Best Plant Science Journals (2026)

Paste your title and abstract to get 5 realistic matches from verified biomedical journals — every publisher, no predatory journals, and your abstract is never stored.

Type your field and pick it to see the top-ranked journals — every journal listed is indexed in PubMed, DOAJ, or a curated core source list.

Top Plant Science journals

#Journalh-indexCitations/paper (2 yr)TierAccessIndexed in
1AFRICAN JOURNAL OF BIOTECHNOLOGY
Academic Journals
135113.73FlagshipOpen access · APC —PubMed · Core
2Annual Review of Plant Biology
Annual Reviews
29324.28FlagshipSubscriptionPubMed · Core
3Fungal Diversity
Springer Science+Business Media
13818.27Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
4Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences
Taylor & Francis
18611.54Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
5Molecular Plant
Elsevier BV
23110.7Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
6The Plant Cell
Oxford University Press
50410.5Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
7Annual Review of Phytopathology
Annual Reviews
27610.35Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
8Nature Plants
Nature Portfolio
20810Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
9Microbiological Research
Elsevier BV
1628.65Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
10Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences
Elsevier BV
1318.12Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
11Plant Biotechnology Journal
Wiley
2027.96Leading field journalOpen access · APC $3,740PubMed · DOAJ · Core
12Journal of Integrative Plant Biology
Wiley
1497.95Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
13Trends in Plant Science
Elsevier BV
3817.81Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
14Field Crops Research
Elsevier BV
2487.51Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
15Studies in Mycology
Elsevier BV
1317.46Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
16Phytopathology
American Phytopathological Society
2257.42Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
17New Phytologist
Wiley
4157.36Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
18Agronomy for Sustainable Development
Springer Science+Business Media
1816.61Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
19Plant Methods
BioMed Central
1346.53Leading field journalOpen access · APC $2,890PubMed · DOAJ · Core
20European Journal of Agronomy
Elsevier BV
1786.47Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
21Current Opinion in Plant Biology
Elsevier BV
2836.37Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
22Horticulture Research
Nature Portfolio
1196.35Leading field journalOpen access · APC $2,250PubMed · DOAJ · Core
23Postharvest Biology and Technology
Elsevier BV
1976.31Leading field journalSubscriptionCore
24Plant Cell & Environment
Wiley
3106.24Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
25Pharmaceutical Biology
Taylor & Francis
1136.13Leading field journalOpen access · APC $2,557PubMed · DOAJ · Core
26PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Oxford University Press
4775.95Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
27Environmental and Experimental Botany
Elsevier BV
2005.9Solid specialistOpen access · APC $3,660PubMed · DOAJ · Core
28Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
BioMed Central
1515.9Solid specialistOpen access · APC $3,090PubMed · DOAJ · Core
29Journal of Experimental Botany
Oxford University Press
3745.89Leading field journalSubscriptionPubMed · Core
30Plant Physiology and Biochemistry
Elsevier BV
2065.56Solid specialistSubscriptionPubMed · Core

Frequently asked questions

How does the journal finder work?+

You paste your title and abstract; an AI model classifies the paper into biomedical subfields and honestly assesses its scope, then ranks a shortlist of verified journals from our dataset of 2,600+ biomedical journals. Every metric shown comes from the dataset — the AI can never invent a journal or a number.

Is it free?+

Yes — free, no signup, no hidden trial. There's a fair-use limit of 15 matches per day. Browsing ranked journals by field is unlimited.

How is this different from JANE or the Elsevier Journal Finder?+

Publisher tools like Elsevier's, Springer's, or Wiley's finders only recommend their own journals. JANE is cross-publisher but hasn't changed since 2007 and can surface journals of unverified quality from PubMed. This finder is cross-publisher, only shows journals verified in trusted indexes, and calibrates recommendations to your paper's realistic tier.

How do you keep predatory journals out?+

By construction: every journal in our dataset must be indexed in DOAJ, PubMed, or a curated core source list, with a real citation record. Journals with no verified quality signals simply never appear — we don't maintain accusatory blacklists.

Is my abstract stored or used to train AI?+

No. Your abstract is processed to generate recommendations and is not stored, logged, or used for model training. We know unpublished work is sensitive.

Which fields are covered?+

All of biomedicine and the life sciences: 38 subfields from molecular biology, immunology, and oncology to public health, pharmacology, neuroscience, plant science, and veterinary medicine.

Why don't you show impact factors?+

The Journal Impact Factor is proprietary to Clarivate and requires a paid license. We show open, verifiable alternatives instead: h-index and 2-year citations per paper from OpenAlex, plus each journal's percentile within its own field — which is more informative for comparing journals in the same specialty.

Where does the data come from?+

From open, verifiable sources: OpenAlex (CC0) for citation metrics, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's PubMed journal list, and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). Publishing in the wrong venue has real consequences — in 2019 a U.S. federal court ordered the publisher OMICS Group to pay $50.1 million for deceptive peer-review claims. When in doubt about any journal, use the Think. Check. Submit. checklist at thinkchecksubmit.org.

How do I find top-quartile journals in my field?+

Use the browse section: pick your subfield and the table ranks journals by 2-year citations per paper. Tier 1–2 journals roughly correspond to the top quartile of a field. Each row shows open-access status, publication fees (APC), and which trusted indexes list the journal.

See the actual papers these journals publish

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Data: OpenAlex (CC0) · U.S. National Library of Medicine · DOAJ. Quality signals are informational, refreshed periodically, and are not an endorsement or judgment about any journal; no endorsement by NLM/NIH is implied. Spotted an error? Contact us and we'll review it.