Journal profile · Social Sciences-Sociology and Political Science
Methodological Innovations
ISSN 2059-7991 · SAGE Publishing · United Kingdom
Methodological Innovations: fully open access; APC about USD 854; review about 145 days (submission to acceptance, publisher); acceptance rate 24% (journal website); 20 articles in 2025; indexed in Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Methodological Innovations is published by SAGE Publishing. By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics, Participatory Visual Research Methods and Survey Methodology and Nonresponse, together about 36.4% of its articles. Its main subfields are Sociology and Political Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Journal Highlights Published since 2015 Publication is subject to payment of an article processing charge (APC) Methodological Innovations is an op...
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Social Sciences-Sociology and Political Science
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United Kingdom 17, Canada 4, Australia 3, New Zealand 3, United States 2 (33 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Qualitative Research Methods and EthicsSocial Sciences18.5%
- Participatory Visual Research MethodsSocial Sciences9.8%
- Survey Methodology and NonresponseSocial Sciences8.1%
- Focus Groups and Qualitative MethodsSocial Sciences7.3%
- Qualitative Research Methods and ApplicationsSocial Sciences6.7%
- Psychometric Methodologies and TestingDecision Sciences5.9%
- Posthumanist Ethics and ActivismSocial Sciences5.1%
- Qualitative Comparative Analysis ResearchSocial Sciences4.5%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social Sciences (miscellaneous) | Q1 | 138/744 | 81st |
| Sociology and Political Science | Q1 | 305/1530 | 80th |
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
Database indexing
ScopusDOAJLetPub
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
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.71LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.45LetPub ·
- h-index
- 33OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 114OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 2.67OpenAlex ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 0%LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 306 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 22 | 22 | 811 |
| 2025 | 20 | 20 | 928 |
| 2024 | 18 | 18 | 829 |
| 2023 | 28 | 28 | 663 |
| 2022 | 37 | 37 | 595 |
| 2021 | 32 | 32 | 470 |
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
145 dayssubmission to acceptance · community reports about 15 weeks
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 15 weeksLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 24%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 1 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 145 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 41 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 15 weeksDOAJ ·
- Peer review
- Double anonymous peer reviewDOAJ
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
Fully open accessDOAJ
Every article is open access; authors usually pay an article processing charge (APC).
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | USD 854 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC | |
| OpenAlex | USD 854 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 854 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | USD 2,000 | — | — |
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 prepare8 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 300 words
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 9,000 words
- Reference style
- Harvard
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
- Highlights
- Required
- Graphical abstract
- Optional
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted12, with length limits
- book reviewOriginal Articles These may be up to 9000 words in length, and should be accompanied by an abstract of up to 300 words. Commentaries Research Notes Debate & Con…Length not stated
- book reviewsBook Reviews Please submit book reviews directly to the Editors:Length not stated
- commentariesCommentaries Research Notes Debate & Controversy EssaysLength not stated
- commentaryOriginal Articles These may be up to 9000 words in length, and should be accompanied by an abstract of up to 300 words. Commentaries Research Notes Debate & Con…Length not stated
- debate & controversyCommentaries Research Notes Debate & Controversy EssaysLength not stated
- editorialOriginal Articles These may be up to 9000 words in length, and should be accompanied by an abstract of up to 300 words. Commentaries Research Notes Debate & Con…Length not stated
- essaysEssays These essays aim to stimulate response and discussion.Length not stated
- original articleOriginal Articles These may be up to 9000 words in length, and should be accompanied by an abstract of up to 300 words. Commentaries Research Notes Debate & Con…main text ≤ 9,000 words · abstract ≤ 300 words
- original articlesOriginal Articles These may be up to 9000 words in length, and should be accompanied by an abstract of up to 300 words.Length not stated
- pre-submission for early career researchersPre-Submission for Early Career Researchers The Editorial Team would like to encourage early career researchers to submit draft papers or synopsis for editorial…Length not stated
- research notesCommentaries Research Notes Debate & Controversy EssaysLength not stated
- reviewOriginal Articles These may be up to 9000 words in length, and should be accompanied by an abstract of up to 300 words. Commentaries Research Notes Debate & Con…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Data availability, Publication ethics, Open access, Peer review, Plagiarism, Preprints, Trial registration / reporting guidelines
- 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
Methodological Innovations is an open access, peer-reviewed journal. All accepted articles are made freely available online immediately upon publication, are published under a Creative Commons license, and hosted online in perpetuity. If, after peer review, your manuscript is accepted for publication, a one-time article processing charge (APC) is payable to cover the cost of publishing, paid by th…
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 reject…
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
Preprints accepted Model summary
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 ·- Trial registration / reporting guidelines Clinical trial registration
The journal conforms to the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first participant enrollment as a condition of consideration for publication. The trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.
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 Publishing
- Country or region
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2059-7991
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Fee waivers ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗LetPub
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Methodological Innovations
How long does peer review take at Methodological Innovations?
The publisher reports about 145 days (submission to acceptance); authors report an average review time of about 15 weeks; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 24%. 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 Methodological Innovations?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 300 words; Manuscript length: ≤ 9,000 words; Reference style: Harvard; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; Suggested reviewers: Optional; Highlights: Required; Graphical abstract: Optional; Cover letter: 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.
Where are the editorial board members of Methodological Innovations based?
Of the 33 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (17), Canada (4) and Australia (3). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Methodological Innovations?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Methodological Innovations is indexed in Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Methodological Innovations open access, and what is the APC?
Methodological Innovations is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 854.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, OpenAlex, DOAJ; 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: .