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
| # | Journal | h-index | Citations/paper (2 yr) | Tier | Access | Indexed in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AFRICAN JOURNAL OF BIOTECHNOLOGY Academic Journals | 135 | 113.73 | Flagship | Open access · APC — | PubMed · Core |
| 2 | Annual Review of Plant Biology Annual Reviews | 293 | 24.28 | Flagship | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 3 | Fungal Diversity Springer Science+Business Media | 138 | 18.27 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 4 | Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences Taylor & Francis | 186 | 11.54 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 5 | Molecular Plant Elsevier BV | 231 | 10.7 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 6 | The Plant Cell Oxford University Press | 504 | 10.5 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 7 | Annual Review of Phytopathology Annual Reviews | 276 | 10.35 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 8 | Nature Plants Nature Portfolio | 208 | 10 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 9 | Microbiological Research Elsevier BV | 162 | 8.65 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 10 | Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences Elsevier BV | 131 | 8.12 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 11 | Plant Biotechnology Journal Wiley | 202 | 7.96 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC $3,740 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 12 | Journal of Integrative Plant Biology Wiley | 149 | 7.95 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 13 | Trends in Plant Science Elsevier BV | 381 | 7.81 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 14 | Field Crops Research Elsevier BV | 248 | 7.51 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 15 | Studies in Mycology Elsevier BV | 131 | 7.46 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 16 | Phytopathology American Phytopathological Society | 225 | 7.42 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 17 | New Phytologist Wiley | 415 | 7.36 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 18 | Agronomy for Sustainable Development Springer Science+Business Media | 181 | 6.61 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 19 | Plant Methods BioMed Central | 134 | 6.53 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC $2,890 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 20 | European Journal of Agronomy Elsevier BV | 178 | 6.47 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 21 | Current Opinion in Plant Biology Elsevier BV | 283 | 6.37 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 22 | Horticulture Research Nature Portfolio | 119 | 6.35 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC $2,250 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 23 | Postharvest Biology and Technology Elsevier BV | 197 | 6.31 | Leading field journal | Subscription | Core |
| 24 | Plant Cell & Environment Wiley | 310 | 6.24 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 25 | Pharmaceutical Biology Taylor & Francis | 113 | 6.13 | Leading field journal | Open access · APC $2,557 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 26 | PLANT PHYSIOLOGY Oxford University Press | 477 | 5.95 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 27 | Environmental and Experimental Botany Elsevier BV | 200 | 5.9 | Solid specialist | Open access · APC $3,660 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 28 | Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine BioMed Central | 151 | 5.9 | Solid specialist | Open access · APC $3,090 | PubMed · DOAJ · Core |
| 29 | Journal of Experimental Botany Oxford University Press | 374 | 5.89 | Leading field journal | Subscription | PubMed · Core |
| 30 | Plant Physiology and Biochemistry Elsevier BV | 206 | 5.56 | Solid specialist | Subscription | PubMed · 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
Waffoo Search runs AI-powered literature discovery across 30+ biomedical databases — free.
Try Waffoo SearchData: 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.

