You can publish an open access article in this diamond partnership journal. Authors in this journal are not required to pay an article processing charge (APC)

Author guidelines

Before you start

When submitting a manuscript, authors will be taken to a service called Paperpal Preflight, an AI-driven tool that checks manuscripts against the journal's author guidelines. Authors are free to use or bypass this step and submit directly to ScholarOne.

For queries relating to the status of your paper pre decision, please contact the Editor or Journal Editorial Office. For queries post acceptance, please contact the Supplier Project Manager. These details can be found in the Editorial Team section.

Author responsibilities

Our goal is to provide you with a professional and courteous experience at each stage of the review and publication process. There are also some responsibilities that sit with you as the author. Our expectation is that you will:

  • Respond swiftly to any queries during the publication process.
  • Be accountable for all aspects of your work. This includes investigating and resolving any questions about accuracy or research integrity
  • Treat communications between you and the journal editor as confidential until an editorial decision has been made.
  • Read about our research ethics for authorship. These state that you must:
    • Include anyone who has made a substantial and meaningful contribution to the submission (anyone else involved in the paper should be listed in the acknowledgements).
    • Exclude anyone who hasn’t contributed to the paper, or who has chosen not to be associated with the research.
    • In accordance with COPE’s position statement on AI tools, Large Language Models cannot be credited with authorship as they are incapable of conceptualising a research design without human direction and cannot be accountable for the integrity, originality, and validity of the published work.

Emerald’s Policy on AI Usage

Emerald’s overarching principles of AI usage:

1) Authors and peer reviewers are responsible and accountable for the accuracy and integrity of their work.&

2) AI tools and technology must be used responsibly and transparently.

3) AI tools and technology should not replace human involvement in the publication process but instead supplement it.

Copywriting (creating, drafting, or writing) any part of a submission using generative AI tools and technology to generate new material is not permitted.

Copy-editing (correcting, editing, formatting, modifying, or refining) all or part of an author’s own original existing work using generative AI tools and technology the content to improve its structure and the clarity of the language and grammar is permitted, ensuring users adhere to the following overarching principles.

Emerald’s full policy, including examples of use cases can be found on our Publishing Ethics page.

Research and publishing ethics

Our editors and employees work hard to ensure the content we publish is ethically sound. To help us achieve that goal, we closely follow the advice laid out in the guidelines and flowcharts on the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) website.

We have also developed our research and publishing ethics guidelines. If you haven’t already read these, we urge you to do so – they will help you avoid the most common publishing ethics issues.

A few key points:

  • Any manuscript you submit to this journal should be original. That means it should not have been published before in its current, or similar, form. Exceptions to this rule are outlined in our pre-print and conference paper policies.  If any substantial element of your paper has been previously published, you need to declare this to the journal editor upon submission. Please note, the journal editor may use Crossref Similarity Check to check on the originality of submissions received. This service compares submissions against a database of 49 million works from 800 scholarly publishers.
  • Your work should not have been submitted elsewhere and should not be under consideration by any other publication.
  • If you have a conflict of interest, you must declare it upon submission; this allows the editor to decide how they would like to proceed. Read about conflict of interest in our research and publishing ethics guidelines.
  • By submitting your work to Emerald, you are guaranteeing that the work is not in infringement of any existing copyright.

Third party copyright permissions

Prior to article submission, you need to ensure you’ve applied for, and received, written permission to use any material in your manuscript that has been created by a third party. Please note, we are unable to publish any article that still has permissions pending. The rights we require are:

  • Non-exclusive rights to reproduce the material in the article or book chapter.
  • Print and electronic rights.
  • Worldwide English-language rights.
  • To use the material for the life of the work. That means there should be no time restrictions on its re-use e.g. a one-year licence.

We are a member of the International Association of Scientific, Technical, and Medical Publishers (STM) and participate in the STM permissions guidelines, a reciprocal free exchange of material with other STM publishers.  In some cases, this may mean that you don’t need permission to re-use content. If so, please highlight this at the submission stage.

Please take a few moments to read our guide to publishing permissions to ensure you have met all the requirements, so that we can process your submission without delay.

Open access information

This is a sponsored open access journal, also referred to as diamond open access. Because it is published in partnership with an organisation, your article will be published open access, but you will not have to pay an APC (article processing charge) - publication is free. Your article will be published with a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 user licence, which outlines how readers can reuse your work.

You can find out more about our open access routes and read our FAQs on our open research page. 

Find out about open

Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) guidelines

We are a signatory of the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines, a framework that supports the reproducibility of research through the adoption of transparent research practices. That means we encourage you to:

  • Cite and fully reference all data, program code, and other methods in your article.
  • Include persistent identifiers, such as a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), in references for datasets and program codes. Persistent identifiers ensure future access to unique published digital objects, such as a piece of text or datasets. Persistent identifiers are assigned to datasets by digital archives, such as institutional repositories and partners in the Data Preservation Alliance for the Social Sciences (Data-PASS).
  • Follow appropriate international and national procedures with respect to data protection, rights to privacy and other ethical considerations, whenever you cite data. For further guidance please refer to our research and publishing ethics guidelines. For an example on how to cite datasets, please refer to the references section below.

Prepare your submission

Manuscript support services

We are pleased to partner with Editage, a platform that connects you with relevant experts in language support, translation, editing, visuals, consulting, and more. After you’ve agreed a fee, they will work with you to enhance your manuscript and get it submission-ready.

This is an optional service for authors who feel they need a little extra support. It does not guarantee your work will be accepted for review or publication.

Visit Editage

Manuscript requirements

Before you submit your manuscript, it’s important you read and follow the guidelines below. You will also find some useful tips in our structure your journal submission how-to guide.

Format

Article files should be provided in Microsoft Word format

While you are welcome to submit a PDF of the document alongside the Word file, PDFs alone are not acceptable. LaTeX files can also be used but only if an accompanying PDF document is provided. Acceptable figure file types are listed further below.

Article length / word count

Articles should be up to a maximum of 7500 words in length. This includes all text, for example, the structured abstract, references, all text in tables, and figures and appendices.

 

Please allow 280 words for each figure or table.

Article titleA concisely worded title should be provided.
Author details

The names of all contributing authors should be added to the ScholarOne submission; please list them in the order in which you’d like them to be published. Each contributing author will need their own ScholarOne author account, from which we will extract the following details:

  • Author email address (institutional preferred).
  • Author name. We will reproduce it exactly, so any middle names and/or initials they want featured must be included.
  • Author affiliation. This should be where they were based when the research for the paper was conducted.

In multi-authored papers, it’s important that ALL authors that have made a significant contribution to the paper are listed. Those who have provided support but have not contributed to the research should be featured in an acknowledgements section. You should never include people who have not contributed to the paper or who don’t want to be associated with the research. Read about our research ethics for authorship.

Biographies and acknowledgementsIf you want to include these items, save them in a separate Microsoft Word document and upload the file with your submission. Where they are included, a brief professional biography of not more than 100 words should be supplied for each named author.
Research fundingYour article must reference all sources of external research funding in the acknowledgements section. You should describe the role of the funder or financial sponsor in the entire research process, from study design to submission.
Structured abstract

All submissions must include a structured abstract, following the format outlined below.

These four sub-headings and their accompanying explanations must always be included:

  • Purpose
  • Design/methodology/approach
  • Findings
  • Originality

The following three sub-headings are optional and can be included, if applicable:

  • Research limitations/implications
  • Practical implications
  • Social implications


You can find some useful tips in our write an article abstract how-to guide.

The maximum length of your abstract should be 250 words in total, including keywords and article classification (see the sections below).

Keywords

Your submission should include up to 12 appropriate and short keywords that capture the principal topics of the paper. Our Creating an SEO-friendly manuscript how to guide contains some practical guidance on choosing search-engine friendly keywords.

Please note, while we will always try to use the keywords you’ve suggested, the in-house editorial team may replace some of them with matching terms to ensure consistency across publications and improve your article’s visibility.

Article classification

During the submission process, you will be asked to select a type for your paper; the options are listed below. If you don’t see an exact match, please choose the best fit:

You will also be asked to select a category for your paper. The options for this are listed below. If you don’t see an exact match, please choose the best fit:

Research paper. Reports on any type of research undertaken by the author(s), including:

  • The construction or testing of a model or framework
  • Action research
  • Testing of data, market research or surveys
  • Empirical, scientific or clinical research
  • Papers with a practical focus

Viewpoint. Covers any paper where content is dependent on the author's opinion and interpretation. This includes journalistic and magazine-style pieces.

Technical paper. Describes and evaluates technical products, processes or services.

Conceptual paper. Focuses on developing hypotheses and is usually discursive. Covers philosophical discussions and comparative studies of other authors’ work and thinking.

Case study. Describes actual interventions or experiences within organizations. It can be subjective and doesn’t generally report on research. Also covers a description of a legal case or a hypothetical case study used as a teaching exercise.

Literature review. This category should only be used if the main purpose of the paper is to annotate and/or critique the literature in a particular field. It could be a selective bibliography providing advice on information sources, or the paper may aim to cover the main contributors to the development of a topic and explore their different views.

General review. Provides an overview or historical examination of some concept, technique or phenomenon. Papers are likely to be more descriptive or instructional (‘how to’ papers) than discursive.

HeadingsHeadings must be concise, with a clear indication of the required hierarchy. 

The preferred format is for first level headings to be in bold, and subsequent sub-headings to be in medium italics.
Notes/endnotesNotes or endnotes should only be used if absolutely necessary. They should be identified in the text by consecutive numbers enclosed in square brackets. These numbers should then be listed, and explained, at the end of the article.
Figures

All figures (charts, diagrams, line drawings, webpages/screenshots, and photographic images) should be submitted electronically. Both colour and black and white files are accepted.

There are a few other important points to note:

  • All figures should be supplied at the highest resolution/quality possible with numbers and text clearly legible.
  • Acceptable formats are .ai, .eps, .jpeg, .bmp, and .tif.
  • Electronic figures created in other applications should be supplied in their original formats and should also be either copied and pasted into a blank MS Word document, or submitted as a PDF file.
  • All figures should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals and have clear captions.
  • All photographs should be numbered as Plate 1, 2, 3, etc. and have clear captions.
  • All figure/table captions should include the necessary credit line, acknowledgement, or attribution if you have been given permission to use the figure/table; if the figure/table is the property of the author(s), this should be acknowledged in the caption.
TablesTables should be typed and submitted in a separate file to the main body of the article. The position of each table should be clearly labelled in the main body of the article with corresponding labels clearly shown in the table file. Tables should be numbered consecutively in Roman numerals (e.g. I, II, etc.).

Give each table a brief title. Ensure that any superscripts or asterisks are shown next to the relevant items and have explanations displayed as footnotes to the table, figure or plate.
Supplementary files

Where tables, figures, appendices, and other additional content are supplementary to the article but not critical to the reader’s understanding of it, you can choose to host these supplementary files alongside your article on Insight, Emerald’s content-hosting platform (this is Emerald's recommended option as we are able to ensure the data remain accessible), or on an alternative trusted online repository.

Emerald recommends authors that they use the following two trusted lists of repositories: https://commons.datacite.org/repositories and https://www.re3data.org to identify the most suitable repository. Any and all supplementary material must be present/provided with the initial submission.

If you choose to host your supplementary files on Insight, you must submit these as separate files alongside your article. Files should be clearly labelled in such a way that makes it clear they are supplementary; Emerald recommends that the file name is descriptive and that it follows the format 'Supplementary_material_appendix_1' or 'Supplementary tables'. All supplementary material must be mentioned at the appropriate moment in the main text of the article; there is no need to include the content of the file only the file name. A link to the supplementary material will be added to the article during production, and the material will be made available alongside the main text of the article at the point of EarlyCite publication.

Please note that Emerald will not make any changes to the material; it will not be copy-edited or typeset, and authors will not receive proofs of this content. Emerald therefore strongly recommends that you style all supplementary material ahead of acceptance of the article.
Emerald Insight can host the following file types and extensions:

  • Adobe Acrobat (.pdf)
  • MS Word document (.doc, .docx)
  • MS Excel (.xls, xlsx)
  • MS PowerPoint (.pptx)
  • Image (.png, .jpeg, .gif)
  • Plain ASCII text (.txt)
  • PostScript (.ps)
  • Rich Text Format (.rtf)

If you choose to use an alternative trusted online repository, you should ensure that the supplementary material is hosted on the repository ahead of submission, and then include a link only to the repository within the article. It is the responsibility of the submitting author to ensure that the material is free to access and that it remains permanently available. Where an alternative trusted online repository is used, the files hosted should always be presented as read-only; please be aware that such usage risks compromising your anonymity during the review process if the repository contains any information that may enable the reviewer to identify you; as such, we recommend that all links to alternative repositories are reviewed carefully prior to submission.

Please note that extensive supplementary material may be subject to peer review; this is at the discretion of the journal Editor and dependent on the content of the material (for example, whether including it would support the reviewer making a decision on the article during the peer review process).

References

References to other publications must be in APA style and carefully checked for completeness, accuracy and consistency. This is very important in an electronic environment because it enables your readers to exploit the Reference Linking facility on the database and link back to the works you have cited through CrossRef.

Invert all authors’ names; give surnames and initials for up to and including seven authors. When authors number eight or more, include the first six authors’ names, then insert three ellipsis points, and add the last author’s name. For example:

Gilbert, D. G., McClernon, J. F., Rabinovich, N. E., Sugai, C., Plath, L. C., Asgaard, G., … Botros, N. (2004). Effects of quitting smoking on EEG activation and attention last for more than 31 days and are more severe with stress, dependence, DRD2 A 1 allele, and depressive traits. Nicotine and Tobacco Research6, 249–267. doi:1 0.1 080/1462220041 0001676305.

For references with the same surname and initials but different first name provide the first name as follows:

  •  
    • Janet, P. [Paul]. (1876). La notion de la personnalité [The notion of personality]. Revue Scientifique, 10, 574–575.
    • Janet, P. [Pierre]. (1906). The pathogenesis of some impulsions. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1, 1–17.

Text citation to be given as follows: (Paul Janet, 1876) (Pierre Janet, 1906)

For references of two or more primary authors with the same surname, include the first author's initials in all text citations, even if the year of publication differs.

  •  
    • Light, I. (2006). Deflecting immigration: Networks, markets, and regulation in Los Angeles. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
    • Light, M. A., & Light, I. H. (2008). The geographic expansion of Mexican immigration in the United States and its implications for local law enforcement. Law Enforcement Executive Forum Journal8, 73–82.

Examples of text citation: Among studies, we review M.A. Light and Light (2008). I. Light (2006) studies this concept.

If two references of more than three surnames with the same year shorten to the same form e.g. both Ireys, Chernoff, DeVet, & Kim, 2001, and Ireys, Chernoff, Stein, DeVet, & Silver, 2001 shorten to Ireys et al., 2001)

Then cite the surnames of the first authors and of as many of the subsequent authors as necessary to distinguish the two references, followed by a comma and et al.:

Ireys, Chernoff, DeVet, et al. (2001) and Ireys, Chernoff, Stein, et al. (2001)

  • Do not include personal communications, such as letters, memoranda, and informal electronic communications in references but do cite these in the text. Examples of a citation of personal communication are: (V. G. Nguyen, personal communication, September 28, 1999); T. K. Lutes (personal communication, April 18, 2001).

Use Arabic numerals even if some volume numbers of books and journals are given in roman numerals (e.g. Vol. 3 not Vol. III).

Examples of references: Journals:
  • Burns, P. (2002a). The intergovernmental regime: A public policy in Hartford, Connecticut. Journal of Urban Affairs24(7), 55–73.
  • Burns, P. (2002b). The intergovernmental regime: A public policy in Hartford, Connecticut. Journal of Urban Affairs24(September), 55–73.
  • Burns, P. (2002). The intergovernmental regime: A public policy in Hartford, Connecticut. Journal of Urban Affairs24(Autumn), 55–73.
  • Burns, P. (in press-a). The intergovernmental regime: A public policy in Hartford, Connecticut. Journal of Urban Affairs24(7), 55–73.
  • Burns, P., & Johanson, R. (Eds.). (2002). The intergovernmental regime: A public policy in Hartford, Connecticut. Journal of Urban Affairs24(7), 55–73.
Books:
  • Alexander, C. F. (1996). The theory and practice of Ku Klux Klan in the southwest. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press.
  • Alexander, C. F. (1996). The theory and practice of Ku Klux Klan in the southwest [Brochure]. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press.
  • American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). (2002). Statement on auditing standards no. 99: Consideration of fraud in a financial audit. New York, NY: AICPA.
  • Arnold, M. B. (1960). Emotion and personality: Psychological aspects (2nd ed., pp. 34–48). New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
  • Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary (10th ed.). (1993). London: Merriam-Webster.
  • Citation: (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 1993). 
Edited Books:
  • Bridges, A., Burns, B., & Cash, A. (1989). Becoming an American: The working classes in the United States before the Civil War. In I. Katezelson & A. Zolvo (Eds.), Working class formationA subject class (2nd ed., Vol. 6, pp. 110–125). Princeton, NJ: Wiley.
  • Bridges, A., & Burns, B. (with Cash, C. A.) (1989). Becoming an American: The working classes in the United States before the Civil War. In I. Katezelson (Ed.), Working class formationA subject class (2nd ed., Vol. 6, pp. 110–125). London: City University.
  • Bridges, A., Burns, B., & Cash, A. (Eds.). (1989). Becoming an American: The working classes in the United States before the Civil War. In Working class formationA subject class (2nd ed., Vol. 6, p. 125). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
  • Simmel, G. (1950). The stranger. In K. Wolff (Ed. & Trans.), The sociology of Georg Simmel. New York, NY: Free Press (Original work published in 1908).
PHD Thesis
  • Lowe, R. (1967). Racial segregation in Indiana. Ph.D. thesis, Ball State University, Munice, IN, USA.
Dissertation
  • Sinaceur, M. (2006). Suspending judgments to create value: Suspicion, distrust and trust in negotiations. Dissertation, Stanford University
Proceedings
  • Chalmers, D. (1965). Becoming an American in today’s world. In I. Katezelson (Ed.), Proceedings of the 4th international conference meeting, Bronx, Germany (pp. 1–27).
Unpublished data
  • Chalmers, D. (1965). Racial segregation in Indiana. Unpublished data. Department of Biotechnology, University of Antwerp, Belgium
Translation
  • John, A., Williams, R., & Monste, E. (2000). Article title in German. Journal name in German. [Translation of Journal Name in English.], 47, 1–10.
Book Translation
  • John, A., Williams, R., & Monste, E. (2000). In H. Johanson & K. Mark (Trans.), Book name in French (pp. 1–20). [Book name in English.] Place: Publisher
Book Series
  • John, A., Williams, R., & Monste, E. (2000). Article title. In T. Monste (Ed.), Book name. Book Title Series. Place: Publisher
Technical Report
  • Bonn, M. (2000). Racial segregation in Indiana. Technical Report no. 29876765. University of Wisconsin, WI, USA.
  • Author, A. (2001). Article title. Technical Report. Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin 1897287. University of Wisconsin, WI, USA.
  • Armstrong, J., Deeble, J., Dror, D. M., Rice, N., Thiede, M., & Van de Ven, W. P. M. M. (2004, February 16). The International Review Panel report to the South African Risk Equalization Fund Task Group. Retrieved from http://www.medicalschemes.com/publications/publications.aspx?catid=23. Accessed on March 9, 2007.
  • Armstrong, J., Deeble, J., & Dror, D. M. (2004, February 16). The International Review Panel report to the South African Risk Equalization Fund Task Group. Retrieved from http://www.medicalschemes.com/publications/publications.aspx?catid=23. Accessed on March 9
Working paper, mimeo, discussion paper
  • John, A. (2000). Article title. Working Paper No. 1897287. University of Wisconsin, WI.
  • John, A. (2001). Article title. Working Paper. Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin 1897287. University of Wisconsin, WI.
  • Bonn, M. (2000). Racial segregation in Indiana. Discussion paper. University of Wisconsin, WI.
Paper presented
  • John, A., Williams, R., & Monste, E. (2000). Value and the world economy today. Paper presented at the International Association of Conflict Management, Seville, Spain.
  • Wang, C. S., Phillips, K. W., Loyd, D. L., & Lount, R. B., Jr. (2005). The conflict between how we feel and how we think: Affective and cognitive reactions to disagreement from socially similar and dissimilar others. Paper presented at Academy of Management, Honolulu, HI.
Newspaper article
  • New York Times. (1980). Article title. New York Times, June 12, p. 168.
    John, R. (1990). Article title. New York Times, June 12, p. 45.
Manuscript submitted
  • Smith, P. K., & Bargh, J. A. (2004). Nonconscious effects of power on basic approach and avoidance tendencies. Manuscript submitted for publication.
  • Young, R. C., Keltner, D., Londahl, E. A., Capps, L. M., & Tauer, J. T. (1999). The pleasures of talking trash: Development, social status, and teasing. Unpublished manuscript.
URL
DOI
  • Schiraldi, G. R. (2001). The post-traumatic stress disorder sourcebook: A guide to healing, recovery, and growth [Adobe Digital Editions version]. doi:10.1036/0071393

Submit your manuscript

There are a number of key steps you should follow to ensure a smooth and trouble-free submission.

Double check your manuscript

Before submitting your work, it is your responsibility to check that the manuscript is complete, grammatically correct, and without spelling or typographical errors. A few other important points:

  • Give the journal aims and scope a final read. Is your manuscript definitely a good fit? If it isn’t, the editor may decline it without peer review.
  • Does your manuscript comply with our research and publishing ethics guidelines?
  • Have you cleared any necessary publishing permissions?
  • Have you followed all the formatting requirements laid out in these author guidelines?
  • Does the manuscript contain any information that might help the reviewer identify you? This could compromise the blind peer review process. A few tips:
    • If you need to refer to your own work, use wording such as ‘previous research has demonstrated’ not ‘our previous research has demonstrated’.
    • If you need to refer to your own, currently unpublished work, don’t include this work in the reference list.
    • Any acknowledgments or author biographies should be uploaded as separate files.
    • Carry out a final check to ensure that no author names appear anywhere in the manuscript. This includes in figures or captions.

You will find a helpful submission checklist on the website Think.Check.Submit.

The submission process

All manuscripts should be submitted through our editorial system by the corresponding author.

A separate author account is required for each journal you submit to. If this is your first time submitting to this journal, please choose the Create an account or Register now option in the editorial system. If you already have an Emerald login, you are welcome to reuse the existing username and password here.

Please note, the next time you log into the system, you will be asked for your username. This will be the email address you entered when you set up your account.

Don't forget to add your ORCiD ID during the submission process. It will be embedded in your published article, along with a link to the ORCiD registry allowing others to easily match you with your work.

Don’t have one yet? It only takes a few moments to register for a free ORCiD identifier.

Visit the ScholarOne support centre for further help and guidance.

What you can expect next

You will receive an automated email from the journal editor, confirming your successful submission. It will provide you with a manuscript number, which will be used in all future correspondence about your submission. If you have any reason to suspect the confirmation email you receive might be fraudulent, please contact our Rights team.

Post submission

Review and decision process

Each submission is checked by the editor. At this stage, they may choose to decline or unsubmit your manuscript if it doesn’t fit the journal aims and scope, or they feel the language/manuscript quality is too low.

If they think it might be suitable for the publication, they will send it to at least two independent referees for double blind peer review.  Once these reviewers have provided their feedback, the editor may decide to accept your manuscript, request minor or major revisions, or decline your work.

While all journals work to different timescales, the goal is that the editor will inform you of their first decision within 60 days.

During this period, we will send you automated updates on the progress of your manuscript via our submission system, or you can log in to check on the current status of your paper.  Each time we contact you, we will quote the manuscript number you were given at the point of submission. If you receive an email that does not match these criteria, it could be fraudulent and we recommend you email [email protected].

If your submission is accepted

Copyright

All accepted authors are sent an email with a link to a licence form.  This should be checked for accuracy, for example whether contact and affiliation details are up to date and your name is spelled correctly, and then returned to us electronically. If there is a reason why you can’t assign copyright to us, you should discuss this with your journal content editor. You will find their contact details on the editorial team section above.

Proofing and typesetting

Once we have received your completed licence form, the article will pass directly into the production process. We will carry out editorial checks, copyediting, and typesetting and then return proofs to you (if you are the corresponding author) for your review. This is your opportunity to correct any typographical errors, grammatical errors or incorrect author details. We can’t accept requests to rewrite texts at this stage.

When the page proofs are finalised, the fully typeset and proofed version of record is published online. This is referred to as the EarlyCite version. While an EarlyCite article has yet to be assigned to a volume or issue, it does have a digital object identifier (DOI) and is fully citable. It will be compiled into an issue according to the journal’s issue schedule, with papers being added by chronological date of publication.

How to share your paper

Visit our author rights page to find out how you can reuse and share your work.

To find tips on increasing the visibility of your published paper, read about how to promote your work.

Correcting inaccuracies in your published paper

Sometimes errors are made during the research, writing and publishing processes. When these issues arise, we have the option of withdrawing the paper or introducing a correction notice. Find out more about our article withdrawal and correction policies.

Need to make a change to the author list? See our frequently asked questions (FAQs) below.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a submission fee
for the journal?

The only time we will ever ask you for money to publish in an Emerald journal is if you have chosen to publish via the gold open access route. You will be asked to pay an APC (article processing charge) once your paper has been accepted (unless it is a sponsored open access journal). 

Read about our APCs

At no other time will you be asked to contribute financially towards your article’s publication. If you haven’t chosen gold open access and you receive an email which appears to be from Emerald, asking you for payment to publish, please contact our Rights team.

How can I become
a reviewer for a journal?
Please contact the editor for the journal, with a copy of your CV. You will find their contact details on the editorial team tab on this page.
Who do I contact if I want to find out which volume and issue my accepted paper will appear in?Typically, papers are added to an issue according to their date of publication. If you would like to know in advance which issue your paper will appear in, please contact the content editor of the journal. You will find their contact details on the editorial team tab on this page. Once your paper has been published in an issue, you will be notified by email.
Who do I contact if I have
a query about my submission?
Please email the journal editor – you will find their contact details on the editorial team tab on this page. If you ever suspect an email you’ve received from Emerald might not be genuine, you are welcome to verify it with the content editor for the journal, whose contact details can be found on the editorial team tab on this page. Alternatively, you can email our Rights team.
Is my paper suitable
for the journal?
If you’ve read the aims and scope on the journal landing page and are still unsure whether your paper is suitable for the journal, please email the editor and include your paper's title and structured abstract. They will be able to advise on your manuscript’s suitability. You will find their contact details on the Editorial team tab on this page.
How do I make a change to the list of authors once the manuscript has been submitted?Authorship and the order in which the authors are listed on the paper should be agreed prior to submission. We have a right first time policy on this and no changes can be made to the list once submitted. If you have made an error in the submission process, please email the Journal Editorial Office who will look into your request – you will find their contact details on the editorial team tab on this page.
Editorial team
  • Editor-in-Chief

  • Editor

  • Editorial Advisory Board

    • Anurag Agarwal
      Department of Information Systems and Operations Management, Lutgert College of Business, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida - USA
    • Vishwnath V. Baba
      DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University - Canada
    • Indranil Bose
      IIM Calcutta - India
    • Yogesh K. Dwivedi
      School of Management, Swansea University, Wales - UK
    • Balaji Krishnan
      Department of Marketing & Supply Chain Management, Fogelman College, University of Memphis - USA
    • Vikas Kumar
      Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK
    • Vikash Kumar
      The University of Sydney Business School, The University of Sydney - Australia
    • Kee-Hung (Mike) Lai
      The Hong Kong Polytechnic University - Hong-Kong
    • Amiyatosh Purnanandam
      Ross School of Business, University of Michigan - USA
    • Suprateek Sarker
      University of Virginia - USA
    • Jagdish Sheth
      Goizueta Business School, Emory University - USA
    • Ramadhar Singh
      Amrut Mody School of Management, Ahmedabad University - India
    • Moneedipa Tarafdar
      Lancaster University Management School - UK
    • M K Tiwari
      NITIE, Mumbai - India
    • Arup Varma
      Quinlan School of Business, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago - USA
    • Justin Zhang
      Department of Management, Coggin College of Business, University of North Florida - United States
  • Associate Editor

    • Vipin Gupta
      California State University - USA
      [email protected]
    • Manish Bansal
      Indian Institute of Management, Ranchi - India
      [email protected]
    • James Blair
      Assistant Professor of Marketing, Eastern Kentucky University - USA
      [email protected]
    • Yogesh Chauhan
      Indian Institute of Management, Raipur - India
      [email protected]
    • Rajasekhar David
      Indian Institute of Management, Ranchi - India
      [email protected]
    • Nadia Doytch
      Professor in Economics, Murray Koppelman School of Business, City University of New York - USA
      [email protected]
    • Rakesh Gupta
      Charles Darwin University, NT - Australia
      [email protected]
    • Masoud Khakdaman
      College of Business, Abu Dhabi University - UAE
      [email protected]
    • Anupriya Khan
      Indian Institute of Management, Ranchi - India
      [email protected]
    • Sona Klucarova
      Department of Marketing & Entrepreneurship, College of Business Administration, University of Nebraska at Omaha - USA
      [email protected]
    • Aman Kumar
      Indian Institute of Management Ranchi - India
    • Amit Kumar
      College of Business (COB), Abu Dhabi University, UAE
      [email protected]
    • Moinak Maiti
      University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg - South Africa
      [email protected]
    • Dnyaneshwar Mogale
      Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, UK
      [email protected]
    • Belgin Okay-Somerville
      University of Glasgow - UK
      [email protected]
    • Devendra Potnis
      School of Information Sciences, The University of Tennessee at Knoxville, US
      [email protected]
    • Andrzej Raszkowski
      Wroclaw University of Economics and Business - Poland
      [email protected]
    • Ravinder Rena
      Durban University of Technology, Durban - South Africa
      [email protected]
    • Prof. Tuhin Sengupta
      Indian Institute of Management, Ranchi - India
      [email protected]
    • Kumar Shaurav
      Indian Institute of Management Ranchi - India
    • Shiwangi Singh
      Indian Institute of Management, Ranchi - India
      [email protected]
    • Vidya Sukumara Panicker
      Loughborough Business School, UK
      [email protected]
  • Editorial Review Board

    • Richard Boyatzis
      Case Western Reserve University, Ohio - USA
    • Jenika Gobind
      Wits Business School, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg - South Africa
    • Dewasiri Jayantha
      Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka - Sri Lanka
  • Editorial Assistant

    • Choudhury A. Das
      Indian Institute of Management, Ranchi - India
  • Publisher

  • Journal Editorial Office (For queries related to pre-acceptance)

  • Supplier Project Manager (For queries related to post-acceptance)

Indexing & metrics

Publication timeline

Time to first decision

35

days

Time to first decision

35

days

Further information

Time to first decision, expressed in days, the "first decision" occurs when the journal’s editorial team reviews the peer reviewers’ comments and recommendations. Based on this feedback, they decide whether to accept, reject, or request revisions for the manuscript.

Data is taken from submissions between 1st April 2024 and 31st March 2025

Acceptance to publication

31

days

Acceptance to publication

31

days

Further information

Acceptance to publication, expressed in days, is the average time between when the journal’s editorial team decide whether to accept, reject, or request revisions for the manuscript and the date of publication in the journal. 

 

Data is taken from the previous 12 months (Last updated July 2024)

Acceptance rate

9.7

%

Acceptance rate

9.7

%

Further information

The acceptance rate is a measurement of how many manuscripts a journal accepts for publication compared to the total number of manuscripts submitted expressed as a percentage %

Data is taken from submissions between 1st April 2024 and 31st March 2025.


Usage

Downloads

11182

Articles

Downloads

11182

Articles

Further information

This figure is the total amount of downloads for all articles published early cite in the last 12 months

 

(Last updated: April 2025)

This journal is included in the following abstract and indexing services:

  • Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
  • EBSCO Discovery Service
  • Google Scholar
  • Summons (ProQuest)
  • WorldCat
Reviewers

Reviewer information


Peer review process

This journal engages in a double-anonymous peer review process, which strives to match the expertise of a reviewer with the submitted manuscript. Reviews are completed with evidence of thoughtful engagement with the manuscript, provide constructive feedback, and add value to the overall knowledge and information presented in the manuscript.

Mission

The mission of the peer review process is to achieve excellence and rigour in scholarly publications and research.

Vision

Our vision is to give voice to professionals in the subject area who contribute unique and diverse scholarly perspectives to the field.

Values

The journal values diverse perspectives from the field and reviewers who provide critical, constructive, and respectful feedback to authors. Reviewers come from a variety of organizations, careers, and backgrounds from around the world.

Ethics

All invitations to review, abstracts, manuscripts, and reviews should be kept confidential. Reviewers must not share their review or information about the review process with anyone without the agreement of the editors and authors involved, even after publication. This also applies to other reviewers’ “comments to author” which are shared with you on decision.


Resources to guide you through the review process

Discover practical tips and guidance on all aspects of peer review in our reviewers' section. See how being a reviewer could benefit your career, and discover what's involved in shaping a review.

More reviewer information


Calls for papers & news

Calls for papers

Closes:
30 Jun 2026

Call for Papers - Sustainability in Organizations and Supply Chains: Technology-Enabled Transformation, Governance, Strategic Management and Accounting - And Beyond

IIM Ranchi Journal of Management Studies

Background and motivationSustainability has become a defining agenda for organizations, regulators, investors, and communities. Firms are expected to demonstrate credible progress on decarbonization, resource stewardship, circular economy...

Guest editor(s):
Professor Kashi Balachandran, Professor Paolo Taticchi, Dr Alessandro Merendino
Call for Papers - Sustainability in Organizations and Supply Chains: Technology-Enabled Transformation, Governance, Strategic Management and Accounting - And Beyond

IIM Ranchi Journal of Management Studies Special Issue Guide

IIM Ranchi Journal of Management Studies

A special issue allows a journal to focus on a topic – often in a new or emerging area – and explore it in depth or provide alternative perspectives. Special issues can also collate the best papers presented at a conference. They can even take an ...

IIM Ranchi Journal of Management Studies Special Issue Guide

Call for Papers for IIM Ranchi Journal of Management Studies (IRJMS)

IIM Ranchi Journal of Management Studies

Call for Papers For IIM Ranchi Journal of Management St...

Call for Papers for IIM Ranchi Journal of Management Studies (IRJMS)

News

Thank you to our 2021 Reviewers

The publishing and editorial teams would like to thank the following for their invaluable service as 2021 reviewers for IIM Ranchi Journal of Management Studies. We are very grateful for all the cont...

16/09/2022
Thank you to our 2021 Reviewers

Emerald Publishing proudly partners with the Indian Institute of Management Ranchi to publish its Journal of Management Studies

Emerald Publishing has announced it has partnered with the Indian Institute of Management Ranchi to publish its Journal of Management Studies. The IIM Ranchi Journal ...

05/07/2022
Emerald Publishing proudly partners with the Indian Institute of Management Ranchi to publish its Journal of Management Studies

IIM Ranchi Journal of Management Studies is an academic, peer reviewed journal publishing research on all aspects of management. Published open access by Emerald on behalf of the Indian Institute of Management Ranchi.

ISSN: 2754-0138
eISSN: 2754-0146

You can publish an open access article in this diamond partnership journal. Authors in this journal are not required to pay an article processing charge (APC)

Aims and scope

The IIM Ranchi Journal of Management Studies is a bi-annual international journal for publishing the finest peer-reviewed, original research in all fields of management and the related areas such as economics and psychology. Critical review articles and application-oriented cases are also welcome. Manuscripts with originality, importance, interdisciplinary interest, sound research methodology and industry-relevant conclusions are strongly encouraged for submission to this journal. As the management area is continuously evolving, this journal provides a forum for the discussion on present condition, opportunities, challenges and issues concerning the management-related fields

The IIM Ranchi Journal of Management Studies is aimed not only at students, researchers and practitioners, but also at anyone concerned with the management-related issues.

The main themes include but are not limited to general management, strategic management, marketing, advertising, human resources management, organizational studies, information management, industrial management, entrepreneurship and innovation, small and family business management, financial management, accounting, operations management, managing global and international business, managing supply chain, managing e-business practices, social media etc.

Peer Review

IIM Ranchi Journal of Management Studies operates a double blind peer review model. All articles undergo an initial assessment by the journal editor. If they are considered suitable for peer review, articles will then be a reviewed by a minimum of two external reviewers to assess their suitability for publication. Final responsibility for editorial decisions rest with the journal editor.

Open Access

All articles published in IIM Ranchi Journal of Management Studies are published Open Access under a CC BY 4.0 licence. For further information on licencing please see the author guidelines.

Publishing Services Partnership

IIM Ranchi Journal of Management Studies is published by Emerald Group Publishing on behalf of Indian Institute of Management Ranchi, who owns the title. IIM Ranchi Journal of Management Studies is published under a diamond OA arrangement, in that all charges for publishing an OA article in the Journal are funded by Indian Institute of Management Ranchi. Therefore, there is no charge to the author.

This title is aligned with our responsible management goal

We aim to champion researchers, practitioners, policymakers and organisations who share our goals of contributing to a more ethical, responsible and sustainable way of working.

SDG 1 No poverty
SDG 2 Zero hunger
SDG 8 Decent work & economic growth
SDG 9 Industry, innovation & infrastructure
SDG 10 Reduced inequalities
SDG 11 Sustainable cities & communities
SDG 12 Responsible consumption & production
SDG 13 Climate action
Find out about our responsible management goal

  1. Journal Ownership: IIM Ranchi Journal of Management Studies is published by Emerald Publishing on behalf of the Indian Institute of Management Ranchi (IIMR).
  2. Governing Body: The editorial team is appointed and managed by the IIMR. The journal is governed by the editorial team in collaboration with Emerald Publishing.
     
  3. Peer Review Process: The journal operates a double blind peer review model. All articles undergo an initial assessment by the journal editor. If they are considered suitable for consideration, articles will then be a reviewed by a minimum of two external reviewers to assess suitability for publication. Final responsibility for editorial decisions rests with the Editor-in-Chief of the journal.
  4. Editorial team/contact information: Contact details for the editorial team can be found on this page. Queries may also be directed to Emerald’s Publishing team as follows:
    Ed Mottram - [email protected]
  5. Copyright: All articles in the journal are published Open Access under a Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY-4.0). This allows authors to retain copyright of their work whilst others can share, use and build upon this work created as long as appropriate attribution is given.
  6. Author Fees: The journal is published under a Diamond Open Access arrangement, in that all costs associated with publishing an Open Access article in the journal are funded by the IIMR. There are currently no Article Processing Charges to the author(s).
     
  7. Allegations of Misconduct: All journals published by Emerald are members of and subscribe to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics. In the event of any allegation of research or publication misconduct the publisher and editor will adhere to COPE guidelines in dealing with such allegations.
  8. Conflicts of interest: Authors are asked to declare any financial or ethical conflicts of interest upon submitting their work to the journal. Difficult cases will be referred to the Committee on Publishing Ethics (COPE) for advice.
     
  9. Frequency: The journal publishes two issues per annum
     
  10. Access: All journal articles are published Open Access on EmeraldInsight.com - http://www.emeraldinsight.com/loi/aea under a CCBY 4.0 licence (please see section 5).
     
  11. Revenue sources: The journal is published under a Diamond Open Access arrangement, in that all costs associated with publishing an Open Access article in the journal are funded by the IIMR.
     
  12. Advertising: The journal does not accept direct advertising
     
  13. Archiving: Emerald provides perpetual access for all e-journal content by working with digital preservation schemes Portico, LOCKSS and CLOCKSS.
     
  14. Direct marketing: On occasion the journal will use direct marketing activities (primarily email campaigns) to raise awareness of the journal and to invite authors to submit articles.   Marketing activities are conducted by the IIMR unless otherwise agreed with Emerald.

This statement was updated by Sophia Walton (Emerald Publishing Services) 30 March 2026.