Journal profile · Plant Sciences
Economic Botany
ISSN 0013-0001 · eISSN 1874-9364 · Springer US · UNITED STATES · Quarterly · Founded 1947
Economic Botany: CAS Zone 3 · Biology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.88; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,990; median 143 days to acceptance (31 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: fairly easy; 32 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Economic Botany is published by Springer US 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 Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants Studies, African Botany and Ecology Studies and Botany, Ecology, and Taxonomy Studies, together about 28.7% of its articles. Its main subfields are Plant Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Ethnobotany and Economic Botany (formerly known as Economic Botany) is a quarterly journal published by The New York Botanical Garden for the Society for Ethnobotany. Interdisciplinary in scope, Ethnobotany and Economic Botany bridges the gap between pure and applied botany by focusing on the uses of plants by people. The foremost publication of its kind in this field, Ethnobotany and Economic Botany documents the rich relationship that has always existed between plants and people around the world, encompassing the past, present, and potential uses of plants. The issues contain original research articles, review articles, brief reports (notes on culturally important plants), book reviews and guest editorials. Ethnobotany and Economic Botany does NOT publish papers that are: Primarily agronomic, anatomical, or horticultural Concerned mainly with analytical data on the chemical constituents of plants About issues of molecular or phylogenetic systematics WITHOUT hypotheses associated with useful plant characteristics Tests of existing taxonomies, even of plants with significant human use Lists of useful plants from some part of the world unless they are the first description of their use in a particular culture or region, but this uniqueness must be specified and characterized in the paper. Even in such a special case, however, such a descriptive paper will require an analysis of the context of use of plants. How is plant use similar to or different from that of other cultures? Why is a particular species or group of species used? Is there a difference in use patterns between native and introduced species, etc. Note that it is not a sufficient justification for publication to report that botanical knowledge is being lost in the region of study.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Plant Sciences
Editor-in-chief Ina VandebroekPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 1 in mainland China (about 4%); most named United States 14, South Africa 3, Brazil 2, Mainland China 1, Italy 1 (24 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Plants StudiesAgricultural and Biological Sciences12.4%
- African Botany and Ecology StudiesAgricultural and Biological Sciences8.2%
- Botany, Ecology, and Taxonomy StudiesAgricultural and Biological Sciences8.2%
- Plant and animal studiesAgricultural and Biological Sciences5.6%
- Diverse Scientific and Economic StudiesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance5.5%
- Botanical Research and ChemistryAgricultural and Biological Sciences5.3%
- Pacific and Southeast Asian StudiesSocial Sciences4.4%
- Botanical Research and ApplicationsAgricultural and Biological Sciences4%
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 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Plant Sciences | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Biology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Plant Sciences | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
CASCAB AbstractsCurrent ContentsPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, EBSCO, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, Baidu, AGRICOLA, Astrophysics Data System, Naver, OCLC, Portico, CLOCKSS
As the journal's website lists them, not checked against each database; for Web of Science editions the records above apply.
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
- 1.88LetPub ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 3.2LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.37LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.98LetPub ·
- h-index
- 61LetPub ·
- h-index
- 150OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 2,176OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.61OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 15.8%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 33.75%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 29LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 228,200Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 4,415 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 32 | 14 | 87 |
| 2024 | 29 | 13 | 72 |
| 2023 | 33 | 13 | 195 |
| 2022 | 25 | 6 | 169 |
| 2021 | 24 | 10 | 347 |
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
143 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 107 days – 200 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 42 days (31 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 208 days
- Sample
- 31 articles with submission and acceptance dates (40 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)
- over 12 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly easyLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 3 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 3,990 / EUR 2,990 / GBP 2,590 | — | — |
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.
Submission
Article types and submission policies (journal website)
What to prepare1 items from the author guidelines
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteOpen access
- Open access Open access publishing
To find out more about publishing your work Open Access in Ethnobotany and Economic Botany, including information on fees, funding and licences, visit our Open access publishing page.
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
- Springer US
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Quarterly
- Founded
- 1947
- ISSN
- 0013-0001
- Print ISSN
- 3091-2903
- Electronic ISSN
- 1874-9364
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 80, Issue 3 (September 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Economic Botany
What CAS zone is Economic Botany in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Economic Botany 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 3 of Biology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Economic Botany?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 1.88; CiteScore 3.2, h-index 150.
How long does peer review take at Economic Botany?
Based on the dates recorded on 31 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 143 days (interquartile range 107–200 days); authors report an average review time of over 12 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly 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 Economic Botany based?
Of the 24 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 1 (about 4%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (14), South Africa (3) and Brazil (2). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Economic Botany?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Economic Botany is indexed in SCIE and Scopus. The journal's website also lists CAS, CAB Abstracts and Current Contents; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Economic Botany open access, and what is the APC?
Economic Botany is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,990.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, 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: .