Journal profile · COMMUNICATION
Social Media + Society
ISSN 2056-3051 · SAGE Publishing · United Kingdom
Social Media + Society: CAS Zone 1 · Literature (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal); impact factor 5.65; fully open access; APC about USD 1,000; review about 183 days (submission to acceptance, publisher); acceptance rate 5.9% (journal website); 193 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Social Media + Society is published by SAGE Publishing and is in Zone 1 of Literature in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition, Top journal). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Social Media and Politics, Gender, Feminism, and Media and Impact of Technology on Adolescents, together about 44% of its articles. Its main subfields are Sociology and Political Science. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Social Media + Society is a peer-reviewed, open access journal that focuses on advancing the understanding of social media and its impact on societies past, present and future. View full journal description This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): COMMUNICATION
Editor-in-chief Zizi PapacharissiPublisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United States 74, United Kingdom 14, Australia 11, Denmark 8, Canada 7 (151 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Social Media and PoliticsSocial Sciences25.4%
- Gender, Feminism, and MediaSocial Sciences10.1%
- Impact of Technology on AdolescentsSocial Sciences8.5%
- Media Studies and CommunicationSocial Sciences8.1%
- Misinformation and Its ImpactsSocial Sciences7.6%
- Hate Speech and Cyberbullying DetectionComputer Science6.9%
- Digital Games and MediaSocial Sciences3.2%
- Digital Marketing and Social MediaSocial Sciences2.9%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Literature Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Literature | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Communication | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Literature Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Literature | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Communication | Zone 1 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Literature Zone 1
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Literature | Zone 1 |
| Minor | Communication | Zone 2 |
Top journal: yesReview journal: no
Database indexing
SSCIScopusDOAJLetPub
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
- 5.65LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 5.8Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 7.5Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 8.7LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 2.09LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 2.53LetPub ·
- h-index
- 118OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,011OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 5.62OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 6.9%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 100%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 191LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,607 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 83 | 83 | 46 |
| 2025 | 193 | 193 | 752 |
| 2024 | 159 | 159 | 1,646 |
| 2023 | 195 | 195 | 4,470 |
| 2022 | 134 | 134 | 3,996 |
| 2021 | 141 | 141 | 6,763 |
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
183 dayssubmission to acceptance · community reports about 12 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 12 weeksLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 5.9%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 3 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 183 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 39 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to publication (journal-reported)
- about 12 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 1,000 | Yes | CC BY, CC BY-NC | |
| OpenAlex | USD 1,000 | — | — | |
| LetPub | USD 1,000 | Yes | — | |
| Publisher website | USD 2,400 | — | — |
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 prepare9 items from the author guidelines
- Keywords
- ≥ 3
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 8,000 words
- Reference style
- APA
- Templates
- LaTeX and Word
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
- Suggested reviewers
- Optional
- Highlights
- Required
- Graphical abstract
- Optional
- Cover letter
- Required
Article types accepted8, with length limits
- book reviewPlease visit the Sage Journal Author Gateway for guidance on producing visual and/or video abstracts. The journal publishes the following article types: Origina…Length not stated
- bookcastsBookcasts. Rather than a book reviews section, authors and one interviewer will be invited to do a brief overview and review of relevant books in video format.Length not stated
- colloquiaColloquia. External guest editors will be invited to convene debates and discussions to be published as a section or special issue.Length not stated
- commentariesCommentaries. Shorter essays, think pieces and general commentary on topical issues, controversies and emerging questions for the field will be published by inv…Length not stated
- commentaryPlease visit the Sage Journal Author Gateway for guidance on producing visual and/or video abstracts. The journal publishes the following article types: Origina…Length not stated
- original research articlePlease visit the Sage Journal Author Gateway for guidance on producing visual and/or video abstracts. The journal publishes the following article types: Origina…main text ≤ 8,000 words
- original research articlesOriginal research articles. Double-blind, double peer-reviewed articles.Length not stated
- reviewPlease visit the Sage Journal Author Gateway for guidance on producing visual and/or video abstracts. The journal publishes the following article types: Origina…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Data availability, Publication ethics, Open access, Peer review, Plagiarism, Preprints
- Authorship Author contributions
You will be asked to list the contribution of each author as part of the submission process. Please include the Author Contributions heading within your submission after the Acknowledgements section. The information you give on submission will then show under the Author Contributions heading later at the proofing stage.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data availability
Data sharing policy Model summary
The Journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages. Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to: Share your research data in a relevant public data repository Include a data ava…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics Ethical considerations
Please include your ethics approval statements under this heading, even if you have already included ethics approval information in your methods section. If ethical approval was not required, you need to explicitly state this. All papers reporting studies involving human participants, human data or human tissue must state that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board approved th…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Publishing fees and open access
Social Media + Society is an open access, peer-reviewed journal. All accepted articles are made freely available online immediately upon publication, are published under a Creative Commons license, and hosted online in perpetuity. If, after peer review, your manuscript is accepted for publication, a one-time article processing charge (APC) is payable to cover the cost of publishing, paid by the fu…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
The following summary describes the peer review process for this journal: Identity transparency: Double-anonymized Reviewer interacts with: Editor Review information published: None Your manuscript will undergo an initial evaluation. If it does not conform to the requirements laid out in these guidelines, it will be returned to you for amendments prior to peer review. Manuscripts may be desk rejec…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Plagiarism Plagiarism
The journal and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. Please read Sage's complete policy on plagiarism and the actions we may take.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Preprints Preprints
Preprint policy Model summary
The journal will consider submissions of manuscripts that have been posted on preprint servers. Please enter the preprint DOI in the designated field when submitting your manuscript. We advise that you inform the Journal Editorial office about your posted preprint at submission. Note that you should not post an updated version of your manuscript on a preprint server while it is being peer reviewed…
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
- SAGE Publishing
- Country or region
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2056-3051
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
- Aims & Scope ↗LetPub
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
- APC information ↗DOAJ
- Fee waivers ↗DOAJ
- Open access statement ↗DOAJ
- License & copyright ↗DOAJ
- Peer review process ↗LetPub
- Editorial board ↗LetPub
- Plagiarism policy ↗DOAJ
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Social Media + Society
What CAS zone is Social Media + Society in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Social Media + Society is in Zone 1 of Literature, and in Zone 1 of the minor category Communication; it is a Top journal. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 1 of Literature. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Social Media + Society?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 5.65; CiteScore 8.7, h-index 118.
How long does peer review take at Social Media + Society?
The publisher reports about 183 days (submission to acceptance); authors report an average review time of about 12 weeks; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 5.9%. 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 Social Media + Society?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Keywords: ≥ 3; Manuscript length: ≤ 8,000 words; Reference style: APA; Templates: LaTeX and Word; First submission: Free format: the journal's layout is not required; Suggested reviewers: Optional; Highlights: Required; Graphical abstract: Optional; Cover letter: 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 Social Media + Society based?
Of the 151 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (74), United Kingdom (14) and Australia (11). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Social Media + Society?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Social Media + Society is indexed in SSCI, Scopus and DOAJ.
Is Social Media + Society open access, and what is the APC?
Social Media + Society is a fully open-access journal. APC about USD 1,000.
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: .