Journal profile · Zoology
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
ISSN 0024-4082 · eISSN 1096-3642 · Oxford University Press · ENGLAND · Monthly · Founded 1969
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society: CAS Zone 2 · Biology (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal); impact factor 2.87; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,541; review 6–12 weeks (community reports); community-reported acceptance: fairly easy; 199 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society is published by Oxford University Press and is in Zone 2 of Biology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Evolution and Paleontology Studies, Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology and Ichthyology and Marine Biology, together about 29.2% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society publishes papers on systematic and evolutionary zoology and comparative, functional and other studies where relevant to these areas. Studies of extinct as well as living animals are included. Reviews are also published; these may be invited by the Editorial Board, but uninvited reviews may also be considered. The Zoological Journal also has a wide circulation amongst zoologists and although narrowly specialized papers are not excluded, potential authors should bear that readership in mind. The Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society is published online-only. Why submit to a Society Journal The Linnean Society is committed to publishing high-quality and groundbreaking scientific research across the four themes of botany, zoology, biology and evolution. We strive to make the work published in our journals accessible and engaging to a global audience. Reinvesting in our Community As a not-for-profit organisation, we rely primarily on the income generated from our journals to fund our charitable endeavours and community engagement. Most notably, this includes our historical collections, extensive education and events programmes, and our prestigious medals, prizes and awards. Our mission is to cultivate a global community working for a world where nature is understood, valued and protected, and we are dedicated to achieving this through: Hosting regular natural history-focused events both in-person and online. Offering education workshops and resources to primary and secondary schools, as well as funding several grants across science and education. Recognising excellence in the study of natural history with our nine prestigious medals, prizes and awards. Maintaining and sharing our Arts Council England Designated collections, including those of renowned Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus, to attract researchers that continue the ground-breaking work begun in 1788. How we serve our authors We reinvest back into our journals through our expert Editorial Office, ensuring an expedited and high-quality peer review process. Additionally, we promote authors’ work and showcase the research we publish through blogs, online lectures, and in-person events in our historic building. We thank all those who support us in achieving our mission. Without our authors, Editors-in-Chief, Editorial Boards, reviewers and our Publishers; Oxford University Press, we would not be able to support our charitable work. Journal metrics Citation
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Zoology
Editor-in-chief Jeffrey StreicherPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United Kingdom 3, Brazil 3, United States 2, India 2, Italy 2 (23 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Evolution and Paleontology StudiesEarth and Planetary Sciences11.3%
- Paleontology and Evolutionary BiologyEarth and Planetary Sciences9.2%
- Ichthyology and Marine BiologyEnvironmental Science8.8%
- Marine Biology and Ecology ResearchEarth and Planetary Sciences8.6%
- Amphibian and Reptile BiologyEnvironmental Science6.9%
- Plant and animal studiesAgricultural and Biological Sciences4.2%
- Lepidoptera: Biology and TaxonomyBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology4.2%
- Fish biology, ecology, and behaviorEnvironmental Science4.1%
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: yesReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Biology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Zoology | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Biology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Biology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Zoology | Zone 1 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIEScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
EBSCO, ProQuest, OCLCPublisher website
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
- 2.87LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 11Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 3.1Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 5.3LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 5.3Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.99LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.65LetPub ·
- h-index
- 75LetPub ·
- h-index
- 131OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 2,987OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.5OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 3.3%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 23.9%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 190LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 384,666Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 5,506 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 143 | 62 | 52 |
| 2025 | 199 | 82 | 340 |
| 2024 | 196 | 159 | 953 |
| 2023 | 197 | 160 | 1,650 |
| 2022 | 98 | 88 | 1,180 |
| 2021 | 129 | 116 | 2,472 |
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
Too few articlesOnly 2 articles from the last 24 months carry both submission and acceptance dates, too few for a median
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)
- 6–12 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- Fairly easyLetPub ·
- Peer review
- Double 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 | GBP 2,685 | — | — |
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
- Abstract
- 100–200 words
- Keywords
- ≤ 10
- Reference style
- Chicago
- Not considered
- papers in numbered series; papers in languages other than English
Article types accepted3
- editorialEditorial Original Article Review Invited Review CommentLength not stated
- original articleEditorial Original Article Review Invited Review CommentLength not stated
- reviewEditorial Original Article Review Invited Review CommentLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Plagiarism, Preprints
- Authorship Authorship
Authorship is limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the design and execution of the work described. Any contributors whose participation does not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged but not listed as an author. For a detailed definition of authorship, please see the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) definitions of authors and cont…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Conflict of interest
Oxford University Press requires declaration of any conflict of interest upon submission online. If the manuscript is published, conflict of interest information will be communicated in a statement in the published paper. Permissions regarding reuse of OUP material Self-archiving policy
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Availability of Data and Materials
Data availability: authors must publicly release data and software code where ethically possible and include a data availability statement. Model summary
The Journal requires all authors, where ethically possible, to publicly release all data and software code underlying any published paper as a condition of publication. Authors are required to include a data availability statement in their paper. When data and software underlying the research article are available in an online source, authors should include a full citation in their reference list.…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Third-party copyright
In order to reproduce any third party material, including tables, figures, or images, in an article authors must obtain permission from the copyright holder and be compliant with any requirements the copyright holder may have pertaining to this reuse. When seeking to reproduce any kind of third party material authors should request the following: non-exclusive rights to reproduce the material in t…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Third-party content in Open Access papers
If you will be publishing your paper under an Open Access licence but it contains material for which you do not have Open Access re-use permissions, please state this clearly by supplying the following credit line alongside the material: Title of content. Author, Original publication, year of original publication, by permission of [rights holder]. This image/content is not covered by the terms of …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review process
Peer review model: double-anonymised peer review. Model summary
This journal operates double-anonymised peer review, meaning that the authors identity is hidden from reviewers, and the reviewers’ identities are hidden from authors. The Editor has oversight of the reviewers and the authors names. For full details about the peer review process, see Fair editing and peer review. All submissions to the journal are initially reviewed by the Editor. At this stage ma…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Plagiarism Plagiarism
Manuscripts submitted to The Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society may be screened with iThenticate anti-plagiarism software in an attempt to detect and prevent plagiarism. Any manuscript may be screened, especially if there is reason to suppose part or all of the text has been previously published. Prior to final acceptance any manuscript that has not already been screened may be put through …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprint policy
Preprint policy: authors may share preprints; upon publication they must update the preprint status with the published DOI. Model summary
Authors retain the right to make an Author’s Original Version (preprint) available through various channels, and this does not prevent submission to the journal. For further information see our Online Licensing, Copyright and Permissions policies. If accepted, the authors are required to update the status of any preprint, including your published paper’s DOI, as described on our Author Self-Archiv…
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
- Oxford University Press
- Country or region
- ENGLAND
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Monthly
- Founded
- 1969
- ISSN
- 0024-4082
- Electronic ISSN
- 1096-3642
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 208, Issue 1 (September 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
What CAS zone is Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society is in Zone 2 of Biology, and in Zone 1 of the minor category Zoology; it is a Top journal. 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 Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.87; CiteScore 5.3, h-index 131.
How long does peer review take at Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society?
Authors report an average review time of 6–12 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Fairly 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.
What are the manuscript requirements of Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: 100–200 words; Keywords: ≤ 10; Reference style: Chicago. 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 Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society based?
Of the 23 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (3), Brazil (3) and United States (2). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society is indexed in SCIE and Scopus.
Is Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society open access, and what is the APC?
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,541.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, Publisher website; 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: .