Journal profile · BUSINESS
Journal of Social Entrepreneurship
ISSN 1942-0676 · eISSN 1942-0684 · Taylor & Francis
Journal of Social Entrepreneurship: CAS Zone 4 · Management (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.1 (journal website); hybrid open access; APC charged, amount not published; review about 75 days (first decision after review, publisher); acceptance rate 9% (journal website); 36 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Journal of Social Entrepreneurship is published by Taylor & Francis 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 Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences, Innovation and Socioeconomic Development and Family Business Performance and Succession, together about 58.6% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
To date, much of social entrepreneurship scholarship has emerged from business schools and has, as a consequence, tended to focus on organizational, strategic, and financial issues. The perspective has largely been to use business models to explore social innovation, and particularly, social enterprise (social entrepreneurship that moves towards self-funding). The approach has largely been 'what can social entrepreneurship learn from business perspectives'. This is an important part of the scholarly picture, but the Journal of Social Entrepreneurship has a far broader remit. In this journal, social entrepreneurship is defined as having four key components - sociality, innovation, market orientation, and hybridity. First, sociality is a focus on a defined social purpose or benefit to society that is carefully measured. This could be identifiable by organization type such as co-operatives or charities, or sectors, like healthcare or education. Second, innovation is seen as either creative or destructive changes to social or economic systems. Third, market orientation places social entrepreneurship in a broader competitive landscape of funding, outputs, accountability and legitimacy, all focused on a relentless effort to improve performance and increase social impact. Finally, social entrepreneurship is defined by its tendency to operate in hybrid spaces between the public, private/commercial and civil society sectors - often in the form of hybrid organizational forms such as co-operatives or social enterprises. This definition of social entrepreneurship includes both for and not-for-profit organizations, as well as public sector bodies. However, it excludes all organizations the primary purpose of which is profit-maximisation, irrespective of whether they also aim to do social good, as this falls under quite the separate heading of Corporate Social Responsibility. Key areas of interest for the Journal to draw from, and explore relationships with, include social policy and political science; anthropology; sociology; not-for-profit management; finance; organizational theory; strategy; social geography; (development) economics; ethics and moral philosophy; and social psychology. However, the Journal is open to work in any scholarly tradition with the twin caveats that the work is squarely focused on social entrepreneurship, and that it is high quality. The vision for the Journal is as a high quality, multidisciplinary publication that embraces and encourages wo
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): BUSINESS
Editor-in-chief Alex NichollsPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United States 1, United Kingdom 1, Australia 1 (3 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Entrepreneurship Studies and InfluencesBusiness, Management and Accounting28.1%
- Innovation and Socioeconomic DevelopmentBusiness, Management and Accounting17.2%
- Family Business Performance and SuccessionBusiness, Management and Accounting13.3%
- Community Development and Social ImpactEconomics, Econometrics and Finance10.9%
- Nonprofit Sector and VolunteeringSocial Sciences5%
- Microfinance and Financial InclusionEconomics, Econometrics and Finance2.6%
- Management and Organizational StudiesBusiness, Management and Accounting2.3%
- Corporate Social Responsibility ReportingBusiness, Management and Accounting2.2%
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 | Business | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Management Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Management | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Business | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
JCR / CiteScore quartiles on the journal's website
- CiteScore Q1 · 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
ESCIScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
EBSCO, ProQuest, Proquest Entrepreneurship, SwetsPublisher website
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
- 2.1Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 3.4Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 8.3LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 8.3Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.9LetPub ·
- SJR (publisher) 2025
- 0.9Publisher website ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.9LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher) 2025
- 1.9Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 60OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 264OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 3.32OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 19%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 13.74%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 35LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher)
- 116,000Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 116,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 469 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 22 | 7 | 4 |
| 2025 | 36 | 10 | 78 |
| 2024 | 51 | 21 | 280 |
| 2023 | 48 | 14 | 426 |
| 2022 | 31 | 8 | 286 |
| 2021 | 42 | 12 | 1,016 |
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
75 daysfirst decision after review
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)
- 9%Publisher website ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher) 2025
- 9%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 1 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 1 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review
- 75 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review 2025
- 75 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 13 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 13 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)
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteOpen access, Peer review
- Open access Open access
Journal of Social Entrepreneurship 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 the discover…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer Review Statement
Manuscripts submitted to the Journal are subject to editorial screening and double anonymized peer review. Model summary
Manuscripts submitted to the Journal are subject to editorial screening and double anonymized peer review.
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
- 1942-0676
- Electronic ISSN
- 1942-0684
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 17, Issue 2 (2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Journal of Social Entrepreneurship
What CAS zone is Journal of Social Entrepreneurship in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Journal of Social Entrepreneurship is in Zone 4 of Management, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Business. 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 Social Entrepreneurship?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 2.1 (2025); this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 8.3, h-index 60.
How long does peer review take at Journal of Social Entrepreneurship?
The publisher reports about 75 days (first decision after review); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 9% (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.
Where are the editorial board members of Journal of Social Entrepreneurship based?
Of the 3 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (1), United Kingdom (1) and Australia (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Journal of Social Entrepreneurship?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Journal of Social Entrepreneurship is indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Is Journal of Social Entrepreneurship open access, and what is the APC?
Journal of Social Entrepreneurship 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: .