Journal profile · COMMUNICATION
Popular Communication
ISSN 1540-5702 · eISSN 1540-5710 · Taylor & Francis
Popular Communication: CAS Zone 2 · Literature (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 0.7 (journal website); hybrid open access; APC charged, amount not published; median 300 days to acceptance (52 articles, last 24 months); acceptance rate 24% (journal website); 42 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Popular Communication is published by Taylor & Francis and is in Zone 2 of Literature in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Media Studies and Communication, Gender, Feminism, and Media and Digital Games and Media, together about 35.2% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Popular Communication publishes work from theoretical and empirical perspectives within the context of transnational and globalized popular culture and communication. It is an international journal of media and culture that publishes articles on all aspects of popular communication in everyday life, including legacy media and new media, advertising and consumer culture, games, music, film and television, fandom, and social media. Popular Communication engages with cultural forms and texts, artifacts, events, technologies, industries, policies and audiences/fans through critical methods and standpoints. Popular Communication interrogates these practices and phenomena in relationship to gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, and class in a range of diverse political (economic), social, historical, and cultural contexts. Popular Communication is especially interested in work that questions the meanings of the concepts of both 'the popular’ and 'communication’, research that explores the notion of 'unpopular communication’, and work that offers innovative forms of research method.We are particularly committed to publishing ground-breaking work in the following areas (although these are not exhaustive): Local, national and global forms of political communication, both popular and unpopular Transcultural/transnational and transmedia flows of legacy media and new media Conspiracy theories, mis/disinformation and power in on and offline spaces Media representations, and the problematics of communicating these Fans and audiences’ use of modes of communication Emergent digital spatialized media – e.g., VR, AR, and the Metaverse Popular communication and media, ethics, and sustainability Communication, media industries and issues of labor Peer Review Policy: All articles undergo initial editorial screening and if found suitable for further consideration, undergo double-anonymous peer review.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): COMMUNICATION
Editor-in-chief Helle Kannik HaastrupPublisher website
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Media Studies and CommunicationSocial Sciences14.8%
- Gender, Feminism, and MediaSocial Sciences12.2%
- Digital Games and MediaSocial Sciences8.3%
- Cinema and Media StudiesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance7.4%
- Media, Gender, and AdvertisingSocial Sciences6.9%
- Social Media and PoliticsSocial Sciences6.3%
- Asian Culture and Media StudiesSocial Sciences6.2%
- Music History and CultureArts and Humanities6.1%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Literature Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Literature | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Communication | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Literature Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Literature | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Communication | 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
- 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
Indexing the journal's website claims
Web of SciencePublisher website
Other: ProQuest, OCLC, EBSCOhost, OCLC Sociological Abstracts (Online), ProQuest online research databases
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) 2025
- 0.7Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 1.8Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 3.6LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 3.6Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.55LetPub ·
- SJR (publisher) 2025
- 0.55Publisher website ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.18LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher) 2025
- 1.18Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 48OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 223OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 0.44OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 14.3%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 13.04%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 40LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 108,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 672 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 33 | 21 | 6 |
| 2025 | 42 | 16 | 18 |
| 2024 | 18 | 3 | 17 |
| 2023 | 17 | 6 | 39 |
| 2022 | 15 | 8 | 211 |
| 2021 | 31 | 9 | 220 |
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 · to
300 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 208 days – 432 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 11 days (52 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 314 days
- Sample
- 52 articles with submission and acceptance dates (78 in the window); the latest was accepted on
Only articles that were accepted and published are counted, not the time spent on rejected manuscripts, so this usually runs longer than a publisher's "time to first decision".
Other sources
- Acceptance rate (publisher) 2025
- 24%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 91 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review 2025
- 146 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 11 daysPublisher 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)
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteOpen access, Peer review
- Open access Open access
Popular Communication 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 r…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer Review Policy:
All articles undergo initial editorial screening and if found suitable for further consideration, undergo double-anonymous peer review. Model summary
All articles undergo initial editorial screening and if found suitable for further consideration, undergo double-anonymous peer review.
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
- 1540-5702
- Electronic ISSN
- 1540-5710
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 24, Issue 3 (2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Popular Communication
What CAS zone is Popular Communication in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Popular Communication is in Zone 2 of Literature, and in Zone 3 of the minor category Communication. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Literature. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Popular Communication?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 0.7 (2025); this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 3.6, h-index 48.
How long does peer review take at Popular Communication?
Based on the dates recorded on 52 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 300 days (interquartile range 208–432 days); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 24% (2025). 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 Popular Communication?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Popular Communication is indexed in ESCI and Scopus. The journal's website also lists Web of Science; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Popular Communication open access, and what is the APC?
Popular Communication 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: .