Journal profile · Multiple
European Journal of Cultural Studies
ISSN 1367-5494 · eISSN 1460-3551 · SAGE
European Journal of Cultural Studies: CAS Zone 2 · Sociology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.09; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,650; review about 219 days (submission to acceptance, publisher); acceptance rate 17.5% (journal website); 132 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI, AHCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
European Journal of Cultural Studies 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 Gender, Feminism, and Media, Media Studies and Communication and Cultural Industries and Urban Development, together about 34.2% of its articles. Its main subfields are Sociology and Political Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
European Journal of Cultural Studies is a major international peer-reviewed journal that publishes well-theorized empirical research from a wide variety of geographical locations and disciplinary backgrounds in the humanities and the social sciences. Originally founded in Europe, and now edited from the Netherlands, Hong Kong and the UK, the journal has a broad-ranging view of cultural studies, developing new questions and innovative research, and mapping its ongoing transformations. The common denominator for the work published is in critical engagement with how power relations are (re)produced in everyday practices of meaning-making in the current conjuncture. They might concern gender, class, race and ethnicity, sexuality, sexual preference, disability, and other macro or micro sites of political struggle. The topics covered by European Journal of Cultural Studies cover a wide range. Areas include (among others): popular cultural forms and practices; consumer cultures; media, film and television culture; post-colonial criticism; cultural policy; citizenship, sexualities, youth culture and class relations; music; intersectional constructions of identity; populism; creative industries; politics; ecology; technology; social media.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Multiple
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United Kingdom 21, Netherlands 8, United States 7, Canada 5, Australia 5 (68 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Gender, Feminism, and MediaSocial Sciences16.6%
- Media Studies and CommunicationSocial Sciences9%
- Cultural Industries and Urban DevelopmentSocial Sciences8.6%
- Music History and CultureArts and Humanities6.1%
- Social and Cultural DynamicsSocial Sciences5.9%
- Cinema and Media StudiesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance5%
- Media, Gender, and AdvertisingSocial Sciences4.6%
- Social Media and PoliticsSocial Sciences4.4%
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 | Cultural Studies | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Sociology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Cultural Studies | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Sociology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Cultural Studies | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SSCIAHCIScopusLetPub
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
- 2.09LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 2.1Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 2.6Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4.3LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.87LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.78LetPub ·
- h-index
- 76OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 615OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.97OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 4.8%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 60.44%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 117LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,664 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 89 | 60 | 22 |
| 2025 | 132 | 96 | 239 |
| 2024 | 106 | 75 | 382 |
| 2023 | 82 | 63 | 547 |
| 2022 | 89 | 56 | 788 |
| 2021 | 90 | 56 | 1,413 |
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
Publisher-reported review time from the journal's website
219 dayssubmission to acceptance
The publisher's own definition applies; dates from this journal's articles in the last 24 months are not available yet, so the publisher's figure is used.
Figures by source
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 17.5%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 26 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 219 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 44 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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.
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 prepare4 items from the author guidelines
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 8,000 words
- Reference style
- Harvard
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
Article types accepted2
- book reviewIf you are interested in submitting a Special Issue idea, read through our guidelines for Guest Editors. Special Issue proposals can be submitted before the fol…Length not stated
- reviewIf you are interested in submitting a Special Issue idea, read through our guidelines for Guest Editors. Special Issue proposals can be submitted before the fol…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Data availability, Publication ethics, Open access, Peer review, Plagiarism, Preprints
- 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. If you wish to have color figures in the printed version please contact the journal for costs. Optional open access publishing is available for a fee via the Sage Choice program, and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
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 ·
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
- 1367-5494
- Electronic ISSN
- 1460-3551
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about European Journal of Cultural Studies
What CAS zone is European Journal of Cultural Studies in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, European Journal of Cultural Studies is in Zone 2 of Sociology, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Cultural Studies. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Sociology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of European Journal of Cultural Studies?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.09; CiteScore 4.3, h-index 76.
How long does peer review take at European Journal of Cultural Studies?
The publisher reports about 219 days (submission to acceptance); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 17.5%. 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 European Journal of Cultural Studies?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Manuscript length: ≤ 8,000 words; Reference style: Harvard; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; Suggested reviewers: Optional. 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 European Journal of Cultural Studies based?
Of the 68 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (21), Netherlands (8) and United States (7). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index European Journal of Cultural Studies?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, European Journal of Cultural Studies is indexed in SSCI, AHCI and Scopus.
Is European Journal of Cultural Studies open access, and what is the APC?
European Journal of Cultural Studies is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,650.
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: .