Journal profile · INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
International Relations
ISSN 0047-1178 · eISSN 1741-2862 · SAGE
International Relations: CAS Zone 2 · Sociology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.86; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,650; review about 403 days (submission to acceptance, publisher); acceptance rate 10.5% (journal website); 24 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
International Relations is published by SAGE 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 International Relations and Foreign Policy, Global Peace and Security Dynamics and Japanese History and Culture, together about 29.1% of its articles. Its main subfields are Sociology and Political Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
International Relations is explicitly pluralist in outlook. Editorial policy favours variety in both subject-matter and method, at a time when so many academic journals are increasingly specialised in scope, and sectarian in approach. We welcome articles or proposals from all perspectives and on all subjects pertaining to international relations: law, economics, ethics, strategy, … | View full journal description This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Editorial board by country: 1 in mainland China (about 2%); most named United Kingdom 17, United States 10, Australia 5, South Africa 2, Colombia 2 (46 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- International Relations and Foreign PolicySocial Sciences11.9%
- Global Peace and Security DynamicsSocial Sciences10.4%
- Japanese History and CultureSocial Sciences6.8%
- International Development and AidSocial Sciences6.4%
- Legal and Regulatory AnalysisSocial Sciences6.2%
- Linguistic, Cultural, and Literary StudiesSocial Sciences6.2%
- Military Technology and StrategiesEngineering6.2%
- Vietnamese History and Culture StudiesSocial Sciences4%
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 | International Relations | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Sociology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | International Relations | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview 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 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SSCIScopusLetPub
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
- 1.86LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 2.1Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 2.3Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4.4LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.95LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0LetPub ·
- h-index
- 67OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 519OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.04OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 4.8%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 57.69%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 24LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 4,999 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 23 | 14 | 3 |
| 2025 | 24 | 16 | 37 |
| 2024 | 64 | 25 | 186 |
| 2023 | 46 | 32 | 386 |
| 2022 | 45 | 26 | 364 |
| 2021 | 44 | 24 | 491 |
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
403 dayssubmission to acceptance
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)
- 10.5%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 9 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 403 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 40 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
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 3,650 / GBP 2,676 | — | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
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 prepare2 items from the author guidelines
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 10,000 words
- Reference style
- Author–date
Article types accepted6, with length limits
- editorialInternational Relations welcomes articles from all perspectives and on all subjects pertaining to international relations, including law, economics, ethics, str…Length not stated
- main articlesMain articles should be 8,000-10,000 words, including endnotes, abstract, keywords, and author bibliographies.Length not stated
- perspectiveInternational Relations welcomes articles from all perspectives and on all subjects pertaining to international relations, including law, economics, ethics, str…Length not stated
- replies, forum and debating contributionsAs a guide, replies, forum and debating contributions should be 1,500-2,000 words.Length not stated
- reviewInternational Relations welcomes articles from all perspectives and on all subjects pertaining to international relations, including law, economics, ethics, str…main text ≤ 8,000 words
- review essaysReview Essays, addressing 2-4 books, should be 6,000-8,000 words, including endnotes, abstract, keywords, and author bibliographies.Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Data availability, Publication ethics, Open access, Peer review, Plagiarism, Preprints, Trial registration / reporting guidelines
- 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
No submission or publication fees; optional open access via Sage Choice Model summary
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this journal. Optional open access publishing is available for a fee via the Sage Choice program, and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. Open Access agreement …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
Double anonymized peer review Model summary
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
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 ·- Trial registration / reporting guidelines Clinical trial registration
The journal conforms to the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first participant enrollment as a condition of consideration for publication. The trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.
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
- ISSN
- 0047-1178
- Electronic ISSN
- 1741-2862
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about International Relations
What CAS zone is International Relations in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, International Relations is in Zone 2 of Sociology, and in Zone 3 of the minor category International Relations. 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 Relations?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 1.86; CiteScore 4.4, h-index 67.
How long does peer review take at International Relations?
The publisher reports about 403 days (submission to acceptance); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 10.5%. 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 Relations?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Manuscript length: ≤ 10,000 words; Reference style: Author–date. 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 Relations based?
Of the 46 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 1 (about 2%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (17), United States (10) and Australia (5). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index International Relations?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, International Relations is indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Is International Relations open access, and what is the APC?
International Relations is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,650.
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: .