About Bulletin of Botanical Research

Bulletin of Botanical Research

Bulletin of Botanical Research is a Chinese-language journal of plant sciences, known in Chinese as Zhiwu Yanjiu, hosted by Northeast Forestry University in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, and published from the university's journal site at bbr.nefu.edu.cn. It carries ISSN 1673-5102. The journal was established in 1959 under the name Bulletin of the Herbarium of North-Eastern Forestry Academy, took its current name in 1981, and changed from quarterly to bimonthly publication in 2006. It is sponsored by Northeast Forestry University and governed by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. The journal mainly reports new species and original research in plant taxonomy, community ecology, phytochemistry, reproductive ecology, physiological ecology and molecular ecology. It has been selected as a source journal in the Core Database of the Chinese Science Citation Database (CSCD) for 2025–2026, is indexed by Scopus, EBSCO and Chemical Abstracts, and is recognised as a key journal by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration. The editor-in-chief named in the journal's introduction is Professor Fu Yu-jie.

History: From a Herbarium Bulletin in 1959

The journal's own introduction records that it was established in 1959, named as Bulletin of the Herbarium of North-Eastern Forestry Academy, with Professor Chou Yi-liang, a known Chinese botanist, as editor-in-chief. That origin makes it one of the earliest periodicals started in the botany field in China. The founding title reflects the journal's beginnings in the herbarium of the forestry academy in Harbin — the institution that became Northeast Forestry University — where the systematic collection and description of the flora of northeastern China was a founding research mission. In 1981 the journal was renamed Bulletin of Botanical Research, the title it still bears, marking its broadening from a herbarium bulletin to a general botanical journal. It remained quarterly for a quarter of a century under the new name, then changed from quarterly to bimonthly in 2006, increasing its publication capacity. Its archive documents the continuity of that run: volumes from the early 1980s onward are browsable on the journal's site, and the sequence reaches Volume 46 in 2026.

Sponsorship and Editorial Leadership

Bulletin of Botanical Research is a multidisciplinary academic journal in plant sciences sponsored by Northeast Forestry University and governed by the Ministry of Education. Northeast Forestry University, based in Harbin, is China's principal university for forestry science, and its botanical research has historically centred on the flora and forest ecosystems of northeastern China — the Changbai Mountains, the Xiaoxing'an Mountains and the Korean pine and broadleaved mixed forests that appear throughout the journal's pages. The editorial board consists of well-known domestic and foreign experts and scholars in plant sciences and related branches. Professor Fu Yu-jie, a known botanist in China, serves as editor-in-chief. The journal has recently invested in its editorial structure: a youth editorial board of 40 members was formed, comprising 35 per cent national high-level talents, and members of the editorial team have received national recognition, including an outstanding editor award from Springer Nature for one board member and an outstanding technical editor award at the National Science and Technology Journal Young Editors Competition for another.

Scope and Subject Coverage

The journal states that it mainly reports the new species, trends, advances and regulation in plant taxonomy, and original and creative research results, both basic and applied, on community ecology, phytochemistry, reproductive ecology, physiological ecology and molecular ecology. It does not accept review papers on advances in plant sciences, a policy that keeps its contents focused on primary research. The published archive shows what this scope means in practice. Taxonomy papers describe new species — such as a new species of Armeniaca from Zhuolu County, Hebei, with its holotype deposited at the Chinese Academy of Forestry — and make nomenclatural corrections such as lectotypifications in the genus Pellionia based on specimens held at BM, E, K and P. Floristic papers analyse distribution patterns, including the sixteen patterns of disjunction discerned in the flora of China and the distribution patterns of the family Pinaceae in China. Ecological and physiological papers address pollen morphology and viability, seed germination under drought stress in the Tarim Basin, soil organic carbon stocks in Korean pine forests, somatic embryogenesis in herbaceous peony, and mycorrhizal ecophysiology, the subject of the journal's first special issue.

Publication Pattern and Archive

The journal is published bimonthly, having changed from quarterly frequency in 2006. Its official site maintains a deep archive: issues are browsable by volume back through the decades, including Volume 9 in 1989, Volume 17 in 1997, Volume 20 in 2000, Volume 30 in 2010 and Volume 36 in 2016, continuing to Volume 46 in 2026. Articles carry DOIs in the journal's own series based on ISSN 1673-5102, and the site presents tables of contents in both Chinese and English, with English titles and abstracts for Chinese-language papers. The journal operates an online submission system, and all manuscripts undergo extensive peer review organised by editorial board members: the scientific editor sends manuscripts to an associate editor after review, and the associate editor selects the review lane or rejects manuscripts that do not meet the journal's standards. This combination of a 1959 foundation, an unbroken archive and a modern online workflow is characteristic of China's long-established university-hosted science journals.

Indexing and Databases

The journal's introduction lists an extensive indexing record. Internationally it has been included in Index Kewensis, EBSCO, BIOSIS Previews, CAB Abstracts, Chemical Abstracts and its SciFinder Scholar service, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, Ulrich's Periodicals Directory, the Russian VINITI Abstracts Journal and the Japan Science and Technology Agency's services. In China it is included in the Chinese Science Citation Database (CSCD), the Chinese Biological Abstracts and its database, the Chinese Academic Journal (CD) service, the Chinese Journal Full-text Database (CNKI), Wanfang Data and the Chinese Database of Science and Technology Periodicals (VIP). Most recently, the National Science Library of the Chinese Academy of Sciences selected the journal as a source journal in the CSCD Core Database for 2025–2026: following quantitative selection and expert evaluation, the CSCD includes 1,464 source journals for that period, divided between a Core Database of 1,098 journals and an Expanded Database of 366, and Bulletin of Botanical Research was placed in the Core Database. The university's announcement notes that the journal also remains indexed by Scopus, EBSCO and Chemical Abstracts, and that it has been selected for the Top 100 Science and Technology Journals in the China University Science and Technology Journal Construction Demonstration Case Database.

Recent Development and Special Content

In its recent development the journal has focused on improving quality and building a high-level editorial team. It launched a "Forward-Looking Perspectives" column featuring articles from leading scholars, including academicians Sun Hang, Xu Minggang and Chen Shilin, and international experts such as Brent Clothier, a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Paola Bonfante of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei and Academia Europaea, and Andrey Gontcharov of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It published its first special issue, titled "Mycorrhizal Ecophysiology in the Context of Biological Continuum Models", which drew significant attention from experts. The university reports that the journal's articles have been covered by Science and Technology Daily and reprinted by major media outlets including China Development Gateway, Global Times Online and Caijing.com.cn, with coverage on topics such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi promoting green agricultural development and vegetation management's impact on water sustainability. These initiatives show a mature journal actively raising its profile while remaining anchored in primary botanical research.

The Northeastern Flora Tradition

A distinctive thread in the journal is the botany of northeastern China, the home region of its host university. Papers have treated the origin of the temperate deciduous broad-leaved forest of East Asia, the revision of the classification of Papaver in north-east China, the pollen morphology of Rhododendron in the northeast, comparative morphology of Artemisia plants from northeastern China, the population genetic structure of Ambrosia trifida in different environments, and the carbon budgets of the broadleaved and Korean pine forests of the Xiaoxing'an and Zhangguangcai mountains. The journal's founding editor, Chou Yi-liang, was a leading figure in the study of the region's woody flora, and the herbarium tradition from which the journal sprang in 1959 continues in its taxonomic papers on the region's genera. At the same time the journal is national in authorship and subject: new species and ecological studies arrive from across China, from the Tarim Basin to Guangxi, where a new genus of Urticaceae, Metapilea, was described in its pages in 2016.

Readership and Significance

Bulletin of Botanical Research serves plant taxonomists, ecologists, phytochemists and forestry scientists in China and, through its English abstracts and international indexing, botanists abroad who follow the Chinese flora. Its significance rests on longevity and position: founded in 1959, it is among China's earliest botany periodicals, and its passage from a forestry academy's herbarium bulletin to a CSCD Core Database journal mirrors the professionalisation of Chinese botany itself. For the WorldNM directory's magazines category, it represents the scholarly-journal tradition of Chinese university publishing — a Chinese-language, peer-reviewed periodical, identifiable by ISSN 1673-5102, its Harbin base at Northeast Forestry University, its 1959 foundation under the herbarium-bulletin title, and its 1981 renaming. Researchers should cite it by its full English title, Bulletin of Botanical Research, and note that its Chinese title, Zhiwu Yanjiu, is shared in translation with no other major title in this directory.