Journal profile · PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy & Social Criticism
ISSN 0191-4537 · eISSN 1461-734X · SAGE
Philosophy & Social Criticism: CAS Zone 3 · Philosophy (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 0.7 (journal website); hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,650; review about 128 days (submission to acceptance, publisher); acceptance rate 11.6% (journal website); 77 articles in 2025; indexed in AHCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Philosophy & Social Criticism is published by SAGE and is in Zone 3 of Philosophy in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Critical Theory and Philosophy, Political Philosophy and Ethics and Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism, together about 37% of its articles. Its main subfields are Sociology and Political Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Philosophy & Social Criticism is a fully peer reviewed international journal that publishes original research and review articles. It presents original theoretical contributions to the latest developments in social and political thought, emphasizing the contributions of continental … | View full journal description This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): PHILOSOPHY
Editorial board by country: 1 in mainland China (about 2%); most named United States 33, United Kingdom 4, Germany 4, France 3, Italy 3 (55 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Critical Theory and PhilosophySocial Sciences15.1%
- Political Philosophy and EthicsSocial Sciences14.1%
- Philosophy, Ethics, and ExistentialismArts and Humanities7.7%
- Hannah Arendt's Political PhilosophySocial Sciences6.8%
- Political Theology and SovereigntySocial Sciences6.1%
- Political Economy and MarxismSocial Sciences5.5%
- Foucault, Power, and EthicsSocial Sciences5.1%
- Religion and Society InteractionsSocial Sciences4%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Philosophy Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Philosophy | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Philosophy | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Philosophy Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Philosophy | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Philosophy | Zone 2 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Philosophy Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Philosophy | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Philosophy | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
AHCIScopusLetPub
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)
- 0.7Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 0.8Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 2.2LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.37LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.67LetPub ·
- h-index
- 68OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 585OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0.73OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 0%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 38.93%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 73LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 2,532 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 63 | 34 | 3 |
| 2025 | 77 | 41 | 48 |
| 2024 | 89 | 41 | 117 |
| 2023 | 111 | 64 | 370 |
| 2022 | 111 | 48 | 518 |
| 2021 | 67 | 17 | 397 |
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
128 dayssubmission to acceptance
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
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 11.6%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 20 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 128 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 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 3,650 / GBP 2,676 | — | — | |
| 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.
Other charges and waivers (author guidelines)
- Other fees
- No other fees
- 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 prepare3 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- 100–150 words
- Reference style
- Chicago
- Not considered
- unsolicited book reviews
Article types accepted2
- research articleResearch articles: These should detail original experiments/research conducted by the authors. Any research on any topic is accepted, provided it falls within t…Length not stated
- research articlesResearch articles: These should detail original experiments/research conducted by the authors. Any research on any topic is accepted, provided it falls within t…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Data availability, Publication ethics, Open access, Peer review, Plagiarism, Preprints
- 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
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this journal. Figures submitted in color will be published in color in the online version of the journal at no cost. If you wish to have color figures in the printed version, the fee will be determined at Production. Optional open access publishing is available for a fee via the Sage Choice program, and Open Access agreements, where authors can pub…
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 rejec…
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
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
- ISSN
- 0191-4537
- Electronic ISSN
- 1461-734X
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Philosophy & Social Criticism
What CAS zone is Philosophy & Social Criticism in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Philosophy & Social Criticism is in Zone 3 of Philosophy, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Philosophy. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Philosophy. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Philosophy & Social Criticism?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 0.7; this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 2.2, h-index 68.
How long does peer review take at Philosophy & Social Criticism?
The publisher reports about 128 days (submission to acceptance); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 11.6%. 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 Philosophy & Social Criticism?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: 100–150 words; Reference style: Chicago. 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 Philosophy & Social Criticism based?
Of the 55 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 1 (about 2%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (33), United Kingdom (4) and Germany (4). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Philosophy & Social Criticism?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Philosophy & Social Criticism is indexed in AHCI and Scopus.
Is Philosophy & Social Criticism open access, and what is the APC?
Philosophy & Social Criticism is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,650.
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 2026-08-26). Last updated: .