Journal profile · Agricultural and Biological Sciences-Horticulture
Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems
ISSN 2571-581X · Frontiers Media S.A. · Switzerland
Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems: CAS Zone 3 · Agricultural & Forestry Sciences (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 4.11; fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; review about 14 weeks (community reports); 1,168 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 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 Agricultural Innovations and Practices, Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact and Organic Food and Agriculture, together about 31.9% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems is a multidisciplinary journal of basic and applied research exploring sustainable solutions to address the issue of global food security. Indexed in Scopus, Web of Science (SCIE), and the DOAJ, Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems is led by Field Chief Editor Prof Patrick Meyfroidt (Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium). The journal covers all areas of producing and delivering food to humans at local, regional and global scales, from production or wild harvest, to processing, marketing, distribution, consumption, recycling and disposal. The journal welcomes submissions on any aspect of food systems as they intersect with the science and practice of sustainability, including its environmental, economic, political and social justice dimensions. Topics include, but are not limited to: agricultural and food economics agroecology & ecosystem services agro-food safety aquatic foods climate-smart food systems crop biology & sustainability land, livelihoods & food security nutrition and sustainable diets social movements, institutions, and governance sustainable food processing urban agriculture waste management in agroecosystems water-smart food production. The journal welcomes contributions from across the natural and social sciences (including the critical social sciences) as well as interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary work. Of equal importance, the journal promotes research that advances all the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 1: no poverty, SDG 2: zero hunger, SDG 3: good health and well-being, SDG 8: decent work, SDG 12: responsible consumption and production, SDG 13: climate action, and SDG 15: life on land. Manuscripts that focus solely on economic growth, agricultural practices without a foundation in sustainability, or studies that are purely descriptive in nature, such as soil analysis or rainfall patterns, without a foundation in sustainable food systems are not suitable for publication in this journal. Additionally, research that is narrowly focused on a single crop or region without broader implications for sustainable food systems will not be considered. 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 adhe
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Agricultural and Biological Sciences-Horticulture
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United States 4, United Kingdom 4, Belgium 2, Portugal 2, Malaysia 2 (17 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Agricultural Innovations and PracticesAgricultural and Biological Sciences12.1%
- Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental ImpactEnvironmental Science10.9%
- Organic Food and AgricultureAgricultural and Biological Sciences8.9%
- Agriculture, Land Use, Rural DevelopmentAgricultural and Biological Sciences6.8%
- Food Waste Reduction and SustainabilityAgricultural and Biological Sciences6.4%
- Climate change impacts on agricultureAgricultural and Biological Sciences5.3%
- Urban Agriculture and SustainabilityAgricultural and Biological Sciences5.2%
- Agricultural risk and resilienceAgricultural and Biological Sciences3.8%
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 | Food Science & Technology | 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 | Food Science & Technology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Agricultural & Forestry Sciences Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Agricultural & Forestry Sciences | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Food Science & Technology | Zone 3 |
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
- 4.11LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 4.1Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 6LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 6Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.77LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.12LetPub ·
- h-index
- 110OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 2,159OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 4.36OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 4.9%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 99.86%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 1,102LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 6,174 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1,427 | 1,427 | 733 |
| 2025 | 1,168 | 1,168 | 5,741 |
| 2024 | 924 | 924 | 8,877 |
| 2023 | 921 | 921 | 12,873 |
| 2022 | 697 | 697 | 12,388 |
| 2021 | 544 | 544 | 21,259 |
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 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 1,950 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | CHF 1,950 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 2,125 | Yes | — |
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 prepare3 items from the author guidelines
- Keywords
- 5–8
- Reference style
- Harvard
- Templates
- LaTeX and Word
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 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
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
Open access under CC-BY v4.0; 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
- 2571-581X
- 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 Sustainable Food Systems
What CAS zone is Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems is in Zone 3 of Agricultural & Forestry Sciences, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Food Science & Technology. 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 Sustainable Food Systems?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 4.11; CiteScore 6, h-index 110.
How long does peer review take at Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems?
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.
What are the manuscript requirements of Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Keywords: 5–8; Reference style: Harvard; Templates: LaTeX and Word. 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 Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems based?
Of the 17 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (4), United Kingdom (4) and Belgium (2). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 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 Sustainable Food Systems open access, and what is the APC?
Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .