Journal profile · CULTURAL STUDIES
Open Cultural Studies
ISSN 2451-3474 · De Gruyter · Poland
Open Cultural Studies: CAS Zone 4 · Sociology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 0.4 (journal website); fully open access; APC charged, amount not published; review about 15 weeks (community reports); 50 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Open Cultural Studies is published by De Gruyter and is in Zone 4 of Sociology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Geographies of human-animal interactions, Posthumanist Ethics and Activism and Translation Studies and Practices, together about 21% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
About this journal Open Cultural Studies is a peer-reviewed, scholarly journal that explores the fields of Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts. It interprets culture in an inclusive sense, in different theoretical, geographical and historical contexts. The journal promotes new research perspectives in cultural studies, but it also seeks to map out social and political scholarship that places questions of inequalities and imbalances of power at the heart of academic debate. Aims and ScopeWe invite researchers, academics, teachers, practitioners, and educators to submit proposals for thematic issues/articles dealing with a broad range of subjects. These may include: History & memory, Medieval, Renaissance, Victorian & other cultures, Popular culture, Youth cultures & subcultures, Visual culture, Photography & film, Ethnic & traditional cultures, Comparative Literature, Media & communication, Architecture & urban studies, Multiculturalism, inter- & trans-culturalism, Gender, lesbian, gay & queer studies, Music & dance, Theatre & performance, Culture & education, Regional cultural studies, Political economy, Area studies, Cultural policy, Sports. Your Benefits Authors publishing in Open Cultural Studies benefit from fair and constructive peer reviewquick online publication of accepted papers (continuous publication model)language polishing services upon acceptance for authors from non-English speaking regionsall articles are freely available to the academic community worldwide without any restrictionspromotion of published papers to readers and citersdistribution to open access directories (such as DOAJ) and thousands of libraries worldwideliberal policies on copyrights (authors retain copyright) and on self-archiving (no embargo periods)secure archiving by De Gruyter and the independent archiving service PorticoSpecial issues Open calls for papers:Writing Across Differences, edited by Gero Bauer, Ingrid Hotz-Davies, and Marion Müller (University of Tübingen, Germany), deadline for submissions: June 30, 2026.Trauma-Informed Ethnographic Methodologies for Relational Healing, edited by Xandra Miguel Lorenzo (University College London) and Carolina Borda-Niño-Wildman (NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Scotland), deadline for submissions: Semptember 15, 2026.Democracies in the Post-digital World: cultural studies perspectives in global contexts, edited by Sara Brandellero (Leiden University, the Netherlands), Sini Hassinen (Leiden University, The Netherlands), Sonia Horonz
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): CULTURAL STUDIES
Editor-in-chief Toby MillerPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Geographies of human-animal interactionsSocial Sciences7.7%
- Posthumanist Ethics and ActivismSocial Sciences6.8%
- Translation Studies and PracticesArts and Humanities6.5%
- Cinema and Media StudiesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance6.2%
- Gender, Feminism, and MediaSocial Sciences5.7%
- Gothic Literature and Media AnalysisSocial Sciences5.7%
- Visual Culture and Art TheoryArts and Humanities5.4%
- Diaspora, migration, transnational identitySocial Sciences4.8%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Sociology Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Cultural Studies | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Sociology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Cultural Studies | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
Database indexing
ESCIScopusDOAJLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
EBSCO, ProQuest, Baidu, OCLCPublisher 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)
- 0.4Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 0.5Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 1.4LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 1.4Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.22LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 0.68LetPub ·
- h-index
- 16OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 37OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0.64OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 0%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 48LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 419 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 31 | 31 | 3 |
| 2025 | 50 | 50 | 42 |
| 2024 | 48 | 48 | 37 |
| 2023 | 30 | 30 | 80 |
| 2022 | 25 | 25 | 140 |
| 2021 | 27 | 27 | 62 |
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
- Average review time (community reports)
- about 15 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 30 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 | EUR 1,050 | Yes | CC BY | |
| OpenAlex | EUR 1,050 | — | — | |
| LetPub | EUR 500 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
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 accepted1
- editorialUnpublished material: Submission of a manuscript implies that the work described is not copyrighted, published or submitted elsewhere, except in abstract form. …Length not stated
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
- De Gruyter
- Country or region
- Poland
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2451-3474
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗DOAJ
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗DOAJ
- Aims & Scope ↗DOAJ
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Fee waivers ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗DOAJ
- Editorial board ↗DOAJ
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Open Cultural Studies
What CAS zone is Open Cultural Studies in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Open Cultural Studies is in Zone 4 of Sociology, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Cultural Studies. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 3 of Sociology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Open Cultural Studies?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 0.4; this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 1.4, h-index 16.
How long does peer review take at Open Cultural Studies?
Authors report an average review time of about 15 weeks. 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.
Which databases index Open Cultural Studies?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Open Cultural Studies is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Open Cultural Studies open access, and what is the APC?
Open Cultural Studies is a fully open-access journal. APC charged, amount not published.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, Publisher website, 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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .