Journal profile · SOCIOLOGY
Rural Sociology
ISSN 0036-0112 · eISSN 1549-0831 · Wiley-Blackwell · UNITED STATES OF AMERICA · Quarterly · Founded 1936
Rural Sociology: CAS Zone 3 · Sociology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.31; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,520; median 233 days to acceptance (75 articles, last 24 months); acceptance rate 10% (journal website); 44 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Rural Sociology is published by Wiley-Blackwell and is in Zone 3 of Sociology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Rural development and sustainability, Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies and Organic Food and Agriculture, together about 41.6% of its articles. Its main subfields are Sociology and Political Science and General Agricultural and Biological Sciences. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
A forum for cutting-edge research, Rural Sociology explores sociological and interdisciplinary approaches to emerging social issues and new approaches to recurring social issues affecting rural people and places. The journal is particularly interested in advancing sociological theory and welcomes the use of a wide range of social science methodologies. Manuscripts that use a sociological perspective to address the effects of local and global systems on rural people and places, rural community revitalization, rural demographic changes, rural poverty, natural resource allocations, the environment, food and agricultural systems, and related topics from all regions of the world are welcome. Rural Sociology also accepts papers that significantly advance the measurement of key sociological concepts or provide well-documented critical analysis of one or more theories as these measures and analyses are related to rural sociology.Manuscripts submitted to Rural Sociology should (1) discuss emerging or recurring social issues which relate specifically to rural people or places and (2) frame the study in relation to sociological and other relevant perspectives. Manuscripts that address other topics within the scope of the journal, such as rural community revitalization, natural resource allocations, the environment, and food and agricultural systems, but do not tie the research back to these two key elements, are often not accepted. Exceptions may be made for submissions to special issues. Abstracting and Indexing Information Abstracts in Anthropology (Sage) Abstracts on Hygiene & Communicable Diseases (CABI) Academic OneFile (GALE Cengage) Academic Search Alumni Edition (EBSCO Publishing) Academic Search Complete (EBSCO Publishing) Academic Search Elite (EBSCO Publishing) Academic Search Premier (EBSCO Publishing) Advanced Placement Source (EBSCO Publishing) AgBiotech News & Information (CABI) AgBiotechNet (CABI) AGRICOLA Database (National Agricultural Library) Agricultural & Environmental Science Database (ProQuest) Agricultural Engineering Abstracts (CABI) America: History & Life (EBSCO Publishing) Animal Breeding Abstracts (CABI) Animal Science Database (CABI) ArticleFirst (OCLC) Arts & Humanities Citation Index (Clarivate Analytics) Biofuels Abstracts (CABI) Biography Index (EBSCO Publishing) Book Review Digest Plus (EBSCO Publishing) Business Abstracts (EBSCO Publishing) CAB Abstracts® (CABI) Child Development & Adolescent Studies (EBSCO Publishing) Crop Scienc
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): SOCIOLOGY
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United States 10, Macau, China 1, Canada 1 (12 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Rural development and sustainabilityAgricultural and Biological Sciences18%
- Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation StudiesSocial Sciences12.8%
- Organic Food and AgricultureAgricultural and Biological Sciences10.8%
- Agriculture, Land Use, Rural DevelopmentAgricultural and Biological Sciences5%
- Migration, Ethnicity, and EconomySocial Sciences4.5%
- Migration and Labor DynamicsSocial Sciences4.2%
- Global trade, sustainability, and social impactBusiness, Management and Accounting4%
- Agricultural Innovations and PracticesAgricultural and Biological Sciences3.3%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Sociology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Sociology | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Sociology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Sociology | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Sociology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Sociology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Sociology | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SSCIScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
AHCICAB AbstractsPublisher website
Other: EBSCO, ProQuest, AGRICOLA, OCLC
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
- 2.31LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 2.4Publisher website ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.4Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4.6LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher)
- 4.6Publisher website ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 4.6Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.85LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.21LetPub ·
- h-index
- 109OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 942OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.81OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 8.3%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 57.01%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 30LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher) 2025
- 36Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 116,507Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 2,067 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 43 | 21 | 10 |
| 2025 | 44 | 24 | 69 |
| 2024 | 67 | 46 | 200 |
| 2023 | 51 | 35 | 312 |
| 2022 | 53 | 18 | 377 |
| 2021 | 63 | 17 | 822 |
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
233 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 174 days – 306 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 13 days (76 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 253 days
- Sample
- 75 articles with submission and acceptance dates (95 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)
- 10%Publisher website ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher) 2025
- 10%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 9 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 9 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance 2025
- 251 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 13 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 3,520 / EUR 2,920 / GBP 2,270 | — | — |
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)
What to prepare2 items from the author guidelines
- Reference style
- APA
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
Article types accepted2
- book reviewBook ReviewLength not stated
- research articleResearch ArticleLength not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship
- Authorship Correction to Authorship
In accordance with Wiley’s Best Practice Guidelines on Research Integrity and Publishing Ethics and the Committee on Publication Ethics’ guidance, Rural Sociology will allow authors to correct authorship on a submitted, accepted, or published article if a valid reason exists to do so. All authors – including those to be added or removed – must agree to any proposed change. To request a change to t…
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
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Quarterly
- Founded
- 1936
- ISSN
- 0036-0112
- Electronic ISSN
- 1549-0831
- Society / sponsor
- Rural Sociological Society
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 91, Issue 3 (September 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗LetPub
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Rural Sociology
What CAS zone is Rural Sociology in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Rural Sociology is in Zone 3 of Sociology, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Sociology. 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 Rural Sociology?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.31; CiteScore 4.6, h-index 109.
How long does peer review take at Rural Sociology?
Based on the dates recorded on 75 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 233 days (interquartile range 174–306 days); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 10% (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.
What are the manuscript requirements of Rural Sociology?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Reference style: APA; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not 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 Rural Sociology based?
Of the 12 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (10), Macau, China (1) and Canada (1). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Rural Sociology?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Rural Sociology is indexed in SSCI and Scopus. The journal's website also lists AHCI and CAB Abstracts; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Rural Sociology open access, and what is the APC?
Rural Sociology is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,520.
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: .