Journal profile · Arts and Humanities-Arts and Humanities (all)
Critical African Studies
ISSN 2168-1392 · eISSN 2040-7211 · Taylor & Francis
Critical African Studies: CAS Zone 2 · Sociology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 0.9 (journal website); JCR Q2 (journal website); hybrid open access; APC charged, amount not published; median 391 days to acceptance (41 articles, last 24 months); acceptance rate 19% (journal website); 34 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Critical African Studies is published by Taylor & Francis and is in Zone 2 of Sociology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are African studies and sociopolitical issues, African history and culture studies and Anthropological Studies and Insights, together about 33.1% of its articles. Its main subfields are Sociology and Political Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Critical African Studies seeks to advance critical approaches and theoretical innovation within African Studies. We aim to champion representation and inclusion, and seek to support and advance the decolonization of knowledge. We publish theoretically informed scholarship of importance for Africa and the diaspora, from diverse disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences. We encourage pieces of critical enquiry that subvert colonial framings and question long-held or widely assumed truths, and that transcend disciplinary boundaries. We offer authors a more flexible publishing platform than other journals, allowing them greater space to develop empirical discussions alongside theoretical and conceptual engagements. Our aim is to publish scholarly articles that generate and engage with theory from the African continent and its disaporas. We aspire to publish articles based on original empirical research that has been undertaken with the highest ethical research standards. Critical African Studies publishes original research articles, review essays, commentaties, and debates and provocations that meet the aims of the journal, and that offer original and critical empirical and theoretical insights into African Studies debates. The journal welcomes proposals from Guest Editors for special issues or special sections. CrAS welcomes review essays offering original and insightful analysis of the state of the literature on a given research area within the journal's remit. This can be done through engaging with three or more recently published books on Africa on a given theoretical debate or substantive topic, highlighting their contributions and drawing specific theoretical implications for future research agendas within specific domains of African Studies. We are also happy to consider Review Essays which have a different approach, for instance, offering a broader critical assessment of key debates relevant to the subject, and offering original ideas about new theoretical entry-points. Review Essays will be double blind peer reviewed as normal and should be between 5000-6000 words. Prospective review essay authors should first send a 1-2 page proposal to the Editors via critical.african.studies@ed.ac.uk. The proposal should, if relevant, identify the books that would form the core of the review, and articulate a clear argument about their significance. Where the review essay is not framed around any specific books, a clear summary of the key debates and the co
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Arts and Humanities-Arts and Humanities (all)
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named South Africa 10, United Kingdom 5, United States 2, Germany 2, Netherlands 2 (24 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- African studies and sociopolitical issuesSocial Sciences11.4%
- African history and culture studiesSocial Sciences11.4%
- Anthropological Studies and InsightsSocial Sciences10.3%
- South African History and CultureSocial Sciences5.9%
- African cultural and philosophical studiesSocial Sciences5.5%
- African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ IssuesSocial Sciences4.6%
- Postcolonial and Cultural Literary StudiesArts and Humanities4.4%
- African history and culture analysisSocial Sciences4%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Sociology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Anthropology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Area Studies | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Sociology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Anthropology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Area Studies | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary | 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 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
ESCIScopusLetPub
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 (publisher) 2025
- 0.9Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 2.2LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 2.2Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.41LetPub ·
- SJR (publisher) 2025
- 0.41Publisher website ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.11LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher) 2025
- 1.11Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 31OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 101OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.44OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 0%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 17.86%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 34LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher)
- 83,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 360 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 23 | 12 | 0 |
| 2025 | 34 | 21 | 35 |
| 2024 | 22 | 10 | 79 |
| 2023 | 18 | 6 | 60 |
| 2022 | 26 | 8 | 196 |
| 2021 | 24 | 11 | 305 |
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
391 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 289 days – 573 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 53 days (41 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 439 days
- Sample
- 41 articles with submission and acceptance dates (59 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)
- 19%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 76 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review
- 127 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 46 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)
Article types accepted5, with length limits
- commentariesThe journal also seeks commentaries on contemporary events/issues.Length not stated
- debates and provocationsCritical African Studies publishes original research articles, review essays, commentaties, and debates and provocations that meet the aims of the journal, and …Length not stated
- original research articlesCritical African Studies publishes original research articles, review essays, commentaties, and debates and provocations that meet the aims of the journal, and …Length not stated
- revieweas about new theoretical entry-points. Review Essays will be double blind peer reviewed as normal and should be between 5000-6000 words. Prospective review ess…main text ≤ 6,000 words
- review essaysCrAS welcomes review essays offering original and insightful analysis of the state of the literature on a given research area within the journal's remit.Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteOpen access, Peer review
- Open access Open access
Hybrid open access journal (Open Select). Model summary
Critical African 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 discoverability an…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review
All submissions evaluated by an editor before double anonymous peer review. Model summary
All submissions across all article types are evaluated by an editor before being sent out for double anonymous peer review.
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
- 2168-1392
- Electronic ISSN
- 2040-7211
- Society / sponsor
- University of Edinburgh Centre of African Studies
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 18, Issue 2 (2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Critical African Studies
What CAS zone is Critical African Studies in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Critical African Studies is in Zone 2 of Sociology, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Anthropology / Area Studies / Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary. 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 Critical African Studies?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 0.9 (2025); this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 2.2, h-index 31.
How long does peer review take at Critical African Studies?
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 391 days (interquartile range 289–573 days); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 19%. 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 Critical African Studies 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 2 of Sociology.
Where are the editorial board members of Critical African Studies based?
Of the 24 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are South Africa (10), United Kingdom (5) and United States (2). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Critical African Studies?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Critical African Studies is indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Is Critical African Studies open access, and what is the APC?
Critical African Studies 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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .