Journal profile · Social Sciences-Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
Project Leadership and Society
ISSN 2666-7215 · Elsevier · United Kingdom
Project Leadership and Society: CAS Zone 2 · Management (2026 Xinrui edition); impact factor 4.2 (journal website); fully open access; APC about USD 2,910; review about 204 days (submission to acceptance, publisher); 34 articles in 2025; indexed in ESCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Project Leadership and Society is published by Elsevier and is classed under Management in the CAS Journal Ranking. By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Construction Project Management and Performance, Public-Private Partnership Projects and BIM and Construction Integration, together about 45.5% of its articles. Its main subfields are Strategy and Management. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Project Leadership and Society (PLAS) is an academic and gold open access journal published in collaboration with the International Project Management Association (IPMA). As a sister open access journal of the International Journal of Project Management, the leading journal in the field of Project Management. PLAS opens up for novel approaches that study projects and relate them to society. Society is considered in a broad sense, including policy, leadership and managerial practice.PLAS articles study the interaction between projects, project leadership, project management on the one hand, and economic, social, political and organizational processes, on the other. Project leadership and management are seen in a broad sense including project based management, project-oriented management and Project Management Office (PMO) Management. All papers are expected to yield findings that have implications for policy or practice. We are especially interested in leadership in a project society that includes all types of projects, programs, project portfolios, project-oriented organizations, project networks, project industries. Interesting topics to study projects from a broader perspective include; vertical leadership, shared leadership, change, projectification, resilience, sustainable development, responsibility, career, stakeholder engagement, novel perceptions on value creation and project success. Project leadership and project leaders, teams and individuals in specific situations like crisis, extreme situations, disaster are of interest to the journal. PLAS welcomes papers that enhance our understanding of theory and practice of Project Leadership, but also papers on education and novel research practices are welcome to disrupt the development of future project leaders and the way research is organized in a project society. PLAS article formats includeEmpirical research: A PLAS empirical research article identifies a research gap in literature, takes a clear theoretical stance, follows a transparent and rigorous (qualitative and quantitative) methodology, makes a clear contribution to the field of project studies and provides practice or policy implications for a project society.Discoveries: A PLAS discovery starts with rich descriptions of a phenomenon observed in practice, uses theory for explanation, identifies gaps in theory, contributes to theory development and provides practice or policy implications for a project society.Reviews: A PLAS review article is based on a transparent methodology, goes beyond describing the review findings, but brings forward a conceptual theoretical contribution and provides practice or policy implications for a project society.Next Practices: A PLAS next practice article discusses the development of a next practice, including case studies that applied a novel method or approach. The article needs to be linked to theory and needs to make clear what the practice innovation is. Practices should be novel and disruptive, question our existing knowledge of leading or managing projects. The article provides practice or policy implications for a project society.Theoretical Insights: A PLAS theoretical insight article is a theory piece, that brings forward new thoughts and ideas based on theory. It should open up a new research stream or bring a disruption to a current debate relevant to actors in a project society.Enable: A PLAS enable article discusses the development of education and learning for project leadership and their application in a project society to enable future project leaders. The article needs to be linked to theory and needs to make clear what the innovation in education is. Approaches and practices should be novel and disruptive, question our existing knowledge on developing project leaders. The article provides practice or policy implications for a project society.Novel Research Practices: A PLAS novel research practice article discusses the development of and application of a novel
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Social Sciences-Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
Editor-in-chief Martina HuemannPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 5 in mainland China (about 6%); most named United Kingdom 13, Australia 9, Finland 9, United States 6, Italy 6 (83 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Construction Project Management and PerformanceDecision Sciences31.6%
- Public-Private Partnership ProjectsBusiness, Management and Accounting7.8%
- BIM and Construction IntegrationEngineering6.1%
- Innovation and Knowledge ManagementBusiness, Management and Accounting5.1%
- Management and Organizational StudiesBusiness, Management and Accounting4.6%
- Public Procurement and PolicyBusiness, Management and Accounting3.9%
- Team Dynamics and PerformancePsychology3.7%
- Complex Systems and Decision MakingDecision Sciences3.4%
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 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Management | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Business | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Business, Finance | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Management | 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
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)
- 4.2Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 9.2LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 9.2Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.04LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.84LetPub ·
- h-index
