Journal profile · LITERATURE, AFRICAN, AUSTRALIAN, CANADIAN
JOURNAL OF COMMONWEALTH LITERATURE
ISSN 0021-9894 · eISSN 1741-6442 · SAGE
JOURNAL OF COMMONWEALTH LITERATURE: CAS Zone 3 · Literature (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 0.1 (journal website); hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,650; review about 268 days (submission to acceptance, publisher); acceptance rate 5.1% (journal website); 3 articles a year; indexed in AHCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
JOURNAL OF COMMONWEALTH LITERATURE is published by SAGE and is in Zone 3 of Literature in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies, South Asian Cinema and Culture and South Asian Studies and Diaspora, together about 30.7% of its articles. Its main subfields are Sociology and Political Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Literature, Critique, and Empire Today (formerly the Journal of Commonwealth Literature) is internationally recognized as the leading critical and bibliographic forum in the field of postcolonial literatures. It provides an essential, peer-reviewed reference tool for scholars, researchers, and libraries. 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): LITERATURE, AFRICAN, AUSTRALIAN, CANADIAN
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United Kingdom 40, United States 9, Australia 8, South Africa 6, India 5 (88 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Postcolonial and Cultural Literary StudiesArts and Humanities18.5%
- South Asian Cinema and CultureArts and Humanities7%
- South Asian Studies and DiasporaArts and Humanities5.3%
- South African History and CultureSocial Sciences5.1%
- African history and culture studiesSocial Sciences4.5%
- Social and Economic Development in IndiaSocial Sciences4.3%
- Australian History and SocietySocial Sciences4.2%
- Global Maritime and Colonial HistoriesSocial Sciences4.2%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Literature Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Literature | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Literature, African, Australian, Canadian | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Literature Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Literature | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Literature, African, Australian, Canadian | Zone 1 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
AHCIScopusLetPub
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 (publisher)
- 0.1Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 0.1Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 0.9LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.19LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.66LetPub ·
- h-index
- 30OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 164OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 0%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 13.33%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 2,320 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 18 | 6 | 8 |
| 2022 | 19 | 3 | 13 |
| 2021 | 35 | 9 | 53 |
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
268 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)
- 5.1%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 20 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 268 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 86 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)
Article types accepted2
- book reviewLiterature, Critique, and Empire Today (formerly the Journal of Commonwealth Literature) is internationally recognized as the leading critical and bibliographic…Length not stated
- reviewLiterature, Critique, and Empire Today (formerly the Journal of Commonwealth Literature) is internationally recognized as the leading critical and bibliographic…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. Sage AI policy Guidelines for authors
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
COPE member Model summary
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 supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article. Optional open access publi…
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
- 0021-9894
- Electronic ISSN
- 1741-6442
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about JOURNAL OF COMMONWEALTH LITERATURE
What CAS zone is JOURNAL OF COMMONWEALTH LITERATURE in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, JOURNAL OF COMMONWEALTH LITERATURE is in Zone 3 of Literature, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Literature, African, Australian, Canadian. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of JOURNAL OF COMMONWEALTH LITERATURE?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 0.1; this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 0.9, h-index 30.
How long does peer review take at JOURNAL OF COMMONWEALTH LITERATURE?
The publisher reports about 268 days (submission to acceptance); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 5.1%. 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.
Where are the editorial board members of JOURNAL OF COMMONWEALTH LITERATURE based?
Of the 88 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (40), United States (9) and Australia (8). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index JOURNAL OF COMMONWEALTH LITERATURE?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, JOURNAL OF COMMONWEALTH LITERATURE is indexed in AHCI and Scopus.
Is JOURNAL OF COMMONWEALTH LITERATURE open access, and what is the APC?
JOURNAL OF COMMONWEALTH LITERATURE 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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .