5 year Impact Factor (2026): 2.2
Acceptance Rate (2025): 8%
Average for Days to First Editorial Decision (2025): 23
Average for Days to Accept (2025): 343
Publication Genres
Science & Technology Studies (S&TS) publishes peer-reviewed research papers, discussion papers, editorials, and book reviews that align with the Aims and Scope of the journal. In addition, S&TS features special issues that reflect its core interests. Guidelines for these publication genres are presented below. For detailed information on how to prepare your manuscript, please see Submission guidelines.
Research papers
Peer-reviewed research papers should present results that are novel and relevant for the community of researchers who study the socio-material dimensions of science and technology. Research papers can be empirical, theoretical, methods-oriented, or a mixture of these approaches. All research papers must be scientifically rigorous and adhere to established standards of academic publishing. This means that:
- the research uses and transparently reports methods and empirical material in ways accepted by the scientific community,
- the argumentation of the research is clear and consistent,
- references are adequately and appropriately cited,
- the manuscript has not been previously published before, nor is it under consideration to be published in another journal
- authorship is accurately and fairly represented,
- the authors have followed relevant legislation and publication ethics in their work (see Submission guidelines).
Science & Technology Studies operates with a broad definition of science and technology studies (STS). This means that papers are expected to address the socio-material dimensions of science, technology, knowledge, or innovation as an object of study, but they can do so from a variety of disciplinary, methodological, and theoretical perspectives.
Research papers should be no longer than 10,000 words, excluding references.
Discussion papers
Discussion papers address issues that are in some way novel for the STS community. They can introduce a new topic, revive an old or neglected topic, argue for a new standpoint, or comment upon recent research in the field. Discussion papers are thus not meant to support one or the other well-known standpoint in a debate, nor discuss a topic that has already received extensive attention. Neither should discussion papers be reports from conferences or similar events.
Discussion papers should follow academic standards in both argumentation and citation, and they should be no longer than 4,000 words, including references (for more detailed information on formatting, see Submission guidelines).
Editorials
Editorials are written by members of the editorial board of S&TS or, in the case of special issues, by guest editors. Instructions about the format and content of editorials can be received from editors.
As with all submission types, editorials must be carefully checked for language quality prior to submission. An editorial with a poor quality of language cannot be reviewed in an efficient and fair way, and it may therefore be rejected by the editors. See Submission guidelines for further information.
Book/media reviews
Book/media reviews summarize, critically assess, and contextualize topical and important books or other media (e.g. podcasts, documentaries, or thematic journal issues) relevant for the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS). Authors of book/media reviews should provide an overview of the contents of the book or other media, and an evaluation of its potential contribution to STS and related fields. A review should not be a chapter-by-chapter description, but rather a presentation of main themes and arguments and a stimulation of debate on key issues. Both strengths and weaknesses should be thoughtfully addressed.
Relevant questions to be addressed in the review include:
- What is the book/media about and how does it contribute to STS?
- Who should read/listen to/view it and why?
- What are the main arguments or conclusions of the book/media?
- Why and how are the arguments or conclusions new/surprising/trivial/problematic?
- How does the work relate to existing discourse within STS?
For the book/media review, please begin it by including a title that has book/media information (name(s) of author(s) or editor(s), year of publication, title of the book/media, location and name of the publisher, number of pages, and ISBN) and your author details.
- E.g.: Barad Karen (2007) Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning. Durham and London: Duke University Press. 544 pages. ISBN: 9780822339175.(Name of review author, organizational affiliation, e-mail address)
Book/media reviews can be no longer than 1,300 words, including references, and they are to follow the S&TS Submission guidelines in formatting, with the exception that pages of a reviewed book can be cited in text simply with ''(p. 1)''. Footnotes should be avoided.
Special issue proposals
Science & Technology Studies publishes special issues on research themes that align with the journal’s interests (see Aims and Scope). Calls for both issues and papers are announced in the Announcements-section.
Initial special issue proposals should outline the core idea of the issue in 1-2 pages. The proposal should explain how the issue fits the interests of the journal and STS audiences. The proposal should include information about any papers (with abstracts and authors), as well as related panels or workshops. If a special issue is based on a panel or a workshop, we recommend opening up the special issue to other papers and solicit new ones for example by advertising on STS-relevant mailing lists. Published special issues typically contain 4 to 8 research papers.
Special issue proposals, which should follow the Submission guidelines, will be reviewed by the editorial team. If a proposal is considered successful, a corresponding editor will be named from the editorial team and they will be your contact person in the journal. Further guidelines will then be provided by the corresponding editor.
