Journal profile · SOCIAL WORK
Adoption Quarterly
ISSN 1092-6755 · eISSN 1544-452X · Taylor & Francis
Adoption Quarterly: CAS Zone 4 · Sociology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.1 (journal website); hybrid open access; APC charged, amount not published; median 198 days to acceptance (44 articles, last 24 months); acceptance rate 79% (journal website); 29 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Adoption Quarterly is published by Taylor & Francis and is in Zone 4 of Sociology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Child Welfare and Adoption, Reproductive Health and Technologies and Family Dynamics and Relationships, together about 61.8% of its articles. Its main subfields are Clinical Psychology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Adoption Quarterly is an unparalleled forum for examining the issues related to adoption as viewed from a lifespan perspective, and of the psychological and social meanings of the word "family." This international, multidisciplinary journal features qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods empirical work, as well as scoping reviews, systematic research syntheses and meta-analyses. Adoption Quarterly addresses continuity in adoption issues that are important to practitioners and researchers, such as: negotiation of birth and adoptive family contact; identity formation in the context of adoption; adoption as a premier paradigm for studying the interactions of nature, nurture, and the lifelong development of the adoptee; adoptee adjustment (now viewed in a life-span perspective); and adjustment issues for birth/first and adoptive parents. Despite the importance of adoption in family formation and its considerable value as a paradigm for scientific study, there is no other U.S.-based scholarly journal specializing in this field. By maintaining a consistently high standard of scholarship, Adoption Quarterly helps stimulate relevant research and develop more practice-based and empirically sound principles. Peer Review Policy: All articles in this journal have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and double anonymized review.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): SOCIAL WORK
Editor-in-chief Scott D. RyanPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Child Welfare and AdoptionSocial Sciences35.3%
- Reproductive Health and TechnologiesMedicine14.3%
- Family Dynamics and RelationshipsSocial Sciences12.2%
- Intergenerational Family Dynamics and CaregivingSocial Sciences7.7%
- Family and Disability Support ResearchPsychology4.5%
- Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentPsychology3.1%
- Family Support in IllnessSocial Sciences3%
- Child Abuse and TraumaPsychology2.8%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Sociology Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Social Work | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Sociology Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Social Work | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
JCR / CiteScore quartiles on the journal's website
- CiteScore Q2 · 2025
Publisher-reported: JCR figures are Clarivate's and CiteScore figures Scopus's to confirm; both are a different system from the CAS zones.Publisher website
Database indexing
ESCIScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, EBSCOhost Online Research DatabasesPublisher website
As the journal's website lists them, not checked against each database; for Web of Science editions the records above apply.
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 (publisher) 2025
- 1.1Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 1.3Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 1.5LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 1.5Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.29LetPub ·
- SJR (publisher) 2025
- 0.29Publisher website ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.97LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher) 2025
- 0.97Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 45OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 244OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0.76OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 27.3%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 17.95%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 28LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 46,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 635 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 16 | 7 | 1 |
| 2025 | 29 | 13 | 25 |
| 2024 | 13 | 3 | 18 |
| 2023 | 40 | 9 | 111 |
| 2022 | 12 | 1 | 59 |
| 2021 | 19 | 2 | 114 |
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 Crossref · to
198 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 138 days – 256 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 18 days (44 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 220 days
- Sample
- 44 articles with submission and acceptance dates (45 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) 2025
- 79%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 52 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review 2025
- 61 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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)
Article types accepted1
- research articleResearch Article | Published online: 12 Sep 2026Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteOpen access, Peer review
- Open access Open access
Adoption Quarterly is a hybrid open access journal that is part of the Taylor & Francis Open Select publishing program, giving you the option to publish open access. Publishing open access means that your article will be free to access online immediately on publication, increasing the visibility, readership, and impact of your research. Why choose open access? Increase the discoverability and read…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review
All articles in this journal have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and double anonymized review. Model summary
Peer Review Policy: All articles in this journal have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and double anonymized review.
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
- Taylor & Francis
- ISSN
- 1092-6755
- Electronic ISSN
- 1544-452X
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 29, Issue 3 (2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Adoption Quarterly
What CAS zone is Adoption Quarterly in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Adoption Quarterly is in Zone 4 of Sociology, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Social Work. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 4 of Sociology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Adoption Quarterly?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 1.1 (2025); this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 1.5, h-index 45.
How long does peer review take at Adoption Quarterly?
Based on the dates recorded on 44 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 198 days (interquartile range 138–256 days); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 79% (2025). 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.
Which databases index Adoption Quarterly?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Adoption Quarterly is indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Is Adoption Quarterly open access, and what is the APC?
Adoption Quarterly is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC charged, amount not published.
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: .