Journal profile · Horticulture
HortScience
ISSN 0018-5345 · eISSN 2327-9834 · American Society for Horticultural Science · UNITED STATES · Bimonthly
HortScience: CAS Zone 4 · Agricultural & Forestry Sciences (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.89; fully open access; APC about USD 3,000; review about 3 months (community reports); community-reported acceptance: easy; 375 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
HortScience is published by American Society for Horticultural Science and is in Zone 4 of Agricultural & Forestry Sciences in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Plant Physiology and Cultivation Studies, Horticultural and Viticultural Research and Flowering Plant Growth and Cultivation, together about 36% of its articles. Its main subfields are Plant Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Our goal for the submission process is to get your research in front of our editors and reviewers as quickly as possible. Adherence to the basic, minimum formatting guidelines below will help ensure a smooth submission process. HortScience Acceptance Criteria Submit to HortScience HortTechnology Acceptance Criteria Submit to HortTechnology Journal of the ASHS Acceptance Criteria Submit to JASHS General Formatting Requirements Please note the following as you submit your manuscript via the submission system. All manuscripts must be in MS Word format (no PDF), Tables may be embedded in the manuscript file, or as separate MS Word file(s), Figures may be embedded in the manuscript file or uploaded separately as TIFF, JPG, PDF, Postscript, or EPS files. All manuscripts and information in the submission form must be in English. All manuscripts must include: Abstract and optional Graphical Abstract Introduction Materials & Methods Results Discussion section* * (excluding Cultivar and Germplasm Releases, which require a Title, Introduction, Origin (Materials and Methods), Description (Results), and Availability Statement). You may share, copy and redistribute this material for non-commercial purposes in any medium. You may also adapt, remix, transform, and build upon the material with proper attribution. Your manuscript should be formatted using double-line spacing. Keywords – Provide at least three (3) keywords or concepts that inform the retrieval of the manuscript content via search engines such as Google and Bing. For maximum impact, keywords should occur in the abstract and where possible form part of the title or subtitle of the manuscript. Figures and Tables Figures may be embedded in the manuscript or uploaded separately as TIFF, JPG, PDF, Postscript, or EPS files. Figures should be hi-res (at least 300 dpi) single images (no layering), regardless of whether they are embedded in the body of your manuscript or uploaded separately. Tables can either be included in the manuscript file, or as separate Word file(s). Each figure and table must include a title/legend and be labeled in numerical order (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.; Table 1, Table 2, etc.) Figures and tables must use in-text citations throughout the manuscript. For example: “Photosystem I measures did not correlate significantly outside of intra-photosystem I comparisons(Fig. 2). Units of Measurement HortScience and JASHS use SI Units for all measurements. HortTechnology may use either SI Units or US C
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Horticulture
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Plant Physiology and Cultivation StudiesAgricultural and Biological Sciences20.3%
- Horticultural and Viticultural ResearchAgricultural and Biological Sciences9.1%
- Flowering Plant Growth and CultivationAgricultural and Biological Sciences6.7%
- Plant Pathogens and Fungal DiseasesBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology6.6%
- Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life ManagementAgricultural and Biological Sciences6.1%
- Berry genetics and cultivation researchAgricultural and Biological Sciences5.5%
- Plant tissue culture and regenerationBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology5.4%
- Plant Disease Management TechniquesAgricultural and Biological Sciences3.9%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Agricultural & Forestry Sciences Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Agricultural & Forestry Sciences | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Horticulture | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Agricultural & Forestry Sciences Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Agricultural & Forestry Sciences | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Horticulture | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview 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 | Horticulture | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview 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
- 1.89LetPub ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 2.6LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.42LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.85LetPub ·
- h-index
- 78LetPub ·
- h-index
- 147OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 8,230OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.22OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 15.8%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 287LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 31,901 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 287 | 287 | 38 |
| 2025 | 375 | 375 | 368 |
| 2024 | 280 | 280 | 746 |
| 2023 | 258 | 258 | 1,171 |
| 2022 | 235 | 235 | 1,592 |
| 2021 | 239 | 239 | 2,118 |
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 3 monthsLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- EasyLetPub ·
- Peer review
- Peer reviewLetPub
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 accessOpenAlex
Every article is open access; authors usually pay an article processing charge (APC).
