Journal profile · INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS & LABOR

Journal of Industrial Relations

ISSN 0022-1856 · eISSN 1472-9296 · SAGE

Journal of Industrial Relations: CAS Zone 4 · Management (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.61; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,650; review about 218 days (submission to acceptance, publisher); acceptance rate 16.2% (journal website); 40 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI and Scopus.

Impact factor1.61Latest value listed by LetPub
CAS zoneZone 4 · Management2025 upgraded edition, major category · 2026 Xinrui edition Zone 3 · Management
Review time218 daysPublisher-reported, submission to acceptance
APCUSD 3,650Hybrid journal: charged only for open-access articles
Acceptance16.2%From the journal's website
Articles per year402025 · OpenAlex count

Scope

Aims, scope and focus

Journal of Industrial Relations is published by SAGE and is in Zone 4 of Management in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Labor Movements and Unions, Employment and Welfare Studies and Digital Economy and Work Transformation, together about 57% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)

The Journal of Industrial Relations is an ISI-ranked, peer-reviewed international journal administered by the Australian Labour and Employment Relations Association (ALERA). The editors invite scholarship from a range of disciplinary perspectives, examining any aspect of employment relations. Contributions exploring the traditional concerns of industrial relations as well as … | 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): INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS & LABOR

Editor-in-chief Amanda PymanPublisher website

Editorial board by country: 1 in mainland China (about 1%); most named Australia 38, United Kingdom 10, United States 7, Canada 7, Ireland 4 (87 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·

Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate

  1. Labor Movements and UnionsSocial Sciences39.7%
  2. Employment and Welfare StudiesHealth Professions11.7%
  3. Digital Economy and Work TransformationSocial Sciences5.5%
  4. Social Policy and Reform StudiesSocial Sciences5%
  5. Australian History and SocietySocial Sciences4.5%
  6. Labor market dynamics and wage inequalityEconomics, Econometrics and Finance4.2%
  7. Global trade, sustainability, and social impactBusiness, Management and Accounting3.3%
  8. International Labor and Employment LawSocial Sciences2.9%

Rankings & indexing

CAS ranking and database indexing

CAS Journal Ranking

CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Management Zone 4
LevelCategoryZone
MajorManagementZone 4
MinorIndustrial Relations & LaborZone 4

Top journal: noReview journal: no

CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Management Zone 3
LevelCategoryZone
MajorManagementZone 3
MinorIndustrial Relations & LaborZone 3

Top journal: noReview journal: not marked

CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Management Zone 2
LevelCategoryZone
MajorManagementZone 2
MinorIndustrial Relations & LaborZone 1

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
1.61LetPub ·
Impact factor (publisher)
1.6Publisher website ·
5-year impact factor (publisher)
2.6Publisher website ·
CiteScore 2026-06
5.3LetPub ·
SJR 2026-06
0.81LetPub ·
SNIP 2026-06
1.25LetPub ·
h-index
62OpenAlex ·
i10-index
701OpenAlex ·
2-year mean citedness
1.84OpenAlex ·
Self-citation rate
6.2%LetPub ·
Share of gold OA articles
57.76%LetPub ·

Volume

Articles per year
33LetPub ·
Articles per year (publisher)
3Publisher website ·

Articles by year OpenAlex count · 3,702 in total · the current year is incomplete

YearArticlesOpen accessCitations
202642252
2025402882
20245743172
20234230184
20223917766
20214517628

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

218 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)
16.2%Publisher website ·
Submission to first decision
4 daysPublisher website ·
Submission to acceptance
218 daysPublisher website ·
Acceptance to publication
37 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.

SourceAPCFee waiverLicenseObserved
OpenAlexUSD 3,650 / GBP 2,676——
Publisher websiteYes, amount not published——

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)

Colour charges
No colour charges
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 prepare3 items from the author guidelines
Abstract
150–200 words
Manuscript length
≤ 10,000 words
Reference style
Harvard
Publisher website · model-extracted, each line checked against the text
Article types accepted5, with length limits
  1. case studyPlease visit the Sage Journal Author Gateway for guidance on producing visual and/or video abstracts. Rigorous qualitative and multi-method analyses, including …Length not stated
  2. editorialPlease visit the Sage Journal Author Gateway for guidance on producing visual and/or video abstracts. Rigorous qualitative and multi-method analyses, including …Length not stated
  3. full research articlePlease visit the Sage Journal Author Gateway for guidance on producing visual and/or video abstracts. Rigorous qualitative and multi-method analyses, including …Length not stated
  4. research notes and controversiesResearch Notes and Controversies should be between 4,000-5,000 words.Length not stated
  5. reviewPlease visit the Sage Journal Author Gateway for guidance on producing visual and/or video abstracts. Rigorous qualitative and multi-method analyses, including …main text ≤ 1,000 words
Publisher website
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. 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 publishing is available for a fee via the Sage Choice pr…

Source ↗Publisher website ·
Peer review Peer review policy

Peer review policy: double anonymized 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 reject…

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

Preprint policy: preprints accepted Model summary

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
0022-1856
Electronic ISSN
1472-9296
Official links

FAQ

Frequently asked questions about Journal of Industrial Relations

What CAS zone is Journal of Industrial Relations in?

In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Journal of Industrial Relations is in Zone 4 of Management, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Industrial Relations & Labor. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Management. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.

What is the impact factor of Journal of Industrial Relations?

The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 1.61; CiteScore 5.3, h-index 62.

How long does peer review take at Journal of Industrial Relations?

The publisher reports about 218 days (submission to acceptance); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 16.2%. 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 Industrial Relations?

According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: 150–200 words; Manuscript length: ≤ 10,000 words; Reference style: Harvard. 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 Industrial Relations based?

Of the 87 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 1 (about 1%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are Australia (38), United Kingdom (10) and United States (7). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.

Which databases index Journal of Industrial Relations?

According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Journal of Industrial Relations is indexed in SSCI and Scopus.

Is Journal of Industrial Relations open access, and what is the APC?

Journal of Industrial 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: .