About the Journal

The Caucasus Journal of Social Sciences (CJSS) (e-ISSN: 2960-9380) is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal published in English by The University of Georgia, Tbilisi. Established in 2008, the journal has made its published content freely available online since its inception. Beginning with the 2023 publishing year, CJSS adopted its current Diamond Open Access publishing model and the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), formalising its open access policy in accordance with the principles of the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI).

All submissions undergo rigorous external peer review under the oversight of an international editorial board, in accordance with recognized publication ethics standards. CJSS publishes original research across the social sciences, with a particular focus on the Caucasus and other emerging or under-researched regions, alongside broader international and comparative scholarship, and welcomes contributions from researchers worldwide. Articles are published on a rolling basis as they clear peer review and are compiled into annual volumes, with all content freely accessible on publication and preserved long-term through the PKP Preservation Network (LOCKSS). The sections below detail the journal's aims, scope, editorial criteria, and publication practices.

Focus and Scope

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Aims

The Caucasus Journal of Social Sciences (CJSS) is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal that publishes original research across the social sciences. The journal addresses social, political, economic, and cultural developments, with particular attention to the Caucasus and other emerging or under-researched regions.

The journal is guided by an editorial approach that engages with the uneven visibility of knowledge in international scholarship as a source of scholarly value. It emphasizes that research from regionally specific contexts, particularly small states and less-represented academic environments, provides distinctive perspectives that contribute to and inform broader theoretical and empirical debates.

Processes observed at the regional level can provide early insight into social, political, and economic transformations that later acquire broader significance. In this sense, regionally grounded research plays an important role in advancing generalizable knowledge in the social sciences.

CJSS publishes high-quality research from both regional and international contexts, with particular attention to studies that draw on local or regional evidence to engage with broader theoretical, conceptual, and comparative frameworks.

The journal welcomes submissions that situate empirical findings within wider scholarly debates and prioritizes work that moves beyond descriptive analysis to offer rigorous, analytically grounded contributions to the social sciences.

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Scope

CJSS publishes theoretical, empirical, and comparative research that examines central questions in the social sciences, including but not limited to:

  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Economics
  • Education
  • Human Geography
  • History
  • Information Science
  • International Relations
  • Law and Legal Studies
  • Linguistics
  • Political Science
  • Psychology
  • Sociology
  • Public Policy and Governance
  • Development Studies
  • Communication and Media Studies
  • Cultural and Area Studies
  • Interdisciplinary Social Science Research

The journal accepts submissions employing a range of research methods, including qualitative, quantitative, historical, and mixed-method approaches.

While the Caucasus remains a primary area of interest, the journal is not geographically restricted. Submissions may address other regions where comparable social, political, or economic processes can be examined in a comparative perspective. The journal is particularly interested in research addressing social change, institutional development, governance, cultural dynamics, and economic transformation.

The journal may publish special issues devoted to defined thematic areas or emerging lines of research. Current thematic directions include law, education, economics, and governance. Special issues are subject to the same editorial standards and peer-review procedures as regular submissions.

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Types of Contributions

The journal primarily publishes the following types of contributions:

  • Original research articles (empirical, theoretical, historical, qualitative, quantitative, comparative, or case-based in orientation)
  • Review articles (a critical assessment of prior research and offers a clearly defined contribution to the field)

All submissions must demonstrate clarity of argument, appropriate use of evidence, and relevance to the journal’s aims and scope.

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Editorial Considerations and Publication Criteria

Manuscripts are considered for publication on the basis of the following criteria:

  • The submission is original and is not under consideration elsewhere
  • The manuscript does not duplicate previously published work
  • All listed authors have contributed substantially to the research and have approved the submitted version, in accordance with the journal's Authorship and Contributorship policy
  • The subject matter falls within the journal's stated aims and scope
  • The manuscript presents a clearly structured argument, supported by relevant evidence and an appropriate research design
  • Where the research involves human participants, sensitive data, or other material requiring ethical oversight, appropriate ethical approval and/or informed consent has been obtained, in accordance with the journal's Ethical Oversight policy
  • Any conflicts of interest have been disclosed, in accordance with the journal's Conflicts of Interest policy
  • Where applicable, data supporting the findings are available or accompanied by a data availability statement, in accordance with the journal's Data Sharing and Reproducibility policy
  • The manuscript is written in clear, accurate English, accessible to an international readership

Manuscripts that do not meet these criteria may be declined at the editorial screening stage prior to peer review.

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Readership

The Caucasus Journal of Social Sciences is intended for scholars, researchers, and practitioners across the social sciences, including university faculty, graduate students, and professionals working in policy, governance, and applied research settings.

Readers with an interest in comparative and cross-regional perspectives — particularly in relation to emerging and transitional contexts — will find the journal especially relevant.

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Publication Model and Ownership

The Caucasus Journal of Social Sciences is owned and published by The University of Georgia, Tbilisi.

The journal is published online and provides open access to all content. Articles are published on a rolling basis following completion of the editorial and peer-review process and are subsequently compiled into annual volumes.

All published articles constitute the final version of record and remain permanently accessible through the journal’s website.

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Frequency

CJSS is an electronic-only, continuous-publication journal: articles are published online individually as soon as they complete peer review, editorial processing, and production, without waiting for issue compilation. No print editions have been produced since 2022.

All articles published between January 1 and December 31 are compiled into a single annual volume for that calendar year, with continuous online publication maintained throughout the year. Beginning in 2026, the journal will introduce a series of thematic special issues — with planned focus areas including law, education, economics, and governance — published within the annual volume alongside regular submissions, and subject to the same editorial and peer-review process as regular articles.

All content is published with immediate open access upon completion of production and is archived through the PKP Preservation Network (LOCKSS) to ensure long-term preservation. Each article is assigned a unique, persistent DOI (prefix: 10.62343), registered via Crossref.