Journal profile · Multiple
Early Child Development and Care
ISSN 0300-4430 · eISSN 1476-8275 · Taylor & Francis
Early Child Development and Care: CAS Zone 4 · Psychology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.36; JCR Q2 (journal website); hybrid open access; APC charged, amount not published; median 195 days to acceptance (98 articles, last 24 months); acceptance rate 14% (journal website); 104 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Early Child Development and Care is published by Taylor & Francis and is in Zone 4 of Psychology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Early Childhood Education and Development, Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development and Child Development and Digital Technology, together about 39.1% of its articles. Its main subfields are Education. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Early Child Development and Care is a multidisciplinary publication that serves psychologists, educators, psychiatrists, paediatricians, social workers and other professionals who deal with research, planning, education and care of infants and young children. The Journal provides English translations of work in this field that has been published in other languages, and original English papers on all aspects of early child development and care: descriptive and evaluative articles on social, educational and preventive medical programs for young children, experimental and observational studies, critical reviews and summary articles. For this journal, early child development means development of infants and young children from birth to 8 years old. Early Child Development and Care does not normally publish articles which are focussed on curriculum issues or papers that deal with matters of pedagogy in the early childhood field. This journal does not normally publish papers which relate specifically to the construction, validation or evaluation of psychometric devices, measuring instruments and scales. Exceptions may be made if such information is essential in the context of a substantive research paper, or technical review, on a topic covered by the broad reach of our aforementioned aims and scope. Peer Review Policy: All research articles in this journal have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and anonymized refereeing by at least two anonymous referees.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Multiple
Editor-in-chief Helen SkouterisPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United States 1, Türkiye 1, Romania 1 (3 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Early Childhood Education and DevelopmentSocial Sciences21.3%
- Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentPsychology9.8%
- Child Development and Digital TechnologySocial Sciences8.1%
- Parental Involvement in EducationSocial Sciences6.9%
- Family and Disability Support ResearchPsychology6.8%
- Human auditory perception and evaluationEngineering4%
- Children's Rights and ParticipationSocial Sciences3.7%
- Reading and Literacy DevelopmentPsychology3.7%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Psychology Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Psychology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Education & Educational Research | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Psychology, Developmental | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Psychology Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Psychology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Education & Educational Research | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Psychology, Developmental | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Psychology Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Psychology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Education & Educational Research | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Psychology, Developmental | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
JCR / CiteScore quartiles on the journal's website
- JCR Q2 · best quartile · 2025
- CiteScore Q2 · 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
SSCIScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
SCIEPsycINFOERICPublisher website
Other: ASCI Databases, ASSIA, Australian Research Council (ARC) Ranked Journal List, Contents Pages in Education, EBSCOhost EJS, Education Index, Education Resources Information Center ( ERIC), IBSS (International Bibliography of the Social Sciences)
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
- Impact factor
- 1.36LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 1.4Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 1.8Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 3.2LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 3.2Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.56LetPub ·
- SJR (publisher) 2025
- 0.56Publisher website ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.92LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher) 2025
- 0.92Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 88OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,944OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.83OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 7.1%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 12%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 99LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher)
- 633,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 5,324 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 47 | 5 | 9 |
| 2025 | 104 | 28 | 132 |
| 2024 | 78 | 19 | 278 |
| 2023 | 76 | 26 | 350 |
| 2022 | 82 | 14 | 519 |
| 2021 | 126 | 27 | 1,298 |
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
195 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 131 days – 308 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 14 days (98 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 207 days
- Sample
- 98 articles with submission and acceptance dates (163 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)
- 14%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 5 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review
- 70 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 11 daysPublisher 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 accepted1
- original researchoriginal English papers on all aspects of early child development and care: descriptive and evaluative articles on social, educational and preventive medical pr…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteOpen access, Peer review
- Open access Open access
Early Child Development and Care 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 discoverab…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review
Peer review policy: all research articles undergo rigorous peer review based on initial editor screening and anonymized refereeing by at least two anonymous referees. Model summary
All research articles in this journal have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and anonymized refereeing by at least two anonymous 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
- 0300-4430
- Electronic ISSN
- 1476-8275
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 196, Issue 9-10 (2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Early Child Development and Care
What CAS zone is Early Child Development and Care in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Early Child Development and Care is in Zone 4 of Psychology, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Education & Educational Research / Psychology, Developmental. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 4 of Psychology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Early Child Development and Care?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 1.36; CiteScore 3.2, h-index 88.
How long does peer review take at Early Child Development and Care?
Based on the dates recorded on 98 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 195 days (interquartile range 131–308 days); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 14%. 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 Early Child Development and Care 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 4 of Psychology.
Where are the editorial board members of Early Child Development and Care 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), Türkiye (1) and Romania (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Early Child Development and Care?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Early Child Development and Care is indexed in SSCI and Scopus. The journal's website also lists SCIE, PsycINFO and ERIC; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Early Child Development and Care open access, and what is the APC?
Early Child Development and Care 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: .