Security Studies

Aims & Scope

Security Studies publishes innovative scholarly manuscripts that make a significant contribution – whether theoretical, empirical, or both – to our understanding of international security.

Studies that do not emphasize the causes and consequences of war or the sources and conditions of peace fall outside the journal’s domain.

Security Studies features articles that develop, test, and debate theories of international security – that is, articles that address an important research question, display innovation in research, contribute in a novel way to a body of knowledge, and (as appropriate) demonstrate theoretical development with state-of-the art use of appropriate methodological tools.

While we encourage authors to discuss the policy implications of their work, articles that are primarily policy-oriented do not fit the journal’s mission.

The journal publishes articles that challenge the conventional wisdom in the area of international security studies.

Security Studies includes a wide range of topics ranging from nuclear proliferation and deterrence, civil-military relations, strategic culture, ethnic conflicts and their resolution, epidemics and national security, democracy and foreign-policy decision making, developments in qualitative and multi-method research, and the future of security studies.

View Aims & Scope

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Metrics & Ranking

Impact Factor

Year	Value
2025	3
2024	2.20

SJR (SCImago Journal Rank)

Year	Value
2024	1.414

Quartile

Year	Value
2024	Q1

h-index

Year	Value
2024	64

Journal Rank

Year	Value
2024	2644

Journal Citation Indicator

Year	Value
2024	282

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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.

• Stuxnet and the Limits of Cyber Warfare

  Citation: 232

  Authors: Jon R.

• Neorealism's status‐quo bias: What security dilemma?

  Citation: 209

  Authors: Randall L.

• International politics is not foreign policy

  Citation: 152

  Authors: Kenneth N.

• Reassessing Hedging: The Logic of Alignment in East Asia

  Citation: 148

  Authors: Darren J., Zack

• A Rose by Any Other Name: Neoclassical Realism as the Logical and Necessary Extension of Structural Realism

  Citation: 143

  Authors: Brian

• The microfoundations of economic sanctions

  Citation: 141

  Authors: Jonathan

• “To Halve and to Hold”: Conflicts over Sacred Space and the Problem of Indivisibility

  Citation: 140

  Authors: Ron E.

• European Union Security and Defense Policy: Response to Unipolarity?

  Citation: 136

  Authors: Barry R.

• Securitization and Desecuritization: Female Soldiers and the Reconstruction of Women in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone

  Citation: 128

  Authors: Megan

• Process Tracing and Historical Explanation

  Citation: 127

  Authors: James

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