Journal profile · Agricultural and Biological Sciences-Agronomy and Crop Science
Rice Science
ISSN 1672-6308 · eISSN 1876-4762 · Elsevier · China
Rice Science: CAS Zone 2 · Agricultural & Forestry Sciences (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 7.12; diamond open access (no APC); no APC; review about 40 weeks (community reports); 84 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Rice Science is published by Elsevier 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 Rice Cultivation and Yield Improvement, GABA and Rice Research and Genetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and Animals, together about 42.7% of its articles. Its main subfields are Plant Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Journal sponsored by the China National Rice Research Institute Peer review under responsibility of China National Rice Research Institute Rice Science is an international peer-reviewed bimonthly journal sponsored by China National Rice Research Institute, Hangzhou, China and hosting by the Elsevier BV. It aims to provide a forum of important advances in rice research, to strengthen the communication of the rice scientists between China and other countries, and to contribute more for the food security in the world. Rice Science publishes high-quality, original research articles, reviews, technical reports, and letters in the field of rice science. The topics covered include but are not limited to: breeding and genetics, molecular biology, biotechnology, germplasm resources, agronomy, plant physiology, pest management, soil and fertilizer management, ecology, cereal chemistry and post-harvest processing. The full texts of Rice Science are available online at http://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/rice-science or http://www.ricescience.org.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Agricultural and Biological Sciences-Agronomy and Crop Science
Editor-in-chief Pei-Song Hu ChinaPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 22 in mainland China (about 55%); most named Mainland China 22, United States 6, Japan 2, Australia 2, Philippines 2 (40 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Rice Cultivation and Yield ImprovementAgricultural and Biological Sciences18%
- GABA and Rice ResearchAgricultural and Biological Sciences13.4%
- Genetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and AnimalsBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology11.3%
- Plant Stress Responses and ToleranceAgricultural and Biological Sciences6.8%
- Plant responses to water stressAgricultural and Biological Sciences6%
- Plant Molecular Biology ResearchAgricultural and Biological Sciences4.7%
- Plant-Microbe Interactions and ImmunityAgricultural and Biological Sciences3.8%
- Plant Disease Resistance and GeneticsAgricultural and Biological Sciences3.5%
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 | Agronomy | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Plant Sciences | Zone 2 |
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 | Agronomy | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Plant Sciences | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview 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 | Agronomy | 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
- 7.12LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 7.4Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 12.4LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 12.4Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.31LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.85LetPub ·
- h-index
- 18LetPub ·
- h-index
- 76OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 564OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.93OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 5.4%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 49LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,086 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 76 | 76 | 10 |
| 2025 | 84 | 84 | 165 |
| 2024 | 64 | 64 | 482 |
| 2023 | 87 | 87 | 1,560 |
| 2022 | 55 | 55 | 1,502 |
| 2021 | 51 | 51 | 1,568 |
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 40 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 40 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Double 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
Diamond open access (no APC)DOAJ
Every article is open access and authors pay no article processing charge.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | No APC | No | CC BY, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| LetPub | No APC | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
Other charges and waivers (author guidelines)
- Other fees
- Charged; see the journal's website for the amount
- Submission fee
- Charged; see the journal's website for the amount
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 prepare5 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 350 words
- Keywords
- ≥ 3
- Reference style
- Author–date
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted4
- lettersRice Science publishes high-quality, original research articles, reviews, technical reports, and letters in the field of rice science.Length not stated
- original research articlesRice Science publishes high-quality, original research articles, reviews, technical reports, and letters in the field of rice science.Length not stated
- reviewsRice Science publishes high-quality, original research articles, reviews, technical reports, and letters in the field of rice science.Length not stated
- technical reportsRice Science publishes high-quality, original research articles, reviews, technical reports, and letters in the field of rice science.Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteConflicts of interest, Data availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Plagiarism
- Conflicts of interest 1.5 Conflict of Interest
Conflict of interest: all potential conflicts must be disclosed in cover letter and acknowledged in manuscript. Model summary
Authors must declare any financial or personal relationships that could be perceived as influencing the research. All potential conflicts of interest must be disclosed in the cover letter and acknowledged in the manuscript.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability 5.1 Data Availability
Data availability: primary data must be available; shared in public repositories where possible with access details in Methods. Model summary
Authors must ensure that all primary data supporting the conclusions of the manuscript are available. Data should be shared in public repositories where possible, and access details must be provided in the Methods section.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright 1.4 Copyright and License
Authors must transfer copyright to the publisher upon acceptance. Authors are also required to sign a copyright transfer agreement before the article is published.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access 7.2 Open Access
Authors may choose the open-access publication option, which will allow the article to be freely available to the public immediately upon publication. Additional fees will apply for open access.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review 4.1 Peer Review
All submitted manuscripts will undergo a peer review process. Typically, two to three reviewers will assess each manuscript. The peer review process usually takes 4 weeks, and authors will be notified of the editorial decision afterward.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Plagiarism
Originality: manuscript must be original, not previously published, and not under consideration elsewhere. Model summary
The manuscript must be original, not previously published, and not currently under consideration elsewhere. By submitting a manuscript, authors confirm that the work has not been published or simultaneously submitted for publication elsewhere.
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
- Elsevier
- Country or region
- China
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1672-6308
- Electronic ISSN
- 1876-4762
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗DOAJ
- Aims & Scope ↗DOAJ
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗DOAJ
- Editorial board ↗DOAJ
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Rice Science
What CAS zone is Rice Science in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Rice Science is in Zone 2 of Agricultural & Forestry Sciences, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Agronomy / Plant 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 Rice Science?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 7.12; CiteScore 12.4, h-index 76.
How long does peer review take at Rice Science?
Authors report an average review time of about 40 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 Rice Science?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 350 words; Keywords: ≥ 3; Reference style: Author–date; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; Cover letter: Required. 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 Rice Science based?
Of the 40 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 22 (about 55%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Mainland China (22), United States (6) and Japan (2). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Rice Science?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Rice Science is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Rice Science open access, and what is the APC?
Rice Science is a diamond open-access journal (no APC). It charges no article processing charge.
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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .