Journal profile · Social Sciences-Law
Howard Journal of Crime and Justice
ISSN 2059-1098 · eISSN 2059-1101 · Wiley-Blackwell
Howard Journal of Crime and Justice: subscription journal; APC about USD 3,470; median 183 days to acceptance (62 articles, last 24 months); acceptance rate 43% (journal website); 57 articles in 2025; indexed in Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Howard Journal of Crime and Justice is published by Wiley-Blackwell. By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Criminal Justice and Penology, Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis and Criminal Law and Policy, together about 69.7% of its articles. Its main subfields are Sociology and Political Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice is an international peer-reviewed journal committed to publishing high quality theory, research and debate on all aspects of the relationship between crime and justice across the globe. It is a leading forum for conversation between academic theory and research and the cultures, policies and practices of the range of institutions concerned with harm, security and justice. The Journal is proud to be associated with, but maintains full editorial independence from, the Howard League for Penal Reform – which is the oldest penal reform charity in the world and has consultative status with both the United Nations and the Council of Europe. The Journal publishes material of a high academic standard but written, so far as possible, in a non-technical style, not unnecessarily burdened with statistical tables and specialist vocabulary. Each issue of the Journal includes a book review section. In addition to published articles, the Editorial Board is open to other formats for fostering dialogue on crime and justice issues, such as special issues, themed debate sections, and interviews with academics and practitioners. The Journal especially welcomes contributions from early career scholars and from authors in the Global South. The Board aims to have submissions reviewed in a timely manner and typically the time taken from submission to publication is less than 12 months. The Journal also utilises an ‘early view’ online publication system with three months being the average time taken from receipt for production to publication on early view. Authors should note that the Editorial Board is committed to a policy of anti-racism and anti-sexism in respect of the terminology used in articles in the Journal. Further details of our Editorial Policy may be found in Notes for Authors. Keywords justice, criminology, criminal, Howard, journal, penal, reform, policy, crime, prevention, police, prison, legal, robbery, drugs, home, office, research, analysis, article, periodical, studies, theory, penology, policing, sociology, law, British, journal, review, analysis, history, home affairs, society, study, criminologist, sociologist, student, lawyer, judge, barrister, forensic, pathology Abstracting and Indexing Information Academic Search (EBSCO Publishing) Academic Search Alumni Edition (EBSCO Publishing) Academic Search Premier (EBSCO Publishing) Criminal Justice Abstracts (EBSCO Publishing) Criminal Justice Database (ProQuest) Criminology
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Social Sciences-Law
Editor-in-chief Louise BranganPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United Kingdom 32, United States 6, Ireland 3, Canada 2, India 1 (50 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Criminal Justice and PenologySocial Sciences32.7%
- Criminal Justice and Corrections AnalysisSocial Sciences26.6%
- Criminal Law and PolicySocial Sciences10.4%
- Crime Patterns and InterventionsSocial Sciences6.2%
- Crime, Deviance, and Social ControlSocial Sciences3.3%
- Policing Practices and PerceptionsSocial Sciences3%
- Legal and Social Justice StudiesSocial Sciences1.9%
- Torture, Ethics, and LawSocial Sciences1.5%
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 | Q1 | 204/1162 | 82nd |
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
Indexing the journal's website claims
EBSCO, ProQuestPublisher website
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
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 3.2LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 3.2Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.56LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.39LetPub ·
- h-index
- 27OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 104OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0.67OpenAlex ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 0%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year (publisher) 2025
- 49Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 195,076Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 596 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 44 | 30 | 393 |
| 2025 | 57 | 38 | 462 |
| 2024 | 45 | 34 | 482 |
| 2023 | 51 | 43 | 420 |
| 2022 | 50 | 24 | 463 |
| 2021 | 57 | 26 | 338 |
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
183 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 91 days – 291 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 23 days (62 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 249 days
- Sample
- 62 articles with submission and acceptance dates (103 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) 2025
- 43%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 61 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance 2025
- 183 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 33 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication
- 360 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAlex | USD 3,470 / EUR 2,900 / GBP 2,330 | — | — |
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 prepare2 items from the author guidelines
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 10,000 words
- Reference style
- Harvard
Article types accepted3, with length limits
- articlesThe maximum length of articles is 10000 words.main text ≤ 10,000 words
- review articleew areas for research and theorization. Review articles will be between 10-15,000 words in length and will be subject to standard reviewing practicmain text ≤ 15,000 words
- state-of-the-art review articleReview articles will be between 10-15,000 words in lengthmain text ≤ 15,000 words
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, License & copyright, Peer review
- AI use
Generative AI verbatim text not permitted in manuscripts Model summary
We do not permit verbatim text generated by AI tools in manuscripts (full sentences and paragraphs, for example).
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright
Harvard referencing style required Model summary
The Harvard system of referencing should be used.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review AI in Peer Review
Manuscripts under review are confidential, and should never be uploaded to GenAI platforms as authors have not consented for their unpublished work to be shared in this way. Reviewers should not use generative AI in writing their reviews. We encourage reviewers to be open about the limits of their review and their expertise rather than using generative AI tools to ask questions about the subject t…
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
- Wiley-Blackwell
- ISSN
- 2059-1098
- Electronic ISSN
- 2059-1101
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 65, Issue 3 (September 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Howard Journal of Crime and Justice
How long does peer review take at Howard Journal of Crime and Justice?
Based on the dates recorded on 62 articles published between November 2024 and November 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 183 days (interquartile range 91–291 days); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 43% (2025). 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 Howard Journal of Crime and Justice?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Manuscript length: ≤ 10,000 words; Reference style: Harvard. 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 Howard Journal of Crime and Justice based?
Of the 50 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (32), United States (6) and Ireland (3). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Howard Journal of Crime and Justice?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Howard Journal of Crime and Justice is indexed in Scopus.
Is Howard Journal of Crime and Justice open access, and what is the APC?
Howard Journal of Crime and Justice is a subscription journal. APC about USD 3,470.
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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .