Administration and Society

About Administration and Society

Administration & Society (Adm. Soc.) is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering public administration and public policy, published by SAGE Publications Inc. Established in 1969, it is one of the longest-running journals in the field, with a publication record stretching continuously for more than five decades. The journal advances understanding of public and human service organizations, their administrative processes, and their effects on society, publishing empirically and theoretically grounded research on the organization and management of the public sector.

Quick facts

History and founding

Administration & Society was established in 1969, placing it among the pioneering journals of modern public administration scholarship. Its history tracks the maturation of the field itself: the journal has published continuously from 1969 to the present, with Scopus and OpenAlex coverage spanning the entire 1969–2026 period. Over those decades it has carried many of the field's foundational debates — from the classic 1975 policy-implementation framework of Van Meter and Van Horn, through the public-values research program of the 2000s, to contemporary work on collaborative innovation and co-creation in the public sector.

The journal's longevity is itself a mark of distinction: few social science journals have maintained continuous publication across five and a half decades while retaining a clear identity. Throughout that span it has been published by SAGE Publications, one of the world's largest independent publishers of social science journals, which continues to publish it today as part of its extensive public administration portfolio.

Because the journal has been active since the late 1960s, its archive documents the evolution of public administration as a discipline — from early work on bureaucracy and implementation to later waves of research on new public management, governance networks, collaborative innovation, and digital administration.

Aims and scope

The journal's publisher-stated mission is to further the understanding of public and human service organizations, their administrative processes, and their effects on society. It publishes research that is empirically or theoretically grounded and speaks to how public organizations are structured, managed, and held accountable — and how those organizations shape the societies they serve.

Topics routinely appearing in the journal include public management and organizational behavior, policy implementation, public values, administrative reform, interorganizational collaboration, innovation in the public sector, local and urban governance, regulatory administration, and the relationship between administrative processes and democratic outcomes. OpenAlex's topic classification of the journal's corpus (1,947 works) identifies Public Policy and Administration Research; Management and Organizational Studies; Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering; Regulation and Compliance Studies; Local Government Finance and Decentralization; and E-Government and Public Services — algorithmic labels that overlap substantially with, but are distinct from, the publisher's official aims.

The journal's official SAGE page also highlights "most read" and "most cited" articles (the latter computed weekly from Crossref data), Altmetric-tracked articles with high public attention, and calls for special issues — including a "Perspectives" special issue on the implications of a post-Chevron administration, which accepted paper proposals through August 2024. This shows an editorial posture that engages directly with live developments in administrative law and governance.

Editor and editorial team

The official SAGE Publications journal page for Administration & Society lists the journal's editor as Karen Hult of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), USA. Readers should note that some third-party references (including Wikipedia and journal-metric aggregators) still list Brian J. Cook, also of Virginia Tech, as editor-in-chief — those entries appear to reflect an earlier editorial tenure and have not yet been updated. The publisher's own page is the authoritative source for the current editor.

SAGE's journal page also presents the editorial team, content alerts for new articles, "publish with us" guidance for authors (emphasizing rigorous peer review, prompt publishing, a multidisciplinary audience, and high visibility), and links to SAGE discipline hubs for related content across the social sciences.

Key metrics (with source and year — read the caveats)

Unlike some publishers, SAGE does not display a full metric dashboard on the journal homepage I could access, so the figures below come from third-party aggregators citing Clarivate and Scopus data. They are reported here with attribution precisely because they cannot all be independently confirmed, and — importantly — they conflict with one another in places. Treat them as indicative rather than official:

• Impact Factor: 1.9 (2025/2026 Journal Citation Reports release, June 2026, as reported by journalsearches.com). The 2022 impact factor was 2.3, ranking the journal 32nd out of 49 journals in the Public Administration category (Wikipedia, citing JCR 2023).
• CiteScore: 6.1 (Scopus, as reported by journalsearches.com, coverage 1969–2026). Note the conflict: researcher.life and Editage report a CiteScore of 4.5. Both cannot be the same year's figure; confirm the current value in Scopus before citing.
• SCImago Journal Rank (SJR): 1.082 (2024, SCImago data as reported by resurchify.com; journalsearches reports 1.073 — minor variation between aggregators).
• Scopus impact score (Cites/Doc 2-year): 3.68 (2024, resurchify citing Scopus; up from 3.61 in 2023 and 2.63 in 2022).
• Quartiles: Q1 in Public Administration and in Sociology and Political Science; Q2 in Marketing (multiple aggregators, Scopus categories).
• h-index: reported between 72 and 86 across sources (researcher.life: 72; journalsworld/OpenAlex-derived: 86; resurchify: 80). The range reflects different databases and calculation dates.
• SNIP: 1.89 (researcher.life); ABDC rating: B (journalsearches.com, Australian Business Deans Council journal list).
• Scopus overall ranking: approximately 4,228th among all journals (resurchify, 2024 data).

For a database-independent picture: OpenAlex records 1,947 works and 58,991 citations for the journal, with an OpenAlex-derived h-index of 108 (retrieved 2026-10-03). OpenAlex metrics differ from SCImago metrics and the Clarivate Journal Impact Factor, so they should be read as a separate, complementary footprint.

Frequency note: references disagree on publication frequency — Wikipedia reports 10 issues per year while researcher.life reports bi-monthly (6 per year). The publisher's official page does not settle this in the sections I could access; authors should check the current publication schedule on the SAGE journal page.

Acceptance rate: not officially published. The journal does not publish an official acceptance rate on its website; prospective authors should not rely on third-party estimates that cannot be independently verified.

Landmark papers (Crossref-verified DOIs)

The following articles — all published in Administration & Society — are among the journal's most-cited works, selected by Crossref "cited-by" ranking for the journal's print ISSN (0095-3997). Every DOI below was verified to resolve via the Crossref API in October 2026; citation counts shown are Crossref cited-by counts at that time and will change as citations accrue.

• Brian W. Head and John Alford, "Wicked Problems: Implications for Public Policy and Management" — DOI: 10.1177/0095399713481601 (published online 2013). A widely assigned synthesis of the "wicked problems" literature — problems that are ill-defined, contested, and resistant to solution — and its implications for how governments organize policy work (Crossref cited-by: ~1,210). It became the journal's single most-cited article.
• Torben Beck Jørgensen and Barry Bozeman, "Public Values: An Inventory" — DOI: 10.1177/0095399707300703 (2007). A landmark inventory and conceptual mapping of public values — the normative core of the public-values research program that shaped a decade of scholarship on what governments should pursue beyond efficiency (Crossref cited-by: ~890).
• Donald S. Van Meter and Carl E. Van Horn, "The Policy Implementation Process: A Conceptual Framework" — DOI: 10.1177/009539977500600404 (1975). One of the foundational frameworks of implementation studies: it modeled policy implementation as a function of policy standards, resources, interorganizational communication, agency characteristics, the economic and political environment, and the disposition of implementers (Crossref cited-by: ~740). A half-century later it remains a staple citation in implementation research.
• Eva Sørensen and Jacob Torfing, "Enhancing Collaborative Innovation in the Public Sector" — DOI: 10.1177/0095399711418768 (published online 2011). A leading statement of the collaborative-innovation research agenda, examining how multi-actor collaboration can drive innovation in public services (Crossref cited-by: ~670).
• Mirko Noordegraaf, "From 'Pure' to 'Hybrid' Professionalism: Present-Day Professionalism in Ambiguous Public Domains" — DOI: 10.1177/0095399707304434 (2007). An influential account of how public-sector professionals navigate managerial reforms, developing the concept of "hybrid professionalism" to describe the blending of professional and managerial logics (Crossref cited-by: ~560).
• Jacob Torfing, Eva Sørensen, and Asbjørn Røiseland, "Transforming the Public Sector Into an Arena for Co-Creation: Barriers, Drivers, Benefits, and Ways Forward" — DOI: 10.1177/0095399716680057 (published online 2016). A major statement of the co-creation research program, analyzing how public agencies can orchestrate collaboration with citizens and stakeholders (Crossref cited-by: ~540).

Abstracting and indexing

Administration & Society is abstracted and indexed in Scopus and the Social Sciences Citation Index (Web of Science), according to the Journal Citation Reports citation trail (Wikipedia, citing JCR). Its Scopus coverage runs from 1969 to the present, and third-party journal databases additionally report indexing coverage consistent with a major SAGE social science title (including UGC CARE listing and an ABDC "B" rating in the Australian journal ranking). Because SAGE's own aims-and-scope page could not be reached from the public fetch, authors with institutional indexing requirements should confirm current indexing directly on the publisher's journal page.

Open access policy and publication charges

Administration & Society is a hybrid journal: it is published on a subscription basis, and authors have the option of publishing open access for a fee. Under SAGE's standard policy, authors choosing the open-access route pay an article processing charge (APC) and publish under an open license; authors who do not choose open access publish under the journal's standard subscription terms with no author-side fee.

OpenAlex — which obtains APC figures from the Directory of Open Access Journals — reports listed APCs of approximately US$3,650 and £2,676 for the journal (retrieved 2026-10-03). These figures are reproduced from OpenAlex metadata and are not a fee quotation: authors must confirm current charges, applicable taxes, waivers, and funder or institutional eligibility with SAGE before submitting, because list prices change and institutional agreements may alter the actual cost.

Authors with funder open-access mandates should check the journal's current licensing options on the official SAGE journal page and confirm compliance before choosing a publication route.

Submission guidance

SAGE's "Publish with us" guidance for the journal emphasizes rigorous peer review, prompt publishing, a multidisciplinary audience, and high global visibility. Practical points for prospective authors:

• Scope fit first. Manuscripts should advance understanding of public and human service organizations, administrative processes, and their effects on society. Work that is purely practitioner-oriented or that lacks an empirical or theoretical foundation is a poor fit.
• Submit through the official channel. Manuscripts go through the journal's online submission portal, linked from the official SAGE journal homepage (journals.sagepub.com/home/aas). Use the current author guidelines published there, since formatting and policy requirements are updated periodically.
• Consider special issues. The journal periodically runs themed "Perspectives" issues — for example, the call on implications of a post-Chevron administration — which can be attractive homes for work on live policy and administrative-law questions. Watch the journal homepage for open calls.
• Watch the most-cited and most-read lists. SAGE publishes weekly-updated most-cited rankings (from Crossref data) and six-month most-read rankings; these are a quick way to calibrate what the journal's audience values before drafting.
• Expect demanding peer review. With its long-established reputation and Q1 standing, the journal maintains selective standards. Ground manuscripts in the relevant theoretical literature — including the journal's own landmark articles — and demonstrate a clear contribution to understanding public administration.

Reputation and significance in the field

Few journals can claim the historical sweep of Administration & Society: continuous publication since 1969 means its archive spans the entire modern era of public administration scholarship. The 1975 Van Meter–Van Horn implementation framework — one of the most cited articles in the history of the field — appeared in its pages, and the journal went on to carry the public-values inventory of Jørgensen and Bozeman, the wicked-problems synthesis of Head and Alford, and the collaborative-innovation and co-creation research programs of Sørensen, Torfing, and colleagues. Each of these became a citation anchor for subsequent scholarship.

The journal's consistent Q1 placement in the Scopus Public Administration category, its ABDC "B" rating, and its broad international authorship (Crossref metadata records authors from Europe, North America, Asia, and beyond among its most-cited articles) all point to a venue with durable global standing. For doctoral students, the journal's landmark articles form part of the core reading lists in public administration theory courses; for researchers, it remains a reliable outlet for work that bridges theory and practice in public organizations. Its recent engagement with live administrative-law developments — such as the post-Chevron special issue — shows a journal that continues to position itself at the intersection of scholarship and contemporary governance.

Frequently asked questions

Who publishes Administration & Society?
SAGE Publications Inc., United States.

Who is the current editor of Administration & Society?
According to the official SAGE journal page, the editor is Karen Hult of Virginia Tech. Some older third-party references list Brian J. Cook (also Virginia Tech), which appears to be an outdated editorial listing.

What is the impact factor of Administration & Society?
Third-party aggregators report 1.9 (2025/2026 JCR release, June 2026); the 2022 impact factor was 2.3 (rank 32/49 in Public Administration). No official publisher-published figure was available on the pages accessed for this profile.

Is Administration & Society open access?
It is a hybrid journal: subscription-based with a paid open-access option. OpenAlex reports listed APCs of about US$3,650 / £2,676 (DOAJ-sourced data; confirm current charges with SAGE).

What are the ISSNs of Administration & Society?
Print ISSN 0095-3997; online ISSN 1552-3039.

When was Administration & Society founded?
1969; it has published continuously since.

Is Administration & Society indexed in Scopus and Web of Science?
Yes — Scopus and the Social Sciences Citation Index, per the Journal Citation Reports citation trail.

What is the journal's acceptance rate?
Not officially published. Prospective authors should disregard unverifiable third-party estimates.

Where do I submit a manuscript to Administration & Society?
Through the online manuscript portal linked from the official SAGE journal homepage (journals.sagepub.com/home/aas), following the current author guidelines.

What are the journal's most-cited articles?
By Crossref cited-by count for the journal: Head & Alford's "Wicked Problems" (2013), Jørgensen & Bozeman's "Public Values: An Inventory" (2007), and Van Meter & Van Horn's "The Policy Implementation Process" (1975) — DOIs verified via Crossref and listed with links above.

Recent publication profile

Recent volumes illustrate the journal's current editorial direction. Volume 57 (2025) included articles such as "The Need to Reconnect Public Administration Education, Research, and Practice," reflecting the journal's ongoing concern with bridging scholarship and practice, while recent volumes have carried research on collaborative governance of sober living facilities, emotional labor in election administration, administrative burdens, and the intersection of public administration with macroeconomic policy. Third-party aggregators report roughly three to four dozen research articles published in 2025 — a selective volume consistent with a journal that prioritizes depth over throughput. The consistent appearance of symposium-style and special-issue content alongside regular research articles keeps the journal responsive to emerging themes in governance.