About this journal
Aims and scope
Aims & Scope
Critical Military Studies provides a rigorous, innovative platform for interdisciplinary debate on the operation of military power. It encourages the interrogation and destabilization of often taken-for-granted categories related to the military, militarism and militarization. It especially welcomes original thinking on contradictions and tensions central to the ways in which military institutions and military power work, how such tensions are reproduced within different societies and geopolitical arenas, and within and beyond academic discourse. Contributions on experiences of militarization among groups and individuals, and in hitherto underexplored, perhaps even seemingly ‘non-military’ settings are also encouraged.
We particularly encourage submissions on:
- The contributions of critical analysis to military studies
- Comparative and cross-national accounts of militaries, militarism and militarization
- Social, political, cultural and economic forms of authoritarianism, militarism and militarization
- Race, Empire and Postcolonialism in military studies
- Gendered and queer analyses
- Disability and embodiment, including critical studies of military mental health and resilience
- Legacies of military occupation
- The social and cultural process of legitimising military actions and institutions
- Geographies and landscapes of militarism and military activities
- Military strategy (including counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism)
- Military atrocities
- Militias, paramilitary groups and private militarised security
- Child soldiers and military youth programs
- Military-industrial-complex
- Conscientious objection, war resistance and peace movements
- Disaster relief, military humanitarianism, peacekeeping and reconstruction
- Military education and cadets
- Military families
- Social relations in military bases and base towns
- Science, technology and medicine in militaries and militarism
- Representation and the cultural (re)production of war, violence and militarism
- The challenges and opportunities of critical engagement and collaboration with military personnel
- Veterans and ex-combatants
- New and critical methodologies in critical military studies
The Journal also includes a non-peer reviewed section, Encounters, showcasing multidisciplinary forms of critique such as film and photography, and engaging with policy debates and activism, and invites proposals for special sections and special issues on themes that fit with our scope and aims. Please contact the relevant editors for further information and consult or Instructions for Authors.
Peer Review
All submitted manuscripts are subject to initial appraisal by the Editor-in-Chief, Special Issues Editors or Encounters Editors as appropriate. If found suitable for further consideration, all papers with the exception of Encounters pieces, are sent out for double anonymized peer review by at least two independent, anonymous expert referees. We use this rigorous process to provide prospective authors with specialist feedback and to inform our decisions on publication. Encounters pieces do not undergo peer review but are carefully reviewed instead by the journal's Encounters editorial team.
Although we do not currently publish book reviews, we are willing to consider review essays that use a book, relevant to the field of critical military studies, as a point of reference or departure for a wider analysis of the issues it raises. These pieces undergo the same rigorous peer review process as other submitted articles.
Journal metrics
Usage
- 56K annual downloads/views
Citation metrics
- 1.9 (2023) CiteScore (Scopus)
- Q1 CiteScore Best Quartile
- 0.648 (2023) SNIP
- 0.416 (2023) SJR
Speed/acceptance
- 29 days avg. from submission to first decision
- 20 days avg. from acceptance to online publication
- 41% acceptance rate
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-in-Chief
Dr Victoria Basham, Cardiff University, UK
[email protected]
Co-Founding Editors
Professor Aaron Belkin, San Francisco State, USA
Dr Alison Howell, Rutgers University, USA
Associate Editors
Dr Christine Agius, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
Dr Huw Bennett, Cardiff University, UK
Dr Sarah Bulmer, University of Exeter, UK
Dr Sergio Catignani, University of Exeter, UK
Dr Daniel Conway, Westminster University, UK
Dr Harriet Gray, University of York, UK
Dr Alex Hyde, University College London, UK
Dr Jamie M. Johnson, University of Leicester, UK
Professor Rachel Woodward, Newcastle University, UK
Special Issues Editor
Dr Alice Cree, Newcastle University, UK
Dr Laura Mills, University of St Andrews, UK
Dr Julia Welland, University of Warwick, UK
Editorial Board
Dr Paul Amar, University of California, USA
Professor Dibyesh Anand, University of Westminster, UK
Dr Andrew Bickford, Georgetown University, USA
Professor Pinar Bilgin, Bilkent University, Turkey
Dr Shane Brighton, Queen’s University Belfast, UK
Dr Nick Caddick, Anglia Ruskin University, UK
Dr Ana Carden-Coyne, University of Manchester, UK
Dr Deborah Cowen, University of Toronto, Canada
Professor Christopher Dandeker, Kings College London, UK
Professor Cynthia Enloe, Clark University, USA
Dr Maria Eriksson Baaz, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Professor Sabine Frühstück, University of California Santa Barbara, USA
Professor Emily Gilbert, University of Toronto, Canada
Professor Paul Gough, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia
Dr Lirio Gutiérrez Rivera, National University of Colombia Medellín, Colombia
Dr Susanna Hast, Theatre Academy Helsinki, University of the Arts, Finland
Dr Marsha Henry, London School of Economics, UK
Professor Eric Herring, University of Bristol, UK
Dr Paul Higate, University of Bath, UK
Dr Caroline Holmqvist, Swedish National Defence College, Sweden
Professor Jef Huysmans, Queen Mary, University of London, UK
Professor Danny Kaplan, Bar Ilan University, Israel
Professor Catherine Lutz, Brown University, USA
Dr Godfrey Maringira, Sol Plaatje University, South Africa
Dr Kevin McSorley, University of Portsmouth, UK
Florence Ncube, University of the Western Cape, South Africa
Professor Seungsook Moon, Vassar College, USA
Dr Daniel Neep, Georgetown University, USA
Dr Chris Pearson, University of Liverpool, UK
Dr Chris Rossdale, University of Bristol, UK
Professor Paul Rogers, University of Bradford, UK
Dr Jana Tabak, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Dr Owen D Thomas, University of Exeter, UK
Dr Joanna Tidy, University of Sheffield, UK
Dr Ben Wadham, Flinders University, Australia
Professor Vron Ware, Kingston University, UK
Dr Zoë H Wool, Rice University, USA
Dr Chih Yuan Woon, National University of Singapore, Republic of Singapore
Open access
Critical Military Studies 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
4 issues per year
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