Journal profile · SOCIOLOGY
Acta Sociologica
ISSN 0001-6993 · eISSN 1502-3869 · SAGE
Acta Sociologica: CAS Zone 3 · Sociology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,650; median 145 days to acceptance (79 articles, last 24 months); acceptance rate 12.8% (journal website); 70 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Acta Sociologica is published by SAGE and is in Zone 3 of Sociology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Social Policy and Reform Studies, Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice and Social and Cultural Dynamics, together about 28.1% of its articles. Its main subfields are Sociology and Political Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Acta Sociologica is an international, peer-reviewed journal that welcomes high-quality theoretical and empirical papers in all areas of sociology in the form of original articles as well as book reviews, review essays, and commentaries on previously published articles or ongoing academic discussions in sociology. View full journal description This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): SOCIOLOGY
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named Denmark 14, Sweden 7, Norway 7, Finland 6, Germany 2 (46 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Social Policy and Reform StudiesSocial Sciences13%
- Contemporary Sociological Theory and PracticeSocial Sciences7.8%
- Social and Cultural DynamicsSocial Sciences7.3%
- Employment and Welfare StudiesHealth Professions5.6%
- Labor Movements and UnionsSocial Sciences5.4%
- Intergenerational and Educational Inequality StudiesSocial Sciences4.8%
- Political Economy and MarxismSocial Sciences4.3%
- Social and Educational SciencesSocial Sciences4.1%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Sociology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Sociology | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Sociology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Sociology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Sociology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Sociology | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SSCIScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Editions, and major and minor categories, are shown separately and never merged into one zone; check which edition your institution uses before you submit or report.
Metrics
Impact metrics and publication volume
Impact
- Impact factor
- 2LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 2.1Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 2.5Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 3.5LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.57LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.37LetPub ·
- h-index
- 99OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 829OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.45OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 4.8%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 59.8%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 51LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 3,313 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 39 | 29 | 4 |
| 2025 | 70 | 40 | 128 |
| 2024 | 34 | 25 | 76 |
| 2023 | 34 | 24 | 198 |
| 2022 | 42 | 25 | 199 |
| 2021 | 36 | 19 | 489 |
Sources count differently and were observed at different times, so each source's own value is kept; "publisher" marks figures from the journal's website.
Review & acceptance
Review time and acceptance
Review time from article dates manuscript dates registered with PubMed · to
145 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 58 days – 238 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 19 days (68 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 166 days
- Sample
- 79 articles with submission and acceptance dates (181 in the window); the latest was accepted on
Only articles that were accepted and published are counted, not the time spent on rejected manuscripts, so this usually runs longer than a publisher's "time to first decision".
Other sources
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 12.8%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 7 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 249 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 48 daysPublisher website ·
- Peer review
- Double anonymous peer reviewPublisher website
Community reports come from authors' own submissions (confidence 0.5) and are not a promise from the journal; for publisher figures, the journal's own definitions apply.
Fees & open access
APC and open-access policy
Hybrid open accessLetPub
A subscription journal in which authors can pay to publish their article open access.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAlex | USD 3,650 / GBP 2,676 | — | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
A hybrid journal charges the APC only when the author chooses open access; publishing under the subscription model is usually free.
The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.
