JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES is published by Taylor & Francis and is in Zone 3 of Economics in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare, International Development and Aid and Income, Poverty, and Inequality, together about 25.2% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)

The Journal of Development Studies ( JDS) is an international, multi-disciplinary forum dedicated to publishing the finest original research and fostering rigorous theoretical debate in the field of global development. The journal aims to advance understanding of the economic, cultural, social, political, and environmental processes and ideologies that shape the field and inform policy and practice. JDS welcomes submissions that: Make innovative and original contributions to the field, advancing knowledge and understanding in development studies. Integrate insights across multiple disciplines to address complex and interconnected issues. Engage critically with theory, offering new perspectives or advancing debates within the field. Provide robust empirical analysis that tests, refines, or challenges alternative theories, perspectives, or schools of thought. Address pressing global development issues, incorporating diverse regional perspectives and highlighting global inequalities. We do not consider formal economic theory papers and very rarely consider papers on macroeconomic issues or simulation-based analysis (such as CGE). We only consider papers based on analysis of aggregate cross-country data if there is clear conceptual, data or methods innovation that make a significant contribution to development studies concerns. The journal serves a broad global audience, and submissions should demonstrate relevance to the wider global development community. Authors are encouraged to frame their work in ways that are accessible to readers across the social sciences ensuring clarity and inclusivity. JDS values methodological diversity and welcomes qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods research. To maintain a dynamic and evolving discourse, authors are encouraged to engage with recent work published in JDS. Submissions that build on, challenge, or advance previous discussions in the journal are particularly welcome. JDS is committed to publishing research that is both rigorous and impactful, contributing to the advancement of development studies as a multi-disciplinary and globally relevant field. All research articles in this journal undergo rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and anonymous peer review. Given the high level of submissions, a majority of submissions are rejected quickly with reasons.

From the journal's Aims & Scope

Research area (LetPub): Multiple

CAS Journal Ranking

JCR / CiteScore quartiles on the journal's website

• JCR Q2 · best quartile · 2025
• CiteScore Q2 · 2025

Publisher-reported: JCR figures are Clarivate's and CiteScore figures Scopus's to confirm; both are a different system from the CAS zones.Publisher website

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.

Impact

Impact factor

1.72LetPub · 2026-09-13

Impact factor (publisher) 2025

1.8Publisher website · 2026-10-01

5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025

3Publisher website · 2026-10-01

CiteScore 2026-06

4.1LetPub · 2026-09-13

CiteScore (publisher) 2025

4.1Publisher website · 2026-10-01

SJR 2026-06

0.78LetPub · 2026-09-13

SJR (publisher) 2025

0.78Publisher website · 2026-10-01

SNIP 2026-06

1.28LetPub · 2026-09-13

SNIP (publisher) 2025

1.28Publisher website · 2026-10-01

h-index

172OpenAlex · 2026-10-01

i10-index

2,400OpenAlex · 2026-10-01

2-year mean citedness

1.71OpenAlex · 2026-10-01

Self-citation rate

5.6%LetPub · 2026-09-13

Share of gold OA articles

26.02%LetPub · 2026-09-13

Volume

Articles per year

125LetPub · 2026-09-13

Downloads per year (publisher)

530,000Publisher website · 2026-10-01

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.

Other sources

Acceptance rate (publisher)

6%Publisher website · 2026-10-01

Submission to first decision

8 daysPublisher website · 2026-10-01

First decision after review

101 daysPublisher website · 2026-10-01

Acceptance to publication

32 daysPublisher website · 2026-10-01

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.

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.

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.

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

ISSN

0022-0388

Electronic ISSN

1743-9140

Latest issue on the website

Volume 62, Issue 10 (2026)

Official links

• Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
• Submission system ↗Publisher website
• Special issues ↗Publisher website