Journal profile · Ecology
Population Ecology
ISSN 1438-3896 · eISSN 1438-390X · Springer Japan · JAPAN · Tri-annual · Founded 1952
Population Ecology: CAS Zone 4 · Environmental Science & Ecology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.51; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,000; median 149 days to acceptance (39 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: fairly easy; 38 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Population Ecology is published by Springer Japan and is in Zone 4 of Environmental Science & Ecology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Plant and animal studies, Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies and Insect-Plant Interactions and Control, together about 38.2% of its articles. Its main subfields are Ecology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Population Ecology, formerly known as Researches on Population Ecology launched in Dec 1952, is the official journal of the Society of Population Ecology. Population Ecology publishes original research articles and reviews (including invited reviews) on various aspects of population ecology, from the individual to the community level. Among the specific fields included are population dynamics and distribution, evolutionary ecology, ecological genetics, theoretical models, conservation biology, agroecosystem studies, and bioresource management. Manuscripts should contain new results of empirical and/or theoretical investigations concerning facts, patterns, processes, mechanisms or concepts of population ecology; those purely descriptive in nature are not suitable for this journal. All manuscripts are reviewed anonymously by two or more referees, and the final editorial decision is made by the Chief Editor or an Associate Editor based on the referees' evaluations.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Ecology
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Plant and animal studiesAgricultural and Biological Sciences16.4%
- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics StudiesEnvironmental Science12.2%
- Insect-Plant Interactions and ControlAgricultural and Biological Sciences9.7%
- Animal Ecology and Behavior StudiesEnvironmental Science8%
- Wildlife Ecology and ConservationEnvironmental Science7.1%
- Insect and Arachnid Ecology and BehaviorBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.4%
- Animal Behavior and ReproductionAgricultural and Biological Sciences4.1%
- Forest Insect Ecology and ManagementEnvironmental Science3.6%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Environmental Science & Ecology Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Environmental Science & Ecology | Zone 4 |
| 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 | Ecology | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Environmental Science & Ecology Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Environmental Science & Ecology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Ecology | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
CAB AbstractsCurrent ContentsPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, EBSCO, ProQuest, CNKI, AGRICOLA, OCLC
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
- 1.51LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 1.6Publisher website ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 1.6Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 2.7LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 2.7Publisher website ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 2.7Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.45LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.66LetPub ·
- h-index
- 54LetPub ·
- h-index
- 93OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,271OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0.86OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 18.8%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 58.73%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 22LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher) 2025
- 25Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 65,545Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 2,349 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 19 | 7 | 3 |
| 2025 | 38 | 23 | 27 |
| 2024 | 34 | 17 | 48 |
| 2023 | 33 | 24 | 94 |
| 2022 | 43 | 17 | 166 |
| 2021 | 36 | 13 | 232 |
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
149 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 105 days – 254 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 32 days (39 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 186 days
- Sample
- 39 articles with submission and acceptance dates (57 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)
- 18–36 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly easyLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 36%Publisher website ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher) 2025
- 36%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 35 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 35 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance 2025
- 146 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 27 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 3,000 / EUR 2,500 / GBP 2,000 | — | — | |
| 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 prepare4 items from the author guidelines
- Keywords
- 5
- Reference style
- Chicago
- Graphical abstract
- Optional
- Cover letter
- Optional
Article types accepted6
- editorialThe acceptance criteria for all papers are the quality and originality of the research and its significance to journal readership. Except where otherwise stated…Length not stated
- forum(4) Forum No word limit. Description. a) discussions on new concepts, analyses and data that are significant for population ecology, or b) a short review or a r…Length not stated
- notes and insights(3) Notes and Insights Word limit. Up to 4000 words excluding references Description. a) brief notes on both empirical and theoretical investigations, or b) com…Length not stated
- original article(1) Original Article No word limit. Description. New research findings or conceptual analyses that make a significant contribution to knowledgeLength not stated
- perspective(5) Perspective [By invitation or after proposal outline] No word limit. Description: Perspective expresses new points of view, emerging frameworks, and interpr…Length not stated
- review article(2) Review Article No word limit.Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, Publication ethics, Plagiarism, Preprints
- Authorship Authorship
The list of authors should accurately illustrate who contributed to the work and how. All those listed as authors should qualify for authorship according to the following criteria:
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Conflict of Interest
The journal requires that all authors disclose any potential sources of conflict of interest. Any interest or relationship, financial or otherwise that might be perceived as influencing an author's objectivity is considered a potential source of conflict of interest. These must be disclosed when directly relevant or directly related to the work that the authors describe in their manuscript. Potent…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability
Data sharing encouraged, not mandatory Model summary
Population Ecology encourages data sharing wherever possible, unless this is prevented by ethical, privacy, or confidentiality matters. Authors publishing in the journal are therefore encouraged to make their data, scripts, and other artefacts used to generate the analyses presented in the paper available via a publicly available data repository; however, this is not mandatory.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics Publication Ethics
COPE member Model summary
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Note this journal uses iThenticate’s Similarity Check software to detect instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts. Read the Top 10 Publishing Ethics Tips for Authors here. Wiley’s Publication Ethics Guidelines can be found at authorservices.wiley.com/ethics-guidelines/index.html.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Plagiarism
iThenticate Similarity Check Model summary
Note this journal uses iThenticate’s Similarity Check software to detect instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
Preprints allowed Model summary
Population Ecology will consider for review articles previously available as preprints. Authors may also post the submitted version of a manuscript to a server at any time. Authors are requested to update any pre-publication versions with a link to the final published article.
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
- Springer Japan
- Country or region
- JAPAN
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Tri-annual
- Founded
- 1952
- ISSN
- 1438-3896
- Electronic ISSN
- 1438-390X
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Population Ecology
What CAS zone is Population Ecology in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Population Ecology is in Zone 4 of Environmental Science & Ecology, and in Zone 4 of the minor category 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 Population Ecology?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 1.51; CiteScore 2.7, h-index 93.
How long does peer review take at Population Ecology?
Based on the dates recorded on 39 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 149 days (interquartile range 105–254 days); authors report an average review time of 18–36 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly easy”; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 36% (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 Population Ecology?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Keywords: 5; Reference style: Chicago; Graphical abstract: Optional; 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.
Which databases index Population Ecology?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Population Ecology is indexed in SCIE and Scopus. The journal's website also lists CAB Abstracts and Current Contents; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Population Ecology open access, and what is the APC?
Population Ecology is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,000.
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: .