Journal profile · PLANT SCIENCES
PhytoKeys
ISSN 1314-2011 · eISSN 1314-2003 · Pensoft Publishers · BULGARIA
PhytoKeys: CAS Zone 3 · Biology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.55; fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; median 73 days to acceptance (108 articles, last 24 months); 269 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
PhytoKeys is published by Pensoft Publishers and is in Zone 3 of Biology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Plant Diversity and Evolution, Plant and Fungal Species Descriptions and Plant and animal studies, together about 59% of its articles. Its main subfields are Plant Science and Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
PhytoKeys is a peer-reviewed, open-access, rapidly disseminated journal launched to accelerate research and free information exchange in taxonomy, phylogeny, biogeography and evolution of plants.PhytoKeys aims to apply the latest trends and methodologies in publishing and preservation of digital materials to meet the highest possible standards of the cybertaxonomy era.PhytoKeys will publish papers in systematic botany containing taxonomic/floristic data on any taxon of any geological age from any part of the world with no limit to manuscript size.PhytoKeys will consider for publishing works on the following topics:descriptions of new taxa, if they are accompanied with proper diagnoses, keys and/or distinction from close relatives or similar taxataxonomic revisions of extant (or ''recent'') and fossil plant groupschecklists and cataloguesphylogenetic and evolutionary analysespapers in descriptive and/or historical biogeographymethodology papersdata mining and literature surveysmonographs, conspecti, atlasescollections of papers, Festschrift volumes, conference proceedingsExtensive floristic overviews on a group in a country or larger region are welcome. Short floristic contributions may be considered if they are based on significant or unexpected discovery. Regular floristic contributions may eventually be published in special issues devoted to a region/country.The following categories of papers will be considered:original research articlesreviews - longer articles, offering a comprehensive overview, historical analysis or/and future perspectives of a topicmonographs and collections of papers with no limit in size, published as 'special issues'data papersshort communicationsletters and discussion papersbook reviewsThe journal publishes electronic versions of the articles when these are ready to publish, without delays that might be caused by completion of an issue. These electronic versions are not "pre-prints" but final and immutable (Version of Record), hence available for the purposes of biological nomenclature. The date indicated on the electronic version is to be considered the actual publication date.ISBN numbers will be assigned to large monographic papers (i.e., major revisions of taxa, min 100 pp), collections of papers, Festschrift volumes, atlases, checklists, conspecti.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): PLANT SCIENCES
Editor-in-chief Smithsonian Institution WashingtonPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 1 in mainland China (about 25%); most named United States 2, Mainland China 1, United Kingdom 1 (4 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Plant Diversity and EvolutionAgricultural and Biological Sciences25.8%
- Plant and Fungal Species DescriptionsBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology20.5%
- Plant and animal studiesAgricultural and Biological Sciences12.7%
- Plant Parasitism and ResistanceAgricultural and Biological Sciences4.1%
- Plant Taxonomy and PhylogeneticsAgricultural and Biological Sciences4.1%
- Fern and Epiphyte BiologyAgricultural and Biological Sciences3.9%
- Botany, Ecology, and Taxonomy StudiesAgricultural and Biological Sciences3.5%
- Mediterranean and Iberian flora and faunaAgricultural and Biological Sciences2.5%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Biology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Plant Sciences | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Biology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Plant Sciences | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Biology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Plant Sciences | 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
- 1.55LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 1.6Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 2.8LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 2.8Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.55LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.28LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher)
- 1.28Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 12LetPub ·
- h-index
- 41OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 439OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.43OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 25%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 99.84%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 267LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 2,020Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 2,176 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 187 | 187 | 36 |
| 2025 | 269 | 269 | 271 |
| 2024 | 194 | 194 | 621 |
| 2023 | 179 | 179 | 702 |
| 2022 | 222 | 222 | 1,485 |
| 2021 | 157 | 157 | 827 |
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
73 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 52 days – 102 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 17 days (108 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 91 days
- Sample
- 108 articles with submission and acceptance dates (512 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 6 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 6 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Unspecified 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 780 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | EUR 700 | — | — | |
| LetPub | EUR 780 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | EUR 1,000 / EUR 100 / EUR 3,000 / EUR 5,000 | — | — |
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)
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Authorship, Conflicts of interest, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- AI use Use of AI
Authors must be transparent about the use of Artificial Intelligence tools such as ChatGPT and other large language models in the manuscript preparation, and disclose details of how the AI tool was used within the "Materials and Methods" section.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Authorship Authorship/Contributorship
Some journals are integrated with Contributor Role Taxonomy (CRediT), in order to recognise individual author input within a publication, thereby ensuring professional and ethical conduct, while avoiding authorship disputes, gift / ghost authorship and similar pressing issues in academic publishing. During manuscript submission, the submitting author is strongly recommended to specify a contributo…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Conflict of interest
During the editorial process, the following relationships between editors and authors are considered conflicts of interest: Colleagues currently working in the same research group or department, recent co-authors, and doctoral students for which the editor served as committee chair. During the submission process, the authors are kindly advised to identify possible conflicts of interest with the jo…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement
GeneralThe publishing ethics and malpractice policies follow the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (joint statement by COPE, DOAJ, WAME, and OASPA), the NISO Recommended Practices for the Presentation and Identification of E-Journals (PIE-J), and, where relevant, the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright License and Copyright Agreement
In submitting the manuscript to any of Pensoft’s journals, authors certify that: They are authorized by their co-authors to enter into these arrangements. The work described has not been published before (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review or thesis); it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; its publication has been approved by all author(s)…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open Access
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer Review
This journal uses a single-blind peer review process. This means that the names of reviewers are hidden from the authors (the author does not know the identity of the reviewer, but the reviewer knows the identity of the author). Notwithstanding that, the reviewers are encouraged to disclose their identities, if they wish to do so. Each article is reviewed by at least two independent experts, with …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
This journal allows posting preprints of the manuscripts submitted for peer-review. Authors are strongly encouraged to use the ARPHA Preprints server for that as an option available during the submission process, which will save a double effort in manuscript submission and allows the preprint to be directly linked to the published article and vice versa. Manuscripts that contain nomenclatural acts…
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
- Pensoft Publishers
- Country or region
- BULGARIA
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1314-2011
- Electronic ISSN
- 1314-2003
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Fee waivers ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗LetPub
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about PhytoKeys
What CAS zone is PhytoKeys in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, PhytoKeys is in Zone 3 of Biology, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Plant Sciences. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Biology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of PhytoKeys?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 1.55; CiteScore 2.8, h-index 41.
How long does peer review take at PhytoKeys?
Based on the dates recorded on 108 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 73 days (interquartile range 52–102 days); authors report an average review time of about 6 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.
Where are the editorial board members of PhytoKeys based?
Of the 4 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 1 (about 25%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (2), Mainland China (1) and United Kingdom (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index PhytoKeys?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, PhytoKeys is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is PhytoKeys open access, and what is the APC?
PhytoKeys 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: .