Policy Sciences
Impact Factor Trend (2022–2026)
Clarivate IF trend for Policy Sciences
SCImago Journal Rank citation prestige weighting
85 papers with at least that number of citations each
Aims & Scope
The policy sciences are distinctive within the policy movement in that they embrace the scholarly traditions innovated and elaborated by Harold D. Lasswell and Myres S. McDougal. Within these pages we provide space for approaches that are problem-oriented, contextual, and multi-method in orientation. There are many other journals in which authors can take top-down, deductive, and large-sample approach or adopt a primarily theoretical focus. Policy Sciences encourages systematic and empirical investigations in which problems are clearly identified from a practical and theoretical perspective, are well situated in the extant literature, and are investigated utilizing methodologies compatible with contextual, as opposed to reductionist, understandings. We tend not to publish pieces that are solely theoretical, but favor works in which the applied policy lessons are clearly articulated. Policy Sciences favors, but does not publish exclusively, works that either explicitly or implicitly utilize the policy sciences framework. The policy sciences can be applied to articles with greater or lesser intensity to accommodate the focus of an author’s work. At the minimum, this means taking a problem oriented, multi-method or contextual approach. At the fullest expression, it may mean leveraging central theory or explicitly applying aspects of the framework, which is comprised of three principal dimensions: (1) social process, which is mapped in terms of participants, perspectives, situations, base values, strategies, outcomes and effects, with values (power, wealth, enlightenment, skill, rectitude, respect, well-being, and affection) being the key elements in understanding participants’ behaviors and interactions; (2) decision process, which is mapped in terms of seven functions—intelligence, promotion, prescription, invocation, application, termination, and appraisal; and (3) problem orientation, which comprises the intellectual tasks of clarifying goals, describing trends, analyzing conditions, projecting developments, and inventing, evaluating, and selecting alternatives. There is a more extensive core literature that also applies and can be visited at the policy sciences website: http://www.policysciences.org/classicworks.cfm. In addition to articles that explicitly utilize the policy sciences framework, Policy Sciences has a long tradition of publishing papers that draw on various aspects of that framework and its central theory as well as high quality conceptual pieces that address key challenges, opportunities, or approaches in ways congruent with the perspective that this journal strives to maintain and extend.Officially cited as: Policy Sci
Special Issues
Calls for PapersNo active Calls for Papers found for this journal.
WoS Categories & Quartiles
Detailed JCR / JCI category rankings and quartile breakdown from Clarivate
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
SOCIAL SCIENCES, INTERDISCIPLINARY
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
SOCIAL SCIENCES, INTERDISCIPLINARY
Annual Historical Statistics & Publications
Track annual publication volume, total citations, and Impact Factor evolution
SCImago & Scopus Journal Intelligence
Global SCImago ranking, SJR prestige index, Scopus coverage, and societal policy impact
Weighted prestige citation metric per document indexed in the Scopus database.
Average citations received per document published in the 2-year window.
Estimated Article Processing Charge for Open Access publication.
Scopus 3-Year Publication & Citation Window
Aggregated from Scopus database across the 3-year SJR evaluation window.
Societal Impact & Inclusivity (SCImago)
Citations in government and international policy documents
Percentage of female authors published in the journal
Real-world societal policy reach and author gender diversity tracked by SCImago.
Scopus Subject Categories
Journal Metrics & Citation Visualizations
Total Cites vs Self-Cites
Evaluation of scholarly independence and citation reach
Citations per Document
Citation metric windows across 2, 3, and 4 years
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Classification
Major / minor zone classification and CAS Early Warning List history
Academic Intelligence Overview & Context
ImpaQ AnalysisPolicy Sciences (acronym: olic, ISSN: 0032-2687) is a peer-reviewed international scholarly journal in the field of Multiple, published by Springer Nature in Netherlands. The periodical holds a Journal Impact Factor (JIF) of 4.50, ranking in quartile Q1 of Web of Science (SCIE), a Scopus SJR indicator of 1.273 (Q1), an H-index of 85.
The journal enforces rigorous peer evaluation with a publication frequency of 4 issues per year, an annual output of approximately 29 scientific articles. In terms of accessibility and author fees, it operates under the Hybrid model with an estimated APC of $3,546 USD. It serves as a benchmark publication platform for academics, researchers, and doctoral candidates seeking global research visibility.
Publishing & Editorial Information
Detailed publisher, peer-review turnaround, and publication cycle specifications
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