Journal profile · Multiple
International Politics
ISSN 1384-5748 · eISSN 1740-3898 · Springer Nature · 6 issues per year
International Politics: CAS Zone 3 · Sociology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.17; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,190; median 218 days to acceptance (30 articles, last 24 months); 82 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
International Politics is published by Springer Nature and is in Zone 3 of Sociology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are International Relations and Foreign Policy, Global Peace and Security Dynamics and International Development and Aid, together about 41.1% of its articles. Its main subfields are Political Science and International Relations and Sociology and Political Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
International Politics is a leading peer reviewed journal dedicated to transnational issues and global problems. It subscribes to no political or methodological identity, and welcomes any appropriate contributions designed to communicate findings and enhance dialogue. International Politics defines itself as critical in character, truly international in scope, and totally engaged with the central issues facing the world today. Taking as its point of departure the simple but essential notion that no one approach has all the answers, it aims to provide a global forum for a rapidly expanding community of scholars from across the range of academic disciplines. International Politics aims to encourage debate, controversy and reflection. Topics addressed within the journal include: Rethinking the Clash of Civilizations Myths of Westphalia Holocaust and China Leo Strauss and the Cold War Justin Rosenberg and Globalisation Theory Putin and the West The USA Post-Bush Can China Rise Peacefully? Just Wars Cuba, Castro and After Gramsci and IR Is America in Decline? Recent authors include: Steven Chan, John M. Owen, Judith Kelly, Andrew Linklater, Geir Lundestad, Francois Heisbourg, Chris Brown, Richard Higgott, Charles Kegley, Linda Weiss, Andrew Gamble, Alex Callinicos, Justin Rosenberg, Linda Miller, Jan Art Scholte, Benno Teschke, Bob Bremmer, Mary Kaldor, John Agnew, Roland Axtman and Hendrik Spruyt.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Multiple
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United States 14, United Kingdom 14, Canada 4, Italy 3, Australia 3 (52 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- International Relations and Foreign PolicySocial Sciences21.2%
- Global Peace and Security DynamicsSocial Sciences10.7%
- International Development and AidSocial Sciences9.2%
- European Union Policy and GovernanceSocial Sciences7.3%
- Political Conflict and GovernanceSocial Sciences6.8%
- Peacebuilding and International SecuritySocial Sciences6.1%
- European and Russian Geopolitical Military StrategiesSocial Sciences3.6%
- Historical and Contemporary Political DynamicsArts and Humanities3.6%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Sociology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Political Science | Zone 3 |
| Minor | International Relations | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Sociology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | International Relations | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Political Science | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Sociology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | International Relations | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Political Science | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SSCIScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
SCIEPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, EBSCO, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, Baidu, Naver, OCLC, Portico, CLOCKSS
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
- 1.17LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 1.2Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 1.7Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 3.1LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.61LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.16LetPub ·
- h-index
- 54OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 455OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.88OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 0%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 41.75%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 78LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 460,900Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,595 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 76 | 37 | 10 |
| 2025 | 82 | 42 | 181 |
| 2024 | 99 | 50 | 293 |
| 2023 | 121 | 60 | 480 |
| 2022 | 54 | 35 | 579 |
| 2021 | 92 | 48 | 1,095 |
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
218 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 96 days – 308 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 27 days (79 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 262 days
- Sample
- 30 articles with submission and acceptance dates (187 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
- Submission to first decision
- 32 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
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 3,190 / EUR 2,590 / GBP 2,290 | — | — |
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
- Abstract
- ≤ 150 words
- Keywords
- ≥ 3
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 10,000 words
- Reference style
- Harvard
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access, Plagiarism, Self-archiving
- Authorship
No submission fee Model summary
This journal does not charge for the submission of manuscripts to the journal.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest
COI disclosure at submission Model summary
Upon submission, authors are asked to state any conflicts of interest around their research.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics
COPE member Model summary
This journal, via its publisher Palgrave Macmillan, is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Copyright and Permissions
Using third-party material in your articleAuthors are responsible for ensuring that any third-party material (e.g. figures, tables, photos, illustrations, trade literature, or data) is not used without permission. If such material is copyrighted, permission must be obtained and submitted with the final manuscript. The Editor and Publisher must be informed of any restricted-use content at submissio…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open Access & Self Archiving
Gold OA for immediate-OA funders Model summary
Self-archiving (green open access)Where articles are published via the subscription route, authors are permitted to self-archive the accepted manuscript (the version post-peer review, but prior to copy-editing and typesetting) on their own personal website and/or in their funder or institutional repositories, for public release after an embargo period of 12 months after first publication.Learn mor…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Plagiarism
iThenticate plagiarism screening Model summary
Manuscripts submitted to the journal are subject to checks using iThenticate to detect instances of overlapping and similar text.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Self-archiving Open Access & Self Archiving
Green OA self-archiving with 12-month embargo Model summary
Self-archiving (green open access)Where articles are published via the subscription route, authors are permitted to self-archive the accepted manuscript (the version post-peer review, but prior to copy-editing and typesetting) on their own personal website and/or in their funder or institutional repositories, for public release after an embargo period of 12 months after first publication.Learn mor…
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
- Springer Nature
- Frequency
- 6 issues per year
- ISSN
- 1384-5748
- Electronic ISSN
- 1740-3898
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 63, Issue 3 (June 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about International Politics
What CAS zone is International Politics in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, International Politics is in Zone 3 of Sociology, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Political Science / International Relations. 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 Politics?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 1.17; CiteScore 3.1, h-index 54.
How long does peer review take at International Politics?
Based on the dates recorded on 30 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 218 days (interquartile range 96–308 days). 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 Politics?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 150 words; Keywords: ≥ 3; 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 International Politics based?
Of the 52 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (14), United Kingdom (14) and Canada (4). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index International Politics?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, International Politics is indexed in SSCI and Scopus. The journal's website also lists SCIE; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is International Politics open access, and what is the APC?
International Politics is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,190.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, Publisher website; 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: .