Journal profile · Plant Sciences
Functional Plant Biology
ISSN 1445-4408 · eISSN 1445-4416 · CSIRO Publishing · Australia · 12 issues per year · Founded 1974
Functional Plant Biology: CAS Zone 4 · Biology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.9; hybrid open access; median 178 days to acceptance (100 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: 33%; 111 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Functional Plant Biology is published by CSIRO Publishing and is in Zone 4 of Biology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Plant Stress Responses and Tolerance, Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics and Plant nutrient uptake and metabolism, together about 31.4% of its articles. Its main subfields are Plant Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Functional Plant Biology publishes new and significant information on the functional biology of plants at all scales from the molecular through whole plant to community.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Plant Sciences
Editor-in-chief Sergey ShabalaPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Plant Stress Responses and ToleranceAgricultural and Biological Sciences13.8%
- Plant Water Relations and Carbon DynamicsEnvironmental Science9.4%
- Plant nutrient uptake and metabolismAgricultural and Biological Sciences8.2%
- Photosynthetic Processes and MechanismsBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology7.3%
- Plant responses to elevated CO2Agricultural and Biological Sciences5.9%
- Plant responses to water stressAgricultural and Biological Sciences5.7%
- Plant Molecular Biology ResearchAgricultural and Biological Sciences5.5%
- Legume Nitrogen Fixing SymbiosisAgricultural and Biological Sciences3.6%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Biology Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Plant Sciences | Zone 4 |
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 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Plant Sciences | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusLetPub
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
- 2.9LetPub ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.67LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.7LetPub ·
- h-index
- 103LetPub ·
- h-index
- 153OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 2,008OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.47OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 3.4%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 18.59%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 81LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 2,963 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 57 | 10 | 15 |
| 2025 | 111 | 24 | 244 |
| 2024 | 115 | 28 | 724 |
| 2023 | 81 | 23 | 846 |
| 2022 | 82 | 15 | 959 |
| 2021 | 113 | 38 | 1,683 |
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
178 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 116 days – 252 days
- Acceptance to online
- —
- Submission to online
- —
- Sample
- 100 articles with submission and acceptance dates (178 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 1 monthLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- 33%LetPub ·
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.
No source has fee information yet; check the journal's website.
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)
Article types accepted1
- review articleReview ArticleLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteOpen access
- Open access Open Access articles
Metabolome profiling reveals the resistance mechanisms of rice against brown planthopper Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi can reduce the bioavailability of Zn and Fe in the grain of barley (Hordeum vulgare) and oat (Avena sativa) Sustained assimilate supply determines grain development in wheat under post-anthesis heat Transpiration response to vapour pressure deficit, transpiration efficiency (TE), a…
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
- CSIRO Publishing
- Country or region
- Australia
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- 12 issues per year
- Founded
- 1974
- ISSN
- 1445-4408
- Electronic ISSN
- 1445-4416
- Society / sponsor
- Australian Society of Plant Scientists
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 53, Issue 8 (August 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Functional Plant Biology
What CAS zone is Functional Plant Biology in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Functional Plant Biology is in Zone 4 of Biology, and in Zone 4 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 Functional Plant Biology?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.9; CiteScore 5, h-index 153.
How long does peer review take at Functional Plant Biology?
Based on the dates recorded on 100 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 178 days (interquartile range 116–252 days); authors report an average review time of about 1 month; the community-reported acceptance is “33%”. 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 Plant Biology?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Functional Plant Biology is indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Is Functional Plant Biology open access, and what is the APC?
Functional Plant Biology is a hybrid journal. Fee information is not available yet; check the journal's website.
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: .