Journal of Civil Society

Aims & Scope

Journal of Civil Society is the leading academic voice for research and policy analysis on civil society.

As a peer-reviewed journal with demanding standards, JCS provides a high profile, high impact outlet for world-class scholarship and debate on civil society, and serves as the authoritative source for research in an emerging field that lacks a central organ for dissemination.

Civil society is a contested concept.

There is little agreement on its precise meaning, though much overlap exists among core conceptual components.

In its transnational dimension, the term goes beyond the notion of both nation state and national society, and allows us to examine critical aspects of globalisation and the emergence of a new social, cultural and political sphere.

JCS seeks to improve the theoretical understanding and empirical knowledge of civil society, its nature, patterns and composition, its history, development, and relationships with the economy, the political system and society at large.

A major focus of the journal is to encourage and inform the range of scholarships and approaches on civil society across disciplines and national as well as cultural boundaries.

View Aims & Scope

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Metrics & Ranking

Impact Factor

Year	Value
2025	0.9
2024	0.70

Journal Rank

Year	Value
2024	18469

Journal Citation Indicator

Year	Value
2024	74

SJR (SCImago Journal Rank)

Year	Value
2024	0.253

Quartile

Year	Value
2024	Q3

h-index

Year	Value
2024	27

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Abstracting & Indexing

Journal is indexed in leading academic databases, ensuring global visibility and accessibility of our peer-reviewed research.

• Scopus
• Google Scholar
• Web of Science

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Subjects & Keywords

Journal’s research areas, covering key disciplines and specialized sub-topics in Social Sciences, designed to support cutting-edge academic discovery.

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Most Cited Articles

The Most Cited Articles section features the journal's most impactful research, based on citation counts. These articles have been referenced frequently by other researchers, indicating their significant contribution to their respective fields.

• The Pandemic is a battlefield. Social movements in the COVID-19 lockdown

  Citation: 151

  Authors: Geoffrey

• Political and Civic Engagement and Participation: Towards an Integrative Perspective

  Citation: 142

  Authors: Martyn, Ian

• Social capital, voluntary associations and collective action: Which aspects of social capital have the greatest ‘civic’ payoff?

  Citation: 135

  Authors: Christian, Ronald, Franziska

• The Externalities of Strong Social Capital: Post-Tsunami Recovery in Southeast India

  Citation: 135

  Authors: Daniel P.

• Civil Society and the Authoritarian State: Cooperation, Contestation and Discourse

  Citation: 126

  Authors: David

• Beyond Civil Society: An Organizational Perspective on State–NGO Relations in the People's Republic of China

  Citation: 121

  Authors: Carolyn

• Understanding multi-purpose hybrid voluntary organizations: The contributions of theories on civil society, social movements and non-profit organizations

  Citation: 109

  Authors: Yeheskel, Benjamin

• The Institutional Shaping of EU–Society Relations: A Contribution to Democracy via Participation?

  Citation: 97

  Authors: Beate, Barbara

• Turkey’s tamed civil society: Containment and appropriation under a competitive authoritarian regime

  Citation: 78

  Authors: Bilge

• Studying civil society across the world: Exploring the Thorny issues of conceptualization and measurement

  Citation: 76

  Authors: Volkhart F.

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