Journal profile · Arts and Humanities-History
Critical Military Studies
ISSN 2333-7486 · eISSN 2333-7494 · Taylor & Francis
Critical Military Studies: impact factor 2.5 (journal website); JCR Q1 (journal website); hybrid open access; APC charged, amount not published; median 320 days to acceptance (85 articles, last 24 months); acceptance rate 52% (journal website); 48 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Critical Military Studies is published by Taylor & Francis. By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Gender, Security, and Conflict, Military History and Strategy and Global Security and Public Health, together about 40.8% of its articles. Its main subfields are Political Science and International Relations and Sociology and Political Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Critical Military Studies provides a rigorous, innovative platform for interdisciplinary debate on the operation of military power. It encourages the interrogation and destabilization of often taken-for-granted categories related to the military, militarism and militarization. It especially welcomes original thinking on contradictions and tensions central to the ways in which military institutions and military power work, how such tensions are reproduced within different societies and geopolitical arenas, and within and beyond academic discourse. Contributions on experiences of militarization among groups and individuals, and in hitherto underexplored, perhaps even seemingly ‘non-military’ settings are also encouraged. We particularly encourage submissions on: - The contributions of critical analysis to military studies - Comparative and cross-national accounts of militaries, militarism and militarization - Social, political, cultural and economic forms of authoritarianism, militarism and militarization - Race, Empire and Postcolonialism in military studies - Gendered and queer analyses - Disability and embodiment, including critical studies of military mental health and resilience - Legacies of military occupation - The social and cultural process of legitimising military actions and institutions - Geographies and landscapes of militarism and military activities - Military strategy (including counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism) - Military atrocities - Militias, paramilitary groups and private militarised security - Child soldiers and military youth programs - Military-industrial-complex - Conscientious objection, war resistance and peace movements - Disaster relief, military humanitarianism, peacekeeping and reconstruction - Military education and cadets - Military families - Social relations in military bases and base towns - Science, technology and medicine in militaries and militarism - Representation and the cultural (re)production of war, violence and militarism - The challenges and opportunities of critical engagement and collaboration with military personnel - Veterans and ex-combatants - New and critical methodologies in critical military studies The Journal also includes a non-peer reviewed section, Encounters, showcasing multidisciplinary forms of critique such as film and photography, and engaging with policy debates and activism, and invites proposals for special sections and special issues on themes that fit with our scope and aims. Ple
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Arts and Humanities-History
Editor-in-chief Victoria BashamPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United Kingdom 5, United States 2, Singapore 1 (8 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Gender, Security, and ConflictSocial Sciences24.9%
- Military History and StrategySocial Sciences8.2%
- Global Security and Public HealthSocial Sciences7.7%
- Peacebuilding and International SecuritySocial Sciences6.7%
- Historical Gender and Feminism StudiesSocial Sciences6.6%
- World Wars: History, Literature, and ImpactSocial Sciences6.3%
- Defense, Military, and Policy StudiesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance4.2%
- Memory, Trauma, and CommemorationPsychology3.6%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
JCR / CiteScore quartiles on the journal's website
- JCR Q1 · 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
- 2.5Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 3LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 3Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.63LetPub ·
- SJR (publisher) 2025
- 0.63Publisher website ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.41LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher) 2025
- 1.41Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 32OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 101OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.14OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 56%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 26.98%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 60LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher)
- 98,000Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 98,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 380 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 36 | 24 | 3 |
| 2025 | 48 | 25 | 52 |
| 2024 | 24 | 17 | 68 |
| 2023 | 24 | 13 | 112 |
| 2022 | 25 | 13 | 202 |
| 2021 | 24 | 8 | 135 |
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
320 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 220 days – 447 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 11 days (85 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 341 days
- Sample
- 85 articles with submission and acceptance dates (88 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)
- 52%Publisher website ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher) 2025
- 52%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 44 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 44 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review
- 142 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review 2025
- 142 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 10 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 10 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
Critical Military 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 a…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review
All submitted manuscripts are subject to initial appraisal by the Editor-in-Chief, Special Issues Editors or Encounters Editors as appropriate. If found suitable for further consideration, all papers with the exception of Encounters pieces, are sent out for double anonymized peer review by at least Model summary
All submitted manuscripts are subject to initial appraisal by the Editor-in-Chief, Special Issues Editors or Encounters Editors as appropriate. If found suitable for further consideration, all papers with the exception of Encounters pieces, are sent out for double anonymized peer review by at least two independent, anonymous expert referees.
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
- 2333-7486
- Electronic ISSN
- 2333-7494
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 12, Issue 3 (2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Critical Military Studies
What is the impact factor of Critical Military Studies?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 2.5 (2025); this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 3, h-index 32.
How long does peer review take at Critical Military Studies?
Based on the dates recorded on 85 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 320 days (interquartile range 220–447 days); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 52% (2025). 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 Military Studies in?
The journal's website gives JCR Q1 (best quartile). JCR quartiles are Clarivate's to confirm and a different system from the CAS zones.
Where are the editorial board members of Critical Military Studies based?
Of the 8 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (5), United States (2) and Singapore (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Critical Military Studies?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Critical Military Studies is indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Is Critical Military Studies open access, and what is the APC?
Critical Military 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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .