Aims and Journal Mission

Athena: Journal of Social, Culture and Society is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access scholarly journal that publishes research addressing social, cultural, humanistic, and societal issues from disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives.

The journal aims to advance scholarly understanding of the ways individuals, communities, institutions, cultures, and societies develop, interact, communicate, and respond to social, technological, political, educational, and cultural change.

Athena provides an international forum for researchers, academics, policy scholars, and practitioners to disseminate original empirical findings, theoretically informed analyses, critical perspectives, and interdisciplinary research that contributes to the development of knowledge in the social sciences and humanities.

Scope of Subject Areas

Athena welcomes manuscripts whose principal research questions and scholarly contributions fall within one or more of the following subject areas:

• Anthropology & Ethnography
• Communication Studies
• Cultural Studies
• Education, Pedagogy & Society
• Gender & Sexuality Studies
• Human & Cultural Geography
• Linguistics & Applied Linguistics
• Literature & Literary Criticism
• Media, Digital Culture & Society
• Political Science & Governance
• Social & Cultural Psychology
• Sociology & Social Policy
• Socio-Legal Studies & Law and Society
• Music, Arts & Ethnomusicology

Interdisciplinary Research

Interdisciplinary manuscripts are particularly welcomed when they establish a clear connection between two or more areas within the journal's scope. Research involving technology, digital platforms, artificial intelligence, environmental change, economics, public policy, or other disciplines may be considered when the principal research problem and contribution are explicitly grounded in social, cultural, behavioral, educational, political, legal, linguistic, or humanistic inquiry.

Research Approaches and Scholarly Contributions

Athena supports methodological and theoretical diversity. Appropriate contributions may employ:

• Empirical Research: Quantitative, qualitative, mixed-method, survey, experimental, observational, ethnographic, and field-based investigations.
• Case and Comparative Studies: Research examining communities, institutions, policies, cultures, social groups, regions, or countries through systematic case-based or comparative analysis.
• Theoretical and Conceptual Research: Scholarly work that develops, extends, integrates, or critically evaluates theories and conceptual frameworks.
• Critical and Interpretive Research: Research employing critical, historical, cultural, linguistic, literary, philosophical, or interpretive approaches.
• Interdisciplinary and Cross-Cultural Research: Studies integrating perspectives across disciplines or examining social and cultural phenomena across populations, societies, or geographic contexts.

Scope Boundaries

Manuscripts should demonstrate a clear scholarly contribution to the social sciences, humanities, or cultural studies. Research that is primarily clinical, biomedical, engineering, natural science, or purely technical in nature is normally outside the journal's scope unless its central research question and contribution directly address significant social, cultural, educational, behavioral, political, legal, linguistic, or societal dimensions.

Commitment to Scholarly Quality and Inclusivity: Athena is committed to transparent, rigorous, and ethical scholarly publishing. Editorial decisions are based on the scholarly quality, originality, relevance, methodological soundness, and contribution of submitted manuscripts. The journal welcomes submissions from researchers at all career stages, institutions, and geographic regions and supports diversity and inclusivity in scholarly communication.