About this journal
Aims and scope
Journal of Contemporary Religion is an international peer reviewed journal. Its purpose is to both document and evaluate the anthropological, sociological, psychological, and philosophical aspects of emerging manifestations of religiosity in any part of the world—whether within innovative movements or mainstream institutions. The term 'religion' in the title of this journal is understood to include contributions on spirituality. Moreover, as the journal title suggests, the focus is on contemporary issues. Therefore, the editors of Journal of Contemporary Religion welcome submissions which deal with:
- classical topics in the study of religion, such as secularisation and the vitality of religion or traditional sectarian movements;
- more recent developments in the study of religion, including religion and social problems, religion and the environment, religion and education, the transmission of religion, the materialisation and visualisation of religion in various forms, new forms of religious pluralism, the rise of new forms of religion and spirituality, religion and the Internet, religion and science, religion and globalisation, religion and the economy, etc.
- theoretical approaches to the study of religion;
- discussions of methods in relation to empirical research;
- qualitative and quantitative research and related issues.
The Journal includes reviews of books which reflect the above themes.
Peer Review Policy:
Research articles and Research notes published in the Journal of Contemporary Religion have undergone rigorous peer review, with at least two anonymous referees assessing the submitted material.
JCR does not have a formal procedure for the submission of book reviews. The editor approaches potential reviewers. However, informal enquiries or suggestions regarding reviews can be sent to the editor.
"The Journal of Contemporary Religion has become one of the most important and interesting journals in the academic study of religion. The excellence, currency, and multidisciplinary character of its articles has earned the journal recognition as one of preferred venues for publication, especially among the rising generation of new scholars seeking to extend the horizon of the field." - Lorne Dawson, University of Waterloo, Canada
"The Journal of Contemporary Religion has contributed significantly to putting the contemporary, the global, and the significant in the scholarly study of religion in the forefront. There are other journals that are simply about religion, and there are journals that are about specific sorts of religion or specific approaches to religion and the study of religion, but the JCR cuts across all these other categories to focus very much on the contemporary and therefore has made an enormous contribution to the idea that religion is alive, changing, never has been on the point of disappearing, and relevant. It is, in sum, a unique journal that makes a contribution no other journal concerned with religion makes." - Peter Beyer, University of Ottawa, Canada
"I’m constantly amazed at the range of material that that JCR covers. It has articles on new religious developments, new looks at established issues, religious analysis of quasi-religious settings, and undernoticed but significant religious esoterica – all from many traditions. Its reviews range even farther, covering an encyclopedic array of books. Both articles and reviews lead me down roads that I might never find on my own. JCR’s authors come from many fields and write to many issues, but the result is anything but cacophony. Instead, the editors give us an astoundingly broad intellectual conversation. I know of no other journal with such richness and such depth." - James V. Spickard, University of Redlands, California, USA
"British social scientists of religion owe a great debt to Peter Clarke for founding, and Elisabeth Arweck for managing, the Journal of Contemporary Religion. In providing a first-class outlet for descriptive and explanatory accounts of current religious phenomena, it served an obvious need. I am proud to have published in it and readily recommend it to all my colleagues." - Steve Bruce, University of Aberdeen, UK
Journal metrics
Usage
- 76K annual downloads/views
Citation metrics
- 0.8 (2023) Impact Factor
- 0.9 (2023) 5 year IF
- 1.2 (2023) CiteScore (Scopus)
- Q1 CiteScore Best Quartile
- 1.135 (2023) SNIP
- 0.414 (2023) SJR
Speed/acceptance
- 23 days avg. from acceptance to online publication
Understanding and using journal metrics
Journal metrics can be a useful tool for readers, as well as for authors who are deciding where to submit their next manuscript for publication. However, any one metric only tells a part of the story of a journal’s quality and impact. Each metric has its limitations which means that it should never be considered in isolation, and metrics should be used to support and not replace qualitative review.
We strongly recommend that you always use a number of metrics, alongside other qualitative factors such as a journal’s aims & scope, its readership, and a review of past content published in the journal. In addition, a single article should always be assessed on its own merits and never based on the metrics of the journal it was published in.
For more details, please read the Author Services guide to understanding journal metrics.
Journal metrics in brief
Usage and acceptance rate data above are for the last full calendar year and are updated annually in February. Speed data is updated every six months, based on the prior six months. Citation metrics are updated annually mid-year. Please note that some journals do not display all of the following metrics (find out why).
- Usage: the total number of times articles in the journal were viewed by users of Taylor & Francis Online in the previous calendar year, rounded to the nearest thousand.
Citation Metrics
- Impact Factor*: the average number of citations received by articles published in the journal within a two-year window. Only journals in the Clarivate Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI) and the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) have an Impact Factor.
- Impact Factor Best Quartile*: the journal’s highest subject category ranking in the Journal Citation Reports. Q1 = 25% of journals with the highest Impact Factors.
- 5 Year Impact Factor*: the average number of citations received by articles in the journal within a five-year window.
- CiteScore (Scopus)†: the average number of citations received by articles in the journal over a four-year period.
- CiteScore Best Quartile†: the journal’s highest CiteScore ranking in a Scopus subject category. Q1 = 25% of journals with the highest CiteScores.
- SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper): the number of citations per paper in the journal, divided by citation potential in the field.
