Journal profile · Multiple
Communication and Critical-Cultural Studies
ISSN 1479-1420 · eISSN 1479-4233 · Taylor & Francis
Communication and Critical-Cultural Studies: CAS Zone 2 · Literature (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.54; JCR Q1 (journal website); subscription journal; APC charged, amount not published; median 318 days to acceptance (46 articles, last 24 months); acceptance rate 5% (journal website); 28 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI, AHCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Communication and Critical-Cultural Studies is published by Taylor & Francis and is in Zone 2 of Literature in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Rhetoric and Communication Studies, Gender, Feminism, and Media and Media Studies and Communication, together about 37.4% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies (CC/CS) is a peer-reviewed publication of the National Communication Association. CC/CS publishes original scholarship that situates culture as a site of struggle and communication as an enactment and discipline of power. The journal features critical inquiry that cuts across academic and theoretical boundaries. CC/CS welcomes a variety of methods including textual, discourse, and rhetorical analyses alongside auto/ethnographic, narrative, and poetic inquiry. The journal especially invites essays that are intellectually innovative, reflexive, and relevant to democratic concerns in their examination of culture and communication. CC/CS promotes critical reflection on democratic ideals by drawing attention to areas such as: Historical, material, and economic conditions Nation, Polity, and Private and/or Public Sphere Identities (e.g., class, race, ethnicity, gender, ability, sexuality, etc.) and Identity Politics Neo-colonial, Post-Colonial, and Globalization Contexts Technology and New Media Resistance and Protest In addition to research essays, CC/CS publishes occasional reviews of major new books. For more details about how to submit your research to CC/CS , please review our Instructions for Authors. Unless specifically indicated otherwise, all research articles in this journal have undergone rigorous peer review, including screening by the editor and review by at least two anonymous referees. Forum sections are discussion pieces typically invited and reviewed by the forum editor and journal editor only.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Multiple
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Rhetoric and Communication StudiesArts and Humanities18%
- Gender, Feminism, and MediaSocial Sciences10.1%
- Media Studies and CommunicationSocial Sciences9.4%
- Race, History, and American SocietySocial Sciences5.9%
- Cinema and Media StudiesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance4.7%
- Social Media and PoliticsSocial Sciences4.4%
- Critical Race Theory in EducationSocial Sciences4.1%
- Discourse Analysis in Language StudiesArts and Humanities3.9%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Literature Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Literature | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Cultural Studies | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Communication | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Literature Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Literature | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Cultural Studies | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Communication | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Literature Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Literature | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Cultural Studies | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Communication | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
JCR / CiteScore quartiles on the journal's website
- JCR Q1 · best quartile · 2025
- CiteScore Q1 · 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
SSCIAHCIScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Current ContentsPublisher website
Other: OCLC, Communication Abstracts, Communication and Mass Media Complete, Current Abstracts, Electronic Collections Online, SafetyLit, Social Science JCR
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
- 1.54LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 1.6Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 1.7Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 2.1LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 2.1Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.56LetPub ·
- SJR (publisher) 2025
- 0.56Publisher website ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.13LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher) 2025
- 0.13Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 49OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 259OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0.88OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 25%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 1.32%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 20LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher)
- 84,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 732 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 28 | 5 | 5 |
| 2025 | 28 | 6 | 26 |
| 2024 | 42 | 5 | 55 |
| 2023 | 32 | 3 | 115 |
| 2022 | 32 | 6 | 156 |
| 2021 | 49 | 5 | 226 |
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
318 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 236 days – 380 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 24 days (46 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 369 days
- Sample
- 46 articles with submission and acceptance dates (67 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)
- 5%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 15 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review
- 117 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 23 daysPublisher 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
Subscription journalLetPub
A subscription journal: articles are read by subscription or purchase, and authors usually pay no publication charge.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
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 articlesIn addition to research essays, CC/CS publishes occasional reviews of major new books.Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteOpen access, Peer review
- Open access Open access
Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies 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…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review
Peer review: all research articles undergo rigorous peer review, including editor screening and review by at least two anonymous referees. Model summary
Unless specifically indicated otherwise, all research articles in this journal have undergone rigorous peer review, including screening by the editor and review by at least two anonymous referees.
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
- 1479-1420
- Electronic ISSN
- 1479-4233
- Society / sponsor
- National Communication Association
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 23, Issue 3 (2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Communication and Critical-Cultural Studies
What CAS zone is Communication and Critical-Cultural Studies in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Communication and Critical-Cultural Studies is in Zone 2 of Literature, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Cultural Studies / Communication. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Literature. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Communication and Critical-Cultural Studies?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 1.54; CiteScore 2.1, h-index 49.
How long does peer review take at Communication and Critical-Cultural Studies?
Based on the dates recorded on 46 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 318 days (interquartile range 236–380 days); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 5%. 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 JCR quartile is Communication and Critical-Cultural Studies in?
The journal's website gives JCR Q1 (best quartile). JCR quartiles are Clarivate's to confirm and a different system from the CAS zones; in the CAS ranking the journal is in Zone 2 of Literature.
Which databases index Communication and Critical-Cultural Studies?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Communication and Critical-Cultural Studies is indexed in SSCI, AHCI and Scopus. The journal's website also lists Current Contents; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Communication and Critical-Cultural Studies open access, and what is the APC?
Communication and Critical-Cultural Studies is a subscription journal. 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: .