Journal profile · LAW
Communication Law and Policy
ISSN 1081-1680 · eISSN 1532-6926 · Taylor & Francis
Communication Law and Policy: CAS Zone 4 · Sociology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 0.8 (journal website); JCR Q2 (journal website); hybrid open access; APC charged, amount not published; review about 36 days (submission to first decision, publisher); acceptance rate 8% (journal website); 2 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
The latest issue on the journal's website is from 2024 (Volume 29, Issue 4): the journal may have stopped publishing or moved platform in the last two years. Check its website before submitting.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Communication Law and Policy 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 Law, Rights, and Freedoms, Freedom of Expression and Defamation and Legal Systems and Judicial Processes, together about 40.9% of its articles. Its main subfields are Law. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The societal, cultural, economic, and political dimensions of communication, including the freedoms of speech and press, are undergoing dramatic global changes. The convergence of the mass media, telecommunications, and computers has raised important questions reflected in analyses of modern communication law, policy, and regulation. Serving as a forum for discussions of these continuing and emerging questions, Communication Law and Policy considers traditional and contemporary problems of freedom of expression and dissemination, including theoretical, conceptual, and methodological issues inherent in the special conditions presented by new media and information technologies. The journal seeks research that is informed theoretically by First Amendment constitutional analyses, historical approaches to communication law and policy issues, contemporary social theory literature that treats the law as cultural forms, the sociology and philosophy of law, systems approaches, critical theory, and other appropriate theoretical bases. The journal publishes rigorously reasoned and thoroughly researched studies based on traditional legal research, social science techniques, or ethnographic, international, or comparative analyses. Communication Law and Policy also publishes articles using other appropriate approaches to pertinent topics. Manuscripts are sought from those in the academic fields of journalism and mass communication, communication, telecommunications, law, business, sociology, political science, and cognate disciplines, as well as practicing attorneys, policymakers, and policy analysts. Peer Review Policy As general policy, articles and essays in this journal undergo editorial review by the editor and double anonymized peer review by at least two members of the editorial board and one additional referee. Occasionally the journal publishes invited articles or essays. In such cases, the pieces are always identified by an editor’ note. Readership: Academics in journalism, communication, telecommunication, law, business, sociology, political science, and other disciplines with an interest in communication law, First Amendment issues, and related areas; practicing attorneys, policymakers, and policy analysts.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): LAW
Editor-in-chief Amy Kristin Sanders, J.D./Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, USAPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United States 23, South Korea 2, United Kingdom 1, Germany 1 (27 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Law, Rights, and FreedomsSocial Sciences23.1%
- Freedom of Expression and DefamationSocial Sciences11.9%
- Legal Systems and Judicial ProcessesSocial Sciences5.9%
- Hate Speech and Cyberbullying DetectionComputer Science5.7%
- Law in Society and CultureSocial Sciences5.4%
- Copyright and Intellectual PropertyBusiness, Management and Accounting4.7%
- Criminal Law and EvidenceSocial Sciences3.9%
- Privacy, Security, and Data ProtectionSocial Sciences3.4%
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 | Law | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Sociology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Law | Zone 3 |
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
- JCR Q2 · best quartile · 2025
- 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
Web of SciencePublisher website
Other: ProQuest, OCLC, EBSCOhost, OCLC Sociological Abstracts (Online), ProQuest online research databases
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
- 0.8Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 0.4Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 1.2LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 1.2Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.18LetPub ·
- SJR (publisher) 2025
- 0.18Publisher website ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.03LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher) 2025
- 0.03Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 23OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 63OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0.36OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 12.5%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 7.41%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 7LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher)
- 17,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 536 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 2024 | 12 | 1 | 5 |
| 2023 | 13 | 5 | 34 |
| 2022 | 12 | 3 | 21 |
| 2021 | 14 | 3 | 39 |
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
Too few articlesOnly 6 articles from the last 24 months carry both submission and acceptance dates, too few for a median
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".
Figures by source
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 8%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 36 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)
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteOpen access, Peer review
- Open access Open access
Communication Law and Policy 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 discoverabilit…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer Review Policy
Editorial review by the editor and double anonymized peer review by at least two members of the editorial board and one additional referee. Model summary
As general policy, articles and essays in this journal undergo editorial review by the editor and double anonymized peer review by at least two members of the editorial board and one additional referee. Occasionally the journal publishes invited articles or essays. In such cases, the pieces are always identified by an editor’ note.
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
- 1081-1680
- Electronic ISSN
- 1532-6926
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 29, Issue 4 (2024)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Communication Law and Policy
What CAS zone is Communication Law and Policy in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Communication Law and Policy is in Zone 4 of Sociology, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Law. 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 Communication Law and Policy?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 0.8 (2025); this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 1.2, h-index 23.
How long does peer review take at Communication Law and Policy?
The publisher reports about 36 days (submission to first decision); first decisions include desk rejections; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 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 JCR quartile is Communication Law and Policy in?
The journal's website gives JCR Q2 (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 4 of Sociology.
Where are the editorial board members of Communication Law and Policy based?
Of the 27 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (23), South Korea (2) and United Kingdom (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Communication Law and Policy?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Communication Law and Policy is indexed in ESCI and Scopus. The journal's website also lists Web of Science; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Communication Law and Policy open access, and what is the APC?
Communication Law and Policy 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: .