Annual Review of Sociology

The Annual Review of Sociology is an annual peer-reviewed academic publication issued by Annual Reviews that publishes authoritative, invited literature review essays across core subfields of sociology. Tracked in the Social Sciences Citation Index, its citation metrics place it in Quartile 1 of the Sociology category.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 7 Nov 2026

Editorial Scope and Commissioning Model

The Annual Review of Sociology was launched in 1975 by Annual Reviews, a nonprofit scholarly publisher dedicated to synthesizing critical scientific literature. Unlike traditional research publications—such as the American Journal of Sociology—which evaluate uncommissioned empirical papers, this annual review of sociology journal relies on an invited review model. An international editorial committee led by co-editors Douglas S. Massey and Mary C. Waters convenes annually to identify emerging paradigms, contentious debates, and foundational subfields requiring systematic synthesis.

Commissioned authors synthesize hundreds of primary studies across domains such as social stratification, race and ethnicity, organizational sociology, demography, political sociology, and cultural dynamics. Each article undergoes comprehensive peer review and developmental editing before appearing in the yearly volume. The publication appears under Print ISSN 0360-0572 and Electronic ISSN 1545-2115, serving scholars and graduate educators who are structuring a case study paper or mapping emerging theoretical frameworks across the social sciences.

Annual Review of Sociology Impact Factor and Indexing

The annual review of sociology impact factor is calculated annually by Clarivate within the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI). The metric measures citation intensity by dividing the number of citations received in a target year by articles published in the preceding two years, divided by the total number of citable reviews published in that window.

According to Clarivate Journal Citation Reports data (read 2026-11-07), the journal maintains a two-year Journal Impact Factor of 9.0. Because comprehensive literature reviews accumulate citations across long academic lifecycles, its multi-year citation footprint remains substantial, consistently ranking the journal among the top publications within the SSCI Sociology category. The journal is also indexed in Scopus, PubMed/MEDLINE, and major international academic citation databases.

Subscribe to Open Publishing Framework

Since 2023, the Annual Review of Sociology has operated under the Subscribe to Open (S2O) publishing model. Under S2O, existing institutional library subscribers renew their annual subscriptions at traditional rates. When targeted participation thresholds are met, Annual Reviews makes the entire annual volume open access under a Creative Commons license.

This approach provides universal open access to high-impact review literature without imposing author-facing Article Processing Charges (APCs). Consequently, sociologists from developing nations, unfunded researchers, and early-career scholars retain equal capacity to read and integrate landmark syntheses into their ongoing investigations while adhering to robust social science research ethics.

Responsible Research Assessment and Bibliometric Context

While the journal citation metrics reflect widespread academic readership and high utility, citation figures must be interpreted within appropriate research assessment standards. In accordance with the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), academic institutions, grant agencies, and tenure review committees are cautioned against using journal-level metrics as a proxy for the quality of individual articles or researchers.

Citation rates for review articles inherently outpace empirical fieldwork due to their broad bibliographic scope. Therefore, scholarly evaluations should center on the rigor, clarity, and conceptual contribution of each specific manuscript rather than aggregate journal impact metrics.

Sources

Annual Reviews. Annual Review of Sociology Aims and Scope. https://www.annualreviews.org/journal/soc (read 2026-11-07).
Clarivate. Web of Science Master Journal List: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI). https://mjl.clarivate.com/ (read 2026-11-07).
Annual Reviews. Subscribe to Open (S2O) Model Overview. https://www.annualreviews.org/page/subscriptions/subscribe-to-open (read 2026-11-07).
San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment. DORA Principles and Recommendations. https://sfdora.org/ (read 2026-11-07).

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