- 30OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 102OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 6.16OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 16.7%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 28LetPub ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 227 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 31 | 31 | 19 |
| 2025 | 34 | 34 | 152 |
| 2024 | 57 | 57 | 580 |
| 2023 | 31 | 31 | 620 |
| 2022 | 36 | 36 | 1,092 |
| 2021 | 33 | 33 | 1,111 |
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
204 dayssubmission to acceptance · community reports about 20 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 20 weeksLetPub ·
- Submission to first decision
- 10 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review
- 66 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 204 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 2 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 32 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 | USD 2,910 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-ND | |
| OpenAlex | USD 2,270 / EUR 2,120 / GBP 1,820 / JPY 281,550 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 1,800 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | USD 3,640 | — | — |
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)
Open calls for papers5, by deadline
Publisher websiteWhat to prepare1 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- ≤ 250 words
Article types accepted4
- discoveriesDiscoveries: A PLAS discovery starts with rich descriptions of a phenomenon observed in practice, uses theory for explanation, identifies gaps in theory, contri…Length not stated
- empirical researchEmpirical research: A PLAS empirical research article identifies a research gap in literature, takes a clear theoretical stance, follows a transparent and rigor…Length not stated
- reviewsReviews: A PLAS review article is based on a transparent methodology, goes beyond describing the review findings, but brings forward a conceptual theoretical co…Length not stated
- theoretical insightsTheoretical Insights: A PLAS theoretical insight article is a theory piece, that brings forward new thoughts and ideas based on theory. It should open up a new …Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Authorship, Conflicts of interest, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Preprints
- AI use Declaration of generative AI use
Authors must declare the use of generative AI tools in the manuscript preparation process upon submission of the paper.Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies (“AI tools”) have been rapidly adopted in research and scholarly publishing, offering significant benefits while requiring clear standards for responsible and transparent use.Authors preparing a manuscript for this journal may use AI tool…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Authorship Group authorship
Group authorship refers to the attribution of an article to a defined and named group of authors whose members have contributed to the work. Examples include research consortia, clinical trial groups, collaborative networks, task forces or working groups, expert panels or consensus groups, and participatory research groups. Group authorship must be declared on the title page at submission. When av…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Declaration of competing interests
All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias their work. Examples of potential competing interests include:EmploymentConsultanciesStock ownershipHonorariaPaid expert testimonyPatent applications or registrationsGrants or any other fundingAffiliation with the journal as an Editor or Advisory Board …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright License options
Authors will be offered open access user license options which will determine how you, and third parties, can reuse your open access article. We advise that you review these options and any funding body license requirements before selecting a license option.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open access
We refer you to our open access information page to learn about open access options for this journal.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review
Double anonymized peer review Model summary
This journal follows a double anonymized review process. Your submission will initially be assessed by our editors. If your submission is deemed suitable, it will typically be sent to be reviewed by a minimum of two reviewers for an independent expert assessment of the scientific quality. The decision as to whether your article is accepted or rejected for publication will be made by our editors.Re…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
Preprint sharing allowed Model summary
Preprint sharingAuthors may share preprints in line with Elsevier's article sharing policy. Sharing preprints, such as on a preprint server, will not count as prior publication.We advise you to read our policy on multiple, redundant or concurrent publication.
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
- Elsevier
- Country or region
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2666-7215
- Society / sponsor
- International Project Management Association
- 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 Project Leadership and Society
What CAS zone is Project Leadership and Society in?
In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Management. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Project Leadership and Society?
The journal's website gives an impact factor of 4.2; this is the journal's own figure, as LetPub lists none for it; CiteScore 9.2, h-index 30.
How long does peer review take at Project Leadership and Society?
The publisher reports about 204 days (submission to acceptance); authors report an average review time of about 20 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.
Where are the editorial board members of Project Leadership and Society based?
Of the 83 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 5 (about 6%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (13), Australia (9) and Finland (9). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Project Leadership and Society?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Project Leadership and Society is indexed in ESCI, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Project Leadership and Society open access, and what is the APC?
Project Leadership and Society is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 2,910.
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: .