Journal profile · PSYCHOLOGY, APPLIED
Journal of Humanistic Counseling
ISSN 2159-0311 · eISSN 2161-1939 · Wiley-Blackwell
Journal of Humanistic Counseling: CAS Zone 4 · Psychology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 0.8 (journal website); hybrid open access; APC about USD 2,900; median 270 days to acceptance (66 articles, last 24 months); acceptance rate 33% (journal website); 43 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Journal of Humanistic Counseling is published by Wiley-Blackwell and is in Zone 4 of Psychology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Counseling Practices and Supervision, Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications and Resilience and Mental Health, together about 44.1% of its articles. Its main subfields are Clinical Psychology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The Journal of Humanistic Counseling publishes humanistically oriented articles which examine humanistic, existential, experiential, phenomenological, hermeneutic, feminist-multicultural, constructivist, or integrative counseling practices and processes. We aim to disseminate research and scholarship that informs our collective understanding of humanistic concepts in practice, supports counselor education training, and promotes both inclusivity and diversity across worldviews. We seek quality submissions across five categories: Research, Conceptual, Practice, Case Study, and Position Papers. JHC is the official journal of the Association for Humanistic Counseling (AHC).
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): PSYCHOLOGY, APPLIED
Editor-in-chief Brett D. WilkinsonPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Counseling Practices and SupervisionPsychology21.2%
- Psychotherapy Techniques and ApplicationsPsychology13%
- Resilience and Mental HealthPsychology9.9%
- Counseling, Therapy, and Family DynamicsPsychology9.8%
- Child Therapy and DevelopmentPsychology6.7%
- Psychological Treatments and AssessmentsPsychology5.3%
- Academic and Historical Perspectives in PsychologyPsychology3.7%
- Mindfulness and Compassion InterventionsPsychology3.4%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Psychology Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Psychology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Psychology, Applied | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Psychology Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Psychology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Psychology, Applied | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
Database indexing
ESCIScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
Web of SciencePsycINFOPublisher website
Other: EBSCO, ProQuest
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 (publisher) 2025
- 0.8Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 1.5LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 1.5Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.26LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.57LetPub ·
- h-index
- 27OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 91OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0.69OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 25%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 35.82%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 34LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher) 2025
- 35Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 56,355Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 408 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 36 | 15 | 7 |
| 2025 | 43 | 19 | 14 |
| 2024 | 24 | 18 | 50 |
| 2023 | 22 | 13 | 59 |
| 2022 | 30 | 13 | 107 |
| 2021 | 25 | 5 | 108 |
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
270 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 220 days – 312 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 21 days (66 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 312 days
- Sample
- 66 articles with submission and acceptance dates (74 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
- Acceptance rate (publisher) 2025
- 33%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 17 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance 2025
- 281 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 41 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 2,900 / EUR 2,450 / GBP 1,930 | — | — |
A hybrid journal charges the APC only when the author chooses open access; publishing under the subscription model is usually free.
Other charges and waivers (author guidelines)
- Submission fee
- No submission fee
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
- ≥ 5
- Reference style
- APA
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- Authorship Authorship
All listed authors should have contributed to the manuscript substantially and have agreed to the final submitted version. Review Wiley’s editorial standards for a description of authorship criteria.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest AI Disclosure Policy
The journal requires all authors to transparently disclose the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies. Upon submission, authors must confirm that their work adheres to Wiley's AI policy and will be asked to specify which tools were used (including name and version) and how the tool was applied. If AI tools were indeed used in the development of your work, please also inte…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data Sharing and Data Availability
This journal encourages data sharing. Review Wiley’s Data Sharing policy where you will be able to see and select the data availability statement that is right for your submission.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Reproduction of Copyright Material
If lengthy excerpts (generally 400 cumulative words or more from one source) are included, or if previously published tables or figures from copyrighted works owned by third parties are reprinted in their entirety, in part, or adapted, credit must be given. For more information, visit Wiley’s Copyright Terms & Conditions FAQ.The corresponding author is responsible for obtaining written permission …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open Access
This journal is a hybrid journal that publishes both subscription and open access articles. You will have the option to choose to make your article open access after acceptance, which will be subject to an article publication charge (APC). For more information on this journal’s APCs, please see the Open Access page. You can read more about APCs and whether you may be eligible for waivers or discou…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review 1. Submission and Peer Review Process
Once the submission materials have been prepared in accordance with the author guidelines, new submissions should be made via the Research Exchange submission portal: https://authors.wiley.com/journal/JOHC. You may check the status of your submission at any time by logging on to submission.wiley.com and clicking the "My Submissions" button. For technical help with the submission system, please rev…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprint policy
Please find the Wiley preprint policy here.The Journal of Humanistic Counseling will consider for review articles previously available as preprints. You may also post the submitted version of a manuscript to a preprint server at any time. You are requested to update any prepublication versions with a link to the final published article.However, because articles are peer reviewed under a double-bli…
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
- Wiley-Blackwell
- ISSN
- 2159-0311
- Electronic ISSN
- 2161-1939
- Society / sponsor
- Association for Humanistic Counseling
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 65, Issue 2 (July 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Journal of Humanistic Counseling
What CAS zone is Journal of Humanistic Counseling in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Journal of Humanistic Counseling is in Zone 4 of Psychology, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Psychology, Applied. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 4 of Psychology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Journal of Humanistic Counseling?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 0.8 (2025); this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 1.5, h-index 27.
How long does peer review take at Journal of Humanistic Counseling?
Based on the dates recorded on 66 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 270 days (interquartile range 220–312 days); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 33% (2025). 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 Humanistic Counseling?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 150 words; Keywords: ≥ 5; Reference style: APA; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not 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.
Which databases index Journal of Humanistic Counseling?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Journal of Humanistic Counseling is indexed in ESCI and Scopus. The journal's website also lists Web of Science and PsycINFO; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Journal of Humanistic Counseling open access, and what is the APC?
Journal of Humanistic Counseling is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 2,900.
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: .