Journal profile · Zoology
ZooKeys
ISSN 1313-2989 · eISSN 1313-2970 · Pensoft Publishers · BULGARIA · Irregular · Founded 2008
ZooKeys: CAS Zone 3 · Biology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.49; fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; median 89 days to acceptance (123 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: easy; 602 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
ZooKeys 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 Lepidoptera: Biology and Taxonomy, Plant and animal studies and Coleoptera Taxonomy and Distribution, together about 27.8% of its articles. Its main subfields are Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
ZooKeys is a peer-reviewed, open-access, rapidly disseminated journal launched to accelerate research and free information exchange in taxonomy, phylogeny, biogeography and evolution of animals. ZooKeys 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. ZooKeys publishes papers in systematic zoology containing taxonomic/faunistic data on any taxon of any geological age from any part of the world with no limit to manuscript size. To respond to the current trends in linking biodiversity information and synthesizing the knowledge through technology advancements, ZooKeys also publishes papers across other taxon-based disciplines, such as ecology, molecular biology, genomics, evolutionary biology, paleontology, behavioural science, bioinformatics, etc. ZooKeys will consider for publishing works on the following topics: descriptions of new taxa, if they are accomplished with proper diagnoses, keys and/or revision of at least at species group level taxonomic revisions of extant (or ''recent'') and fossil animal groups checklists and catalogues phylogenetic and evolutionary analyses papers in descriptive and/or historical biogeography methodology papers data mining and literature surveys monographs, conspecti, atlases with no size limit collections of papers, Festschrift volumes, conference proceedings reviews - longer articles, offering a comprehensive overview, historical analysis or/and future perspectives of a topic short communications letters and discussion papers book reviews ISBN numbers will be assigned to large monographic papers (i.e., major revisions of taxa, collections of papers, Festschrift volumes, atlases, checklists, conspecti). New species descriptions New species descriptions, be they single or multiple per manuscript, will be considered for peer review and publication preferably as part of a revision or review of a taxon. The subject editor will take a decision on forwarding such manuscripts for peer review on the basis of the criteria listed below combined with community-accepted best standards and practices used in the particular taxonomic group. Please consider the Criteria for new species descriptions in the Taxonomic Treatments section of the Author Guidelines before submission of your manuscript. Stand-alone single species descriptions will be considered in well-studied taxa, fossils or if they represent monotypic (monophyl
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Zoology
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United States 7, France 1, Australia 1, Switzerland 1 (10 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Lepidoptera: Biology and TaxonomyBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology11.4%
- Plant and animal studiesAgricultural and Biological Sciences8.5%
- Coleoptera Taxonomy and DistributionAgricultural and Biological Sciences8%
- Hymenoptera taxonomy and phylogenyAgricultural and Biological Sciences6.3%
- Marine Biology and Ecology ResearchEarth and Planetary Sciences5.4%
- Insect-Plant Interactions and ControlAgricultural and Biological Sciences5%
- Spider Taxonomy and Behavior StudiesBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.7%
- Fossil Insects in AmberAgricultural and Biological Sciences4.5%
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 | Zoology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Biology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Zoology | 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 | 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
- 1.49LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 1.5Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 2.5LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 2.5Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.65LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.17LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher)
- 1.17Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 35LetPub ·
- h-index
- 82OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 2,372OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.27OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 13.3%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 99.53%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 583LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 2,020Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 8,622 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 388 | 388 | 128 |
| 2025 | 602 | 602 | 576 |
| 2024 | 459 | 459 | 1,141 |
| 2023 | 480 | 480 | 1,936 |
| 2022 | 473 | 473 | 2,441 |
| 2021 | 481 | 481 | 3,171 |
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
89 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 65 days – 147 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 28 days (123 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 130 days
- Sample
- 123 articles with submission and acceptance dates (1,082 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)
- EasyLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 6 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
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
- Frequency
- Irregular
- Founded
- 2008
- ISSN
- 1313-2989
- Electronic ISSN
- 1313-2970
- 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 ZooKeys
What CAS zone is ZooKeys in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, ZooKeys is in Zone 3 of Biology, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Zoology. 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 ZooKeys?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 1.49; CiteScore 2.5, h-index 82.
How long does peer review take at ZooKeys?
Based on the dates recorded on 123 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 89 days (interquartile range 65–147 days); authors report an average review time of about 3 months; 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 ZooKeys based?
Of the 10 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (7), France (1) and Australia (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index ZooKeys?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, ZooKeys is indexed in SCIE, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is ZooKeys open access, and what is the APC?
ZooKeys 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 2026-08-24). Last updated: .