Journal profile · POLITICAL SCIENCE
Legislative Studies Quarterly
ISSN 0362-9805 · eISSN 1939-9162 · Wiley-Blackwell
Legislative Studies Quarterly: CAS Zone 3 · Sociology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.68; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,190; median 237 days to acceptance (88 articles, last 24 months); acceptance rate 34% (journal website); 66 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Legislative Studies Quarterly is published by Wiley-Blackwell and is in Zone 3 of Sociology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Electoral Systems and Political Participation, Political Influence and Corporate Strategies and Gender Politics and Representation, together about 49.2% of its articles. Its main subfields are Political Science and International Relations. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
The Legislative Studies Quarterly is an international journal devoted to the publication of research on representative assemblies. Its purpose is to disseminate scholarly work on parliaments and legislatures, their relations to other political institutions, their functions in the political system, and the activities of their members both within the institution and outside. The Quarterly invites contributions from scholars in all countries. Its pages are open to all research approaches consistent with the normal canons of scholarship, and to work on representative assemblies in all settings and all time periods. The aim of the Quarterly is to contribute to the formulation and verification of general theories about legislative systems, processes, and behavior. The editors encourage contributors to emphasize the cross-national implications of their findings, even if these findings are based on research within a single country. The Legislative Studies Quarterly is the official journal of the Legislative Studies Section of the American Political Science Association. Abstracting and Indexing Information Academic Search Alumni Edition (EBSCO Publishing) Academic Search Complete (EBSCO Publishing) ArticleFirst (OCLC) Arts & Humanities Citation Index (Clarivate Analytics) Business Source Alumni Edition (EBSCO Publishing) Business Source Complete (EBSCO Publishing) Business Source Corporate (EBSCO Publishing) Business Source Premier (EBSCO Publishing) Current Contents: Arts & Humanities (Clarivate Analytics) Environment Index (EBSCO Publishing) IBR & IBZ: International Bibliographies of Periodical Literature (KG Saur) International Political Science Abstracts (IPSA) Peace Research Abstracts (EBSCO Publishing) Political Science Complete (EBSCO Publishing) ProQuest Politics Collection (ProQuest) Public Administration Abstracts (EBSCO Publishing) Public Affairs Index (EBSCO Publishing) Russian Academy of Sciences Bibliographies (EBSCO Publishing) SCOPUS (Elsevier) Social Science Premium Collection (ProQuest) Social Sciences Citation Index (Clarivate Analytics) SocINDEX (EBSCO Publishing) SocINDEX with Full Text (EBSCO Publishing) Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics)
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): POLITICAL SCIENCE
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Electoral Systems and Political ParticipationSocial Sciences30.7%
- Political Influence and Corporate StrategiesBusiness, Management and Accounting11.1%
- Gender Politics and RepresentationSocial Sciences7.5%
- Judicial and Constitutional StudiesSocial Sciences6%
- Fiscal Policies and Political EconomyEconomics, Econometrics and Finance5%
- Social Media and PoliticsSocial Sciences3.8%
- Policy Transfer and LearningSocial Sciences3.3%
- Political Systems and GovernanceSocial Sciences3.3%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Sociology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Political Science | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Sociology Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Political Science | 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 | Political Science | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SSCIScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
AHCIWeb of ScienceCurrent ContentsPublisher website
Other: EBSCO, ProQuest, OCLC
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
- 1.68LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 1.7Publisher website ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 1.7Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 3.2LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 3.2Publisher website ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 3.2Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 2.31LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.79LetPub ·
- h-index
- 107OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 957OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.26OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 23.5%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 49.59%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 55LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher) 2025
- 56Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 90,383Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,723 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 40 | 22 | 12 |
| 2025 | 66 | 43 | 47 |
| 2024 | 50 | 36 | 137 |
| 2023 | 39 | 25 | 194 |
| 2022 | 42 | 14 | 489 |
| 2021 | 38 | 8 | 329 |
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
237 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 194 days – 313 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 22 days (89 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 274 days
- Sample
- 88 articles with submission and acceptance dates (110 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)
- 34%Publisher website ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher) 2025
- 34%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 57 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 57 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance 2025
- 222 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 22 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 3,190 / EUR 2,680 / GBP 2,060 | — | — |
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)
- 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 prepare6 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 150 words
- Keywords
- ≤ 7
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 10,000 words
- Reference style
- Author–date
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Not considered
- preprint
Article types accepted3, with length limits
- original paperArticle Type Description Word Limit Original Papers Reports of new research findings or conceptual analyses that make a significant contribution to knowledge. 1…Length not stated
- original papersOriginal Papers Reports of new research findings or conceptual analyses that make a significant contribution to knowledge. 10,000 words limitmain text ≤ 10,000 words
- short researchShort Research Abbreviated manuscripts focused on empirical contributions or introduction of new datasets. Open to less traditional pieces. 6,000 words limitmain text ≤ 6,000 words
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Data availability, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- Authorship Authorship
All listed authors should have contributed to the manuscript substantially and have agreed to the final submitted version. Review editorial standards and scroll down for a description of authorship criteria.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data Sharing and Data Availability
This journal expects data sharing. Review Wiley’s Data Sharing policy where you will be able to see and select the data availability statement that is right for your submission.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics
COPE core practices; iThenticate CrossCheck used Model summary
This journal follows the core practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and handles cases of research and publication misconduct accordingly (https://publicationethics.org/core-practices).
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Reproduction of Copyright Material
If excerpts from copyrighted works owned by third parties are included, credit must be shown in the contribution. It is your responsibility to also obtain written permission for reproduction from the copyright owners. For more information visit Wiley’s Copyright Terms & Conditions FAQ.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access WALS + standard CTA/ELA and/or Open Access for hybrid titles
CC-BY license for Open Access option Model summary
You may choose to publish under the terms of the journal’s standard copyright agreement, or Open Access under the terms of a Creative Commons License.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review 1. Submission and Peer Review Process
double-anonymized peer review model; at least two anonymous reviewers and an Editor; papers only sent to review if Editor determines quality/relevance requirements met; in-house submissions sent to unaffiliated Editors and monitored for bias. Model summary
Once the submission materials have been prepared in accordance with the Author Guidelines, manuscripts should be submitted online at https://authors.wiley.com/journal/LSQ. For help with submissions, please contact: submissionhelp@wiley.com This journal does not charge submission fees. Article Preparation Support Wiley Editing Services offers expert help with English Language Editing, as well as tr…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints
preprints not accepted Model summary
This journal does not accept articles previously published on preprint servers.
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
- Wiley-Blackwell
- ISSN
- 0362-9805
- Electronic ISSN
- 1939-9162
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 51, Issue 3 (August 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Legislative Studies Quarterly
What CAS zone is Legislative Studies Quarterly in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Legislative Studies Quarterly is in Zone 3 of Sociology, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Political Science. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 1 of Sociology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Legislative Studies Quarterly?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 1.68; CiteScore 3.2, h-index 107.
How long does peer review take at Legislative Studies Quarterly?
Based on the dates recorded on 88 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 237 days (interquartile range 194–313 days); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 34% (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.
What are the manuscript requirements of Legislative Studies Quarterly?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 150 words; Keywords: ≤ 7; Manuscript length: ≤ 10,000 words; Reference style: Author–date; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required. 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.
Which databases index Legislative Studies Quarterly?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Legislative Studies Quarterly is indexed in SSCI and Scopus. The journal's website also lists AHCI, Web of Science and Current Contents; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Legislative Studies Quarterly open access, and what is the APC?
Legislative Studies Quarterly is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,190.
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: .