Journal profile · Multiple
JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE
ISSN 0021-8863 · eISSN 1552-6879 · SAGE
JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE: CAS Zone 3 · Psychology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.66; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,650; review about 226 days (submission to acceptance, publisher); acceptance rate 9.9% (journal website); 29 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE is published by SAGE and is in Zone 3 of Psychology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Management and Organizational Studies, Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior and Complex Systems and Decision Making, together about 33.9% of its articles. Its main subfields are Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science (JABS), peer-reviewed and published quarterly, is the leading international journal on the effects of evolutionary and planned change. Founded and sponsored by the NTL Institute, JABS is continually breaking ground in its exploration of group dynamics, organization development, and social change. 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): Multiple
Editorial board by country: 2 in mainland China (about 1%); most named United States 62, Australia 22, United Kingdom 12, Canada 12, Germany 5 (154 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Management and Organizational StudiesBusiness, Management and Accounting16%
- Job Satisfaction and Organizational BehaviorBusiness, Management and Accounting9%
- Complex Systems and Decision MakingDecision Sciences8.9%
- Organizational Learning and LeadershipBusiness, Management and Accounting7.4%
- Behavioral and Psychological StudiesPsychology5.4%
- Management Theory and PracticeBusiness, Management and Accounting5.1%
- Innovation and Knowledge ManagementBusiness, Management and Accounting4.2%
- Gender Diversity and InequalitySocial Sciences3.6%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Psychology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Psychology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Management | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Psychology, Applied | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Psychology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Psychology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Psychology, Applied | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Management | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Psychology Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Psychology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Management | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Psychology, Applied | 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
- 2.66LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 2.7Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 4.5Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 6.9LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.18LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.67LetPub ·
- h-index
- 129OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,172OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.6OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 14.8%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 45.98%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 29LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 2,525 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 35 | 26 | 2 |
| 2025 | 29 | 20 | 59 |
| 2024 | 31 | 20 | 281 |
| 2023 | 33 | 24 | 341 |
| 2022 | 35 | 22 | 514 |
| 2021 | 35 | 11 | 857 |
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
226 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)
- 9.9%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 5 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 226 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 22 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 prepare6 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 150 words
- Reference style
- APA
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
- Highlights
- Required
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted6
- dialoguesJABS publishes original research articles, essays and dialogues, as well as shorter pieces in its Methodology Corner and Practitioner Corner.Length not stated
- essaysJABS publishes original research articles, essays and dialogues, as well as shorter pieces in its Methodology Corner and Practitioner Corner.Length not stated
- methodology cornerJABS publishes original research articles, essays and dialogues, as well as shorter pieces in its Methodology Corner and Practitioner Corner.Length not stated
- original research articleJABS publishes original research articles, essays and dialogues, as well as shorter pieces in its Methodology Corner and Practitioner Corner. All manuscripts mu…Length not stated
- original research articlesJABS publishes original research articles, essays and dialogues, as well as shorter pieces in its Methodology Corner and Practitioner Corner.Length not stated
- practitioner cornerJABS publishes original research articles, essays and dialogues, as well as shorter pieces in its Methodology Corner and Practitioner Corner.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
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this journal. Figures submitted in color will be published in color in the online version of the journal at no cost. If you wish to have color figures in the printed version, the following fees apply: XXXXXXX Optional open access publishing is available for a fee via the Sage Choice program, and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish ope…
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 ·
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
- 0021-8863
- Electronic ISSN
- 1552-6879
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE
What CAS zone is JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE is in Zone 3 of Psychology, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Management / Psychology, Applied. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Psychology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.66; CiteScore 6.9, h-index 129.
How long does peer review take at JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE?
The publisher reports about 226 days (submission to acceptance); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 9.9%. 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 JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 150 words; Reference style: APA; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; Suggested reviewers: Optional; Highlights: Required; Cover letter: Required. 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 JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE based?
Of the 154 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 2 (about 1%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (62), Australia (22) and United Kingdom (12). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE is indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Is JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE open access, and what is the APC?
JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE 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 2026-08-24). Last updated: .