Information For Librarians

The Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (JAFSCD: ISSN 2152-0801, online only) is the world's only peer-reviewed, transdisciplinary journal focused solely on food and farming-related community development. JAFSCD uses a double-blind peer-review process, with expert reviewers who include researchers, scholars, and food systems professionals in the field. Each accepted article is published online immediately after copy-editing and formatting, then is aggregated into a quarterly issue for indexing purposes.

JAFSCD is listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), the authoritative list of high-quality, genuinely peer-reviewed open access journals.

We are indexed in databases from CABI, EBSCOhost, ProQuest, CNKI (one of China's largest A&I databases—forthcoming); DOAJ; in Web of Science's Emerging Sources Citation Index; and in the U.S. National Agriculture Library's AGRICOLA database. See the complete list.

As of January 1, 2018, JAFSCD became open access! We  fund the journal using an innovative model borrowed from the food system, as the world's first community-supported journal. See the lists of Library Shareholders and University and College Program and Nonprofit Shareholders. We welcome your institution's support—learn how at our publisher's website.

As an open access journal, we publish content under the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license. We also require authors to deposit their full papers as published into their institutional repository.

While COUNTER-compliant usage statistics are not available directly, we're happy to provide a report upon request.

Benefits of being a JAFSCD shareholder for your academic community:

  • Access to the world’s only peer-reviewed, applied research and policy journal devoted to community-based food systems and agriculture development.
  • A multidisciplinary journal that bridges the interests of both scholars and professionals who are working to develop more equitable and sustainable food systems.
  • An international journal with more than 150 reviewers and advisers from around the world with expertise in urban agriculture, local food marketing, farmland protection, food insecurity, and more.
  • Articles are published online as they are approved, and are gathered into quarterly issues for indexing purposes. Access is online only, with formatted PDFs available for viewing and/or printing.
  • We are a member of CrossRef and deposit JAFSCD's content in the DOI system for persistent web linking. 
  • We participate in LOCKSS to ensure consistent and long-term access to JAFSCD content. 

Libraries that support JAFSCD through a library share receive special benefits:

  • Authors affiliated with the library shareholding institution will not be required to pay JAFSCD’s $750 article processing charge (APC) if we accept their submission.
  • The library will be listed as a supporter on this website and on JAFSCD promotional materials.
  • The subscribing institution (the library and/or any department or program) receives a free listing in the Sustainable Food Systems Sourcebook.

To ensure fair library shares, we use a structure with 8 tiers based on the size of your student body.

Tiers by Number of FTE Students

Suggested Library Share, 2022

TIER 1 (1–999)

$299

TIER 2 (1,000–2,999)

$360

TIER 3 (3,000–9,999)

$417

TIER 4 (10,000–19,999)

$484

TIER 5 (20,000–29,999)

$567
TIER 6 (30,000–39,999)

$659

TIER 7 (40,000–49,999)

$757

TIER 8 (50,000+)

$880


Library shares can be paid directly, or arranged through these and other subscription agents:

You may like to read a librarian's review of JAFSCD in the Journal of Agricultural & Food Information, published in 2012. It's by Madeleine Charney, a librarian at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Have further questions? Contact us at info@LysonCenter.org.