Journal profile · Multiple
Frontiers in Forests and Global Change
ISSN 2624-893X · Frontiers Media S.A. · Switzerland
Frontiers in Forests and Global Change: CAS Zone 3 · Agricultural & Forestry Sciences (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 4.29; fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; review about 12 weeks (community reports); 190 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Frontiers in Forests and Global Change is published by Frontiers Media S.A. 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 Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics, Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies and Fire effects on ecosystems, together about 28.4% of its articles. Its main subfields are Global and Planetary Change. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Frontiers in Forests and Global Change publishes the latest, most critical research in the major disciplines that comprise forest science – spanning from molecules to ecosystems to the biosphere, and from the pure-basic research to the highly applied. Forests are a dominant feature of our planet. Like oceans, they are clearly visible from space. While they have expanded and contracted over geological time, today they continue to drive global biogeochemical cycles and dictate climates at a range of scales. In much of the world, forests command deep respect, even reverence for what they provide. Ancient forests still supply much of the energy that drives today’s industry and society, and improved livelihoods for billions of people. For the foreseeable future, the world’s forests will continue to provide a vast array of services and products that are essential to humankind. Indexed in the DOAJ and led by Field Chief Editor Professor Mark Andrew Adams (Swinburne University of Technology and University of Sydney, Australia), Frontiers in Forests and Global Change informs and promotes sustainable management of the world’s forests. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: atmospheric chemistry ecology fire growth analysis and modelling harvesting and harvesting impacts hydrology people and forests pests and diseases physiology and biochemistry soil science. Articles that advance the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 12: life on land, are particularly welcome. Manuscripts that focus on industrial processes, human-centric urban planning, or the development of online tools and platforms are not suitable for publication in this journal. Additionally, studies that solely focus on the measurement and monitoring of environmental factors without a relevance to forest ecosystems or global change are not within the scope of this journal. Frontiers’ journals require that manuscripts primarily comprising computational studies of public data, such as Bibliometric or Mendelian Randomization studies, must include appropriate validation. Please refer to the Frontiers Standards for research methodology policy, for more information. Manuscripts not adhering to these standards will not be considered. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change is committed to advancing developments in the field of forest science by communicating scientific knowledge to researchers and the public alike, to enable the scientific breakthroughs of the future. Frontiers in
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Multiple
Editorial board by country: 1 in mainland China (about 6%); most named United States 5, United Kingdom 2, Australia 2, Austria 2, Mainland China 1 (16 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Plant Water Relations and Carbon DynamicsEnvironmental Science10.2%
- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics StudiesEnvironmental Science9.2%
- Fire effects on ecosystemsEnvironmental Science9%
- Forest ecology and managementEnvironmental Science8.5%
- Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource ManagementEnvironmental Science6.8%
- Forest Management and PolicyEnvironmental Science6.8%
- Tree-ring climate responsesEarth and Planetary Sciences5%
- Forest Ecology and Biodiversity StudiesAgricultural and Biological Sciences4.8%
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 | Ecology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Forestry | 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 | Ecology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Forestry | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Agricultural & Forestry Sciences Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Agricultural & Forestry Sciences | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Forestry | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Ecology | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Web of SciencePublisher website
Other: EBSCO, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, Astrophysics Data System, CLOCKSS, Crossref
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
- 4.29LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 4.3Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 7.2LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 7.2Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.13LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.24LetPub ·
- h-index
- 64OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 802OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 4.14OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 2.3%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 170LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,810 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 247 | 247 | 71 |
| 2025 | 190 | 190 | 707 |
| 2024 | 259 | 259 | 2,101 |
| 2023 | 344 | 344 | 4,444 |
| 2022 | 294 | 294 | 5,092 |
| 2021 | 229 | 229 | 4,558 |
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 12 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 12 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 | CHF 1,950 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | CHF 1,950 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 2,125 | Yes | — | |
| 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)
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Conflicts of interest, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review
- AI use Use of AI to create written or visual content
Authors should not list a generative AI technology as a co-author or author of any submitted manuscript. Generative AI technologies cannot be held accountable for all aspects of a manuscript and consequently do not meet the criteria required for authorship. If the author of a submitted manuscript has used written or visual content produced by or edited using a generative AI technology, this use mu…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Safeguards against financial conflicts of interest
Only leading researchers acting as Associate Editors, who are not part of Frontiers' staff, can make acceptance decisions based on reviews performed by external experts acting as Community Reviewers or Reviewers. None have a financial incentive to accept articles, i.e. they are not paid for their role as Associate Editor or community Reviewer, and any award scheme is not linked to acceptances of m…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Open access and copyright
Figures, tables, and images published under CC-BY; permission required for copyrighted material from other sources. Model summary
All Frontiers' articles from July 2012 onwards are published with open access under the Creative Commons CC-BY license (the current version is CC-BY, version 4.0). This means that the author(s) retains copyright, but the content is free to download, distribute, and adapt for commercial or non-commercial purposes, given appropriate attribution to the original article. Upon submission, the author(s)…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open access and copyright
All Frontiers' articles from July 2012 onwards are published with open access under the Creative Commons CC-BY license (the current version is CC-BY, version 4.0). This means that the author(s) retains copyright, but the content is free to download, distribute, and adapt for commercial or non-commercial purposes, given appropriate attribution to the original article. Upon submission, the author(s)…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review
Manuscripts must meet international English language standards. Model summary
Our rigorous, transparent peer review process combines expert review and constructive dialogue to strengthen your manuscript.
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
- Frontiers Media S.A.
- Country or region
- Switzerland
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2624-893X
- 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 Frontiers in Forests and Global Change
What CAS zone is Frontiers in Forests and Global Change in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Frontiers in Forests and Global Change is in Zone 3 of Agricultural & Forestry Sciences, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Ecology / Forestry. 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 Frontiers in Forests and Global Change?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 4.29; CiteScore 7.2, h-index 64.
How long does peer review take at Frontiers in Forests and Global Change?
Authors report an average review time of about 12 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 Frontiers in Forests and Global Change based?
Of the 16 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 1 (about 6%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (5), United Kingdom (2) and Australia (2). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Frontiers in Forests and Global Change?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Frontiers in Forests and Global Change is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Web of Science; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Frontiers in Forests and Global Change open access, and what is the APC?
Frontiers in Forests and Global Change is a fully open-access journal. APC charged, amount not published.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, Publisher website, 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: .