Journal profile · PLANT SCIENCES
JOURNAL OF APPLIED BOTANY AND FOOD QUALITY
ISSN 1439-040X · Liddy Halm · GERMANY
JOURNAL OF APPLIED BOTANY AND FOOD QUALITY: CAS Zone 4 · Biology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 0.76; fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; review about 20 weeks (community reports); 50 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
JOURNAL OF APPLIED BOTANY AND FOOD QUALITY is published by Liddy Halm 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 Physiology and Cultivation Studies, Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Activities and Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management, together about 26.7% of its articles. Its main subfields are Plant Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The Journal of Applied Botany and Food Quality (JABFQ) is an international open access journal dedicated to applied research in botany and plant food quality. The aim of the journal is to provide a platform for scientists to disseminate recent results of applied plant research in the fields of e.g. plant physiology and plant ecology, plant biotechnology, plant breeding and cultivation, phytomedicine, plant nutrition, plant stress and resistance, plant microbiology, plant analysis (including -omics techniques), and plant food chemistry. Within these fields, manuscripts are expected to have a clear focus on botanical and plant quality aspects and to contain new and innovative information based on state-of-the-art methodologies.Authors should clearly state and evaluate their specific research hypotheses and place their results into a conceptual framework. Research results must have general applications, should not be of a pure corroborative nature and should not be of only local significance. Novelty and significance of the work should be adequately discussed by the authors. JABFQ will publish articles on the application of a standard method on a new species or cultivar only, if the results are critically evaluated and put into context to already published studies. Contributions which emphasize pure agronomic research related to the fields above and which describe food processing technologies or research on medical plants with a focus on pharmaceutical rather than on botanical aspects are unsuitable for publication.Accepted papers will be published online after typesetting usually 6 to 8 weeks after acceptance and are freely accessible for everyone. JABFQ publishes original articles and reviews.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): PLANT SCIENCES
Editor-in-chief Jutta PapenbrockPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named Germany 13 (13 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Plant Physiology and Cultivation StudiesAgricultural and Biological Sciences10.6%
- Phytochemicals and Antioxidant ActivitiesMedicine8.6%
- Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life ManagementAgricultural and Biological Sciences7.5%
- Horticultural and Viticultural ResearchAgricultural and Biological Sciences6.2%
- Plant Pathogens and Fungal DiseasesBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology6.1%
- Plant Stress Responses and ToleranceAgricultural and Biological Sciences5.9%
- Essential Oils and Antimicrobial ActivityAgricultural and Biological Sciences5.6%
- Plant tissue culture and regenerationBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology3.9%
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 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Plant Sciences | Zone 4 |
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 4 |
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
- 0.76LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 0.8Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 1.7LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.21LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.38LetPub ·
- h-index
- 31LetPub ·
- h-index
- 43OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 307OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.08OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 12.5%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 0%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 18LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 941 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| 2025 | 50 | 50 | 224 |
| 2024 | 21 | 21 | 7 |
| 2023 | 22 | 22 | 19 |
| 2022 | 18 | 18 | 38 |
| 2021 | 30 | 30 | 97 |
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 20 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 20 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 | EUR 400 | Yes | CC BY | |
| LetPub | EUR 400 | 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
- Abstract
- ≤ 200 words
- Reference style
- Author–date
- Suggested reviewers
- Required, 3
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteConflicts of interest, Data availability, Peer review
- Conflicts of interest
Conflict of interest statement required after acknowledgements. Model summary
After the Acknowledgements, a paragraph ‘Conflict of interest’ must be included. If there are no conflicts, the sentence “No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.” is added.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability 3. Data availability and deposition
Data deposition in a public repository strongly recommended. Model summary
An inherent principle of publication is that others should be able to replicate and build upon the authors' published claims. JABFQ strongly recommends authors to deposit all data and related metadata underlying the findings reported in a submitted manuscript in an appropriate public repository. The repository may be either general (e.g. Dryad, Zenodo) or subject-specific. JABFQ works close togeth…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review
Mandatory letter to the editor with experimental plan, novelty statement, and at least three reviewer suggestions. Model summary
The authors have to submit a short letter to the editorA along with their manuscript. This should contain a short outline of the experimental plan, a statement on the novelty of the work and suggestions for at least three reviewers.
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
- Liddy Halm
- Country or region
- GERMANY
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1439-040X
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- 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 JOURNAL OF APPLIED BOTANY AND FOOD QUALITY
What CAS zone is JOURNAL OF APPLIED BOTANY AND FOOD QUALITY in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, JOURNAL OF APPLIED BOTANY AND FOOD QUALITY 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 4 of Biology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of JOURNAL OF APPLIED BOTANY AND FOOD QUALITY?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 0.76; CiteScore 1.7, h-index 43.
How long does peer review take at JOURNAL OF APPLIED BOTANY AND FOOD QUALITY?
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 JOURNAL OF APPLIED BOTANY AND FOOD QUALITY?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 200 words; Reference style: Author–date; Suggested reviewers: Required, 3. 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 JOURNAL OF APPLIED BOTANY AND FOOD QUALITY based?
Of the 13 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Germany (13). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index JOURNAL OF APPLIED BOTANY AND FOOD QUALITY?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, JOURNAL OF APPLIED BOTANY AND FOOD QUALITY is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is JOURNAL OF APPLIED BOTANY AND FOOD QUALITY open access, and what is the APC?
JOURNAL OF APPLIED BOTANY AND FOOD QUALITY 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: .