Journal profile · POLITICAL SCIENCE
International Critical Thought
ISSN 2159-8282 · eISSN 2159-8312 · Taylor & Francis
International Critical Thought: CAS Zone 4 · Sociology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 0.6 (journal website); subscription journal; APC charged, amount not published; median 128 days to acceptance (59 articles, last 24 months); acceptance rate 28% (journal website); 35 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
International Critical Thought is published by Taylor & Francis and is in Zone 4 of Sociology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Political Economy and Marxism, Economic Theory and Policy and Critical Theory and Philosophy, together about 41.5% of its articles. Its main subfields are Sociology and Political Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
International Critical Thought aims to cultivate, encourage and facilitate the development and dissemination of thinking and scholarship responding to the profound social, political, cultural and economic changes taking place in the world today. It aims: To provide a multi-disciplinary forum for reflection on and insight to the major problems facing humanity (energy, environment, poverty, war, etc.), where living and breathing contemporary experiences can be processed into works of theoretical depth and scholarly rigor. To build a global forum for dialogue among various social currents, as an attempt to better integrate different perspectives and reconcile different needs and interests. To emphasize the position of developing countries and bring attention to the practical, theoretical and methodological efforts made within non-Western contexts, in view of the fact that the future of human development requires cultural diversity to counterbalance the linear evolutionism characteristic of most modern Western theories. To highlight the case of China, which, with its stunning economic development and social transformation, has challenged old wisdom of development while leaving profound questions to be answered with respect to its own future as well as its role in a world of economic, ecological, and to a great extent, political crises. Peer Review Integrity All submitted manuscripts are subject to initial appraisal by the Editor, and, if found suitable for further consideration, to peer review by independent, anonymous expert referees. All peer review is double anonymized and submission is online via ScholarOne Manuscripts. Special Terms for Authors & Researchers (STAR) Taylor & Francis/Routledge are committed to the widest possible dissemination of its journals to non-profit institutions in developing countries. Our STAR initiative offers individual researchers in Africa, South Asia and many parts of South East Asia the opportunity to gain one month’s free online access to 1,300 Taylor & Francis journals. For more information, please visit the STAR website.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): POLITICAL SCIENCE
Editor-in-chief Weihang CuiPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Political Economy and MarxismSocial Sciences28.8%
- Economic Theory and PolicyEconomics, Econometrics and Finance6.5%
- Critical Theory and PhilosophySocial Sciences6.2%
- Elite Sociology and Global CapitalismSocial Sciences5.6%
- China's Socioeconomic Reforms and GovernanceSocial Sciences4.9%
- Chinese history and philosophySocial Sciences4.9%
- Political theory and GramsciSocial Sciences4.5%
- Housing, Finance, and NeoliberalismEconomics, Econometrics and Finance3.9%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Sociology Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Political Science | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Sociology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Political Science | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
JCR / CiteScore quartiles on the journal's website
- CiteScore Q1 · 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
ESCIScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
OCLC, ICI (Index Copernicus International), ABCD (Academic Business Current Data)Publisher 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
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 0.6Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 0.7Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 1.5LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 1.5Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.28LetPub ·
- SJR (publisher) 2025
- 0.28Publisher website ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.48LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher) 2025
- 0.48Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 21OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 58OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0.74OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 16.7%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 2.97%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 35LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher)
- 78,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 637 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 27 | 9 | 1 |
| 2025 | 35 | 9 | 29 |
| 2024 | 37 | 2 | 43 |
| 2023 | 33 | 8 | 80 |
| 2022 | 37 | 5 | 152 |
| 2021 | 37 | 3 | 129 |
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
128 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 77 days – 166 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 89 days (59 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 238 days
- Sample
- 59 articles with submission and acceptance dates (68 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)
- 28%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 50 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review
- 95 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 74 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
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
International Critical Thought 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 discoverabil…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review
Peer review: double anonymized; submission online via ScholarOne Manuscripts. Model summary
All submitted manuscripts are subject to initial appraisal by the Editor, and, if found suitable for further consideration, to peer review by independent, anonymous expert referees. All peer review is double anonymized and submission is online via ScholarOne Manuscripts.
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
- 2159-8282
- Electronic ISSN
- 2159-8312
- Society / sponsor
- Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 16, Issue 2 (2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about International Critical Thought
What CAS zone is International Critical Thought in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, International Critical Thought is in Zone 4 of Sociology, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Political Science. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Sociology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of International Critical Thought?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 0.6 (2025); this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 1.5, h-index 21.
How long does peer review take at International Critical Thought?
Based on the dates recorded on 59 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 128 days (interquartile range 77–166 days); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 28%. 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 International Critical Thought?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, International Critical Thought is indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Is International Critical Thought open access, and what is the APC?
International Critical Thought 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 2026-08-24). Last updated: .