Journal profile · PLANT SCIENCES
Frontiers in Plant Science
ISSN 1664-462X · Frontiers Media S.A. · SWITZERLAND
Frontiers in Plant Science: CAS Zone 2 · Biology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 5.87; fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; median 52 days to acceptance (196 articles, last 24 months); 3,241 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Frontiers in Plant Science is published by Frontiers Media S.A. and is in Zone 2 of Biology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Plant Molecular Biology Research, Plant Stress Responses and Tolerance and Plant nutrient uptake and metabolism, together about 26.8% of its articles. Its main subfields are Plant Science and Molecular Biology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Frontiers in Plant Science is a leading, multidisciplinary journal that seeks to advance our understanding of fundamental processes in plant biology. Led by Field Chief Editor Prof. Chun-Ming Liu (Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences) and indexed in PubMed, PubMed Central, and Scopus, among others, the journal seeks original and significant contributions that cultivate plant biology and its applications. The journal has the long-term goal of supporting sustainable development, food security, functional ecosystems, biotechnology (including biofuels and biomaterials), and human health. Frontiers in Plant Science welcomes Original Research, Review, Opinion, and Perspective articles, among other submission types, covering the journal’s specialty sections: • aquatic photosynthetic organisms • crop and product physiology • functional plant ecology • functional and applied plant genomics • photosynthesis and photobiology • plant abiotic stress • plant bioinformatics • plant biophysics and modeling • plant biotechnology • plant breeding • plant cell biology • plant development and EvoDevo • plant genetics, epigenetics and chromosome biology • plant membrane traffic and transport • plant metabolism and chemodiversity • plant nutrition • plant pathogen interactions • plant physiology • plant proteomics and protein structural biology • plant symbiotic interactions • plant systematics and evolution • plant systems and synthetic biology • sustainable and intelligent phytoprotection • technical advances in plant science. Furthermore, the journal welcomes submissions that support and advance the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), notably SDG 13: climate action and SDG 15: life on land. Frontiers in Plant Science is committed to advancing developments in the field of plant biology by allowing unrestricted access to articles and communicating scientific knowledge to researchers and the public alike, to enable the scientific breakthroughs of the future. Requirements Manuscripts that focus on non-plant-related microbiology, human or animal genetics, and medical and pharmacological research are not suitable for publication in this journal. Pure field agriculture studies such as those focusing on fertilizer application or yield optimization, without relevance to plant science, are also not within the scope of this journal. i) Descriptive collections of transcripts, proteins, or metabolites, including comparative sets as a result of different conditions or t
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): PLANT SCIENCES
Editorial board by country: 4 in mainland China (about 25%); most named Mainland China 4, United States 2, Germany 1, Italy 1, Netherlands 1 (16 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Plant Molecular Biology ResearchAgricultural and Biological Sciences10.5%
- Plant Stress Responses and ToleranceAgricultural and Biological Sciences9.7%
- Plant nutrient uptake and metabolismAgricultural and Biological Sciences6.5%
- Photosynthetic Processes and MechanismsBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology6.4%
- Plant-Microbe Interactions and ImmunityAgricultural and Biological Sciences6.4%
- Plant Gene Expression AnalysisBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5.4%
- Legume Nitrogen Fixing SymbiosisAgricultural and Biological Sciences4.3%
- Plant Reproductive BiologyBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.2%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Biology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Plant Sciences | Zone 2 |
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: yesReview 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: yesReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Web of SciencePMCPublisher 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
- 5.87LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 5.9Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 10.8LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 10.8Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.26LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.45LetPub ·
- h-index
- 83LetPub ·
- h-index
- 331OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 23,446OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 5.7OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 5.1%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 3,048LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 36,026 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 3,234 | 3,234 | 2,191 |
| 2025 | 3,241 | 3,241 | 17,447 |
| 2024 | 2,960 | 2,960 | 34,158 |
| 2023 | 4,240 | 4,240 | 76,414 |
| 2022 | 5,693 | 5,693 | 132,135 |
| 2021 | 3,274 | 3,274 | 111,795 |
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 PubMed · to
52 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 39 days – 72 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 18 days (196 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 73 days
- Sample
- 196 articles with submission and acceptance dates (7,023 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 14 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 14 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 3,150 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | CHF 3,150 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 3,295 | 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)
What to prepare1 items from the author guidelines
- Keywords
- 5–8
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Authorship, 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 ·- Authorship
Authors must select appropriate article type and comply with its description and word count limits. Model summary
Frontiers requires authors to select the appropriate article type for their manuscript and to comply with the article type descriptions defined in the journal's 'Article types' page, which can be seen from the 'For authors' menu on every Frontiers journal page. Please pay close attention to the word count limits.
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
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
Open access under CC-BY v4.0 since July 2012; authors retain copyright. 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 ·- Peer review Peer review
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
- 1664-462X
- 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 Plant Science
What CAS zone is Frontiers in Plant Science in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Frontiers in Plant Science is in Zone 2 of Biology, and in Zone 2 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 Frontiers in Plant Science?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 5.87; CiteScore 10.8, h-index 331.
How long does peer review take at Frontiers in Plant Science?
Based on the dates recorded on 196 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 52 days (interquartile range 39–72 days); authors report an average review time of about 14 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 Plant Science based?
Of the 16 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 4 (about 25%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Mainland China (4), United States (2) and Germany (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Frontiers in Plant Science?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Frontiers in Plant Science is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists Web of Science and PMC; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Frontiers in Plant Science open access, and what is the APC?
Frontiers in Plant Science 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: .