Journal profile · COMMUNICATION
Communication Research
ISSN 0093-6502 · eISSN 1552-3810 · SAGE
Communication Research: CAS Zone 1 · Literature (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal); impact factor 4.71; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,900; acceptance rate 6.1% (journal website); 54 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Communication Research is published by SAGE and is in Zone 1 of Literature in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Media Influence and Health, Social Media and Politics and Media Studies and Communication, together about 36.3% of its articles. Its main subfields are Sociology and Political Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Communication Research (CR), peer-reviewed and published bi-monthly, has provided researchers and practitioners with the most up-to-date, comprehensive and important research on communication and its related fields. It publishes articles that explore the processes, antecedents, and consequences of communication in a broad range of societal systems. 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): COMMUNICATION
Editorial board by country: 2 in mainland China (about 1%); most named United States 135, Netherlands 8, Germany 7, Hong Kong, China 5, South Korea 4 (174 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Media Influence and HealthArts and Humanities13.7%
- Social Media and PoliticsSocial Sciences13.2%
- Media Studies and CommunicationSocial Sciences9.5%
- Social and Intergroup PsychologySocial Sciences7.7%
- Impact of Technology on AdolescentsSocial Sciences3.9%
- Attachment and Relationship DynamicsPsychology3.9%
- Behavioral Health and InterventionsPsychology3.5%
- Media Influence and PoliticsSocial Sciences3.4%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Literature Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Literature | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Communication | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Literature Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Literature | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Communication | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Literature Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Literature | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Communication | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview 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
- 4.71LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 4.9Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 7.2Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 14.3LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 2.3LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 2.51LetPub ·
- h-index
- 191OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,476OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 5.27OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 4.1%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 29.17%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 53LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 2,110 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 45 | 23 | 9 |
| 2025 | 54 | 32 | 149 |
| 2024 | 59 | 28 | 674 |
| 2023 | 54 | 30 | 885 |
| 2022 | 31 | 12 | 586 |
| 2021 | 32 | 13 | 1,055 |
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
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 6.1%Publisher 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 3,900 / GBP 2,859 | — | — | |
| 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 words
- Reference style
- APA
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted1
- meta-analysisPLEASE NOTE: Communication Research does not publish special issues and does not work with guest editors. Please do not send proposals or applications along the…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. Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to: Share your research data in a relevant public data repository Include a data ava…
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. Figures submitted in color will be published in color in the online version of the journal at no cost. If you wish to have color figures in the printed version, you will be alerted as to printing fees upon acceptance. Optional open access publishing is available for a fee via the Sage Choice program, and Open Access agreements, where …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
Double anonymized peer review Model summary
The following summary describes the peer review process for this journal: Identity transparency: Double-anonymized Reviewer interacts with: Co-editors 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 r…
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 Clinical trial registration
The journal endorses the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first participant enrollment. However, consistent with the AllTrials campaign, retrospectively registered trials will be considered if the justification for late registration is acceptable. The trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be …
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
- 0093-6502
- Electronic ISSN
- 1552-3810
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Communication Research
What CAS zone is Communication Research in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Communication Research is in Zone 1 of Literature, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Communication; it is a Top journal. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 1 of Literature. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Communication Research?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 4.71; CiteScore 14.3, h-index 191.
What are the manuscript requirements of Communication Research?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 150 words; Reference style: APA; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; 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 Communication Research based?
Of the 174 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 2 (about 1%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (135), Netherlands (8) and Germany (7). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Communication Research?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Communication Research is indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Is Communication Research open access, and what is the APC?
Communication Research is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,900.
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: .