Journal profile · COMMUNICATION
Visual Communication
ISSN 1470-3572 · eISSN 1741-3214 · SAGE
Visual Communication: CAS Zone 2 · Literature (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 0.86; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,650; review about 230 days (submission to acceptance, publisher); acceptance rate 7.8% (journal website); 47 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Visual Communication is published by SAGE 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 Discourse Analysis in Language Studies, Language, Metaphor, and Cognition and Visual Culture and Art Theory, together about 28.4% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Visual Communication provides an international forum for the growing body of work in numerous interrelated disciplines. Its broad coverage includes: still and moving images; graphic design and typography; visual phenomena such as fashion, professional vision, posture and interaction; the built and landscaped environment; the role of the visual in relation to … | 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 Louise RavelliPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 4 in mainland China (about 5%); most named United Kingdom 20, Australia 13, United States 12, Mainland China 4, Canada 4 (86 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Discourse Analysis in Language StudiesArts and Humanities12%
- Language, Metaphor, and CognitionPsychology10%
- Visual Culture and Art TheoryArts and Humanities6.5%
- Digital Storytelling and EducationHealth Professions6.5%
- Literacy, Media, and EducationArts and Humanities5.9%
- Media Studies and CommunicationSocial Sciences5.5%
- Participatory Visual Research MethodsSocial Sciences5.3%
- Digital Communication and LanguageComputer Science3.6%
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 4 |
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)Literature Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Literature | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Communication | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SSCIScopusLetPub
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
- 0.86LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher)
- 1.3Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher)
- 1.5Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4.3LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.51LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.73LetPub ·
- h-index
- 60OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 267OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.12OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 0%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 40.37%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 42LetPub ·
- Articles per year (publisher)
- 3Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 980 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 23 | 15 | 1 |
| 2025 | 47 | 27 | 54 |
| 2024 | 48 | 23 | 77 |
| 2023 | 36 | 16 | 109 |
| 2022 | 59 | 36 | 312 |
| 2021 | 54 | 19 | 343 |
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
230 dayssubmission to acceptance
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
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 7.8%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 35 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to acceptance
- 230 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 123 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 3,650 / GBP 2,676 | — | — | |
| 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)
What to prepare5 items from the author guidelines
- Abstract
- 150–200 words
- Keywords
- ≥ 4
- Manuscript length
- ≤ 7,000 words
- Reference style
- Harvard
- First submission
- Free format: the journal's layout is not required
Article types accepted7, with length limits
- perspectiveView our Special Collections currently accepting submissions. Please visit the Sage Journal Author Gateway for guidance on producing visual and/or video abstrac…Length not stated
- presentations of critical reviews of freely-available tools(4) Presentations of critical reviews of freely-available tools for analyzing, creating, or manipulating data/examples of visual communication with a maximum of…Length not stated
- reflective papers by practitioners of visual communication(2) Reflective papers by practitioners of visual communication which document current and emerging practices and trends in all areas of visual communication, wh…Length not stated
- research paperView our Special Collections currently accepting submissions. Please visit the Sage Journal Author Gateway for guidance on producing visual and/or video abstrac…main text ≤ 7,000 words
- research papers(1) Research papers which advance theory, method, and empirical analysis with a maximum of 5000 to 7000 wordsLength not stated
- reviewView our Special Collections currently accepting submissions. Please visit the Sage Journal Author Gateway for guidance on producing visual and/or video abstrac…Length not stated
- visual essays(3) Visual essays in any of the above areas which make their argument predominantly through visual communication with maximally 12 pages.Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAuthorship, Data availability, Publication ethics, Open access, Peer review, Plagiarism, Preprints
- Authorship Authorship
Please view our authorship policies, which includes information on criteria for authorship, who should be the corresponding author and more. Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data availability
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
COPE member Model summary
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
There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this journal. Figures submitted in color will be published in color in the online version of the journal at no cost. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article. Optional open access publishing is available for a fee via the Sage Choice pr…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Peer review policy
Peer review policy: double anonymized Model summary
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: preprint servers accepted 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
- ISSN
- 1470-3572
- Electronic ISSN
- 1741-3214
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Visual Communication
What CAS zone is Visual Communication in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Visual Communication is in Zone 2 of Literature, and in Zone 4 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 Visual Communication?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 0.86; CiteScore 4.3, h-index 60.
How long does peer review take at Visual Communication?
The publisher reports about 230 days (submission to acceptance); the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 7.8%. 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 Visual Communication?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Abstract: 150–200 words; Keywords: ≥ 4; Manuscript length: ≤ 7,000 words; Reference style: Harvard; 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 Visual Communication based?
Of the 86 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 4 (about 5%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United Kingdom (20), Australia (13) and United States (12). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Visual Communication?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Visual Communication is indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Is Visual Communication open access, and what is the APC?
Visual Communication is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,650.
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 2026-08-25). Last updated: .