Journal profile · SOCIAL SCIENCES, INTERDISCIPLINARY
Journal of Youth Studies
ISSN 1367-6261 · eISSN 1469-9680 · Taylor & Francis
Journal of Youth Studies: CAS Zone 2 · Sociology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.08; JCR Q1 (journal website); hybrid open access; APC charged, amount not published; median 355 days to acceptance (105 articles, last 24 months); acceptance rate 10% (journal website); 79 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Journal of Youth Studies is published by Taylor & Francis and is in Zone 2 of Sociology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Youth Education and Societal Dynamics, Employment and Welfare Studies and Youth Development and Social Support, together about 38.7% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Journal of Youth Studies is an international scholarly journal devoted to the theoretical and empirical understanding of young people’s experiences and life contexts. Rapidly changing socio-economic circumstances have important implications for young people: new opportunities have been created but inequality and marginalisation have increased and taken new forms. Launched in 1998, the Journal of Youth Studies has established itself as the leading multidisciplinary journal for academics who are interested in youth and young adulthood. As the leading journal in the field, the Journal of Youth Studies brings together social scientists from all regions of the world and working in a range of disciplines. These include sociology, education, social policy, cultural studies, political science, economics, anthropology, criminology and social geography. Ours is not a journal of adolescent psychology but we do accept papers that take a critical psychological perspective. The papers we publish investigate young people’s lives in a range of contexts (such as education, the family, the labour market) and in respect of numerous research themes (such as sub-culture, identity, politics, citizenship, consumption, leisure, media, crime etc.) The Journal does not wish to publish papers that incidentally have used young people as the research sample or that repeat dated, narrow or normative approaches to understanding young people’s lives. Although the scope cannot be defined chronologically, the core interest of the Journal is on young people in their teens and twenties. We are open to all methodological approaches. As well as empirically based, theoretically informed papers we also welcome contributions that are primarily conceptual, particularly if they add to contemporary intellectual debates in the field. The Journal of Youth Studies publishes papers that grapple with questions of youth policy and practice but these must go beyond programme reports and evaluations and have clear value for an international readership. As well as analyses of the changing situations, experiences and opportunities of young people, the Journal encourages papers that take a critical perspective on the way that social, economic and political processes and institutions shape the meaning of, and narratives about, youth. Peer Review Policy: Research articles published in this journal have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and anonymized refereeing by at least two ano
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): SOCIAL SCIENCES, INTERDISCIPLINARY
Editor-in-chief Robert MacDonaldPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United Kingdom 3, Australia 1, Finland 1 (5 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Youth Education and Societal DynamicsSocial Sciences26.1%
- Employment and Welfare StudiesHealth Professions6.5%
- Youth Development and Social SupportSocial Sciences6.1%
- Homelessness and Social IssuesHealth Professions5.9%
- Gender, Feminism, and MediaSocial Sciences5.8%
- Children's Rights and ParticipationSocial Sciences5.4%
- Social Media and PoliticsSocial Sciences5%
- Social Policy and Reform StudiesSocial Sciences3.5%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Sociology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Sociology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Sociology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
JCR / CiteScore quartiles on the journal's website
- JCR Q1 · best quartile · 2025
- 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
SSCIScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
SCIEPsycINFOPublisher website
Other: OCLC, Contents Pages in Education, Criminal Justice Abstracts, Educational Management Abstracts, Educational Research Abstracts Online, Family Index, Family and Society Studies Worldwide, Multicultural Education Abstracts, Social Services Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts, Special Educational Needs Abstracts, Studies on Women and Gender Abstracts, Social Planning/Policy & Development Abstracts, VOCEDPlus
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
- 2.08LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.2Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 3.1Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 7LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 7Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.18LetPub ·
- SJR (publisher) 2025
- 1.18Publisher website ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 2.13LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher) 2025
- 2.13Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 105OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,185OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.32OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 13.6%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 38.08%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 80LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher)
- 524,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,807 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 71 | 50 | 14 |
| 2025 | 79 | 47 | 102 |
| 2024 | 78 | 54 | 412 |
| 2023 | 86 | 54 | 701 |
| 2022 | 91 | 42 | 1,635 |
| 2021 | 86 | 52 | 1,635 |
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
355 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 284 days – 423 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 13 days (105 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 372 days
- Sample
- 105 articles with submission and acceptance dates (163 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)
- 10%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 47 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review
- 188 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 12 daysPublisher 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
- research articlesResearch articles published in this journal have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and anonymized refereeing by at least two ano…Length not stated
- special issue introductory articlesSpecial issue introductory articles (i.e. overviews by guest editors) go through a review by the Editors in Chief.Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteOpen access, Peer review
- Open access Open access
Journal of Youth Studies 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 discoverability an…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review
Peer review policy: rigorous peer review based on initial editor screening and anonymized refereeing by at least two anonymous referees. Model summary
Research articles published in this journal have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and anonymized refereeing by at least two anonymous referees.
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
- 1367-6261
- Electronic ISSN
- 1469-9680
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 29, Issue 7 (2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Journal of Youth Studies
What CAS zone is Journal of Youth Studies in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Journal of Youth Studies is in Zone 2 of Sociology, and in Zone 2 of the minor category Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Sociology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Journal of Youth Studies?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.08; CiteScore 7, h-index 105.
How long does peer review take at Journal of Youth Studies?
Based on the dates recorded on 105 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 355 days (interquartile range 284–423 days); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 10%. 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 Youth Studies in?
The journal's website gives JCR Q1 (best quartile). JCR quartiles are Clarivate's to confirm and a different system from the CAS zones; in the CAS ranking the journal is in Zone 2 of Sociology.
Where are the editorial board members of Journal of Youth Studies based?
Of the 5 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (3), Australia (1) and Finland (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Journal of Youth Studies?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Journal of Youth Studies is indexed in SSCI and Scopus. The journal's website also lists SCIE and PsycINFO; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Journal of Youth Studies open access, and what is the APC?
Journal of Youth Studies 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: .