Journal profile · Agricultural and Biological Sciences-Plant Science
Current Plant Biology
ISSN 2214-6628 · Elsevier · Netherlands
Current Plant Biology: CAS Zone 3 · Biology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 5.1 (journal website); fully open access; APC about USD 3,510; review about 112 days (submission to acceptance, publisher); 140 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Current Plant Biology is published by Elsevier and is in Zone 3 of Biology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Plant Stress Responses and Tolerance, Plant Molecular Biology Research and Plant-Microbe Interactions and Immunity, together about 26% of its articles. Its main subfields are Plant Science and Molecular Biology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
This journal aims to acknowledge and encourage interdisciplinary research in fundamental plant sciences with scope to address crop improvement, biodiversity, stress response, nutrition and human health. It publishes review articles, original research papers, method papers and short articles in plant research fields, such as systems biology, cell biology, genetics, epigenetics, mathematical modeling, signal transduction, plant-microbe interactions, synthetic biology, developmental biology, biochemistry, molecular biology, physiology, biotechnologies, bioinformatics and plant genomic resources. Generally, "Omics" studies (transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, etc.) reporting descriptive analysis without an element of functional validation assays of investigated genes (DEGs), will not be considered.To further encourage collaboration in the community, all accepted authors of Research articles are required to make their data accessible to the public. This will avoid duplicate projects and speed up the progress of science. The journal will actively link and cooperate with some of these databases, as well as with computational infrastructure. Data should always be submitted in raw data format, and should be submitted preferentially in publicly accessible resources maintained by for example EBI, EMBL, or NCBI data. Which data repository is used is up to the authors, however please visit https://www.elsevier.com/databaselinking for more information on depositing and linking your data with a supported data repository. For datatypes for which no such repositories exist, data should be made available through the supplementary information or the authors own website. If the data has been processed into e.g. pathways or models, then this should be made available also during the review process.For more submission information, see our Guide for Authors.The editorial and publishing team of the journal is dedicated to being efficient in the manuscript handling. The resulting publications will be open access.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Agricultural and Biological Sciences-Plant Science
Editor-in-chief Luigi R. CeciPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 8 in mainland China (about 17%); most named United States 9, Mainland China 8, India 6, South Korea 3, Italy 3 (47 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Plant Stress Responses and ToleranceAgricultural and Biological Sciences10%
- Plant Molecular Biology ResearchAgricultural and Biological Sciences8.8%
- Plant-Microbe Interactions and ImmunityAgricultural and Biological Sciences7.3%
- Plant tissue culture and regenerationBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology6.3%
- Genetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and AnimalsBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5.2%
- Photosynthetic Processes and MechanismsBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5.1%
- Plant nutrient uptake and metabolismAgricultural and Biological Sciences5%
- Plant Gene Expression AnalysisBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.7%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Biology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Plant Sciences | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Biology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Plant Sciences | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
Database indexing
ESCIScopusDOAJLetPub
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 (publisher)
- 5.1Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 6.2LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 6.2Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.89LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.21LetPub ·
- h-index
- 49OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 258OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 6.16OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 9.8%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 128LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 662 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 100 | 100 | 83 |
| 2025 | 140 | 140 | 753 |
| 2024 | 111 | 111 | 1,325 |
| 2023 | 43 | 43 | 588 |
| 2022 | 33 | 33 | 796 |
| 2021 | 39 | 39 | 1,486 |
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
Publisher-reported review time from the journal's website
112 dayssubmission to acceptance · community reports about 20 weeks
The publisher's own definition applies; dates from this journal's articles in the last 24 months are not available yet, so the publisher's figure is used.
Figures by source
- Average review time (community reports)
- about 20 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 3 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review
- 46 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 112 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 3 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 18 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 3,510 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 3,440 / EUR 3,220 / GBP 2,750 / JPY 426,660 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 2,470 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | USD 3,510 | — | — |
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)
Open calls for papers4, by deadline
- From Environmental Stimuli to Plant Fitness: The Central Role of Secondary MetabolitesDeadline
- Metabolic and Biotechnological Engineering Transforming Photosynthetic Organisms for Improved Agricultural TraitsDeadline
- Plant Responses to Compound Climate Extremes: From Mechanisms to Crop ImprovementDeadline
- Advances in Solanaceae Research: From Genomes to Genetic Improvement and Crop InnovationDeadline
What to prepare5 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 250 words
- Keywords
- 1–7
- Reference style
- Numbered, in order of citation
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Highlights
- Required
Article types accepted4
- method papersIt publishes review articles, original research papers, method papers and short articles in plant research fieldsLength not stated
- original research papersIt publishes review articles, original research papers, method papers and short articles in plant research fieldsLength not stated
- review articlesIt publishes review articles, original research papers, method papers and short articles in plant research fieldsLength not stated
- short articlesIt publishes review articles, original research papers, method papers and short articles in plant research fieldsLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Authorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- AI use Declaration of generative AI use
Authors must declare the use of generative AI tools in the manuscript preparation process upon submission of the paper.Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies (“AI tools”) have been rapidly adopted in research and scholarly publishing, offering significant benefits while requiring clear standards for responsible and transparent use.Authors preparing a manuscript for this journal may use AI tool…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Authorship Group authorship
Abstract must not exceed 250 words Model summary
Group authorship refers to the attribution of an article to a defined and named group of authors whose members have contributed to the work. Examples include research consortia, clinical trial groups, collaborative networks, task forces or working groups, expert panels or consensus groups, and participatory research groups. Group authorship must be declared on the title page at submission. When av…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Declaration of competing interests
All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias their work. Examples of potential competing interests include:EmploymentConsultanciesStock ownershipHonorariaPaid expert testimonyPatent applications or registrationsGrants or any other fundingAffiliation with the journal as an Editor or Advisory Board …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability
Data must be made publicly accessible for research articles Model summary
all accepted authors of Research articles are required to make their data accessible to the public
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics
Ethical guidelines per Elsevier's Publishing Ethics Policy Model summary
Authors must follow ethical guidelines stated in Elsevier's Publishing Ethics Policy.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright License options
Authors will be offered open access user license options which will determine how you, and third parties, can reuse your open access article. We advise that you review these options and any funding body license requirements before selecting a license option.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open access
We refer you to our open access information page to learn about open access options for this journal.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review
Single anonymized review process Model summary
This journal follows a single anonymized review process. Your submission will initially be assessed by our editors. If your submission is deemed suitable, it will typically be sent to be reviewed by a minimum of two reviewers for an independent expert assessment of the scientific quality. The decision as to whether your article is accepted or rejected for publication will be made by our editors.Re…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
Preprint sharing allowed, does not count as prior publication Model summary
Preprint sharingAuthors may share preprints in line with Elsevier's article sharing policy. Sharing preprints, such as on a preprint server, will not count as prior publication.We advise you to read our policy on multiple, redundant or concurrent publication. In support of Open Science, this journal offers its authors a free preprint posting service on SSRN, Elsevier’s preprint and early research …
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
- Elsevier
- Country or region
- Netherlands
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2214-6628
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- 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 Current Plant Biology
What CAS zone is Current Plant Biology in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Current Plant Biology is in Zone 3 of Biology, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Plant Sciences. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Biology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Current Plant Biology?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 5.1; this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 6.2, h-index 49.
How long does peer review take at Current Plant Biology?
The publisher reports about 112 days (submission to acceptance); authors report an average review time of about 20 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.
What are the manuscript requirements of Current Plant Biology?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 250 words; Keywords: 1–7; Reference style: Numbered, in order of citation; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; Highlights: Required. A model extracted these from the author guidelines and each was checked against the text; check the latest version on the journal's website before submitting.
Where are the editorial board members of Current Plant Biology based?
Of the 47 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 8 (about 17%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (9), Mainland China (8) and India (6). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Current Plant Biology?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Current Plant Biology is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Current Plant Biology open access, and what is the APC?
Current Plant Biology is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 3,510.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, OpenAlex, DOAJ; 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: .