Olivia Christopher Olivia Christopher27 April 2026 Journals, Open Science

Plants MDPI: Journal Spotlight

In this edition of our Journal Spotlight, we will be taking a closer look at Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). Plants is an international and multi-disciplinary, peer-reviewed Open Access journal on plant science. The journal covers all key areas of structural, functional and experimental botany.

In this article, we discuss the journal’s impressive achievements, charting its growth into a leading platform for high-quality research on plant science.

Editor in Chief: Prof. Dr. Dilantha Fernando

Current Impact Factor: 4.1

Current CiteScore: 7.6

Statistics as of April 2026.

A Plants MDPI timeline

  • 2012 – Inaugural issue was released
  • 2016 – Plants was indexed in Scopus (Elsevier)
  • 2018 – Plants was indexed in SCIE (Web of Science) and became affiliated with the Australian Society of Plant Scientists (ASPS)
  • 2020 – Plants became affiliated with the Spanish Society of Plant Physiology (SEFV), the Spanish Society of Horticultural Sciences (SECH) and the Italian Society of Phytotherapy (S.I.Fit.)
  • 2022 – 10th anniversary of Plants
  • 2025 – Plants received its 2024 Impact Factor (4.1) and the first Plants conference (Plants 2025: From Seeds to Food Security) was held in Spain

Editor-in-Chief

Prof. Dr. Dilantha Fernando has been Editor-in-Chief of the journal since its launch in 2012. Recognised as a leading scholar on host–pathogen interaction studies, Prof. Dr. Fernando is also a dean, professor and plant pathologist at the University of Manitoba, Canada. His career spans a range of institutions; he holds a PhD in Plant Pathology from Oregon State University, an MSc in Microbiology from the University of Kelaniya, and a BSc (Hons) in Botany from the University of Peradeniya.

In 2019, he became an elected Fellow of the American Phytopathological Society, and he has been recognised internationally with awards for excellence in research, teaching, and service.

Aims & scope

In the journal’s first editorial piece, Prof. Dr. Fernando addresses the importance and usefulness of plants to the world, and talks about the value of having an Open Access journal that brings all aspects of plant science into one place.

Plants accepts original research articles, reviews, communications, short notes and suggestions for special and focussed issues in the fields of structural, functional and experimental botany.

“The main aim of our journal is to encourage scientists and research groups to publish theoretical and experimental results of research in all fundamental and applied fields of plant science.” – Prof. Dr. Dilantha Fernando, EiC (2012 – present)

The journal has a wide scope that includes, but is not limited to, plant cytology and histology, ecology and biogeography of plants, and experimental and applied plant science. A full list of topics in the journal’s scope can be found here.

Journal metrics

Most cited and viewed

The Plants publication that holds the accolade of most cited, viewed and downloaded paper, as of April 2026, is an article titled “Phytochemicals: Extraction, Isolation, and Identification of Bioactive Compounds from Plant Extracts”.

Impact Factor

Plants received its first Impact Factor of 2.6 in 2019 and currently holds an Impact Factor rating of 4.1.

The journal is placed in Q1 for the “Plant Sciences” Journal Citation Report (JCR) category.

CiteScore

The journal’s CiteScore sits at 7.6 as of 2026. Plants is positioned in Q1 for the “Ecology, Evolution, Behaviour and Systematics”, “Plant Science” and “Ecology” CiteScore categories.

Indexing

Plants is indexed within a large range of databases and archives, including:

  • BibCnrs
  • CNPIEC
  • Dimensions
  • DOAJ
  • AGRICOLA
  • OSTI
  • Scopus (Elsevier)
  • SCIE (Web of Science)

Access the complete list of associated indexing services here.

Altmetrics

As of April 2026, Plants has received 261 mentions in policy documents, 758 mentions in patents and 2,344 mentions across various news outlets and blogs.

The Plants community

MDPI’s Plants journal is enthusiastic about fostering positive relationships with the academic community it serves, and does this through various awards, affiliations and conferences.

Awards

Plants is currently accepting nominations for the following awards:

The journal is also announcing winners for the Outstanding Reviewer Award on 31 March 2027, for which all reviewers are automatically eligible.

Learn more about Plants awards here, and read our blog article on MDPI’s award programme here.

Affiliations

Plants became affiliated with the Italian Society of Phytotherapy (S.I.Fit.) in 2020, a society that aims to direct the research and knowledge of medicinal plants towards evidence-based phytotherapy.

In the same year, the journal also became affiliated with the Spanish Phytopathological Society (SEFV) and the Spanish Society of Horticultural Sciences (SECH).

The SEFV is interested in promoting a deeper knowledge of plant pathogens and the diseases they cause to adopt environmentally sustainable practices to ensure plant health.

SECH is a non-profit organisation that aims to generate scientific, technical and social interest in all branches of horticulture.

Learn more about the journal’s affiliations here.

Conferences

Conferences present a valuable opportunity to connect wider academic communities. The journal engages with a wide range of conferences, hosted from MDPI and other partners.

There are two MDPI conferences being hosted this year that relate closely to the Plants journal:

There are also several partner conferences happening this year, including:

  • 2026 In Vitro Biology Meeting – taking place in Reno, Nevada, from 6 to 10 June, this conference addresses foundational and cutting-edge research in the fields of vitro plant and animal biotechnology and genomics.
  • 16th International Association for Plant Biotechnology Congress – this event, hosted in Saskatoon, Canada, from 26 to 30 July looks at novel breeding tools, tissue culture, and biotechnological approaches to addressing pressing global challenges.

See more information regarding upcoming events related to the Plants journal.

Testimonials

“I feel delighted with my recent publication in MDPI. Each of the review rounds has significantly helped in making the manuscript great. The Editorial team and the Editing Team are very good and wonderful. I sincerely acknowledge the professionalism and commitment of the publisher.” – Mukhtar Abdulraheem, Author

“Reviewing for MDPI has been a positive experience. The process is streamlined, with clear instructions and efficient communication. I appreciated the transparency and the respect for reviewers’ time through reasonable deadlines. The editorial staff was responsive, and the submission platform was intuitive. Overall, I found the experience to be well-organized and professionally managed.” – Nada Nhhala, Reviewer

Submitting a manuscript

Manuscripts for Plants should be submitted online at susy.mdpi.com.

Prior to submitting, we recommend that authors explore the useful resources on our instructions for authors webpage.

To submit your manuscript, register and login to the submission website. Once you have registered, click here to go to the submission form. The submitting author, who is generally the corresponding author, is responsible for the manuscript during the submission and peer review process.

All co-authors can see the manuscript details in the submission system if they register and login using the e-mail address provided during manuscript submission.

If you’d like to find out more about Plants and its publication process, please visit the journal website.

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