About this journal
Aims and scope
Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society is a political-science journal dedicated to advancing political theory with an epistemological bent. Recurrent questions discussed in our pages include: How can political actors know what they need to know to effect positive social change? What are the sources of political actors’ beliefs? Are these sources reliable?
Critical Review is the only journal in which the ideational determinants of political behavior are investigated empirically as well as being assessed for their normative implications. Thus, while normative political theorists are the main contributors to Critical Review, we also publish scholarship on the realities of public opinion, the media, technocratic decision making, ideological reasoning, and other empirical phenomena.
Because contributions to Critical Review should be accessible to scholars in all four subfields of political science, technical approaches and jargon should be avoided. Unsolicited submissions are subject to initial appraisal by the Editor and, if found suitable for further consideration, subject to (a) double anonymized external peer review at the discretion of either the Editor or the author; (b) internal peer review; or (c) both a and b. Option b sometimes renders option a unnecessary, in our judgment. But authors may nevertheless ask for option a (e.g., for career reasons).
“A must for idea-hungry political scientists.”
--David Mayhew, Yale University
“Scholarly, quirky, and unpredictable.”
–Daniel Bell, Harvard University
“An excellent publication.”
--Anthony Giddens, London School of Economics
Journal metrics
Usage
- 86K annual downloads/views
Citation metrics
- 0.4 (2023) Impact Factor
- 1.2 (2023) 5 year IF
- 1.3 (2023) CiteScore (Scopus)
- Q1 CiteScore Best Quartile
- 0.626 (2023) SNIP
- 0.197 (2023) SJR
Speed/acceptance
- 29 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:
Samuel DeCanio - King's College London, UK
Associate Editors:
Jacob Roundtree - Johns Hopkins University, USA
Board of Advisors:
Scott Althaus - University of Illinois, USA
Shlomo Avineri - Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Ronald Beiner - University of Toronto, Canada
John Bullock - Northwestern University, USA
David Colander - Middlebury College, USA
Aurelian Craiutu - Indiana University, USA
Samuel DeCanio - Kings College London, UK
John Dunn - University of Cambridge, UK
Michael Allen Gillespie - Duke University, USA
François Godard - University of Geneva, Switzerland
John Gray - London School of Economics, UK
Paul Gunn - Goldsmiths, University of London, UK
Daniel M. Hausman - University of Wisconsin, USA
Tom Hoffman - Spring Hill College, USA
Daniel Kuehn - American University, USA
Hélène Landemore - Yale University, USA
Steven Lukes - New York University, USA
Stephen Macedo - Princeton University, USA
Alexandra R. Maryanski - University of California, Riverside, USA
David R. Mayhew - Yale University, USA
Russell Muirhead - Dartmouth College, USA
Jerry Z. Muller - Catholic University of America, USA
Mark Pennington - King's College London, UK
Edmund Phelps - Columbia University, USA
Robert Putnam - Harvard University, USA
Paul R. Quirk - University of British Columbia, Canada
Amartya Sen - Harvard University, USA
Robert Y. Shapiro - Columbia University, USA
Theda Skocpol - Harvard University, USA
Rogers M. Smith - University of Pennsylvania, USA
Jeffrey K. Tulis - University of Texas, Austin, USA
Nick Weller - University of Southern California, USA
Bernard Yack - Brandeis University, USA
Abstracting and indexing
Critical Review is indexed or abstracted in: ABC-Clio , Book Review Index, CIAO (Columbia International Affairs Online), Current Contents/Social & Behavioral Sciences, Economic Literature Index on DIALOG , EconLit on CD-ROM , Hoover’s, Index to Book Reviews in the Humanities, International Bibliography of Book Reviews, International Bibliography of Periodical Literature, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, International Political Science Abstracts, The Left Index, Luce Online, Net Content, Northern Light, Peace Research Abstracts, Periodica Islamica, The Philosopher’s Index, Political Science Abstracts, Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS), Research Alrt, Sage Human Resources Abstracts, Sage Public Administration Abstracts, Screaming Media, Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Sociological Abstracts, UNESCO DARE Databank of Social Sciences Periodicals on UNESCO CD-ROM and ECHO , United States Political Science Documents, Worldwide Political Abstracts, and Yellowbrix.
Open access
Critical Review 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
Society information
Members of the American Political Science Association (APSA) can receive an individual print subscription to Critical Review at a special society member rate. Please see the pricing or subscribe page for details.
4 issues per year
Political Epistemology (Symposium on Hélène Landemore’s Democratic Reason)
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Deliberation vs. Participation (Symposium on Diana Mutz’s Hearing the Other Side)
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Freedom and Sovereignty
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Public-Choice Theory (Symposium on Leif Lewin’s Self-Interest and Public Interest in Western Politics after 20 Years)
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Critical Review Foundation and our publisher Taylor & Francis make every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the "Content") contained in our publications. However, Critical Review Foundation and our publisher Taylor & Francis, 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 Review Foundation and our publisher Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Critical Review Foundation and our publisher Taylor & Francis 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 .