Journal profile · SOCIOLOGY
Cultural Sociology
ISSN 1749-9755 · eISSN 1749-9763 · SAGE
Cultural Sociology: CAS Zone 2 · Sociology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.47; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,650; 33 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Cultural Sociology is published by SAGE 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 Social and Cultural Dynamics, Cultural Industries and Urban Development and Music History and Culture, together about 50.1% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Cultural Sociology publishes peer-reviewed, empirically oriented, theoretically sophisticated, methodologically rigorous papers, which explore from a broad set of sociological perspectives a diverse range of socio-cultural forces, phenomena, institutions and contexts. The journal publishes original articles which advance the field of cultural sociology and the sociology of culture. View full journal description This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): SOCIOLOGY
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United Kingdom 27, United States 19, Canada 5, Italy 3, Australia 3 (80 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Social and Cultural DynamicsSocial Sciences24.7%
- Cultural Industries and Urban DevelopmentSocial Sciences15.1%
- Music History and CultureArts and Humanities10.3%
- Contemporary Sociological Theory and PracticeSocial Sciences5.6%
- Gender, Feminism, and MediaSocial Sciences4.4%
- Management and Organizational StudiesBusiness, Management and Accounting3.4%
- Diverse Music Education InsightsArts and Humanities3%
- Culinary Culture and TourismAgricultural and Biological Sciences2.8%
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 | Sociology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Sociology Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Sociology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Sociology Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Sociology | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SSCIScopusLetPub
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
- 1.47LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 1.5Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 2.4Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4.6LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.76LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 2.15LetPub ·
- h-index
- 58OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 307OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.38OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 0%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 47.83%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 24LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 927 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 51 | 29 | 4 |
| 2025 | 33 | 24 | 65 |
| 2024 | 51 | 27 | 117 |
| 2023 | 45 | 28 | 199 |
| 2022 | 47 | 24 | 412 |
| 2021 | 38 | 16 | 323 |
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
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAlex | USD 3,650 / GBP 2,676 | — | — | |
| 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.
Other charges and waivers (author guidelines)
- 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)
What to prepare6 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 300 words
- Reference style
- Harvard
- Templates
- LaTeX and Word
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Suggested reviewers
- Required
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted3
- articlesArticles must be between 5,000 and 10,000 words in length, including footnotes, tables and references.Length not stated
- book reviewArticles must be between 5,000 and 10,000 words in length, including footnotes, tables and references. Include a word count of the main article, (the count incl…Length not stated
- book reviewsCultural Sociology publishes book reviews.Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Data availability, Publication ethics, Open access, Peer review, Plagiarism, Preprints, Trial registration / reporting guidelines
- Authorship Authorship
Please view our authorship policies, which includes information on criteria for authorship, who should be the corresponding author and more. Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data availability
The Journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages. Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to: Share your research data in a relevant public data repository Include a data ava…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics Ethical considerations
Please include your ethics approval statements under this heading, even if you have already included ethics approval information in your methods section. If ethical approval was not required, you need to explicitly state this. All papers reporting studies involving human participants, human data or human tissue must state that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board approved th…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Publishing fees and open access
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this journal. Figures submitted in color will be published in color in the online version of the journal at no cost. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article. Optional open access publishing is available for a fee via the Sage Choice pr…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
Double anonymized peer review Model summary
The following summary describes the peer review process for this journal: Identity transparency: Double-anonymized Reviewer interacts with: Editor Review information published: None Your manuscript will undergo an initial evaluation. If it does not conform to the requirements laid out in these guidelines, it will be returned to you for amendments prior to peer review. Manuscripts may be desk rejec…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Plagiarism Plagiarism
The journal and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. Please read Sage's complete policy on plagiarism and the actions we may take.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
The journal will consider submissions of manuscripts that have been posted on preprint servers. Please enter the preprint DOI in the designated field when submitting your manuscript. We advise that you inform the Journal Editorial office about your posted preprint at submission. Note that you should not post an updated version of your manuscript on a preprint server while it is being peer reviewed…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Trial registration / reporting guidelines Clinical trial registration
The journal conforms to the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first participant enrollment as a condition of consideration for publication. The trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.
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
- SAGE
- ISSN
- 1749-9755
- Electronic ISSN
- 1749-9763
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Cultural Sociology
What CAS zone is Cultural Sociology in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Cultural Sociology is in Zone 2 of Sociology, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Sociology. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 1 of Sociology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Cultural Sociology?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 1.47; CiteScore 4.6, h-index 58.
What are the manuscript requirements of Cultural Sociology?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 300 words; Reference style: Harvard; Templates: LaTeX and Word; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; Suggested reviewers: Required; Cover letter: Required. 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 Cultural Sociology based?
Of the 80 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (27), United States (19) and Canada (5). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Cultural Sociology?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Cultural Sociology is indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Is Cultural Sociology open access, and what is the APC?
Cultural Sociology is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,650.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, 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: .