Journal profile · MUSIC
Contemporary Music Review
ISSN 0749-4467 · eISSN 1477-2256 · Taylor & Francis
Contemporary Music Review: CAS Zone 3 · Arts (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 0.2 (journal website); hybrid open access; APC charged, amount not published; median 222 days to acceptance (41 articles, last 24 months); acceptance rate 30% (journal website); 26 articles in 2025; indexed in AHCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Contemporary Music Review is published by Taylor & Francis and is in Zone 3 of Arts in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Musicology and Musical Analysis, Music Technology and Sound Studies and Diverse Musicological Studies, together about 51.4% of its articles. Its main subfields are Music. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Contemporary Music Review is an interdisciplinary forum for research in and about music now. Our themed issues feature articles and essays across a broad spectrum of global contemporary music research as well as reports, bibliographic studies, interviews, scores and translations. Interested guest editors may submit proposals for themed issues addressing any topic in contemporary music studies, including analytical, cultural, environmental, historical, scientific, social, and technological approaches. We only publish themed issues; there are no general issues. Therefore, unsolicited articles that are submitted without belonging to an already approved proposal for a special issue are rejected. Since Contemporary Music Review first appeared in 1984, its editors have fostered an open and pragmatic view of the journal’s scope. We seek ambitious, critical and rigorous work on the culture, history, psychology, sociology, politics and aesthetics of contemporary music wherever it occurs and however it may be identified when it is occurring. We also seek to cultivate reflection on musical and musicological responses toward “the contemporary” as a multiple and shifting cultural, ecological, epistemic, historical, sociological and technological condition. Therefore, we especially invite proposals for themed issues that both: 1) contest the globality/locality of and propose alternatives to generic concepts of contemporary music such as “Western Art Music since 1945”; and 2) explore alternative contemporaries in different technological, social, geohistorical, environmental, cultural, biological and aesthetic landscapes. Please get in touch if you are unsure about your topic’s relevance. All articles are subject to rigorous double peer review prior to publication.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): MUSIC
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Musicology and Musical AnalysisArts and Humanities20.4%
- Music Technology and Sound StudiesComputer Science20.2%
- Diverse Musicological StudiesArts and Humanities10.8%
- Music History and CultureArts and Humanities9.1%
- Neuroscience and Music PerceptionNeuroscience5.9%
- Music and Audio ProcessingComputer Science5.1%
- Diverse Music Education InsightsArts and Humanities3.5%
- Legal case studies and regulationsSocial Sciences3.4%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Arts Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Arts | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Music | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Arts Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Arts | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Music | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Arts Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Arts | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Music | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
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
AHCIScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
OCLC, British Humanities Index, Current Abstracts, Humanities Index, Humanities International Index, International Index to Music Periodicals, The Music Index, Periodicals Index OnlinePublisher 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
- 0.2Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 0.7Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 0.9LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 0.9Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.12LetPub ·
- SJR (publisher) 2025
- 0.12Publisher website ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.46LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher) 2025
- 0.46Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 45OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 247OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0.44OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 0%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 18.52%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 30LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher)
- 93,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,781 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 33 | 13 | 5 |
| 2025 | 26 | 10 | 16 |
| 2024 | 34 | 8 | 20 |
| 2023 | 50 | 21 | 62 |
| 2022 | 39 | 14 | 80 |
| 2021 | 45 | 8 | 174 |
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
222 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 49 days – 411 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 30 days (41 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 265 days
- Sample
- 41 articles with submission and acceptance dates (60 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)
- 30%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 18 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 29 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
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
- articlesfeature articles and essays across a broad spectrum of global contemporary music research as well as reports, bibliographic studies, interviews, scores and tran…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteOpen access, Peer review
- Open access Open access
Contemporary Music Review 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 a…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review
All articles are subject to rigorous double peer review prior to publication. Model summary
All articles are subject to rigorous double peer review prior to publication.
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
- 0749-4467
- Electronic ISSN
- 1477-2256
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 44, Issue 4 (2025)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Contemporary Music Review
What CAS zone is Contemporary Music Review in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Contemporary Music Review is in Zone 3 of Arts, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Music. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Arts. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Contemporary Music Review?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 0.2 (2025); this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 0.9, h-index 45.
How long does peer review take at Contemporary Music Review?
Based on the dates recorded on 41 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 222 days (interquartile range 49–411 days); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 30%. 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 Contemporary Music Review?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Contemporary Music Review is indexed in AHCI and Scopus.
Is Contemporary Music Review open access, and what is the APC?
Contemporary Music Review 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: .