《植被科學雜志》發表關于植物群落生態學各個方面的論文，特別強調那些提出新概念或方法、檢驗理論、確定一般模式或可能引起廣泛國際讀者興趣的論文。植物科學的論文可能專注于任何方面,如社區結構(包括社區大會和植物功能類型),生物多樣性(包括物種豐富度和組成),空間模式(包括植物地理學和景觀生態學),時間的變化(包括人口統計學、社會動態和古生態學)和過程(包括生態生理學),提供重點是增加我們對植物群落的理解。只有在單個物種在構建植物群落方面發揮關鍵作用的情況下，該雜志才會發表有關該物種生態學的論文。將生態學概念、理論和方法應用于植被管理、保護和恢復的論文，以及有關植被調查的論文，應直接發表在我們的副刊《應用植被科學》上。

The Journal of Vegetation Science publishes papers on all aspects of plant community ecology, with particular emphasis on papers that develop new concepts or methods, test theory, identify general patterns, or that are otherwise likely to interest a broad international readership. Papers may focus on any aspect of vegetation science, e.g. community structure (including community assembly and plant functional types), biodiversity (including species richness and composition), spatial patterns (including plant geography and landscape ecology), temporal changes (including demography, community dynamics and palaeoecology) and processes (including ecophysiology), provided the focus is on increasing our understanding of plant communities. The Journal publishes papers on the ecology of a single species only if it plays a key role in structuring plant communities. Papers that apply ecological concepts, theories and methods to the vegetation management, conservation and restoration, and papers on vegetation survey should be directed to our associate journal, Applied Vegetation Science journal.