Journal profile · EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
Critical Education
ISSN 1920-4175 · Institute for Critical Education Studies · Canada
Critical Education: CAS Zone 4 · Education (2025 upgraded edition); diamond open access (no APC); no APC; review about 25 weeks (community reports); 39 articles a year; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Critical Education is published by Institute for Critical Education Studies and is in Zone 4 of Education in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Higher Education Practises and Engagement, Disability Education and Employment and Higher Education Research Studies, together about 41.7% of its articles. Its main subfields are Education. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
DESCRIPTION Critical Education is an international, referred, diamond open access journal published by the Institute for Critical Education Studies (ICES). Contributions critically examine contemporary educational contexts, practices, and theories. Articles published in Critical Education are typically distinguished by an emphasis on critique (analyzing and challenging systemic power relations) and/or transformation (seeking to enact social change through analysis, collective action, and praxis). Critical Education publishes theoretical and empirical research as well as articles that advance educational practices that challenge the existing state of affairs in society, schools, higher education, and informal education. The journal welcomes submissions grounded in critical theory from a wide variety of perspectives including Marxism, anarchism, and critical perspectives on race, class, gender/sexuality, ability, etc. ICES, Critical Education, and its companion journal Workplace: A Journal for Academic Labor, defend the freedom, without restriction or censorship, to disseminate and publish reports of research, teaching, and service, and to express critical opinions about institutions or systems and their management. Co-Directors of ICES, co-hosts of ICES and Workplace blogs, and Co-Editors of these journals resist all efforts to limit the exercise of academic freedom and intellectual freedom, recognizing the right of criticism by authors or contributors. PUBLICATION FREQUENCYCritical Education publishes one volume per calendar year. Issues are published quarterly. OPEN ACCESS POLICY ICES and Critical Education are committed to community-driven and non-commercial approach to academic publishing and promotes equitable access to scholarly work. This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Critical Education articles are published/distributed/preserved with no fees to either reader or author (Diamond Open Access). REVENUE SOURCES & ADVERTISING This journal is hosted by the University of British Columbia Library, which provides server space and technical support to the journal. There are no author fees for submissions and no reader access fees. The editors, editorial collective, and submission reviewers donate their labour to the production of the journal. This journal does not accept advertising. COPYRIGHT, LICENSING, & REPOSITORY T
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United States 1, Italy 1, Canada 1 (3 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Higher Education Practises and EngagementSocial Sciences20.8%
- Disability Education and EmploymentSocial Sciences16.7%
- Higher Education Research StudiesSocial Sciences4.2%
- Higher Education Governance and DevelopmentSocial Sciences4.2%
- Disability Rights and RepresentationSocial Sciences4.2%
- Social Work Education and PracticeSocial Sciences4.2%
- Labor Movements and UnionsSocial Sciences4.2%
- Mental Health and Patient InvolvementHealth Professions4.2%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Education Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Education | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Education & Educational Research | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Education Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Education | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Education & Educational Research | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
Database indexing
ESCIScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
SCIEPublisher 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
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 1.1LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.23LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.51LetPub ·
- h-index
- 5OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 16.7%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 0%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 39LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 11 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 4 | 4 | 9 |
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
- Average review time (community reports)
- about 25 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 25 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Double anonymous peer reviewDOAJ
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
Diamond open access (no APC)DOAJ
Every article is open access and authors pay no article processing charge.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | No APC | No | CC BY |
Other charges and waivers (author guidelines)
- Other fees
- No other fees
- Page charges
- No page charges
- Submission fee
- No submission fee
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 websitePublication ethics, License & copyright, Open access
- Publication ethics
Follows COPE core practices regarding misconduct, authorship, complaints, conflicts of interest, data, ethical oversight, intellectual property, journal management, peer review, and post-publication corrections. Model summary
Critical Education subscribes to the core practices set forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics regarding allegations of misconduct, authorship and contributorship, complaints and appeals, conflicts of interest, data and reproducibility, ethical oversight, intellectual property, journal management , peer review processes, and post-publication discussions and corrections.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright COPYRIGHT, LICENSING, & REPOSITORY
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License Model summary
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Authors retain copyright and full publishing rights without restriction. Authors are free to deposit a copy of their work in an institutional or other repository of their choice.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access
No fees or charges for submission, manuscript processing, or publishing. Model summary
There are no fees or charges required for submission, manuscript processing or publishing materials in this journal.
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
- Institute for Critical Education Studies
- Country or region
- Canada
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1920-4175
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 17, Issue 3 (2026)
- Official links
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Critical Education
What CAS zone is Critical Education in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Critical Education is in Zone 4 of Education, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Education & Educational Research. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Education. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
How long does peer review take at Critical Education?
Authors report an average review time of about 25 weeks. 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.
Where are the editorial board members of Critical Education based?
Of the 3 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (1), Italy (1) and Canada (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Critical Education?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Critical Education is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ. The journal's website also lists SCIE; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Critical Education open access, and what is the APC?
Critical Education is a diamond open-access journal (no APC). It charges no article processing charge.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, DOAJ, Publisher website; 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: .