Journal profile · LAW
Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law
ISSN 0732-9113 · eISSN 2770-6877 · Taylor & Francis
Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law: impact factor 0.8 (journal website); JCR Q2 (journal website); hybrid open access; APC charged, amount not published; median 189 days to acceptance (17 articles, last 24 months); acceptance rate 15% (journal website); 0 articles in 2025; indexed in Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law is published by Taylor & Francis. By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Indigenous Peoples' Rights and Law, Legal and cultural studies analysis and Comparative and International Law Studies, together about 44.6% of its articles. Its main subfields are Law. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Legal Pluralism and Critical Social Analysis (the successor of the Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law), is a leading international journal for publication on the social-scientific study of law and legal pluralism in the broadest sense. It is the only international journal dedicated to the empirical research and analysis of legal pluralism from an interdisciplinary perspective. Legal Pluralism and Critical Social Analysis is a refereed scholarly journal with a genuinely global reach, publishing both empirical and theoretical contributions from a variety of disciplines or interdisciplinary approaches that include law, anthropology of law, socio-legal studies, political science, environmental studies, urban studies, political ecology, science and technology studies, history and development studies. The journal specifically invites: a) contributions that, starting from a social-scientific approach to law, further current debate in the anthropology of law, socio-legal studies, and legal pluralism; b) contributions that, taking other scientific fields as their point of departure but with a scientific interest in the role of law and legal pluralism, yield important insights from such an interdisciplinary perspective. The journal welcomes papers that make such original contributions based on research anywhere in the world, both in historic and contemporary contexts. Such work may include both theoretical papers and empirically-based contributions to disseminate new and emerging scientific findings from fieldwork or other forms of engagement such as activism and advocacy, in the fields of human rights, conflict, migration and mobility, culture and religion, the state, policy and bureaucracy, environmental movements and other rights-based movements including indigenous rights, gender, minority rights and rights to/of nature. This journal was first published in 1969, under the title African Law Studies (issues 1-18). From 1981 it appeared under the title Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law. From 2013, it appear in volume format (Volume 45 onwards). From 2022, it is titled Legal Pluralism and Critical Social Analysis. The journal publishes three issues a year. All submitted manuscripts are subject to initial appraisal by the Editor, and, if found suitable for further consideration, to peer review by independent, anonymous expert referees. All peer review is double anonymized and submission is online via Editorial Manager.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): LAW
Editor-in-chief Christa RautenbachPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Indigenous Peoples' Rights and LawSocial Sciences29.8%
- Legal and cultural studies analysisSocial Sciences9.1%
- Comparative and International Law StudiesSocial Sciences5.7%
- Land Rights and ReformsAgricultural and Biological Sciences5.1%
- Multicultural Socio-Legal StudiesSocial Sciences5%
- African Studies and EthnographySocial Sciences4.6%
- Family and Matrimonial LawSocial Sciences3.8%
- Religious Freedom and DiscriminationSocial Sciences3.6%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
CiteScore quartiles (Scopus, June 2026 release)
| Subject | Quartile | Rank | Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Law | Q2 | 239/885 | 72nd |
Scopus ranks journals by CiteScore within each subject: the 75th percentile and above is Q1, then a quartile every 25 points. A different system from the CAS zones.LetPub
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
ScopusLetPub
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) 2025
- 0.8Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 0.7Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 1.7LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 1.4Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.2LetPub ·
- SJR (publisher) 2025
- 0.22Publisher website ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.83LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher) 2025
- 0.69Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 40OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 222OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0OpenAlex ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 21.74%LetPub ·
Volume
- Downloads per year (publisher)
- 86,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 694 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 0 | 0 | 495 |
| 2025 | 0 | 0 | 551 |
| 2024 | 0 | 0 | 735 |
| 2023 | 0 | 0 | 777 |
| 2022 | 0 | 0 | 764 |
| 2021 | 46 | 19 | 749 |
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
189 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 131 days – 284 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 10 days (17 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 197 days
- Sample
- 17 articles with submission and acceptance dates (26 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)
- 15%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 57 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review
- 169 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication
- 57 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 reviewBook Review | Published online: 29 Aug 2026Length not stated
- research articleResearch Article | Published online: 11 Sep 2026Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteOpen access, Peer review
- Open access Open access
Legal Pluralism and Critical Social Analysis is a hybrid open access journal that is part of the Taylor & Francis Open Select publishing program, giving you the option to publish open access. Publishing open access means that your article will be free to access online immediately on publication, increasing the visibility, readership, and impact of your research. Why choose open access? Increase th…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review
Peer review is double anonymized; submission is online via Editorial Manager. Model summary
All submitted manuscripts are subject to initial appraisal by the Editor, and, if found suitable for further consideration, to peer review by independent, anonymous expert referees. All peer review is double anonymized and submission is online via Editorial Manager.
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
- Taylor & Francis
- ISSN
- 0732-9113
- Print ISSN
- 2770-6869
- Electronic ISSN
- 2770-6877
- Society / sponsor
- Commission on Legal Pluralism
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 58, Issue 1 (2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law
What is the impact factor of Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law?
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 1.7, h-index 40.
How long does peer review take at Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law?
Based on the dates recorded on 17 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 189 days (interquartile range 131–284 days); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 15%. 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 JCR quartile is Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law in?
The journal's website gives JCR Q2 (best quartile). JCR quartiles are Clarivate's to confirm and a different system from the CAS zones.
Which databases index Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law is indexed in Scopus.
Is Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law open access, and what is the APC?
Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC charged, amount not published.
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: .