Journal profile · ZOOLOGY
Vertebrate Zoology
ISSN 1864-5755 · eISSN 2625-8498 · Museum of Zoology Dresden · GERMANY
Vertebrate Zoology: CAS Zone 2 · Biology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 3.25; diamond open access (no APC); no APC; review over 12 weeks (community reports); community-reported acceptance: easy; 24 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Vertebrate Zoology is published by Museum of Zoology Dresden and is in Zone 2 of Biology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Amphibian and Reptile Biology, Fish Biology and Ecology Studies and Fish biology, ecology, and behavior, together about 38.1% of its articles. Its main subfields are Nature and Landscape Conservation. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Vertebrate Zoology (formerly Zoologische Abhandlungen) is a scientific journal published by the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung. The journal is published online according to the Creative Commons Licence. Only manuscripts in English language are considered for publication.Research fields covered by Vertebrate Zoology are taxonomy, morphology, anatomy, phylogeny (molecular and morphology-based), historical biogeography, and palaeontology of vertebrates. Original contributions as well as reviews are welcome. Descriptions of new taxa should be integrated into a proper context (e.g. complete revision of a taxon, phylogenetic or biogeographical framework). Studied specimens have to be deposited in a public scientific collection to allow re-examination and reproducibility of results. We no longer consider single species descriptions unless they are part of a comprehensive framework of broader taxonomic revisions or concern taxa of exceptional and wider interest.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): ZOOLOGY
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named Germany 5, United Kingdom 1 (6 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Amphibian and Reptile BiologyEnvironmental Science15.8%
- Fish Biology and Ecology StudiesAgricultural and Biological Sciences11.7%
- Fish biology, ecology, and behaviorEnvironmental Science10.6%
- Species Distribution and Climate ChangeEnvironmental Science6.7%
- Bat Biology and Ecology StudiesAgricultural and Biological Sciences6.2%
- Ichthyology and Marine BiologyEnvironmental Science6%
- Fish Ecology and Management StudiesEnvironmental Science5.9%
- Evolution and Paleontology StudiesEarth and Planetary Sciences5.2%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Biology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Zoology | Zone 1 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Biology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Zoology | Zone 1 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Biology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Zoology | Zone 2 |
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
- 3.25LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 3.2Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.7LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 5.7Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.14LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.98LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher)
- 1.98Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 12LetPub ·
- h-index
- 25OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 143OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.05OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 6.2%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 98.02%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 24LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 516 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 28 | 28 | 11 |
| 2025 | 24 | 24 | 47 |
| 2024 | 33 | 33 | 201 |
| 2023 | 44 | 44 | 369 |
| 2022 | 50 | 50 | 418 |
| 2021 | 45 | 45 | 497 |
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)
- over 12 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- EasyLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 12 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Single 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 | |
| Publisher website | No APC | — | — |
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
Vertebrate Zoology does explicitly not offer the option to publish submitted manuscripts as preprints.
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
- Museum of Zoology Dresden
- Country or region
- GERMANY
- Language
- Multi-Language
- ISSN
- 1864-5755
- Electronic ISSN
- 2625-8498
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Author guidelines ↗DOAJ
- Aims & Scope ↗DOAJ
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- 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 Vertebrate Zoology
What CAS zone is Vertebrate Zoology in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Vertebrate Zoology is in Zone 2 of Biology, and in Zone 1 of the minor category Zoology. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Biology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Vertebrate Zoology?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 3.25; CiteScore 5.7, h-index 25.
How long does peer review take at Vertebrate Zoology?
Authors report an average review time of over 12 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Easy”. 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 Vertebrate Zoology based?
Of the 6 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Germany (5) and United Kingdom (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Vertebrate Zoology?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Vertebrate Zoology is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Vertebrate Zoology open access, and what is the APC?
Vertebrate Zoology 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: .