Journal profile · Ecology
Functional Ecology
ISSN 0269-8463 · eISSN 1365-2435 · Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd · ENGLAND · Bimonthly · Founded 1987
Functional Ecology: CAS Zone 1 · Environmental Science & Ecology (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal); impact factor 5.49; fully open access; APC about USD 3,180; median 193 days to acceptance (102 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: fairly easy; 292 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Functional Ecology is published by Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd and is in Zone 1 of Environmental Science & Ecology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Plant and animal studies, Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies and Animal Behavior and Reproduction, together about 38.3% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
<em>Functional Ecology</em> journal publishes high-impact research providing a mechanistic understanding of ecological pattern and process from the organismic to ecosystem scale.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Ecology
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Plant and animal studiesAgricultural and Biological Sciences14.2%
- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics StudiesEnvironmental Science14.1%
- Animal Behavior and ReproductionAgricultural and Biological Sciences10%
- Plant Water Relations and Carbon DynamicsEnvironmental Science5.9%
- Physiological and biochemical adaptationsEnvironmental Science5%
- Insect and Arachnid Ecology and BehaviorBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.5%
- Plant Parasitism and ResistanceAgricultural and Biological Sciences4.3%
- Soil Carbon and Nitrogen DynamicsAgricultural and Biological Sciences4%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Environmental Science & Ecology Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Environmental Science & Ecology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Ecology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Environmental Science & Ecology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Environmental Science & Ecology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Ecology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Environmental Science & Ecology Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Environmental Science & Ecology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Ecology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
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
- 5.49LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 5.5Publisher website ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 5.5Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 9.5LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 9.5Publisher website ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 9.5Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.97LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.82LetPub ·
- h-index
- 137LetPub ·
- h-index
- 243OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 4,939OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 4.68OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 3.6%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 78.16%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 257LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher) 2025
- 264Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 2,162,290Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 6,384 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 220 | 220 | 61 |
| 2025 | 292 | 292 | 1,162 |
| 2024 | 255 | 232 | 2,367 |
| 2023 | 252 | 215 | 4,167 |
| 2022 | 262 | 156 | 6,337 |
| 2021 | 271 | 146 | 7,325 |
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
193 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 157 days – 278 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 34 days (104 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 238 days
- Sample
- 102 articles with submission and acceptance dates (563 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 3 monthsLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly easyLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 14%Publisher website ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher) 2025
- 14%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 7 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 7 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance 2025
- 152 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 35 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 26 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Double 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 | EUR 3,050 / GBP 2,650 / USD 3,180 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-ND, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 3,000 / EUR 2,875 / GBP 2,500 | — | — |
The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd
- Country or region
- ENGLAND
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Bimonthly
- Founded
- 1987
- ISSN
- 0269-8463
- Electronic ISSN
- 1365-2435
- 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 Functional Ecology
What CAS zone is Functional Ecology in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Functional Ecology is in Zone 1 of Environmental Science & Ecology, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Ecology; it is a Top journal. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Environmental Science & Ecology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Functional Ecology?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 5.49; CiteScore 9.5, h-index 243.
How long does peer review take at Functional Ecology?
Based on the dates recorded on 102 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 193 days (interquartile range 157–278 days); authors report an average review time of about 3 months; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly easy”; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 14% (2025). 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.
Which databases index Functional Ecology?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Functional Ecology is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Functional Ecology open access, and what is the APC?
Functional Ecology is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 3,180.
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 2026-08-30). Last updated: .