About this journal
Aims and scope
From its inception, Critical Arts examined the relationship between texts and contexts, cultural formations and popular forms of expression, mainly in the Third World, but after the 1994 transition in South Africa Critical Arts repositioned itself in the South-North and East-West nexus focusing on developing transdisciplinary epistemologies. Critical Arts ' authors are Africans debating Africa with the rest; and the rest debating Africa and the South and with each other.
The journal is rigorously peer reviewed, via ScholarONE Manuscripts, and aims to shape theory on the topics it covers. Cutting edge theorisation (supported by empirical evidence) rather than the reporting of formulaic case studies are preferred as submissions. Submissions are sought from both established and new researchers, and recent topics have included political economy of the media, political communication, intellectual property rights, visual anthropology and indigeneity, the ethnographic turn in art, and of course cultural studies. Submissions must, perhaps, aim to restore the vision of earlier theorists and historians, for whom ‘culture’ was a kind of synthesis arising from the contradictions between human society and the politics of nations. Under the pressures of globalization, this kind of understanding becomes more relevant at every turn. Critical Arts seeks to profile those approaches to issues that are amenable to a cultural studies-derived intervention, on the basis that ‘culture’ is a marker of deeper continuities than the immediate conflicts under the fire of which so many must somehow live their lives.
Early contributions of Critical Arts can be accessed via the Michigan State University eJournals project: http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/africanjournals/
Journal metrics
Usage
- 55K annual downloads/views
Citation metrics
- 1.1 (2023) Impact Factor
- Q2 Impact Factor Best Quartile
- 1.0 (2023) 5 year IF
- 1.0 (2023) CiteScore (Scopus)
- Q2 CiteScore Best Quartile
- 0.593 (2023) SNIP
- 0.279 (2023) SJR
Speed/acceptance
- 14 days avg. from submission to first decision
- 85 days avg. from submission to first post-review decision
- 20 days avg. from acceptance to online publication
- 21% 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
Co-Editors
Tomaselli, Keyan G. - University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Dyll, Lauren - University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa
Editorial Co-ordinator:
Grant, Julie - University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Associate Editors:
Dunn, Hopeton - University of Botswana, Botswana
Gumede, Mkhonzeni - University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa
Rutten, Kris - Ghent University, Belgium
Teer-Tomaselli, Ruth - University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Wright, Handel K. - University of British Columbia, Canada
Xiao, Yao - University of British Columbia, Canada
Rapid Communication Editor:
Narunsky-Laden, Sonja - Independent Researcher, Israel
Book Reviews Editor:
Duan, Siying - Shanghai University, China
Editorial Consultants:
Abraham, Nevine - Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Bethlehem, Louise - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Causey, Andrew - Columbia College, USA
de Lange, Rudi - Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa
de Reuck, Jenny - Murdoch University, Australia
Eke, Maureen - Central Michigan University, USA
Falkof, Nicky - University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
Farber, Leora - University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Grossberg, Larry - University of North Carolina, USA
Heuva, William - North-West University, South Africa
Katiambo, David M. J. - The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, Kenya
le Roux, Beth - University of Pretoria, South Africa
Louw, Eric - University of Queensland, Australia
Lowe, John - Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Maractho, Emilly Comfort - Uganda Christian University, Uganda
Mhiripiri, Nhamo A. - Midlands State University, Zimbabwe
Oloko, Patrick - University of Lagos, Nigeria
Pollock, John C. - The College of New Jersey, USA
Skare Orgeret, Kristin - Oslo & Akershus University College, Norway
Sousa, Helena - Universidade do Minho, Portugal
Stanley Niaah, Sonjah - The University of the West Indies, Jamaica
Steenveld, Lynette - Rhodes University, South Africa
Tembe, Paul - SELE Encounters, Cross-civilizational Communication Strategies and Analytics, South Africa
Thomas, Kylie - University College Cork, Ireland
Wu, You - Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
Zeng, Jun - Shanghai University, China
Editorial Intern:
Landers, Shannon - Cape Breton University, Canada
Abstracting and indexing
Open access
Critical Arts 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
Calls for papers
Group information
Critical Arts is a peer-reviewed journal publishing six issues annually. Three of the six numbers are reserved for general issues and single submissions. Three are allocated to guest edited theme issues. The journal is owned by Critical Arts Projects and its co-editors. Our self-funded journal is jointly edited from the Universities of Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Critical Arts is licensed to the University of South Africa Press and Taylor & Francis for the international digital edition. Our editorial board and authorship is international as is our readership.
Critical Arts encourages conceptual freshness, textured writing and experiential analysis, that draws readers into its articles, narrative themes and its theoretical and methodological explorations.
Critical Arts encourages articles, commentaries and book reviews that influence the ways in which the cultural and media studies are thought about and reflected on by those within and outside the disciplines. Our niche includes critical dialogues generated within the South-North and East-West relationships, with special reference to Africa and general Southern issues.
Critical Arts has published original articles by Nobel Laureates JM Coetzee and Nadine Gordimer. Recent authors have included Stuart Hall, Ntongela Masilela, Handel Kashope Wright, David Katiambo, You Wu, Helene Strauss and many from within Africa and the African diaspora.
Our thematic guest edited numbers are major projects that are geared to analysing and reshaping the field, edited by leaders in their respective disciplines. Guest editors included Kris Ruttan (Ghent), Hopeton Dunn (Botswana, West Indies), Michael Wessels (KwaZulu-Natal), Louise Bethlehem (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Leora Farber (Johannesburg), Jun Zeng (Shanghai), Doreen Wu (Hong Kong Polytechnic) and Tom O’Regan (Queensland).
Critical Arts offers full-time administrative support and extensive publisher services via its licenced publishers. The journal adheres to the best practice codes published by the South African Academy of Science.
The journal was launched in 1980 as an anti-apartheid publication geared to indigenising research methods and theories. It has since then retained its self-reflexive and critical perspective on its publishing orientation and practices as it moved from being a national to an international journal from 2005.
6 issues per year
Advertising information
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Critical Arts Projects make every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the "Content") contained in our publications. However, Critical Arts Projects, our agents (including the editor, any member of the editorial team or editorial board, and any guest editors), and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Critical Arts Projects. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Critical Arts Projects shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to, or arising out of the use of the Content. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions .
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