Journal profile · Arts and Humanities-Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
Critical Times
ISSN 2641-0478 · Duke University Press · United States
Critical Times: diamond open access (no APC); no APC; review about 26 weeks (community reports); 26 articles in 2025; indexed in Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Critical Times is published by Duke University Press. By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Political Theology and Sovereignty, Decolonial Thought and Epistemologies and Art, Politics, and Modernism, together about 21.9% of its articles. Its main subfields are Sociology and Political Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Critical Times is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal committed to the intellectual and political project of critical theory. Recognizing the many forms that theory takes today, the journal works to call attention to the ongoing, collective reinvention of critique. Critical Times features work from various regions, with particular interests in theory from the southern hemisphere and other places beyond Europe and the United States, and in practices of cross-regional intellectual exchange and struggle. We publish scholarly essays, interviews, dialogues, dispatches, visual art, and various other forms of critical reflection and response, and we welcome submissions that engage with social and political theory, literature, philosophy, art, anthropology, and other fields in the humanities and critical social sciences. Critical Times is a project of the International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs and is supported by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Peer-reviewed essays and all other contributions to the journal are published under a Creative Commons license (BY-NC-ND) and are available immediately upon publication. Authors are not charged any fees for publication and retain copyright and full publishing rights, without restrictions, to their articles. Readers may use the full text of articles as described in the license.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Arts and Humanities-Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
Editorial board by country: 1 in mainland China (about 25%); most named United States 2, Mainland China 1, Türkiye 1 (4 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Political Theology and SovereigntySocial Sciences9.1%
- Decolonial Thought and EpistemologiesSocial Sciences6.8%
- Art, Politics, and ModernismArts and Humanities6%
- Postcolonial and Cultural Literary StudiesArts and Humanities5.5%
- Jewish and Middle Eastern StudiesSocial Sciences5%
- University Challenges and ReformsSocial Sciences5%
- Feminism, Gender, and IntersectionalitySocial Sciences4.7%
- Marxism and Critical TheoryArts and Humanities4.4%
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.
CiteScore quartiles (Scopus, June 2026 release)
| Subject | Quartile | Rank | Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) | Q2 | 219/692 | 68th |
Scopus ranks journals by CiteScore within each subject: the 75th percentile and above is Q1, then a quartile every 25 points. A different system from the CAS zones.LetPub
Database indexing
ScopusDOAJLetPub
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
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 1.4LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.28LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.29LetPub ·
- h-index
- 20OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 42OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.39OpenAlex ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 0%LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 288 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 11 | 11 | 392 |
| 2025 | 26 | 26 | 352 |
| 2024 | 33 | 33 | 304 |
| 2023 | 32 | 32 | 281 |
| 2022 | 39 | 39 | 153 |
| 2021 | 45 | 45 | 113 |
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 26 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 26 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Single 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-NC-ND | |
| LetPub | No APC | No | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
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 prepare3 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- 100–150 words
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 10,000 words
- Reference style
- Chicago
Article types accepted7
- dialoguesWe publish scholarly essays, interviews, dialogues, dispatches, visual art, and various other forms of critical reflection and responseLength not stated
- dispatchesWe publish scholarly essays, interviews, dialogues, dispatches, visual art, and various other forms of critical reflection and responseLength not stated
- full-length essaysFull-length essays should be no longer than 10,000 words, inclusive of an abstract of 100-150 words, footnotes and bibliography.Length not stated
- interviewsWe publish scholarly essays, interviews, dialogues, dispatches, visual art, and various other forms of critical reflection and responseLength not stated
- scholarly essaysWe publish scholarly essays, interviews, dialogues, dispatches, visual art, and various other forms of critical reflection and responseLength not stated
- short essaysShort essays should be between 5,000 and 6,000 words and include an abstract.Length not stated
- visual artWe publish scholarly essays, interviews, dialogues, dispatches, visual art, and various other forms of critical reflection and responseLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, License & copyright, Open access
- Authorship
Right of first publication of all submitted manuscripts. Model summary
Critical Times maintains the right to first publication of all submitted manuscripts.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest
Unpublished manuscripts treated as strictly confidential. Model summary
All unpublished manuscripts are treated as strictly confidential.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright
Creative Commons license (BY-NC-ND), immediate availability Model summary
Peer-reviewed essays and all other contributions to the journal are published under a Creative Commons license (BY-NC-ND) and are available immediately upon publication.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open Access
Open access journal. Model summary
Critical Times is an open-access title with all content freely available online.
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
- Duke University Press
- Country or region
- United States
- Language
- English, Spanish
- ISSN
- 2641-0478
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 9, Issue 1-2 (April 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗LetPub
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Critical Times
How long does peer review take at Critical Times?
Authors report an average review time of about 26 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.
What are the manuscript requirements of Critical Times?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: 100–150 words; Manuscript length: ≤ 10,000 words; Reference style: Chicago. 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 Critical Times based?
Of the 4 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 1 (about 25%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (2), Mainland China (1) and Türkiye (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Critical Times?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Critical Times is indexed in Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Critical Times open access, and what is the APC?
Critical Times 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: .