Journal profile · Environmental Sciences
LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT
ISSN 1085-3278 · eISSN 1099-145X · John Wiley and Sons Ltd · ENGLAND · Quarterly
LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT: CAS Zone 2 · Agricultural & Forestry Sciences (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 4; hybrid open access; APC about USD 5,230; median 153 days to acceptance (111 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: about 50%; 682 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT is published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd and is in Zone 2 of Agricultural & Forestry Sciences in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Soil erosion and sediment transport, Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics and Land Use and Ecosystem Services, together about 38.9% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Land Degradation & Development is an international journal which seeks to promote rational study of the recognition, monitoring, control and rehabilitation of degradation in terrestrial environments. The journal focuses on: what land degradation is; what causes land degradation; the impacts of land degradation the scale of land degradation; the history, current status or future trends of land degradation; avoidance, mitigation and control of land degradation; remedial actions to rehabilitate or restore degraded land; sustainable land management. Land degradation may be defined as the loss of utility or potential utility through the reduction of or damage to physical, social, cultural or economic features, and/or reduction of ecosystem diversity. There may be a single cause or a complex mix of causes, some may be biogeophysical ('natural'), some socioeconomic ('human') and it is quite possible that cause(s) will be indirect, perhaps cumulative and difficult to identify. A major challenge is to learn how interactions between development and environment can be better managed to increase prospects for ecologically and socially sustainable improvements to human well-being. Development means attempts to improve human well-being or environmental quality in rich and poor nations on a sustained basis (sustainable development). Climate change affects all processes that contribute to land degradation and development, both directly and indirectly. Off-site impacts are also strongly influenced by climate. Papers are invited on scientific, social, economic, political and historical aspects of terrestrial environmental degradation. Also welcome are analyses presenting forecasts of trends, case studies and discussion on management, planning and policy-making relating to the promotion of ecological sustainability and the counteraction of land degradation.In addition to original research papers, regional and thematic reviews, both invited and submitted, will be included, as will short communications, book reviews and applications of remote sensing and computer techniques. The members of the Editorial Board are drawn from a comprehensive range of disciplines and nationalities. Together with a strict refereeing procedure this will ensure Land Degradation & Development maintains a high standard and presents material from a wide range of disciplines, from interdisciplinary study and with an international coverage. Land Degradation & Development practices a non- politics/gender/
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Environmental Sciences
Editor-in-chief Vanessa WongPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 9 in mainland China (about 39%); most named Mainland China 9, United States 2, Germany 2, Belgium 2, United Kingdom 1 (23 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Soil erosion and sediment transportAgricultural and Biological Sciences16.1%
- Soil Carbon and Nitrogen DynamicsAgricultural and Biological Sciences13.7%
- Land Use and Ecosystem ServicesEnvironmental Science9.1%
- Rangeland Management and Livestock EcologyEnvironmental Science6.2%
- Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource ManagementEnvironmental Science4.9%
- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics StudiesEnvironmental Science4.6%
- Aeolian processes and effectsEarth and Planetary Sciences4.2%
- Hydrology and Watershed Management StudiesEnvironmental Science3.9%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Agricultural & Forestry Sciences Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Agricultural & Forestry Sciences | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Soil Science | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Environmental Sciences | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Agricultural & Forestry Sciences Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Agricultural & Forestry Sciences | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Environmental Sciences | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Soil Science | Zone 3 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Agricultural & Forestry Sciences Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Agricultural & Forestry Sciences | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Soil Science | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Environmental Sciences | 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
EI CompendexWeb of SciencePubMedINSPECCAB AbstractsCurrent ContentsPublisher website
Other: EBSCO, ProQuest, AGRICOLA
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
- 4LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 4Publisher website ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 4Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 7.3LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 7.3Publisher website ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 7.3Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.07LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.99LetPub ·
- h-index
- 68LetPub ·
- h-index
- 144OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 3,058OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.53OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 10%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 11.33%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 639LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher) 2025
- 641Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 581,805Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 6,036 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 524 | 211 | 170 |
| 2025 | 682 | 235 | 2,018 |
| 2024 | 453 | 216 | 3,662 |
| 2023 | 425 | 220 | 4,766 |
| 2022 | 436 | 62 | 7,366 |
| 2021 | 327 | 48 | 6,805 |
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
153 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 98 days – 238 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 13 days (111 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 171 days
- Sample
- 111 articles with submission and acceptance dates (1,333 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 3 monthsLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- 50%LetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 23%Publisher website ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher) 2025
- 23%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 21 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 21 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance 2025
- 140 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 13 daysPublisher website ·
- Peer review
- Single 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 5,230 / EUR 4,380 / GBP 3,470 | — | — |
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 prepare4 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 250 words
- Reference style
- APA
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Cover letter
- Optional
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, Publication ethics, Peer review, Preprints
- Authorship Authorship
On initial submission, the submitting author will be prompted to provide the email address and country for all contributing authors.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Conflict of Interest Statement
Authors will be asked to provide a conflict of interest statement during the submission process. For details on what to include in this section, see the ‘Conflict of Interest’ section in the Editorial Policies and Ethical Considerations section below. Submitting authors should ensure they liaise with all co-authors to confirm agreement with the final statement.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data Sharing and Data Accessibility
Data sharing policy Model summary
The journal expects authors to share the data and other artefacts supporting the results in the paper by archiving it in an appropriate public repository. Authors should include a data accessibility statement, including a link to the repository they have used, in order that this statement can be published alongside their paper.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics Publication Ethics Violations
COPE membership Model summary
Any individuals acting as authors, reviewers or editors, that are found to have published contributions in Land Degradation and Development that infringe upon copyright, patent or obligation of confidentiality, violate or infringe any property or personal rights, are in breach of generally accepted standards of publication ethics, violate professional standards of conduct, or contain any libellous…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer Review and Acceptance
Peer review type: single-anonymised Model summary
The acceptance criteria for all papers are the quality and originality of the research and its significance to journal readership. Manuscripts are single-anonymised peer reviewed. Papers will only be sent to review if the Editor-in-Chief determines that the paper meets the appropriate quality and relevance requirements.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprint your manuscript while it’s under review
Beginning in early 2020, Land Degradation and Development is participating in a pilot of the under review service, Wiley’s new initiative to streamline the early sharing of research and open up the peer review process. Authors can now opt to preprint their manuscript during the submission process and showcase their work to the global research community as a preprint, before it is accepted or publi…
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
- John Wiley and Sons Ltd
- Country or region
- ENGLAND
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Quarterly
- ISSN
- 1085-3278
- Electronic ISSN
- 1099-145X
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 37, Issue 15 (September 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT
What CAS zone is LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT is in Zone 2 of Agricultural & Forestry Sciences, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Soil Science / Environmental Sciences. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Agricultural & Forestry Sciences. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 4; CiteScore 7.3, h-index 144.
How long does peer review take at LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT?
Based on the dates recorded on 111 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 153 days (interquartile range 98–238 days); authors report an average review time of about 3 months; the community-reported acceptance is “about 50%”; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 23% (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 LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 250 words; Reference style: APA; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not 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 LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT based?
Of the 23 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 9 (about 39%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Mainland China (9), United States (2) and Germany (2). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT is indexed in SCIE and Scopus. The journal's website also lists EI Compendex, Web of Science, PubMed, INSPEC, CAB Abstracts and Current Contents; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT open access, and what is the APC?
LAND DEGRADATION & DEVELOPMENT is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 5,230.
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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .