American Sociological Review

About American Sociological Review

American Sociological Review: Journal Overview

The American Sociological Review (ASR) is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal and the flagship journal of the American Sociological Association (ASA). Founded in 1936, it is published by SAGE Publishing on behalf of the ASA and is widely regarded — together with the American Journal of Sociology — as one of the two top journals in the discipline of sociology worldwide (sources: asanet.org/publications/journals/american-sociological-review/; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Sociological_Review, accessed October 2026).

ASR publishes six issues per year, in February, April, June, August, October, and December. Its print ISSN is 0003-1224 and its online ISSN is 1939-8271 (ISSN-L 0003-1224); its ISO 4 abbreviation is Am. Sociol. Rev. (sources: asanet.org; OpenAlex source record for ISSN 0003-1224, accessed October 2026).

The journal's standing is reflected in both its selectivity and its citation impact. SAGE's official journal homepage reports an acceptance rate of 5.3%, an average review time of 8.8 weeks per manuscript, and an average of 73 days from acceptance to online publication (source: journals.sagepub.com/home/asr, accessed October 2026). Its 2022 Journal Impact Factor was 9.1 (source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Sociological_Review, accessed October 2026). OpenAlex records 13,279 works and more than 1.57 million citations to the journal, with an OpenAlex h-index of 529 (source: api.openalex.org/sources/issn:0003-1224, accessed October 2026; OpenAlex metrics differ from Clarivate and Scopus metrics).

History of the American Sociological Review

The American Sociological Association founded the American Sociological Review in 1936 (volume 1) with the mission of publishing original works of interest to the sociology discipline in general (source: asanet.org/publications/journals/american-sociological-review/, accessed October 2026). The ASA itself, founded in 1905, is a nonprofit membership association dedicated to advancing sociology as a scientific discipline and profession serving the public good, with more than 12,000 members including faculty, researchers, practitioners, and students (source: SAGE/ASA advertising media kit, us.sagepub.com, 2020).

From its first volume, ASR was conceived as a generalist flagship: unlike ASA's specialty journals, it was meant to speak to the discipline as a whole rather than to any single subfield. That founding mission — original research of broad disciplinary interest, new theoretical developments, and methodological innovation — has remained the journal's stated identity for nine decades (source: asanet.org, accessed October 2026).

Across its history, ASR has published many of the most-cited and most-taught articles in sociology, from mid-century classics of organizational theory and stratification research to field experiments on labor-market discrimination and studies of the foreclosure crisis. The journal's backfile is archived in JSTOR (stable ID 00031224), making the full run of the journal from 1936 available to subscribing institutions (source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Sociological_Review, accessed October 2026).

Publication has been continuous since 1936, and OpenAlex records works published in the journal from 1936 through 2026 (source: api.openalex.org/sources/issn:0003-1224, accessed October 2026). SAGE publishes the journal on behalf of the ASA; the society retains editorial control through its appointed editors (sources: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Sociological_Review; asanet.org, accessed October 2026).

Leadership and Editorial Team

According to the ASA's official journal page (accessed October 2026), the current editors of the American Sociological Review are David Cort, Laurel Smith-Doerr, Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, and Joya Misra, all of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, serving the 2024–2028 editorial term (source: asanet.org/publications/journals/american-sociological-review/, accessed October 2026).

The previous editorial team, in office around 2020, was Omar Lizardo, Rory McVeigh, and Sarah Mustillo of the University of Notre Dame (source: SAGE/ASA media kit, us.sagepub.com, 2020, accessed October 2026). ASA journals rotate editorial teams among host institutions every few years through a competitive appointment process; the ASA's journals page and news announcements document each transition (source: asanet.org, accessed October 2026).

The editors are supported by deputy editors, an editorial board of consulting scholars, and a large pool of ad hoc reviewers drawn from across sociology's subfields. The ASA publishes reviewer guidelines alongside submission guidelines for the journal (source: asanet.org/publications/journals/american-sociological-review/, accessed October 2026). The publisher does not publish a full public roster of board members on the SAGE homepage; authors can find the current masthead through the ASA's editorial-board link.

Editorial transition note: editorial terms at ASR typically run four years. Readers checking the current masthead should consult the ASA's official journal page, since teams change on the ASA's appointment cycle (source: asanet.org, accessed October 2026).

Aims & Scope

The ASA states the journal's mission as follows (paraphrased from asanet.org, accessed October 2026): ASR exists to publish original works of interest to the sociology discipline in general, new theoretical developments, results of research that advance our understanding of fundamental social processes, and important methodological innovations.

All areas of sociology are welcome in the American Sociological Review. The emphasis, in the ASA's words, is on exceptional quality and general interest — manuscripts must speak beyond a narrow specialty to the discipline as a whole. Notably, ASR does not publish book reviews (source: asanet.org/publications/journals/american-sociological-review/, accessed October 2026).

OpenAlex's topic classification of the journal's published output reflects this generalist profile. The largest topic clusters in ASR's backfile are Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice; Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies; Family Dynamics and Relationships; Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies; Social Power and Status Dynamics; and Crime Patterns and Interventions — spanning theory, stratification, family, urban sociology, political sociology, and criminology (source: api.openalex.org/sources/issn:0003-1224, accessed October 2026; OpenAlex topic labels describe published works, not the publisher's official aims and scope).

In practice, successful ASR submissions combine theoretical ambition with empirical rigor: the journal favors articles that develop or test general explanations of social processes, introduce methodological advances other researchers can use, or bring decisive evidence to debates of broad disciplinary consequence.

Editorial Process and Peer Review

Manuscripts are submitted through the journal's online submission system, linked from the official SAGE journal homepage (journals.sagepub.com/home/asr) and the ASA's submission-guidelines page. SAGE's journal homepage publishes the following official turnaround statistics (source: journals.sagepub.com/home/asr, accessed October 2026):

• Acceptance rate: 5.3% — ASR is among the most selective journals in the social sciences.
• Average review time: 8.8 weeks per manuscript.
• Average time from acceptance to online publication: 73 days.

How manuscripts are handled: submissions are first screened by the editorial team for fit with the journal's generalist mission and for the "exceptional quality and general interest" bar. Manuscripts that clear screening are sent for peer review; the ASA publishes reviewer guidelines for the journal, and the process follows the standard double-anonymized conventions of ASA journals (source: asanet.org/publications/journals/american-sociological-review/, accessed October 2026).

Because the acceptance rate is about one in nineteen, most submissions are declined — many at the desk-review stage. Authors are advised to frame their contribution explicitly in terms of general disciplinary interest, since narrowly specialized manuscripts, however excellent, are routinely redirected to specialty journals. Revised manuscripts may go through multiple rounds before a final decision.

Podcasts, Featured Articles, and Article Promotion

SAGE's journal homepage actively promotes ASR content beyond the issue table of contents. The homepage carries podcasts highlighting original research from the journal — recent episodes have featured articles such as "Temporal Misalignment and Unequal Agency" (August 2026), "Between Two Rituals" (June 2026), and "Kinship Interlocks" (April 2026) — alongside rotating "most read" and "most cited" article lists. The most-cited lists, covering articles published in the last three years, are updated weekly using data sourced exclusively from Crossref (source: journals.sagepub.com/home/asr, accessed October 2026). For authors, this means accepted articles can receive editorial promotion through the publisher's channels, extending reach beyond the subscriber base.

Impact and Metrics

The following metrics come from the sources indicated; metric systems are not interchangeable, so each figure is attributed to its source (all accessed October 2026):

Historical note: the 2022 Impact Factor of 9.1 placed ASR at the very top of sociology's citation rankings for that metric year. Citation metrics are updated annually; readers should check the SAGE journal homepage and Journal Citation Reports for current figures (sources: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Sociological_Review; journals.sagepub.com/home/asr, accessed October 2026).

Submission Guidelines

Key points for prospective authors, drawn from the ASA's official journal page and SAGE's journal homepage (sources: asanet.org/publications/journals/american-sociological-review/; journals.sagepub.com/home/asr, accessed October 2026):

• Submission portal: the online submission system linked from the SAGE journal homepage and the ASA's submission-guidelines page.
• What to submit: original research articles of general disciplinary interest — new theory, empirical results advancing understanding of fundamental social processes, or methodological innovations. Book reviews are not published.
• Fit: all areas of sociology are welcome, but manuscripts must clear the "exceptional quality and general interest" bar; frame the contribution for sociologists outside your specialty.
• Selectivity: with a 5.3% acceptance rate, expect rigorous screening — many strong papers are declined for fit rather than quality.
• Timeline: budget roughly 8–9 weeks for a first review cycle on average, and about 73 days from acceptance to online publication.
• Style: follow the ASA's formatting and citation conventions as specified in the submission guidelines; anonymize manuscripts for peer review.

Authors should read the current submission guidelines on the ASA's journal page before submitting, since requirements are updated by each editorial team (source: asanet.org, accessed October 2026).

Open Access and APC

ASR is a subscription journal with an optional open-access route — it is not a fully open access journal, and OpenAlex does not list it in the Directory of Open Access Journals (source: api.openalex.org/sources/issn:0003-1224, accessed October 2026).

OpenAlex lists a 2025 article processing charge (APC) of US$3,900 (and £2,859 GBP) for the optional open-access route, with the charge rising over time: US$3,700 in 2024, US$3,250 in 2023 and 2022, and US$3,000 in 2021 and 2020. OpenAlex obtains APC figures from the Directory of Open Access Journals. This is not a fee quotation — confirm current charges, taxes, waivers, and eligibility with SAGE/the ASA before relying on it (source: api.openalex.org/sources/issn:0003-1224, accessed October 2026).

Authors with funder open-access mandates should check the journal's current open-access options and green archiving permissions on the SAGE journal homepage, since policies are set by the publisher and the society and can change between editorial terms.

Abstracting and Indexing

ASR's backfile is archived in JSTOR (stable ID 00031224), covering the full run from volume 1 (1936) (source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Sociological_Review, accessed October 2026). The journal is covered in Scopus — SCImago Journal & Country Rank lists it under Sociology and Political Science — and in Clarivate's Journal Citation Reports, which publishes its Journal Impact Factor (sources: resurchify.com, citing SCImago; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Sociological_Review, accessed October 2026).

Its Library of Congress Control Number is 37010449 and its OCLC number 38161061 (source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Sociological_Review, accessed October 2026). Authors who need indexing confirmation for institutional or funder requirements should verify current coverage directly with the publisher.

Landmark Articles Published in the Journal

ASR's backfile contains some of the most-cited articles in the history of sociology. Every DOI below was verified against the Crossref record (HTTP 200, container-title "American Sociological Review") in October 2026; citation details follow the Crossref metadata:

• DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (1983). The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields. American Sociological Review, 48(2), 147. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095101 — the foundational statement of neo-institutional organizational theory.
• Mare, R. D. (1981). Change and Stability in Educational Stratification. American Sociological Review, 46(1), 72. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095027 — a landmark model of educational transitions and inequality.
• Swidler, A. (1986). Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies. American Sociological Review, 51(2), 273. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095521 — the influential "culture as toolkit" reformulation.
• McPherson, J. M., Popielarz, P. A., & Drobnic, S. (1992). Social Networks and Organizational Dynamics. American Sociological Review, 57(2), 153. https://doi.org/10.2307/2096202 — a touchstone for network-ecology research on voluntary associations.
• Massey, D. S., Gross, A. B., & Shibuya, K. (1994). Migration, Segregation, and the Geographic Concentration of Poverty. American Sociological Review, 59(3), 425. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095942 — linking immigration, segregation, and concentrated poverty.
• Tomaskovic-Devey, D., Zimmer, C., Stainback, K., Robinson, C., Taylor, T., & McTague, T. (2006). Documenting Desegregation: Segregation in American Workplaces by Race, Ethnicity, and Sex, 1966–2003. American Sociological Review, 71(4), 565–588. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240607100403
• Pager, D., Western, B., & Bonikowski, B. (2009). Discrimination in a Low-Wage Labor Market: A Field Experiment. American Sociological Review, 74(5), 777–799. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240907400505 — the landmark audit study of racial discrimination in hiring.
• Rugh, J. S., & Massey, D. S. (2010). Racial Segregation and the American Foreclosure Crisis. American Sociological Review, 75(5), 629–651. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122410380868
• Rivera, L. A. (2012). Hiring as Cultural Matching: The Case of Elite Professional Service Firms. American Sociological Review, 77(6), 999–1022. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122412463213
• Desmond, M., Papachristos, A. V., & Kirk, D. S. (2016). Police Violence and Citizen Crime Reporting in the Black Community. American Sociological Review, 81(5), 857–876. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122416663494

Volume, issue, and page details above follow the Crossref records retrieved in October 2026; readers should verify exact page ranges against the publisher before citing.

The ASA Journal Family

ASR is the flagship of the ASA's journal portfolio. The ASA publishes 15 scholarly journals in total, including general-interest and specialty titles (source: asanet.org/publications/journals/, accessed October 2026). Sister journals include City & Community, Contemporary Sociology (book reviews), Contexts (the ASA's public-facing magazine), the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Social Psychology Quarterly, Socius (open access), and Teaching Sociology, among others. Manuscripts declined by ASR for fit are often well suited to one of these specialty outlets.

Key Facts

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the American Sociological Review?
ASR is the flagship peer-reviewed journal of the American Sociological Association, founded in 1936 and published bimonthly by SAGE Publishing on behalf of the ASA. It publishes original sociological research of general disciplinary interest (source: asanet.org, accessed October 2026).

Who publishes the American Sociological Review?
SAGE Publishing publishes the journal on behalf of the American Sociological Association, which retains editorial control (sources: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Sociological_Review; asanet.org, accessed October 2026).

What are the ISSNs of the American Sociological Review?
Print ISSN 0003-1224 and online ISSN 1939-8271 (ISSN-L 0003-1224), per OpenAlex and the ASA (accessed October 2026).

How selective is ASR?
SAGE's official journal homepage reports a 5.3% acceptance rate, an average review time of 8.8 weeks, and about 73 days from acceptance to online publication (source: journals.sagepub.com/home/asr, accessed October 2026).

Who edits ASR?
David Cort, Laurel Smith-Doerr, Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, and Joya Misra of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, serving the 2024–2028 term (source: asanet.org, accessed October 2026).

Does ASR publish book reviews?
No — the ASA states that ASR does not publish book reviews; the ASA's Contemporary Sociology handles book reviews (source: asanet.org, accessed October 2026).

Where do I submit a manuscript?
Through the online submission system linked from the SAGE journal homepage (journals.sagepub.com/home/asr) and the ASA's submission-guidelines page (source: asanet.org, accessed October 2026).

Is the American Sociological Review open access?
No — it is a subscription journal with an optional open-access route. OpenAlex lists a 2025 APC list price of US$3,900 for the OA option (via DOAJ); confirm current fees with the publisher (source: api.openalex.org/sources/issn:0003-1224, accessed October 2026).

This depth profile was researched from the publisher's official journal pages in October 2026.