The Editorial

The Italian Journal of Agronomy, the official journal of the Italian Society of Agronomy (SIA), launched a new editorial partnership with Elsevier in 2024, following 13 years of collaboration with PagePress. Since 2008, the journal has been published in Gold Open Access mode; it was indexed in Scopus in 2011 and in Web of Science in 2015, reaching the first quartile (Q1) in the Agronomy category in 2023. The decision to collaborate with Elsevier, while maintaining ownership and editorial independence under SIA, aims to increase international visibility, strengthen editorial quality, and support the journal’s future development in a rapidly evolving scientific and publishing landscape. The editorial board has been reinforced to ensure high review standards and rapid publication times (with an average of two months between submission and acceptance in 2023). The text also examines the dynamics of the Gold Open Access market, characterized by strong revenue growth and increasing Article Processing Charges (APCs), often high in scientific fields, including agronomy. In this context, the journal positions itself as an authoritative, independent, and quality-oriented publishing venue, in line with the principles of open science and bibliodiversity. Revenues from APCs will be reinvested in the journal’s development and in SIA’s statutory activities.