- SJR (Scimago Journal Rank): Average number of (weighted) citations in one year, divided by the number of articles published in the journal in the previous three years.
Speed/acceptance
- From submission to first decision: the average (median) number of days for a manuscript submitted to the journal to receive a first decision. Based on manuscripts receiving a first decision in the last six months.
- From submission to first post-review decision: the average (median) number of days for a manuscript submitted to the journal to receive a first decision if it is sent out for peer review. Based on manuscripts receiving a post-review first decision in the last six months.
- From acceptance to online publication: the average (median) number of days from acceptance of a manuscript to online publication of the Version of Record. Based on articles published in the last six months.
- Acceptance rate: articles accepted for publication by the journal in the previous calendar year as percentage of all papers receiving a final decision.
For more details on the data above, please read the Author Services guide to understanding journal metrics.
*Copyright: Journal Citation Reports®, Clarivate Analytics
†Copyright: CiteScore™, Scopus
Editorial board
Editor:
Elisabeth Arweck - University of Warwick, UK
Founding Editor:
Professor Peter B. Clarke
Editorial Advisory Board:
M. Al-Rasheed - King’s College, University of London, UK
E. Barker - London School of Economics, University of London, UK
M. Barnes - Heythrop College, London, UK
M. Baumann - University of Luzerne, Switzerland
P. Beyer - University of Ottawa, Canada
I. Borowik - Jagiellonian University, Poland
S. Bruce - University of Aberdeen, UK
B. Cements - University of Leicester, UK
F. Cerchiaro - Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
D. Chidester - University of Cape Town, South Africa
S. Coleman - University of Toronto, Canada
C. Cornille - Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium
G. Davie - University of Exeter, UK
A. Dawson - University of Lancester, UK
L. Dawson - University of Waterloo, Canada
K. Dobbelaere - Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium
E. Dovlo - University of Legon, Ghana
G. Flood - University of Oxford, UK
P. Freston - Universidade Fereal de São Carlos, Brazil
R. Gombrich - (Emeritus) University of Oxford, UK
R. Hackett - University of Tennessee, USA
W. Hanegraaff - University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
H. Hardacre - Harvard University, USA
P. Heelas - University of Lancaster, UK
D. Houtman - University of Leuven, Belgium
J. Howell - Griffith University, Australia
L. Hume- University of Queensland, Australia
M. Introvigne - CESNUR, Turin, Italy
W. Keenan - Nottingham Trent University, UK
U. King - University of Bristol, UK
K. Knott - University of Leeds, UK
B. Martin - (Emeritus) London School of Economics, UK
J. Nielsen - University of Copenhagen, Denmark
M, Percy - Christ Church, Oxford, UK
C. Plüss - University of Liverpool, Singapore
J. T. Richardson - University of Reno, USA
R. H. Roberts - University of Lancaster, UK
M. Selçuk - Ankara University, Turkey
S. Shimazono - University of Tokyo, Japan
J. V. Spickard - University of Redlands, California, USA
A. I. Tayob - University of Cape Town, South Africa
M. ter Borg - (Emeritus) Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden, The Netherlands
D. Voas - University College London, UK
J.-P. Willaime - Sorbonne, France
X. Yao - Renmin University of China, China
M. York - Bath Spa University College and Academy for Cultural & Educational Studies (ACES), UK
Abstracting and indexing
Journal of Contemporary Religion is currently abstracted/indexed in:
AHCI (Arts and Humanities Citation Index); Scopus; A S S I A (Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts); British Humanities Index; CSA Worldwide Political Science Abstracts (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts); Current Abstracts; EBSCOhost; Educational Research Abstracts Online; ERIH PLUS; Multicultural Education Abstracts; New Testament Abstracts; OCLC; Religious & Theological Abstracts; Sociological Abstracts; Studies on Women and Gender Abstracts.
Open access
Journal of Contemporary Religion is a hybrid open access journal that is part of our Open Select publishing program, giving you the option to publish open access. Publishing open access means that your article will be free to access online immediately on publication, increasing the visibility, readership, and impact of your research.
Why choose open access?
- Increase the discoverability and readership of your article
- Make an impact and reach new readers, not just those with easy access to a research library
- Freely share your work with anyone, anywhere
- Comply with funding mandates and meet the requirements of your institution, employer or funder
- Rigorous peer review for every open access article
Article Publishing Charges (APC)
If you choose to publish open access in this journal you may be asked to pay an Article Publishing Charge (APC). You may be able to publish your article at no cost to yourself or with a reduced APC if your institution or research funder has an open access agreement or membership with Taylor & Francis.
Use our APC finder to calculate your article publishing charge
News, offers and calls for papers
News and offers
- Special subscription rate for society members and PhD students. Please see the Society Information page for details.
- PETER B. CLARKE Memorial Essay Prize
Society information
Members of the following groups can receive an individual print subscription to Journal of Contemporary Religion at a special society member rate of £62/$103/€82.
- American Academy of Religion
- Society for the Scientific Study of Religion
- British Association for the Study of Religions
- British Sociological Association Religion Study Group
- PhD Students
- Reviewers
- Members of Religionssektion
Contact +44 (0)20 8052 0501 or [email protected] to subscribe.
3 issues per year
Currently known as:
- Journal of Contemporary Religion (1995 - current)
Formerly known as
- Religion Today (1984 - 1994)
Advertising information
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