Journal profile · SOCIAL SCIENCES, INTERDISCIPLINARY
International Journal of Qualitative Methods
ISSN 1609-4069 · SAGE Publishing · United States
International Journal of Qualitative Methods: CAS Zone 2 · Sociology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 7.16; fully open access; APC about USD 2,650; review about 12 weeks (community reports); acceptance rate 42.1% (journal website); 392 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
International Journal of Qualitative Methods is published by SAGE Publishing 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 Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics, Participatory Visual Research Methods and Focus Groups and Qualitative Methods, together about 46.7% of its articles. Its main subfields are Sociology and Political Science and General Health Professions. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Journal HighlightsImpact Factor: 3.9 Ranked 5/110 in Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary – SSCIIndexed In: Clarivate Analytics: Social Science Citation Index, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), and ScopusLaunched In: 2002Publication is subject to payment of an article processing charge (APC)Submit hereInternational Journal of Qualitative Methods (IJQM) is a peer-reviewed open access journal that focuses on methodological advances, innovations, and insights in qualitative and mixed methods research. The journal publishes articles that contribute to research methodology and methods, rather than research studies whose primary aim is to present substantive findings. Please see the Aims and Scope tab for further information.This journal is published in association with International Institute for Qualitative Methodology (IIQM)This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).Submission InformationSubmit your manuscript today at https://sage.atyponrex.com/journal/ijq. Please see the Submission Guidelines tab for more information on how to submit your article to the journal.Open access article processing charge (APC) informationPublication in the journal is subject to payment of an article processing charge (APC). The APC serves to support the journal and ensures that articles are freely accessible online in perpetuity under a Creative Commons license.The article processing charge (APC) is $3200. Method and Protocols and Qualitative Study Protocols charge an APC of $2560.Students are eligible for a special rate of 75% off the current APC as long as they are the first and corresponding author. Validation of status is required after submission.The article processing charge (APC) is payable when a manuscript is accepted after peer review, before it is published. The APC is subject to taxes where applicable. Please see further details here. ContactPlease direct any queries to Kristina.Moulton@sagepub.com.Useful LinksSubmission PageSAGE Open Access Main PageSAGE Open Access FAQsContact the Editor: linda@lindaliebenberg.com
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): SOCIAL SCIENCES, INTERDISCIPLINARY
Editor-in-chief Linda LiebenbergPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 3 in mainland China (about 1%); most named United Kingdom 42, United States 41, Canada 26, Australia 24, South Africa 12 (228 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Qualitative Research Methods and EthicsSocial Sciences20.1%
- Participatory Visual Research MethodsSocial Sciences18%
- Focus Groups and Qualitative MethodsSocial Sciences8.6%
- Health Policy Implementation ScienceHealth Professions7.7%
- Qualitative Research Methods and ApplicationsSocial Sciences7.6%
- Mental Health and Patient InvolvementHealth Professions5%
- Children's Rights and ParticipationSocial Sciences4.6%
- Community Health and DevelopmentHealth Professions3.4%
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 | Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Sociology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Sociology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SSCIScopusDOAJLetPub
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
- 7.16LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 7.2Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 8.2Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 7.6LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.93LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 3.36LetPub ·
- h-index
- 140OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,073OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 5.54OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 8.3%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 378LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 2,449 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 289 | 289 | 135 |
| 2025 | 392 | 392 | 1,585 |
| 2024 | 218 | 218 | 3,259 |
| 2023 | 236 | 236 | 6,569 |
| 2022 | 213 | 213 | 5,173 |
| 2021 | 199 | 199 | 6,941 |
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
- Average review time (community reports)
- about 12 weeksLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 42.1%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 11 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 23 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 12 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Double anonymous peer reviewDOAJ
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
Fully open accessDOAJ
Every article is open access; authors usually pay an article processing charge (APC).
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | USD 2,650 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC | |
| OpenAlex | USD 2,650 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 2,650 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | USD 3,200 | — | — |
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 prepare3 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- 200–300 words
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 7,500 words
- Reference style
- APA
Article types accepted3, with length limits
- protocolView our Special Collections currently accepting submissions. Regular Articles: Methodological Insights, Advantages and Innovations These articles must clearly …main text ≤ 5,000 words
- regular articleView our Special Collections currently accepting submissions. Regular Articles: Methodological Insights, Advantages and Innovations These articles must clearly …Length not stated
- research articleView our Special Collections currently accepting submissions. Regular Articles: Methodological Insights, Advantages and Innovations These articles must clearly …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
International Journal of Qualitative Methods is an open access, peer-reviewed journal. All accepted articles are made freely available online immediately upon publication, are published under a Creative Commons license, and hosted online in perpetuity. If, after peer review, your manuscript is accepted for publication, a one-time article processing charge (APC) is payable to cover the cost of publ…
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
Preprint submissions allowed; preprint DOI required at submission; do not post updated versions during peer review. Model summary
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 Publishing
- Country or region
- United States
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1609-4069
- Society / sponsor
- International Institute for Qualitative Methodology
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Fee waivers ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗LetPub
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about International Journal of Qualitative Methods
What CAS zone is International Journal of Qualitative Methods in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, International Journal of Qualitative Methods is in Zone 2 of Sociology, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary. 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 International Journal of Qualitative Methods?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 7.16; CiteScore 7.6, h-index 140.
How long does peer review take at International Journal of Qualitative Methods?
Authors report an average review time of about 12 weeks; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 42.1%. 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 International Journal of Qualitative Methods?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: 200–300 words; Manuscript length: ≤ 7,500 words; Reference style: APA. 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 International Journal of Qualitative Methods based?
Of the 228 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 3 (about 1%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (42), United States (41) and Canada (26). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index International Journal of Qualitative Methods?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, International Journal of Qualitative Methods is indexed in SSCI, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is International Journal of Qualitative Methods open access, and what is the APC?
International Journal of Qualitative Methods is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 2,650.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, OpenAlex, DOAJ; 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: .