Where to Publish on Agriculture, Agri-tech and Food Security: SCIE, SSCI, Scopus and EI Options

In agriculture and food research the same quality of paper can cost nothing or 3,400 US dollars, and the expensive route is often not the stronger one. Before any journal name, here is what the three routes actually cost.

The tables follow the plan's order, beginning with the free titles.

How to read a quartile before you read the list

The Scopus quartile comes from Scimago; the JCR quartile from Clarivate, using the impact factor. Agriculture spans SCIE for crop and food science, SSCI for extension and rural studies, and AHCI for agricultural history. An ESCI journal looks like an SCIE one on screen but will not satisfy a rule asking for SCIE. Settling this first is part of Journal Submission Preparation.

Which family of journal fits your paper

Agriculture is really five fields that share a word, and each has its own journals, reviewers and expectations. Deciding which one your paper belongs to comes before any ranking.

1. Crop, soil and water science. Field and greenhouse trials, agronomy, soil management and irrigation. Reviewers expect replicated designs over more than one season. Soil and Tillage Research, Agricultural Water Management and the Crop Journal sit here.
2. Food science and technology. Composition, processing, safety and shelf life. Reviewers expect full analytical methods and, for new products, sensory data. Food Chemistry and Food Hydrocolloids lead this group.
3. Agri-tech and digital agriculture. Sensors, drones, machine vision, decision support and farm robotics. Reviewers expect validation in real fields, not only on image datasets. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, Information Processing in Agriculture and Smart Agricultural Technology fit here.
4. Agricultural economics and policy. Markets, farm incomes, subsidies and trade. This is the one family where business school rules such as ABDC can apply, which the questions below explain.
5. Extension, rural and food security studies. Farmer adoption, rural livelihoods and household food security. These are social science papers, judged on sampling and identification, and they sit in the SSCI and ESCI titles.

A paper that crosses two families, such as an adoption study of a sensor technology, should go where its main contribution lies. If the finding is about farmers, choose the extension journals. If it is about the technology, choose agri-tech.

Diamond open access: agriculture journals with no APC

Agriculture has an unusually strong free tier because so much of the field is funded by national agricultural universities, academies and research institutes, which publish journals as part of their public mission. Chinese institutions are especially active here, and several of their titles publish in English on international platforms. For an author in a developing country, this table is usually the best starting point, since it avoids the waiver question altogether.

Swipe the table sideways to see every column.

Web of Science options: SCIE, SSCI, AHCI and ESCI

The AI Journal Finder matches an abstract against these in seconds.

Scopus-indexed options

Q1 first, then Q3. Planning a sequence of papers is the Mentorship Program.

EI Compendex indexed journals

Gold open access: SCIE journals with an APC

Every title here is SCIE Q1. The KeAi titles are the value picks: the Crop Journal and International Soil and Water Conservation Research both give SCIE Q1 for 1,200 US dollars or less. Before paying the higher charges, check whether your library has a read and publish agreement with the publisher, and whether your country qualifies for a Research4Life waiver, which applies automatically at most large publishers for authors in eligible countries.

Indexed conference routes in agriculture

Agriculture is journal-first. These five series are the relevant indexed routes.

What a major revision looks like in agriculture and food research

1. Another season or site. The most common request for field trials. One season at one site is often treated as preliminary.
2. The experimental design explained. Randomised block, split-plot or factorial, with replication and a mixed model that matches the design.
3. Weather and soil data. Rainfall, temperature and soil properties for each season, so results can be interpreted.
4. Economic analysis. For agronomic practices, whether the gain pays for itself.
5. Food science specifics. Shelf life, sensory panel size and training, and full compositional analysis.
6. Machine learning validation. For agri-tech, testing on data from a different field, season or region.

Budget for new data. The response letter is Review & Response Support.

What gets accepted in this field, and what gets rejected

Is ABDC A the same as Scopus Q1 for agricultural research?

No, and for most agricultural research the question does not apply. ABDC grades business and economics journals, so crop, soil and food science titles are outside it. The exception is agricultural economics and agribusiness, where some journals do appear on the ABDC list because it covers economics.

Which agricultural research journals are on the ABDC list?

Only agricultural economics and agribusiness titles are candidates, and ABDC grades are not part of the data behind this page. Search each title on the current ABDC list at abdc.edu.au rather than relying on any secondhand grade.

What counts as an A star journal in agricultural research?

Outside agricultural economics there is no A star, because that grade belongs to the ABDC business list. The working equivalent is the SCIE Q1 flagships here, such as Nature Food, or CAS Zone 1 in Chinese institutions.

Is a journal still indexed in Scopus in 2026?

Only the live Scopus source list answers that, checked by ISSN on the day you submit, together with the discontinued sources file. A journal's own website is not evidence.

Which agricultural research journals were discontinued by Scopus recently?

This page lists active titles only, so no discontinued list is given here rather than guessed. Search your ISSN in the discontinued sources file from Elsevier. High-volume multidisciplinary titles are the ones most often removed.

How long is the gap between Scopus delisting and a journal still claiming indexing?

Indefinitely, in practice. Nothing obliges a journal to remove the claim, and titles often advertise Scopus coverage a year or more after discontinuation.

Is a Scopus Q3 paper in agricultural research enough for a PhD submission?

For most universities yes, because the requirement usually names the index rather than the quartile. Some programmes specify Q1, Q2 or SCIE, so get the rule in writing early.

How much does it cost to publish an agricultural research paper in an indexed journal?

From nothing to 3,400 US dollars. Twenty-three titles here charge no APC, including SCIE Q1 journals. Where an APC applies, the range is about 470 to 3,400 dollars, and the Crop Journal gives SCIE Q1 for 990.

What editors screen before a reviewer sees your paper

The editorial office checks whether the English is clear enough to review, whether the structure and reference style match the journal, and what the similarity report says. Agricultural papers often score high on similarity innocently, because standard methods such as soil analysis and proximate composition are described in near-identical words across studies. Cite the method source and describe your own variations rather than rewording the standard text. Run your own check first with the Plagiarism & AI Similarity Checker.

Two further checks are common in this field. Editors look for the experimental design to be named explicitly in the methods, with the statistical model that matches it, and for field trials they look for the location coordinates, the season dates and the weather record. Missing any of these is a frequent reason for return before review.

Where Research Ramp comes in

We match a finished abstract against live indexing, tell you plainly when a design will not survive the first screen, and prepare the submission so the editorial office has no reason to bounce it. Preparation is Manuscript Preparation Support, language is Manuscript Editing, partners with field sites are Collaboration Matching, and past work is on our Case Studies page.

Questions we are asked about publication fees

Send us the abstract, we will send back the shortlist

Send us your abstract and we will return a shortlist that separates SCIE, SSCI, AHCI, Scopus and EI options, with the access model marked against each. Tap the WhatsApp icon, or scan the WeChat code. To hand over the whole route from venue choice to acceptance, that is the Full Publication Package.

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Disclaimer. Every table on this page is correct as on October 2026 and no later. Article charges shown in US dollars are approximate conversions at October 2026 rates, and journals bill in their own currency. Indexing, quartile, access model and charges change through the year, and journals can be added to or removed from Scopus and Web of Science at any time. This page is general information only. Research Ramp Private Limited accepts no responsibility or liability for any decision made on the basis of it, including the choice of journal, any charge paid, or the outcome of any submission. Every detail must be independently verified by the author with the journal's own website and the live Scopus source list and Web of Science Master Journal List before submitting. If you would like an informal second check, send us the title and we will look at it for you.

本页所有列表数据截至 2026 年 10 月，仅供一般参考。Research Ramp 不对任何依据本页作出的选刊、付费或投稿结果承担责任。投稿前请务必通过期刊官网及 Scopus、Web of Science 实时数据自行核实收录情况与费用。