Journal profile · Forestry
Journal of Vegetation Science
ISSN 1100-9233 · eISSN 1654-1103 · Wiley-Blackwell · SWEDEN · Bimonthly · Founded 1990
Journal of Vegetation Science: CAS Zone 3 · Environmental Science & Ecology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 3.2; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,600; median 254 days to acceptance (102 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: fairly easy; 107 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Journal of Vegetation Science is published by Wiley-Blackwell and is in Zone 3 of Environmental Science & Ecology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies, Plant and animal studies and Botany and Plant Ecology Studies, together about 47.5% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The Journal of Vegetation Science publishes articles on all aspects of plant community ecology and the macroecology and biogeography of vegetation and regional floras, with particular emphasis on papers that develop new concepts or methods, test theory, identify general patterns, or that are otherwise likely to interest a broad international readership. Papers may focus on any aspect of vegetation science, e.g. community structure (including community assembly and plant functional types), biodiversity (including species richness and composition), spatial patterns (including plant geography and landscape ecology), temporal changes (including demography, community dynamics and palaeoecology) and processes (including ecophysiology), provided the focus is on increasing our understanding of plant communities. The Journal publishes papers on the ecology of a single species only if it plays a key role in structuring plant communities. Papers that apply ecological concepts, theories and methods to the vegetation management, conservation and restoration should be directed to our associate journal, Applied Vegetation Science (AVS). Papers on vegetation classification should be directed to the IAVS journal Vegetation Classification and Survey (VCS), while papers on vegetation survey may be directed to either AVS or VCS.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Forestry
Editor-in-chief Valério De Patta PillarPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 4 in mainland China (about 4%); most named Germany 11, United States 10, Italy 10, Spain 7, Brazil 7 (89 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics StudiesEnvironmental Science30.2%
- Plant and animal studiesAgricultural and Biological Sciences9%
- Botany and Plant Ecology StudiesAgricultural and Biological Sciences8.3%
- Species Distribution and Climate ChangeEnvironmental Science5.7%
- Rangeland and Wildlife ManagementEnvironmental Science4.9%
- Forest ecology and managementEnvironmental Science4.4%
- Fire effects on ecosystemsEnvironmental Science4.2%
- Plant Water Relations and Carbon DynamicsEnvironmental Science3.1%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Environmental Science & Ecology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Environmental Science & Ecology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Forestry | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Plant Sciences | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Ecology | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Environmental Science & Ecology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Environmental Science & Ecology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Plant Sciences | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Ecology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Forestry | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Environmental Science & Ecology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Environmental Science & Ecology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Forestry | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Plant Sciences | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Ecology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Web of ScienceCAB AbstractsCurrent ContentsPublisher website
Other: EBSCO
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
- 3.2LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 3.3Publisher website ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 3.3Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 3.9LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 3.9Publisher website ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 3.9Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.06LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.19LetPub ·
- h-index
- 106LetPub ·
- h-index
- 185OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 3,485OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.91OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 9.1%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 52.89%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 97LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher) 2025
- 99Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 280,708Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 4,870 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 77 | 53 | 17 |
| 2025 | 107 | 84 | 174 |
| 2024 | 105 | 77 | 649 |
| 2023 | 55 | 37 | 437 |
| 2022 | 71 | 34 | 873 |
| 2021 | 133 | 71 | 1,947 |
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
254 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 179 days – 336 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 24 days (103 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 278 days
- Sample
- 102 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 2 monthsLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly easyLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 30%Publisher website ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher) 2025
- 30%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 22 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 22 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance 2025
- 232 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 25 daysPublisher website ·
- Peer review
- Double anonymous peer reviewPublisher website
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.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAlex | USD 3,600 / EUR 3,000 / GBP 2,400 | — | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
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)
What to prepare7 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 300 words
- Keywords
- ≥ 8
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 8,000 words
- Reference style
- Chicago
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Graphical abstract
- Required
- Cover letter
- Optional
Article types accepted9
- case studyArticle Types Research Article. This category includes descriptions of vegetation patterns or processes, experiments, simulations, theories, or any combination …Length not stated
- commentaryArticle Types Research Article. This category includes descriptions of vegetation patterns or processes, experiments, simulations, theories, or any combination …Length not stated
- forumForum. Forum articles are essays with original ideas, speculations or well-reasoned arguments.Length not stated
- letterArticle Types Research Article. This category includes descriptions of vegetation patterns or processes, experiments, simulations, theories, or any combination …Length not stated
- methodological articleMethodological Article. These articles describe (1) newly developed methods of vegetation sampling or analysis; (2) tests of the performance of traditional or n…Length not stated
- reportReport. This article type may contain information about new tools, databases, vegetation science software or research initiatives.Length not stated
- research articleArticle Types Research Article. This category includes descriptions of vegetation patterns or processes, experiments, simulations, theories, or any combination …Length not stated
- reviewArticle Types Research Article. This category includes descriptions of vegetation patterns or processes, experiments, simulations, theories, or any combination …Length not stated
- synthesisSynthesis. Reviews of a topic that produce new ideas or conclusions (and are not merely summaries of previous literature) can be published as Syntheses, which m…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, Publication ethics, Peer review, Plagiarism
- Authorship Author contributions
In multi-author papers, the authors are encouraged to specify the contributions of individual authors in a concise statement, e.g.: A.B. conceived of the research idea; C.D. and E.F. collected data; A.B. and G.H. performed statistical analyses; A.B., with contributions from C.D. and G.H., wrote the paper; all authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Conflict of Interest
Conflict of interest statement required Model summary
Authors will be asked to provide a conflict of interest statement during the submission process. Submitting authors should ensure they liaise with all co-authors to confirm agreement with the final statement. Any interest or relationship, financial or other that might be perceived as influencing an author's objectivity is considered a potential source of conflict of interest. These must be disclos…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data availability statement
Data availability statement required Model summary
You must include a data availability statement with your submission.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics 5. EDITORIAL POLICIES AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Manuscript Acceptance Criteria The acceptance criteria for all papers are the quality and originality of the research and its significance to journal readers. To be acceptable, a paper must be of interest to an international readership, even if its immediate scope is local. A paper can be interesting by doing one or more of the following things: Developing new concepts in understanding vegetation;…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer Review
Double-anonymized peer review Model summary
This journal operates a double-anonymized peer review policy. Authors are responsible for anonymizing their manuscript to remain anonymous to the reviewers throughout the peer review process. Please note that if authors share their manuscript in preprint form, this may compromise their anonymity during peer review.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Plagiarism
Original work only Model summary
Authors should kindly note that submission implies that the content has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere except as a brief abstract in the proceedings of a scientific meeting or symposium.
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
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Country or region
- SWEDEN
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Bimonthly
- Founded
- 1990
- ISSN
- 1100-9233
- Electronic ISSN
- 1654-1103
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Journal of Vegetation Science
What CAS zone is Journal of Vegetation Science in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Journal of Vegetation Science is in Zone 3 of Environmental Science & Ecology, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Forestry / Plant Sciences / Ecology. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Environmental Science & Ecology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Journal of Vegetation Science?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 3.2; CiteScore 3.9, h-index 185.
How long does peer review take at Journal of Vegetation Science?
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 254 days (interquartile range 179–336 days); authors report an average review time of about 2 months; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly easy”; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 30% (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.
What are the manuscript requirements of Journal of Vegetation Science?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 300 words; Keywords: ≥ 8; Manuscript length: ≤ 8,000 words; Reference style: Chicago; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; Graphical abstract: Required; 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.
Where are the editorial board members of Journal of Vegetation Science based?
Of the 89 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 4 (about 4%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Germany (11), United States (10) and Italy (10). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Journal of Vegetation Science?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Journal of Vegetation Science is indexed in SCIE and Scopus. The journal's website also lists Web of Science, CAB Abstracts and Current Contents; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Journal of Vegetation Science open access, and what is the APC?
Journal of Vegetation Science is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,600.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, OpenAlex; 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: .