Journal profile · Business, Management and Accounting-Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
Organization Theory
ISSN 2631-7877 · SAGE Publishing · United Kingdom
Organization Theory: CAS Zone 1 · Management (2026 Xinrui edition); impact factor 7 (journal website); diamond open access (no APC); no APC; review about 467 days (submission to acceptance, publisher); acceptance rate 5.5% (journal website); 15 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Organization Theory is published by SAGE Publishing and is classed under Management in the CAS Journal Ranking. By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Management and Organizational Studies, Management Theory and Practice and Complex Systems and Decision Making, together about 51.1% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Organization Theory (OT) publishes work in all areas of organization theory, including papers that develop new substantive theories or offer theoretical extensions, papers on the history of organization and management theory, meta-theoretical inquiries into the core underpinnings of existing theories, critiques of theories and theoretical developments, and theory-driven reviews of important areas of research.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Business, Management and Accounting-Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
Editor-in-chief Rick DelbridgePublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United Kingdom 17, United States 11, France 7, Canada 7, Denmark 6 (78 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Management and Organizational StudiesBusiness, Management and Accounting35.7%
- Management Theory and PracticeBusiness, Management and Accounting8.9%
- Complex Systems and Decision MakingDecision Sciences6.5%
- Innovation and Knowledge ManagementBusiness, Management and Accounting4.9%
- Information Systems Theories and ImplementationSocial Sciences4.3%
- Global and Cross-Cultural ManagementSocial Sciences3.5%
- Public Policy and Administration ResearchSocial Sciences3%
- Accounting and Organizational ManagementBusiness, Management and Accounting3%
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)Management Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Management | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Management | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview 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
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)
- 7Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 11.5Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 13.2LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 4.85LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 3.75LetPub ·
- h-index
- 52OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 113OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 10.94OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 4.3%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 15LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 213 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 11 | 11 | 6 |
| 2025 | 15 | 15 | 47 |
| 2024 | 22 | 22 | 472 |
| 2023 | 19 | 19 | 426 |
| 2022 | 38 | 38 | 1,398 |
| 2021 | 29 | 29 | 2,035 |
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
467 dayssubmission to acceptance · community reports about 16 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 16 weeksLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 5.5%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 19 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review
- 68 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 467 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 35 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 16 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
Diamond open access (no APC)DOAJ
Every article is open access and authors pay no article processing charge.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DOAJ | No APC | No | CC BY, CC BY-NC | |
| OpenAlex | USD 0 | — | — | |
| LetPub | No APC | No | — | |
| Publisher website | USD 1,000 | — | — |
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 prepare6 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 300 words
- Keywords
- ≥ 3
- Reference style
- APA
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted4
- controversies and conversationsSubmissions to OT fall in three categories: regular full-length submissions (‘theory article’); review papers (‘review article’), and shorter, essay-style contr…Length not stated
- reviewView our Special Collections currently accepting submissions. Submissions to OT fall in three categories: regular full-length submissions (‘theory article’); re…Length not stated
- review articleView our Special Collections currently accepting submissions. Submissions to OT fall in three categories: regular full-length submissions (‘theory article’); re…Length not stated
- theory articleSubmissions to OT fall in three categories: regular full-length submissions (‘theory article’); review papers (‘review article’), and shorter, essay-style contr…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Authorship, Data availability, Publication ethics, Open access, Peer review, Plagiarism, Preprints
- AI use
AI chatbots should not be listed as authors. Model summary
Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Authorship Authorship
Unstructured abstract of maximum 300 words. Model summary
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
Authors are encouraged to share research data in a public repository, include a data availability statement, and cite the data. Model summary
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
Ethics approval statements required for studies involving human participants, human data or human tissue. Model summary
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
Organization Theory 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. The Article Processing Charge (APC) is $1000 USD. Article Processing Charges discounts up to 100% might apply depending on the affiliation of the lead author and the respec…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
Double anonymized peer review; manuscript must be fully anonymized. Model summary
The following summary describes the peer review process for this journal: Identity transparency: Double anonymized Reviewer interacts with: Editors and Associate Editors 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. Manusc…
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; enter preprint DOI at submission; do not post updated versions during peer review. 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 ·
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
- 2631-7877
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗LetPub
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Organization Theory
What CAS zone is Organization Theory in?
In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 1 of Management. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Organization Theory?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 7; this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 13.2, h-index 52.
How long does peer review take at Organization Theory?
The publisher reports about 467 days (submission to acceptance); authors report an average review time of about 16 weeks; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 5.5%. 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 Organization Theory?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: ≤ 300 words; Keywords: ≥ 3; Reference style: APA; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; Suggested reviewers: 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 Organization Theory based?
Of the 78 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (17), United States (11) and France (7). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Organization Theory?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Organization Theory is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Organization Theory open access, and what is the APC?
Organization Theory is a diamond open-access journal (no APC). It charges no article processing charge.
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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .