The American Journal of Sociology was established in 1895 by Albion Small and is the oldest academic journal

Academic journal

An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research...

 of sociology

Sociology

Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...

 in the United States. The journal is attached to the University of Chicago's sociology department and it is published bimonthly by The University of Chicago Press. Its editor-in-chief is Andrew Abbott (University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

). The journal presents work on the theory, methods, practice, and history of sociology. It also publishes sociology-related papers by scholars from outside sociology, speaking to sociologists, social scientists, and the general sociological reader. According to the Journal Citation Reports

Journal Citation Reports

Journal Citation Reports is an annual publication by the Healthcare & Science division of Thomson Reuters. It has been integrated with the Web of Knowledge, by Thomson Reuters, and is accessed from the Web of Science to JCR Web. It provides information about academic journals in the sciences and...

, its 2009 impact factor

Impact factor

The impact factor, often abbreviated IF, is a measure reflecting the average number of citations to articles published in science and social science journals. It is frequently used as a proxy for the relative importance of a journal within its field, with journals with higher impact factors deemed...

 is 3.476, ranking it 2nd out of 114 journals in the category "Sociology". The journal is set in Old Style 7 by the Miller and Richards Foundry.

Past editors

Editors	Tenure
Albion Small	1895–1926
Ellsworth Faris Ellsworth Faris Ellsworth Faris was an influential sociologist of the Chicago school.Faris was born in 1874 in Salem, Tennessee. He studied at Texas Christian University, where he earned his Bachelor Degree in 1894 and Masters Degree in 1896. From 1897 to 1904, he spent time in Belgian Congo as a missionary...	1933–1936
Ernest Burgess Ernest Burgess Ernest Watson Burgess was an urban sociologist born in Tilbury, Ontario. He was educated at Kingfisher College in Oklahoma and continued graduate studies in sociology at the University of Chicago. In 1916, he returned to the University of Chicago, as a faculty member. Burgess was hired as an...	1936–1940
Herbert Blumer Herbert Blumer Herbert George Blumer was an American sociologist. Continuing the work of George Herbert Mead, he named and developed the topic of symbolic interactionism. According to Blumer himself, his main post-graduate scholarly interests were symbolic interactionism and methodological problems...	1940–1952
Everett Hughes Everett Hughes Everett Cherrington Hughes was an American sociologist best known for his work on ethnic relations, work and occupations and the methodology of fieldwork. His take on sociology was, however, very broad...	1952–1957
Peter Rossi	1957–1958
Everett Hughes Everett Hughes Everett Cherrington Hughes was an American sociologist best known for his work on ethnic relations, work and occupations and the methodology of fieldwork. His take on sociology was, however, very broad...	1959–1960
Peter Blau Peter Blau Peter Michael Blau was an American sociologist and theorist. Born in Vienna, Austria, he immigrated to the United States in 1939. He received his PhD at Columbia University in 1952, and was an instructor at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan from 1949–1951, before moving on to teach...	1960–1966
C. Arnold Anderson	1966–1973
Charles Bidwell Charles Bidwell Charles Bidwell is a sociologist and the William Claude Reavis Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago. He is best known for his contributions to the sociology of education. His research topics have included the formal and informal organization of schools, the role of schools in society...	1973–1978
Edward Laumann	1978–1984
William Parish	1984–1992
Marta Tienda Marta Tienda Marta Tienda is a sociologist. From 1997 to 2002, she served as the director of The Office of Population Research. She is co-author and co-editor of many books, including The Hispanic Population of The United States .-External links:...	1992–1996
Edward Laumann	1996–1998
Roger V. Gould Roger V. Gould Roger V. Gould was a sociologist who emphasized the importance of building theories on actual research of actual events....	1998–2001
Andrew Abbott	2001–Present

From 1926 to 1933, the journal was co-edited by a number of different members of the University of Chicago faculty including Ellsworth Faris

Ellsworth Faris

Ellsworth Faris was an influential sociologist of the Chicago school.Faris was born in 1874 in Salem, Tennessee. He studied at Texas Christian University, where he earned his Bachelor Degree in 1894 and Masters Degree in 1896. From 1897 to 1904, he spent time in Belgian Congo as a missionary...

, Robert E. Park

Robert E. Park

Robert Ezra Park was an American urban sociologist, one of the main founders of the original Chicago School of sociology.-Life:...

, Ernest Burgess

Ernest Burgess

Ernest Watson Burgess was an urban sociologist born in Tilbury, Ontario. He was educated at Kingfisher College in Oklahoma and continued graduate studies in sociology at the University of Chicago. In 1916, he returned to the University of Chicago, as a faculty member. Burgess was hired as an...

, Fay-Cooper Cole

Fay-Cooper Cole

.Fay-Cooper Cole was a professor of anthropology at the University of Chicago and most famously was a witness for the defense for John Scopes at the Scopes Trial.-External links:...

, Marion Talbot, Frederick Starr

Frederick Starr

Frederick Starr , aka Ofuda Hakushi in Japan, was an American academic, anthropologist, and "populist educator" born at Auburn, New York.-Biography:...

, Edward Sapir

Edward Sapir

Edward Sapir was an American anthropologist-linguist, widely considered to be one of the most important figures in the early development of the discipline of linguistics....

, Louis Wirth

Louis Wirth

Louis Wirth was an American sociologist and member of the Chicago school of sociology.-Life:Louis Wirth was born in the small village of Gemünden in the Hunsrück, Germany. He was one of seven children born to Rosalie Lorig and Joseph Wirth. Gemünden was a pastoral community, and Joseph Wirth...

, Eyler Simpson, Edward Webster, Edwin Sutherland

Edwin Sutherland

Edwin H. Sutherland was an American sociologist. He is considered as one of the most influential criminologists of the twentieth century...

, William Ogburn

William Fielding Ogburn

William Fielding Ogburn was an American sociologist who was born in Butler, Georgia and died in Tallahassee, Florida. He was also a statistician and an educator. Ogburn received his B.A. degree from Mercer University and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University...

, Herbert Blumer

Herbert Blumer

Herbert George Blumer was an American sociologist. Continuing the work of George Herbert Mead, he named and developed the topic of symbolic interactionism. According to Blumer himself, his main post-graduate scholarly interests were symbolic interactionism and methodological problems...

, and Robert Redfield

Robert Redfield

Robert Redfield was an American anthropologist and ethnolinguist. Redfield graduated from the University of Chicago, eventually with a J.D. from its law school and then a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology, which he began to teach in 1927...

.

Roger V. Gould Prize

In 2002, the American Journal of Sociology created the Roger V. Gould prize in memory of its former editor. The $1,000 prize is awarded annually at the American Sociological Association annual meeting to the paper from the previous volume of the journal that most "clearly embodies Roger’s ideals as a sociologist: clarity, rigor, and scientific ambition combined with imagination on the one hand and a sure sense of empirical interest, importance, and accuracy on the other." Winners include Peter Bearman

Peter Bearman

Peter Shawn Bearman is an American sociologist. He is Jonathan Cole Professor of the Social Sciences in the Department of Sociology at Columbia University....

, John Levi Martin

John Levi Martin

John Levi Martin is an American sociologist. He is currently professor of sociology at the University of Chicago.He is the author of Social Structures and DAMN and ELLA ....

, Michael J. Rosenfeld, Elizabeth E. Bruch, Robert D. Mare, Shelley Correll, and Roberto Garvía.