Submission
Article types and submission policies (journal website)
What to prepare4 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- 150–200 words
- Keywords
- ≥ 5
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 10,000 words
- Reference style
- Harvard
Article types accepted10, with length limits
- book reviewPlease note that all word limits are hard limits. Manuscripts exceeding the appropriate limit will be administratively unsubmitted. Long article An article of b…main text ≤ 1,000 words
- commentComment A comment is a short piece of up to 1,000 words that does not necessarily make an independent contribution to the field, but which comments on general t…Length not stated
- literature reviewPlease note that all word limits are hard limits. Manuscripts exceeding the appropriate limit will be administratively unsubmitted. Long article An article of b…Length not stated
- long articleLong article An article of between 5000 and 10,000 words. This is the primary format used for showcasing new and original research that makes significant contri…Length not stated
- original researchPlease note that all word limits are hard limits. Manuscripts exceeding the appropriate limit will be administratively unsubmitted. Long article An article of b…Length not stated
- registered reportPlease note that all word limits are hard limits. Manuscripts exceeding the appropriate limit will be administratively unsubmitted. Long article An article of b…Length not stated
- research articlePlease note that all word limits are hard limits. Manuscripts exceeding the appropriate limit will be administratively unsubmitted. Long article An article of b…Length not stated
- reviewPlease note that all word limits are hard limits. Manuscripts exceeding the appropriate limit will be administratively unsubmitted. Long article An article of b…main text ≤ 5,000 words
- review essayReview essay Review essays are longer review pieces of up to 5000 words. The review essay not only presents and evaluates a single book, but generally compares …Length not stated
- short articleShort article A shorter article of up to 5,000 words. This is the primary format for papers seeking to present findings of a more limited scope that nonetheless…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Data availability, Publication ethics, Open access, Peer review, Plagiarism, Preprints, Trial registration / reporting guidelines
- Authorship Authorship
Please view our authorship policies, which includes information on criteria for authorship, who should be the corresponding author and more. Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data availability
The Journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages. For qualitative analysis, sharing of data and empirical materials and/or codes and procedures of data generation and analysis is optional and not a requirement. For…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics Ethical considerations
Please include your ethics approval statements under this heading, even if you have already included ethics approval information in your methods section. If ethical approval was not required, you need to explicitly state this. All papers reporting studies involving human participants, human data or human tissue must state that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board approved th…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Publishing fees and open access
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this journal. Optional open access publishing is available for a fee via the Sage Choice program, and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. Open Access agreement …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
The following summary describes the peer review process for this journal: Identity transparency: Double-anonymized Reviewer interacts with: Editor Review information published: None Your manuscript will undergo an initial evaluation. If it does not conform to the requirements laid out in these guidelines, it will be returned to you for amendments prior to peer review. Manuscripts may be desk rejec…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Plagiarism Plagiarism
The journal and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. Please read Sage's complete policy on plagiarism and the actions we may take.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
The journal will consider submissions of manuscripts that have been posted on preprint servers. Please enter the preprint DOI in the designated field when submitting your manuscript. We advise that you inform the Journal Editorial office about your posted preprint at submission. Note that you should not post an updated version of your manuscript on a preprint server while it is being peer reviewed…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Trial registration / reporting guidelines Reporting guidelines
Your manuscript must follow the relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines, depending on the type of study. The EQUATOR wizard can help identify the appropriate guideline. You will need to upload the appropriate checklist with your submission. Other resources can be found at NLM’s Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives. If your research involves animals, you will be asked to confirm that…
Source ↗Publisher website ·
Excerpts are quoted from the journal's website; "model summary" lines are written by Workers AI and checked against the text. The journal's website is authoritative.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- SAGE
- ISSN
- 0001-6993
- Electronic ISSN
- 1502-3869
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Acta Sociologica
What CAS zone is Acta Sociologica in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Acta Sociologica is in Zone 3 of Sociology, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Sociology. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Sociology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Acta Sociologica?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2; CiteScore 3.5, h-index 99.
How long does peer review take at Acta Sociologica?
Based on the dates recorded on 79 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 145 days (interquartile range 58–238 days); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 12.8%. Article statistics cover accepted papers only, publisher figures follow the journal's own definitions, and community reports come from authors' own submissions; none is a promise from the journal.
What are the manuscript requirements of Acta Sociologica?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: 150–200 words; Keywords: ≥ 5; Manuscript length: ≤ 10,000 words; Reference style: Harvard. A model extracted these from the author guidelines and each was checked against the text; check the latest version on the journal's website before submitting.
Where are the editorial board members of Acta Sociologica based?
Of the 46 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Denmark (14), Sweden (7) and Norway (7). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Acta Sociologica?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Acta Sociologica is indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Is Acta Sociologica open access, and what is the APC?
Acta Sociologica is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,650.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, OpenAlex; every figure is tagged with its source and the date it was observed, and conflicting values are kept per source. LetPub source page: view ↗ (archived 2026-08-26). Last updated: .