Journal profile · Multiple
Armed Forces & Society
ISSN 0095-327X · eISSN 1556-0848 · SAGE
Armed Forces & Society: CAS Zone 3 · Sociology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.18; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,650; review about 138 days (submission to acceptance, publisher); acceptance rate 12.2% (journal website); 60 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Armed Forces & Society 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 Defense, Military, and Policy Studies, Military History and Strategy and Gender, Security, and Conflict, together about 40.1% of its articles. Its main subfields are Political Science and International Relations and Sociology and Political Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Armed Forces & Society (AFS) a quarterly publication with international scope publishes articles on civil-military relations, veterans, force effectiveness and diversity, military culture, officer education and training, military institutions, ethics, unit cohesion, military families, peacemaking, privatization, public opinion and conflict management. The editors and … | 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): Multiple
Editor-in-chief Ori SwedPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United States 24, Israel 4, United Kingdom 3, Canada 2, Netherlands 2 (40 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Defense, Military, and Policy StudiesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance16.3%
- Military History and StrategySocial Sciences14.2%
- Gender, Security, and ConflictSocial Sciences9.6%
- Military and Defense StudiesSocial Sciences6.7%
- International Relations and Foreign PolicySocial Sciences5%
- Peacebuilding and International SecuritySocial Sciences5%
- Vietnamese History and Culture StudiesSocial Sciences3.8%
- Global Peace and Security DynamicsSocial Sciences3.8%
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 | Political Science | Zone 4 |
| 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 | Political Science | 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 | Political Science | Zone 4 |
| 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
- 1.18LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 1.3Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 1.4Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 3.4LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.65LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.63LetPub ·
- h-index
- 72OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 831OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.54OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 23.1%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 31.85%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 53LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 2,944 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 49 | 24 | 6 |
| 2025 | 60 | 31 | 73 |
| 2024 | 77 | 35 | 208 |
| 2023 | 53 | 33 | 264 |
| 2022 | 81 | 20 | 539 |
| 2021 | 42 | 9 | 304 |
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
Publisher-reported review time from the journal's website
138 dayssubmission to acceptance
The publisher's own definition applies; dates from this journal's articles in the last 24 months are not available yet, so the publisher's figure is used.
Figures by source
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 12.2%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 5 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 138 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 41 daysPublisher website ·
- Peer review
- Double-anonymous peer reviewPublisher website · model-extracted
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.
Other charges and waivers (author guidelines)
- Submission fee
- No submission fee
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 prepare10 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 150 words
- Keywords
- ≤ 7
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 9,000 words
- Reference style
- APA
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
- Highlights
- Optional
- Graphical abstract
- Optional
- Cover letter
- Required
- Not considered
- Headers/Footers; track-changes
Article types accepted6, with length limits
- book reviewal guidance of the assessment criteria. Book Reviews Book reviews will generally not exceed 2000 words (excluding title, references and endnotes). Do not includ…main text ≤ 2,000 words
- commentaryeed 9,000 words (excluding references). Commentary Commentaries should not exceed 4,000 words excluding references, and will undergo a modified review prmain text ≤ 4,000 words
- original manuscriptOriginal ManuscriptLength not stated
- research noteResearch NoteLength not stated
- reviewd to organize the literature. Length of review essay articles should not exceed 9,000 words (excluding references). Commentary Commentaries should notmain text ≤ 9,000 words
- review essayReview EssayLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteData availability
- Data availability Data availability
Data sharing policy; authors encouraged to share data in public repository, include data availability statement, cite data. Model summary
Armed Forces & Society 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.
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
- 0095-327X
- Electronic ISSN
- 1556-0848
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Armed Forces & Society
What CAS zone is Armed Forces & Society in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Armed Forces & Society is in Zone 3 of Sociology, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Political Science / 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 Armed Forces & Society?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 1.18; CiteScore 3.4, h-index 72.
How long does peer review take at Armed Forces & Society?
The publisher reports about 138 days (submission to acceptance); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 12.2%. 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 Armed Forces & Society?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 150 words; Keywords: ≤ 7; Manuscript length: ≤ 9,000 words; Reference style: APA; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; Suggested reviewers: Optional; Highlights: Optional; Graphical abstract: Optional; Cover letter: Required. 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 Armed Forces & Society based?
Of the 40 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (24), Israel (4) and United Kingdom (3). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Armed Forces & Society?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Armed Forces & Society is indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Is Armed Forces & Society open access, and what is the APC?
Armed Forces & Society 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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .