Journal profile · Social Sciences-Law
First Amendment Studies
ISSN 2168-9725 · eISSN 2168-9733 · Taylor & Francis
First Amendment Studies: subscription journal; APC charged, amount not published; review about 138 days (first decision after review, publisher); acceptance rate 81% (journal website); 0 articles in 2025; indexed in Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
First Amendment Studies is published by Taylor & Francis. By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Law, Rights, and Freedoms, Freedom of Expression and Defamation and American Constitutional Law and Politics, together about 75.4% of its articles. Its main subfields are Law. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
First Amendment Studies (formerly Free Speech Yearbook) is a peer-reviewed publication of the National Communication Association. First Amendment Studies publishes original scholarship on all aspects of free speech and embraces the full range of critical, historical, empirical, and descriptive methodologies. First Amendment Studies welcomes scholarship addressing areas including but not limited to: • doctrinal analysis of international and national free speech law and legislation • rhetorical analysis of cases and judicial rhetoric • theoretical and cultural issues related to free speech • the role of free speech in a wide variety of contexts (e.g., organizations, popular culture, traditional and new media) For more details about how to submit your research to First Amendment Studies , please review our Instructions for Authors. Unless specifically indicated otherwise, articles in this journal have undergone rigorous peer review, including screening by the editor and review by at least two anonymous referees. Authors can choose to publish gold open access in this journal. Read the Instructions for Authors for information on how to submit your article.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Social Sciences-Law
Editor-in-chief Kevin JohnsonPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Law, Rights, and FreedomsSocial Sciences34.5%
- Freedom of Expression and DefamationSocial Sciences26%
- American Constitutional Law and PoliticsSocial Sciences14.9%
- Legal Issues in EducationSocial Sciences4.4%
- Academic Freedom and PoliticsSocial Sciences3.9%
- Judicial and Constitutional StudiesSocial Sciences2.7%
- Rhetoric and Communication StudiesArts and Humanities2.5%
- Legal and Constitutional StudiesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance2.1%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Law | Q2 | 370/885 | — |
| Sociology and Political Science | Q3 | 733/1415 | — |
| Communication | Q3 | 272/493 | — |
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
ScopusLetPub
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
- 1LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 0.9Publisher website ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2020
- 0.6Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.13LetPub ·
- SJR (publisher) 2025
- 0.24Publisher website ·
- SJR (publisher) 2020
- 0.38Publisher website ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.24LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher) 2025
- 0.62Publisher website ·
- SNIP (publisher) 2020
- 1.06Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 12OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 18OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0OpenAlex ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 0%LetPub ·
Volume
- Downloads per year (publisher)
- 14,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 615 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 0 | 0 | 32 |
| 2025 | 0 | 0 | 49 |
| 2024 | 0 | 0 | 75 |
| 2023 | 0 | 0 | 88 |
| 2022 | 0 | 0 | 58 |
| 2021 | 10 | 2 | 68 |
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
138 daysfirst decision after review
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)
- 81%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 153 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review
- 138 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 34 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
Subscription journalLetPub
A subscription journal: articles are read by subscription or purchase, and authors usually pay no publication charge.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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)
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteOpen access, Peer review
- Open access Open access
Open access: gold open access option available. Model summary
Overview Open journals Open Select Dove Medical Press F1000Research
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review
Peer review: rigorous peer review including editor screening and review by at least two anonymous referees. Model summary
Unless specifically indicated otherwise, articles in this journal have undergone rigorous peer review, including screening by the editor and review 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
- 2168-9725
- Electronic ISSN
- 2168-9733
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 60, Issue 1 (2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about First Amendment Studies
How long does peer review take at First Amendment Studies?
The publisher reports about 138 days (first decision after review); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 81%. 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.
Which databases index First Amendment Studies?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, First Amendment Studies is indexed in Scopus.
Is First Amendment Studies open access, and what is the APC?
First Amendment Studies is a subscription journal. 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: .