The Entomological Society of America (ESA) is the largest organization in the world serving the professional and scientific needs of entomologists, with nearly 7,000 members across universities, health agencies, industry, and government. Its publishing program covers eight peer-reviewed journals plus the member magazine American Entomologist, all produced in partnership with Oxford University Press. In June 2025 ESA and OUP extended that partnership through 2032, so the submission, hosting, and open-access machinery you will encounter is OUP's, while editorial control stays with ESA's Publications Council and its volunteer editors.

ESA traces its origins to 1889, when the American Association of Economic Entomologists was founded; a separate Entomological Society of America followed in 1907, and the two merged in 1953 to form the society as it exists today. Headquarters are in Annapolis, Maryland. This guide covers which ESA journal fits your manuscript, what publishing actually costs in 2026, how peer review runs, and how to submit.

ESA's titles are deliberately non-overlapping: each has a distinct remit, and editors do redirect manuscripts submitted to the wrong venue. Use the table below before you format anything.

Eight peer-reviewed journals and one magazine. The five subscription titles - Annals, Environmental Entomology, Insect Systematics and Diversity, Journal of Economic Entomology, and Journal of Medical Entomology - moved to online-only publication with the 2026 volume. The three fully open-access titles are Journal of Insect Science, Journal of Integrated Pest Management, and Arthropod Management Tests. American Entomologist continues in print and online.

Coverage is deep rather than broad: ESA does not publish outside entomology and closely allied arthropod science. That focus is why ESA venues are the default citation targets in pest management, medical entomology, and insect systematics, even though the journals' impact factors sit in the ordinary range for the field (Journal of Economic Entomology was around 2.5 in the June 2026 JCR release; check the current JCR for exact figures).

ESA restructured its fees for the 2026 volume year, replacing per-page and color charges with a flat standard publication fee. All figures are USD from ESA's 2026 fee schedule; verify on ESA's publication fees page before you submit.

Three cost levers are worth knowing. ESA members get a 20% discount on open-access fees, and members without publication funding may apply for one standard-publication waiver per year (it does not cover OA fees). OUP applies its developing-countries waiver policy automatically to the fully open-access titles. And because OUP holds a large number of Read and Publish agreements, authors at participating institutions frequently publish OA at no personal cost - check OUP's institutional agreement lookup first.

ESA journals use single-anonymized peer review: reviewers see author identities, authors do not see reviewers. Subject editors handle manuscripts within their section, and each journal's editor-in-chief makes the final decision. Turnaround varies by title and reviewer availability; applied titles such as Journal of Economic Entomology generally reach a first decision faster than systematics submissions, which need specialist reviewers. Arthropod Management Tests runs a lighter, standardized review appropriate to efficacy-trial reports.

1. Pick the right journal using the table above; scope mismatch is the most common desk-reject reason at ESA.
2. Read the journal-specific instructions on Oxford Academic - each ESA title has its own General Instructions page covering structure, nomenclature, and voucher-specimen requirements.
3. Use approved common names. ESA maintains the authoritative Common Names of Insects and Related Organisms database, and journals expect its names to be used.
4. Format your manuscript in ESA style (author-year citations) using the SciSpace ESA template.
5. Submit through ScholarOne Manuscripts at the journal's ManuscriptCentral site (for example, mc.manuscriptcentral.com/econent for Journal of Economic Entomology). American Entomologist is the exception and uses a separate submission form.
6. Choose your licence at acceptance - subscription, or open access under a Creative Commons licence, with the fee schedule above applying.

ESA is a COPE member and publishes a Publications Code of Conduct alongside its copyright and permissions policies. Expectations include disclosure of conflicts of interest and funding, compliance with institutional and national rules for work involving vertebrates and regulated organisms, deposition of voucher specimens for taxonomic work, and registration of new taxa where nomenclatural codes require it. Corrections and retractions follow COPE guidance, and Oxford University Press handles production-side integrity checks.