Journal profile · Agricultural and Biological Sciences-Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)
IMA Fungus
ISSN 2210-6340 · eISSN 2210-6359 · BioMed Central · UNITED STATES · Founded 2010
IMA Fungus: CAS Zone 1 · Biology (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal); impact factor 3.92; fully open access; APC about USD 2,490; median 79 days to acceptance (101 articles, last 24 months); 85 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
IMA Fungus is published by BioMed Central and is in Zone 1 of Biology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Plant Pathogens and Fungal Diseases, Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Interactions and Yeasts and Rust Fungi Studies, together about 58.2% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
IMA Fungus, founded in 2010, is the flagship journal of the International Mycological Association (IMA). The IMA represents the interests of mycology and mycologists worldwide, through a series of regional and national organizations, and is responsible for the now four-yearly International Mycological Congresses (IMCs). The journal considers contributions from all areas of mycology expected to be of interest to the wider mycological community, from basic research to applications. It also includes editorials, news, correspondence, reports of mycological meetings, information on awards and mycologists, and book reviews. IMA Fungus is mandated as the journal in which formal proposals relating to the rules on the naming of fungi or protected lists of names are to be published.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Agricultural and Biological Sciences-Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)
Editor-in-chief David HawksworthPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United States 1, United Kingdom 1, South Africa 1 (3 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Plant Pathogens and Fungal DiseasesBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology25.9%
- Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant InteractionsAgricultural and Biological Sciences23.6%
- Yeasts and Rust Fungi StudiesBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology8.7%
- Lichen and fungal ecologyAgricultural and Biological Sciences7.7%
- Fungal Biology and ApplicationsMedicine6.4%
- Plant Pathogens and ResistanceAgricultural and Biological Sciences2.2%
- Genomics and Phylogenetic StudiesBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology2.1%
- Forest Insect Ecology and ManagementEnvironmental Science1.8%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Biology Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Mycology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Biology Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Mycology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Biology Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Mycology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
CAB AbstractsPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, EBSCO, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, Baidu, Naver, OCLC, Portico, CLOCKSS
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
- 3.92LetPub ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.5LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.97LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.78LetPub ·
- h-index
- 26LetPub ·
- h-index
- 63OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 331OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.5OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 7.5%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 81LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2024
- 360,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 734 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 78 | 78 | 43 |
| 2025 | 85 | 85 | 380 |
| 2024 | 43 | 43 | 299 |
| 2023 | 26 | 26 | 371 |
| 2022 | 19 | 19 | 472 |
| 2021 | 36 | 36 | 989 |
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
79 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 63 days – 129 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 19 days (101 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 107 days
- Sample
- 101 articles with submission and acceptance dates (172 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 20 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 30 daysPublisher website ·
- Peer review
- Anonymous 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 2,490 / EUR 2,090 / GBP 1,890 | — | — | |
| LetPub | GBP 1,890 / USD 2,490 / EUR 2,090 | 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 prepare5 items from the author guidelines
- Reference style
- Author–date
- Templates
- LaTeX and Word
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
- Highlights
- Optional
- Graphical abstract
- Optional
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteData availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review
- Data availability Formatting the 'Availability of data and materials' section of your manuscript
The following format for the 'Availability of data and materials section of your manuscript should be used:
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Licensing and copyright
Open access under CC BY licence Model summary
Creative Commons licences Open access articles in Springer Nature journals are published under Creative Commons licences. These provide an industry-standard framework to support easy re-use of open access material. Under Creative Commons licences, authors retain copyright of their articles. IMA Fungus articles are published open access under a CC BY licence (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Intern…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Benefits of open access
Publishing open access (OA) offers a number of benefits, including greater reach and readership for your work: Cited more 1.6x more citations of OA articles than non-OA articles across all subjects Downloaded more 4x more downloads of OA articles than non-OA articles Greater impact 2.5x more Altmetric attention. OA articles attracted 1.9x more news mentions and 1.2x more policy mentions Open acces…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
Peer review is the process used to evaluate the quality of a manuscript before publication. Independent researchers in the relevant field assess submitted manuscripts to check their validity and robustness. Their feedback guides editors in making publication decisions.Typically, two or more experts evaluate each manuscript based on three main criteria: scientific robustness: is the research method…
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
- BioMed Central
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- Founded
- 2010
- ISSN
- 2210-6340
- Electronic ISSN
- 2210-6359
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- Peer review process ↗LetPub
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about IMA Fungus
What CAS zone is IMA Fungus in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, IMA Fungus is in Zone 1 of Biology, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Mycology; it is a Top journal. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 1 of Biology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of IMA Fungus?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 3.92; CiteScore 5.5, h-index 63.
How long does peer review take at IMA Fungus?
Based on the dates recorded on 101 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 79 days (interquartile range 63–129 days); authors report an average review time of about 20 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 IMA Fungus?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Reference style: Author–date; Templates: LaTeX and Word; Suggested reviewers: Optional; Highlights: Optional; Graphical abstract: 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.
Where are the editorial board members of IMA Fungus based?
Of the 3 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (1), United Kingdom (1) and South Africa (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index IMA Fungus?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, IMA Fungus is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists CAB Abstracts; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is IMA Fungus open access, and what is the APC?
IMA Fungus is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 2,490.
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: .