessible via the internet in perpetuity, in an easily readable format immediately after publication. To provide open access, this journal has an open access fee (also known as an article publishing charge APC) which needs to be paid by the authors or…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review
Single anonymized review Model summary
This journal operates a single anonymized review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor'…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprint references
Where a preprint has subsequently become available as a peer-reviewed publication, the formal publication should be used as the reference. If there are preprints that are central to your work or that cover crucial developments in the topic, but are not yet formally published, these may be referenced. Preprints should be clearly marked as such, for example by including the word preprint, or the nam…
Source ↗Publisher website ·
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
- Institute of Crop Sciences (ICS)
- Country or region
- China
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2095-5421
- Electronic ISSN
- 2214-5141
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Fee waivers ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗LetPub
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Crop Journal
What CAS zone is Crop Journal in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Crop Journal is in Zone 1 of Agricultural & Forestry Sciences, and in Zone 1 of the minor category Agronomy / Plant Sciences; it is a Top journal. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 1 of Agricultural & Forestry Sciences. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Crop Journal?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 6.6; CiteScore 12, h-index 90.
How long does peer review take at Crop Journal?
Authors report an average review time of about 22 weeks. 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 Crop Journal based?
Of the 145 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 81 (about 56%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Mainland China (81), United States (20) and Australia (7). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Crop Journal?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Crop Journal is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Crop Journal open access, and what is the APC?
Crop Journal is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 990.
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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .