European Journal of Social Theory

About European Journal of Social Theory

About the European Journal of Social Theory

The European Journal of Social Theory (EJST) is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal devoted to social theory in the broadest sense. Established in 1998 and published by SAGE Publications in the United Kingdom, it has grown into one of the principal international venues where social theorists and theoretically minded social scientists publish original work. The journal's own description on the SAGE Journals platform characterises it as a peer-reviewed quarterly that publishes original articles in social theory, interdisciplinary in scope and international in its appeal to scholars anywhere in the world, with a conception of social theory broad enough to include the theoretical traditions within the social sciences, critical social analysis, and debates arising from the philosophy of social science.

EJST sits at the intersection of sociology, political theory, philosophy, cultural studies, and related fields. Its identity is deliberately international rather than narrowly European: while it reflects some of the commonalities of European intellectual life, its contributors and readership span the globe, and its editorial mission frames the journal as a worldwide forum of social thought. The journal's standard ISO 4 abbreviation is Eur. J. Soc. Theory. It appears four times a year, and aggregator data (researcher.life) records 37 articles published in the journal in 2025, reflecting a selective, curated publication volume typical of a theory-focused quarterly.

The journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), as stated on its SAGE Journals homepage, signalling adherence to recognised standards of publishing ethics, peer review integrity, and research conduct.

History

The European Journal of Social Theory was founded in 1998, launched by SAGE Publications at a moment when social theory was undergoing significant renewal. The 1990s had seen major debates about the legacy of classical theory, the rise of postmodernism and poststructuralism, the cultural turn, globalisation, and the transformation of European societies after the Cold War. The journal was conceived as a dedicated space for these debates: a journal that would treat social theory as a substantive field in its own right rather than as an appendage of empirical sociology.

From its first issues, EJST brought together social theorists and theoretically minded social scientists with the explicit objective of making social theory relevant to the challenges facing the social sciences in the twenty-first century. Over more than two and a half decades of continuous publication, it has carried work spanning critical theory, phenomenology, poststructuralism, systems theory, pragmatism, practice theory, theories of modernity and cosmopolitanism, and the philosophy of the social sciences.

A notable milestone arrived with the journal's 25th anniversary, marked in 2023: an interview published in the journal with editor Gerard Delanty discussed his editorship of EJST as it celebrated its 25th anniversary and its 100th issue, underlining the journal's longevity and cumulative role in shaping the field (PhilPapers record of the interview, European Journal of Social Theory 26(3): 408–423). The journal's coverage is recorded by OpenAlex as spanning 1998–2026, with 1,129 works indexed, evidence of an unbroken run from founding to the present.

Aims and Scope

The journal describes itself as an internationally respected journal with a wide-reaching conception of social theory. Its scope statement, as published by aggregator sources drawing on the publisher's materials, states that EJST brings together social theorists and theoretically minded social scientists with the objective of making social theory relevant to the challenges facing the social sciences in the 21st century, and that it aims to be a worldwide forum of social thought. The journal welcomes articles on all aspects of the social, covering the whole range of contemporary debates in social theory.

Reflecting some of the commonalities in European intellectual life, contributors are invited to discuss the theoretical contexts of issues such as the nation state, democracy, citizenship, risk, identity, social divisions, violence, gender, and knowledge. In practice, the journal publishes:

• Original articles in social theory, including critical theory, poststructuralism, phenomenology, systems theory, pragmatism, and practice theory;
• Theoretical analyses of contemporary social and political transformations — Europeanization, globalisation, cosmopolitanism, migration, and borders;
• Debates arising from the philosophy of social science, including methodology, explanation, and the status of the social;
• Engagements with classical and contemporary theorists, from Marx, Weber, and Durkheim through Habermas, Foucault, Bourdieu, Luhmann, and beyond;
• Special issues on focused themes, including calls such as "Trajectories and Prospects of Grand Theory in the Social Sciences" and "Boundaries of Solidarity" (listed on the journal's SAGE homepage).

The journal's own homepage notes that its conception of social theory is a broad one, including the theoretical traditions within the social sciences, critical social analysis, and debates arising from the philosophy of social science. Articles are published in English, and the journal's podcast series — including the European Journal of Social Theory Podcast and episodes such as discussions of Foucauldian perspectives on migration — extends its theoretical conversations to audio formats.

Editorial Leadership

The European Journal of Social Theory is edited by Gerard Delanty, Professor of Sociology and Social & Political Thought at the University of Sussex, as stated on the journal's SAGE Journals homepage (retrieved October 2026) and corroborated by his biographical entry on Wikipedia (updated August 2026). Delanty, born in 1960 and educated at University College Cork, is a British-based sociologist known for his research on cosmopolitanism theory and modernity, and the author of books including Inventing Europe: Idea, Identity, Reality (1995), Community (2003), and Social Theory in a Changing World (1999).

His long editorship has given the journal a consistent intellectual direction centred on critical theory, cosmopolitanism, and the European dimensions of social thought. Because the journal's detailed editorial-board page was not accessible to automated retrieval at the time of research (the SAGE editorial-board subpage returned access errors), the names of associate editors and board members are not listed here; readers should consult the journal's official pages on SAGE Journals for the current full board rather than relying on secondary listings. This profile therefore names only the editor-in-chief, for whom the publisher's own journal homepage provides direct confirmation.

Journal Metrics (Attributions)

The European Journal of Social Theory is a selective theory journal, and its citation metrics should be read with that profile in mind: theory journals typically publish fewer articles than empirical journals, and their influence is measured over longer citation windows. All figures below are attributed to the sources named; no metric is presented as independently audited for this profile.

• OpenAlex (source record retrieved 2026-10-03; record updated 2026-10-02): 1,129 works recorded, 42,335 citations recorded, OpenAlex h-index 97, coverage years 1998–2026. OpenAlex marks the journal as not fully open access, with hybrid options available. OpenAlex metrics are distinct from SCImago metrics and the Clarivate Journal Impact Factor.
• SCImago-based aggregator data (Resurchify, drawing on SCImago): best quartile Q1 in Sociology and Political Science, SJR 1.132, h-index 77, and an "impact score" (Scopus-based, computed per the aggregator's own definition) of 3.71 for the 2023 reporting year, with the journal ranked 3,940 overall. An older ResearchBite snapshot (coverage 1998–2022) lists SJR 0.796, h-index 68, and impact score 2.16 — illustrating how aggregator figures shift with coverage windows and update cycles.
• Journal Citation Reports (via Wikipedia, citing JCR): the journal's 2019 impact factor is listed as 2.333. This figure is several years old and is reported here only as attributed secondary information; the current Journal Impact Factor is not officially published in the sources consulted and is not stated here.
• CiteScore / SNIP (researcher.life, aggregator): CiteScore 3.8, SNIP 2.06. As with all aggregator metrics, confirm against the publisher or the metric provider before citing in official documents.
• Publication volume (researcher.life): 37 articles published in 2025; scite's analysis of the journal records roughly 1,000 articles receiving 11,900 citations, with no retractions recorded and 2 corrections — a profile consistent with a careful, selective editorial process.

No acceptance rate for EJST is officially published in the sources consulted; it is therefore stated here as not officially published rather than estimated.

Open Access and Article Processing Charges

The European Journal of Social Theory is a subscription (hybrid) journal: OpenAlex does not mark it as fully open access, while noting that hybrid options may exist. SAGE Publications operates a hybrid open access programme, SAGE Choice, through which authors of subscription journals can make individual articles open access on payment of an article processing charge (APC), subject to funder and institutional arrangements.

OpenAlex, obtaining APC data from DOAJ listings, reports the journal's list APC as 3,650.00 USD / 2,676.00 GBP. This figure is reproduced here strictly as attributed aggregator data — it is a list price, not a fee quotation, and authors must confirm current charges, applicable taxes, available waivers or discounts, and funder/institutional eligibility directly with SAGE before submitting. APCs change over time, and institutional "read and publish" agreements with SAGE may cover or reduce the fee for eligible authors.

Authors subject to open access mandates (for example from UKRI, the European Research Council, or other funders) should check the journal's compliance routes — gold open access via SAGE Choice or green self-archiving of the accepted manuscript — against their funder's current policy, since mandate requirements evolve independently of any single journal's offering.

Abstracting and Indexing

According to the journal's Wikipedia entry (which cites the publisher and indexing services), the European Journal of Social Theory is abstracted and indexed in:

• Scopus
• Social Sciences Citation Index (Web of Science)
• Sociological Abstracts
• Journal Citation Reports
• Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
• The Philosopher's Index
• Anthropological Index Online
• International Political Science Abstracts
• Academic Search Elite

Indexing in both Scopus and the Social Sciences Citation Index places the journal within the two principal citation databases used for research assessment in the social sciences. Authors should verify current indexing coverage with their institution's requirements, as database coverage can change.

Landmark Papers (Crossref-Verified DOIs)

The following articles are among the most cited works published in EJST according to Crossref's citation data (retrieved via the Crossref API, sorted by is-referenced-by-count, October 2026). Each DOI was individually verified to resolve (HTTP 200) via api.crossref.org before inclusion:

• Andreas Reckwitz, "Toward a Theory of Social Practices: A Development in Culturalist Theorizing", European Journal of Social Theory 5(2), 2002, pp. 243–263. DOI: 10.1177/13684310222225432. One of the most cited articles in the journal's history, it systematised practice theory and helped establish "practices" as a central unit of social-theoretical analysis.
• Luc Boltanski & Laurent Thévenot, "The Sociology of Critical Capacity", European Journal of Social Theory 2(3), 1999, pp. 359–377. DOI: 10.1177/136843199002003010. An early English-language statement of the pragmatic sociology of critique that became highly influential in French and international sociology.
• Mimi Büscher & John Urry, "Mobile Methods and the Empirical", European Journal of Social Theory 12(1), 2009, pp. 99–116. DOI: 10.1177/1368431008099642. A key contribution to the "mobilities turn", arguing for research methods adequate to a world of movement and flow.
• Chris Rumford, "Theorizing Borders", European Journal of Social Theory 9(2), 2006, pp. 155–169. DOI: 10.1177/1368431006063330. Part of a landmark special-issue conversation on borders and bordering that shaped subsequent border studies.

Citation counts change over time; the ranking above reflects Crossref data at the time of research and is not a permanent league table.

Publishing Guide

Fit. EJST is a theory journal, not a general sociology journal. Manuscripts should make a recognisable contribution to social theory — developing, reconstructing, or critically engaging theoretical traditions — rather than presenting empirical findings with only a theoretical framing section. The journal explicitly welcomes articles on all aspects of the social, but desk rejection is likely for work whose theoretical contribution is thin. Study recent issues and the journal's special-issue calls (for example on grand theory or solidarity) to gauge the current editorial conversation.

Article types. The journal publishes original research articles and review-type theoretical essays; check the journal's author guidelines on SAGE Journals for current word limits, referencing style (SAGE Harvard), and formatting requirements before submission.

Submission. Manuscripts are submitted through the journal's online submission system, linked from the journal homepage on SAGE Journals (journals.sagepub.com/home/est). Authors will need an account on the submission platform, and should prepare the manuscript, abstract, keywords, and any supplementary material in advance.

Peer review. As a COPE member journal, EJST operates rigorous peer review; the SAGE homepage promises authors rigorous peer review, prompt publishing, a multidisciplinary audience, and high visibility. Authors should expect critical, theory-literate reviewers and should be prepared to revise substantially.

Open access choice. Decide before submission whether to pursue the subscription route or SAGE Choice open access, and confirm APC funding with your institution or funder — the OpenAlex-reported list price is 3,650.00 USD / 2,676.00 GBP, but confirm current figures with the publisher.

Language. Articles are published in English. Authors writing in English as an additional language should consider professional editing, as theory journals weigh clarity of argument heavily.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the ISSN of the European Journal of Social Theory?
Print ISSN 1368-4310 and online ISSN 1461-7137, per the ISSN Portal record (ISSN-L 1368-4310, record last modified 2022-10-06, United Kingdom ISSN centre).

Who publishes the European Journal of Social Theory?
SAGE Publications (United Kingdom). The journal has been published by SAGE continuously since its founding in 1998.

Who is the editor of the European Journal of Social Theory?
Gerard Delanty, Professor of Sociology and Social & Political Thought at the University of Sussex, as stated on the journal's official SAGE Journals homepage.

How often is it published?
Quarterly — four issues per year.

Is the European Journal of Social Theory peer-reviewed?
Yes. It is a peer-reviewed journal and a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

What is its impact factor?
Wikipedia, citing Journal Citation Reports, lists a 2019 impact factor of 2.333. No current JCR impact factor was officially published in the sources consulted for this profile; treat the 2019 figure as dated, attributed secondary information.

Is it open access, and what is the APC?
It is a hybrid journal offering open access via SAGE Choice. OpenAlex (via DOAJ data) reports a list APC of 3,650.00 USD / 2,676.00 GBP — confirm current charges with SAGE; this is not a fee quotation.

Where do I submit a manuscript?
Through the online submission system linked from the journal's homepage at journals.sagepub.com/home/est.

What is the acceptance rate?
Not officially published. Any acceptance-rate figure circulating online should be treated as unverified unless it comes from the publisher.

Collections, Podcasts, and the Journal's Living Archive

Beyond its quarterly issues, EJST maintains an active digital presence on the SAGE Journals platform that is worth knowing. The journal publishes Editor's Choice Collections and a maintained index of special issues, allowing readers to navigate themed conversations across years of publication. It also produces a podcast series: episodes listed on the journal homepage include discussions of Foucauldian perspectives on migration and society, confessional critiques and parrhesia in contemporary anti-racist discourses (with Tom Boland and Jody Moore-Ponce of University College Cork), and the inaugural European Journal of Social Theory Podcast with Dr Jean-Sebastien Guy. These audio supplements make the journal's theoretical debates accessible to students and scholars who prefer listening formats, and they are freely listed on the journal homepage.

The journal also runs rolling calls for papers for special issues — recent calls advertised on the SAGE homepage include "Trajectories and Prospects of Grand Theory in the Social Sciences" and "Boundaries of Solidarity" — and it highlights most read, most cited, and trending articles (citation statistics updated weekly from Crossref data) alongside Altmetric attention scores. For prospective authors, these discovery features double as a research tool: checking which articles are most read and most cited reveals what the journal's audience currently values, which is useful intelligence before framing a submission.

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