Science as Culture

Science as Culture is published by Taylor & Francis and is in Zone 2 of Philosophy in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Human auditory perception and evaluation, Diverse Scientific and Economic Studies and Educational Robotics and Engineering, together about 35.4% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)

To view details of recent special issues, click here. Our culture is a scientific one, defining what is natural and what is rational. Its values can be seen in what are sought out as facts and made as artefacts, what are designed as processes and products, and what are forged as weapons and filmed as wonders. In our daily experience, power is exercised through expertise, e.g. in science, technology and medicine. Science as Culture explores how all these shape the values which contend for influence over the wider society. Science mediates our cultural experience. It increasingly defines what it is to be a person, through genetics, medicine and information technology. Its values get embodied and naturalized in concepts, techniques, research priorities, gadgets and advertising. Many films, artworks and novels express popular concerns about these developments. In a society where icons of progress are drawn from science, technology and medicine, they are either celebrated or demonised. Often their progress is feared as ’unnatural’, while their critics are labelled ’irrational’. Public concerns are rebuffed by ostensibly value-neutral experts and positivist polemics. Yet the culture of science is open to study like any other culture. Cultural studies analyses the role of expertise throughout society. Many journals address the history, philosophy and social studies of science, its popularisation, and the public understanding of society. Amidst these journals, Science as Culture is ’the only source of critique of the way science is going’, as one of our readers put it. Not simply criticism, critique analyses the underlying frameworks, assumptions and terms of reference. It emphasizes the fundamental role of values, interests, ideology and purposes -- which would otherwise remain hidden in the guise of neutrality and objectivity. Science as Culture places science within the wider debate on the values which constitute culture; it is not the journal for a particular academic discipline. Science as Culture encompasses people’s experiences -- at the workplace, the cinema, the computer, the hospital, the home and the academy. The articles are readable, attractive, lively, often humorous, and always jargon-free. Science as Culture aims to be read at leisure, and to be a pleasure. Book and Media Reviews: Offers of book reviews are welcome. See the list, editorial guidance and contact email address here. Peer Review Policy All submitted manuscripts are subject to initial a

From the journal's Aims & Scope

Research area (LetPub): Multiple

Editor-in-chief Les LevidowPublisher website

CAS Journal Ranking

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

SSCIAHCIScopusLetPub

International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub

Indexing the journal's website claims

SCIEWeb of ScienceMEDLINECurrent ContentsPublisher website

Other: Google Scholar, EBSCO, CNKI, Baidu, Naver, OCLC, Portico, Alternative Press Index, Australian Research Council ERA list 2015, Baidu Scholar, British Library Inside, CNKI Scholar, CNPIEC, CnpLINKer, Danish Bibliometric Research Indicator (BFI), DTU Findit, E-lib Breman, EBSCO Databases, Electronic Journals Library (EZB), European Reference Index for the Humanities (ERIH), Finnish Publication Forum (Julkaisufoorumi), Genamics JournalSeek, IBR Online, IBZ Online, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS), JournalTOCs, Microsoft Academic, Modern Language Association Bibliography, National Library of China, Naver Academic, NHN, Norwegian Register of Scientific Journals and Publishers

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.

Impact

Impact factor

1.7LetPub · 2026-09-13

Impact factor (publisher) 2025

2.2Publisher website · 2026-10-01

5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025

3.2Publisher website · 2026-10-01

CiteScore 2026-06

6.1LetPub · 2026-09-13

CiteScore (publisher) 2025

6.1Publisher website · 2026-10-01

SJR 2026-06

1.09LetPub · 2026-09-13

SJR (publisher) 2025

1.09Publisher website · 2026-10-01

SNIP 2026-06

1.71LetPub · 2026-09-13

SNIP (publisher) 2025

1.71Publisher website · 2026-10-01

h-index

69OpenAlex · 2026-10-01

i10-index

459OpenAlex · 2026-10-01

2-year mean citedness

1.52OpenAlex · 2026-10-01

Self-citation rate

4.5%LetPub · 2026-09-13

Share of gold OA articles

45.59%LetPub · 2026-09-13

Volume

Articles per year

18LetPub · 2026-09-13

Downloads per year (publisher)

149,000Publisher website · 2026-10-01

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.

Other sources

Acceptance rate (publisher)

11%Publisher website · 2026-10-01

Submission to first decision

111 daysPublisher website · 2026-10-01

First decision after review

131 daysPublisher website · 2026-10-01

Acceptance to publication

27 daysPublisher website · 2026-10-01

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.

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.

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.

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

ISSN

0950-5431

Electronic ISSN

1470-1189

Latest issue on the website

Volume 35, Issue 2 (2026)

Official links

• Journal homepage ↗LetPub
• Submission system ↗Publisher website
• Special issues ↗Publisher website