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAlex | USD 3,000 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 3,000 | No | — | |
| Publisher website | USD 2,000 / USD 3,000 / USD 750 / USD 1,000 | — | — |
Other charges and waivers (author guidelines)
- Page charges
- 2,000
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 prepare5 items from the author guidelines
- Keywords
- ≥ 3
- Reference style
- Chicago
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
- Cover letter
- Optional
- Not considered
- preprint; thesis or dissertation
Article types accepted2
- regular paperRegular Paper $2,000 $3,000Length not stated
- short paperShort paper** $750 $1,000Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Authorship, Conflicts of interest, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- AI use Artificial Intelligence and AI-assisted Technologies
AI use must be disclosed at submission. Model summary
At the time of submission, authors must provide a statement that discloses their use of AI and AI-assisted technologies. This statement must provide detailed information on which elements of the work were generated by AI and AI-assisted technologies. All Authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, even those parts produced by an AI tool, and are thus liable for any breach of…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Authorship Authorship
Authorship criteria follow ICMJE; all four conditions must be met. Model summary
The ASHS Journals have set authorship policies in place based on the COPE guidelines on authorship and contributorship Clear policies (that allow for transparency around who contributed to the work and in what capacity) should be in place for requirements for authorship and contributorship as well as processes for managing potential disputes. ASHS follows the authorship criteria of the ICMJE. Auth…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Disclosure of Previous Posting
It is your responsibility as an author to let ASHS know at the time of submission if your work has been previously posted elsewhere. Should your manuscript be accepted for publication, we request that you update the preprint version with a citation to the final published article, including the DOI and a direct link to the publication.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open Access Article Processing Fee
Open access under CC BY-NC 4.0. Model summary
All articles published in ASHS journals (Journal of ASHS, HortScience, and HortTechnology) are open access and are distributed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license. This license permits you to share, copy and redistribute this material for non-commercial purposes in any medium. You may also adapt, remix, transform, and build upon the material with proper attribution. HortScience Member rate* Non-member ra…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer Review Process
Optional double-blind peer review. Model summary
The peer review process follows these steps: Author submits a manuscript. Editor-in-Chief assigns Reviewers to the manuscript for peer review: ASHS utilizes hundreds of volunteer reviewers who are experts in the field directly related to the manuscript subject matter. A Consulting Editor is assigned to each submitted manuscript. A minimum of 2 reviewers are assigned to each paper based on the revi…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Author Responsibility, Prior Publication, and Preprints
Preprint sharing is allowed. Model summary
At the time of submission, the Corresponding Author is responsible for submitting the manuscript on behalf of ALL Contributing Authors. The Corresponding Author attests that the submission represents original, unpublished material that is not under editorial consideration elsewhere, in whole or in part, other than in abstract form. Submissions with material included in a thesis or dissertation may…
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
- American Society for Horticultural Science
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Bimonthly
- ISSN
- 0018-5345
- Electronic ISSN
- 2327-9834
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- Peer review process ↗LetPub
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about HortScience
What CAS zone is HortScience in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, HortScience is in Zone 4 of Agricultural & Forestry Sciences, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Horticulture. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Agricultural & Forestry Sciences. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of HortScience?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 1.89; CiteScore 2.6, h-index 147.
How long does peer review take at HortScience?
Authors report an average review time of about 3 months; the community-reported acceptance is “Easy”. 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 HortScience?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Keywords: ≥ 3; Reference style: Chicago; Suggested reviewers: Optional; Cover letter: Optional. 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.
Which databases index HortScience?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, HortScience is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is HortScience open access, and what is the APC?
HortScience is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 3,000.
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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .