Journal profile · Computer Science, Information Systems
Journal of Information Science
ISSN 0165-5515 · eISSN 1741-6485 · SAGE Publications Ltd · ENGLAND · Bimonthly · Founded 1979
Journal of Information Science: CAS Zone 4 · Management (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.34; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,650; review about 301 days (submission to acceptance, publisher); community-reported acceptance: easy; 72 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE, SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Journal of Information Science is published by SAGE Publications Ltd 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 scientometrics and bibliometrics research, Semantic Web and Ontologies and Advanced Text Analysis Techniques, together about 24.6% of its articles. Its main subfields are Artificial Intelligence and Information Systems. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The Journal of Information Science is a peer-reviewed international journal of high repute covering topics of interest to all those researching and working in the sciences of information and knowledge management. The Editors welcome material on any aspect of information science theory, policy, application or practice that will … | 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): Computer Science, Information Systems
Editorial board by country: 1 in mainland China (about 6%); most named United Kingdom 7, United States 2, Singapore 2, Mainland China 1, Spain 1 (16 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- scientometrics and bibliometrics researchDecision Sciences9%
- Semantic Web and OntologiesComputer Science8.2%
- Advanced Text Analysis TechniquesComputer Science7.4%
- Information Retrieval and Search BehaviorComputer Science6.6%
- Topic ModelingComputer Science5.6%
- Web Data Mining and AnalysisComputer Science4.9%
- Complex Network Analysis TechniquesPhysics and Astronomy4.8%
- Knowledge Management and SharingSocial Sciences4.7%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Management Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Management | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Computer Science, Information Systems | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Information Science & Library Science | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Management Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Management | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Computer Science, Information Systems | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Information Science & Library Science | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Management Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Management | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Computer Science, Information Systems | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Information Science & Library Science | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SCIESSCIScopusLetPub
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
- 2.34LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 2.6Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 2.9Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 8.8LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.78LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.45LetPub ·
- h-index
- 57LetPub ·
- h-index
- 111OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,242OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.09OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 3.8%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 14.34%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 73LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 3,471 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 76 | 31 | 12 |
| 2025 | 72 | 24 | 100 |
| 2024 | 61 | 18 | 325 |
| 2023 | 119 | 50 | 1,141 |
| 2022 | 142 | 41 | 1,497 |
| 2021 | 98 | 28 | 1,762 |
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
301 dayssubmission to acceptance · community reports about 3 months
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
- Average review time (community reports)
- about 3 monthsLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- EasyLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 4.6%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 3 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 301 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 59 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.
Other charges and waivers (author guidelines)
- Other fees
- Charged; see the journal's website for the amount
- Page charges
- No page 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 prepare5 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 150 words
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 7,500 words
- Reference style
- Vancouver
- Templates
- LaTeX and Word
- Not considered
- previously rejected work
Article types accepted1, with length limits
- brief communicationThe average length of papers is 5000 - 7500 words (8-12 printed journal pages). Brief Communications of 1500 words or less are also welcomed on particularly top…main text ≤ 1,500 words
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
No submission or publication fees Model summary
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this journal. Optional open access publishing is available for a fee via the Sage Choice program, and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. Open Access agreement …
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 Publications Ltd
- Country or region
- ENGLAND
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Bimonthly
- Founded
- 1979
- ISSN
- 0165-5515
- Electronic ISSN
- 1741-6485
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Journal of Information Science
What CAS zone is Journal of Information Science in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Journal of Information Science is in Zone 4 of Management, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Computer Science, Information Systems / Information Science & Library Science. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 4 of Management. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Journal of Information Science?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.34; CiteScore 8.8, h-index 111.
How long does peer review take at Journal of Information Science?
The publisher reports about 301 days (submission to acceptance); authors report an average review time of about 3 months; the community-reported acceptance is “Easy”; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 4.6%. 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 Information Science?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 150 words; Manuscript length: ≤ 7,500 words; Reference style: Vancouver; Templates: LaTeX and Word. 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 Information Science based?
Of the 16 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 1 (about 6%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (7), United States (2) and Singapore (2). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Journal of Information Science?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Journal of Information Science is indexed in SCIE, SSCI and Scopus.
Is Journal of Information Science open access, and what is the APC?
Journal of Information 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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .