Journal profile · Arts and Humanities-Arts and Humanities (all)
Polar Journal
ISSN 2154-896X · eISSN 2154-8978 · Taylor & Francis
Polar Journal: CAS Zone 4 · Sociology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 1.8 (journal website); JCR Q1 (journal website); hybrid open access; APC charged, amount not published; 40 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Polar Journal is published by Taylor & Francis 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 Arctic and Russian Policy Studies, Polar Research and Ecology and Indigenous Studies and Ecology, together about 65.7% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Antarctica and the Arctic are of crucial importance to global security. Their governance and the patterns of human interactions there are increasingly contentious; mining, tourism, bioprospecting, and fishing are but a few of the many issues of contention, while environmental concerns such as melting ice sheets have a global impact. The Polar Journal is a forum for the scholarly discussion of polar issues from a social science and humanities perspective and brings together the considerable number of specialists and policy makers working on these crucial regions across multiple disciplines. The journal welcomes papers on polar affairs from all fields of the social sciences and the humanities and is especially interested in publishing policy-relevant research. Each issue of the journal either features articles from different disciplines on polar affairs or is a topical theme from a range of scholarly approaches. Topics include: Polar governance and policy Polar history, heritage, and culture Polar economics Polar politics Music, art, and literature of the polar regions Polar tourism Polar geography and geopolitics Polar psychology Polar archaeology Manuscript types accepted: Regular articles Research reports Opinion pieces Book Reviews Conference Reports Peer review statement: All submitted manuscripts are subject to initial appraisal by the Editor, and, if found suitable for further consideration, to peer review by independent, anonymous expert referees. All peer review is single anonymized and submission is via email to the Editors. Those interested in submitting a paper to the journal, or in discussing a submission with the editors, should contact the journal at: thepolarjournal@canterbury.ac.nz. Please also read the Instructions for Authors for further submission details including word limits for each manuscript type.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Arts and Humanities-Arts and Humanities (all)
Editor-in-chief Anne-Marie BradyPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Arctic and Russian Policy StudiesSocial Sciences29.4%
- Polar Research and EcologyEnvironmental Science28%
- Indigenous Studies and EcologyHealth Professions8.4%
- International Maritime Law IssuesEnvironmental Science3.7%
- Adventure Sports and Sensation SeekingPsychology3%
- History of Science and Natural HistoryArts and Humanities2.8%
- Space exploration and regulationPhysics and Astronomy2.2%
- Human auditory perception and evaluationEngineering2.1%
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 | Area Studies | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Environmental Studies | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Geography | Zone 4 |
| Minor | International Relations | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Sociology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Area Studies | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Environmental Studies | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Geography | Zone 2 |
| Minor | International Relations | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Not covered
Not covered by this edition.
JCR / CiteScore quartiles on the journal's website
- JCR Q1 · best quartile · 2025
- CiteScore Q1 · 2025
Publisher-reported: JCR figures are Clarivate's and CiteScore figures Scopus's to confirm; both are a different system from the CAS zones.Publisher website
Database indexing
ESCIScopusLetPub
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) 2025
- 1.8Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 2.5LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 2.5Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.4LetPub ·
- SJR (publisher) 2025
- 0.4Publisher website ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.18LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher) 2025
- 1.18Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 33OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 161OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.99OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 11.1%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 29.11%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 32LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher)
- 103,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 605 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 16 | 8 | 2 |
| 2025 | 40 | 18 | 25 |
| 2024 | 36 | 22 | 156 |
| 2023 | 31 | 14 | 121 |
| 2022 | 36 | 12 | 131 |
| 2021 | 46 | 13 | 275 |
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
Not usableThis publisher's "received" date is mostly when the revised manuscript arrived (50% of articles were "accepted" within 3 days), so it cannot measure review time
Other sources
- Acceptance to publication
- 28 daysPublisher website ·
- Peer review
- Single 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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.
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 accepted10
- book reviewRegular articles Research reports Opinion pieces Book Reviews Conference ReportsLength not stated
- book reviewsManuscript types accepted: Regular articles Research reports Opinion pieces Book Reviews Conference ReportsLength not stated
- conference reportRegular articles Research reports Opinion pieces Book Reviews Conference ReportsLength not stated
- conference reportsManuscript types accepted: Regular articles Research reports Opinion pieces Book Reviews Conference ReportsLength not stated
- opinionRegular articles Research reports Opinion pieces Book Reviews Conference ReportsLength not stated
- opinion piecesManuscript types accepted: Regular articles Research reports Opinion pieces Book Reviews Conference ReportsLength not stated
- regular articleRegular articles Research reports Opinion pieces Book Reviews Conference ReportsLength not stated
- regular articlesManuscript types accepted: Regular articles Research reports Opinion pieces Book Reviews Conference ReportsLength not stated
- research reportRegular articles Research reports Opinion pieces Book Reviews Conference ReportsLength not stated
- research reportsManuscript types accepted: Regular articles Research reports Opinion pieces Book Reviews Conference ReportsLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteOpen access, Peer review
- Open access Open access
The Polar Journal is a hybrid open access journal that is part of the Taylor & Francis Open Select publishing program, giving you the option to publish open access. Publishing open access means that your article will be free to access online immediately on publication, increasing the visibility, readership, and impact of your research. Why choose open access? Increase the discoverability and reade…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review
Single anonymized peer review; submission via email to the Editors. Model summary
All peer review is single anonymized and submission is via email to the Editors.
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
- Taylor & Francis
- ISSN
- 2154-896X
- Electronic ISSN
- 2154-8978
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 16, Issue 1 (2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Polar Journal
What CAS zone is Polar Journal in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Polar Journal is in Zone 4 of Sociology, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Area Studies / Environmental Studies / Geography / International Relations. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Sociology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Polar Journal?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 1.8 (2025); this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 2.5, h-index 33.
What JCR quartile is Polar Journal in?
The journal's website gives JCR Q1 (best quartile). JCR quartiles are Clarivate's to confirm and a different system from the CAS zones; in the CAS ranking the journal is in Zone 4 of Sociology.
Which databases index Polar Journal?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Polar Journal is indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Is Polar Journal open access, and what is the APC?
Polar Journal is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC charged, amount not published.
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: .