Author guidelines

Before you start

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. The author(s) must describe the content created or modified as well as appropriately cite the name and version of the AI tool used; any additional works drawn on by the AI tool should also be appropriately cited and referenced. Standard tools that are used to improve spelling and grammar are not included within the parameters of this guidance. The Editor and Publisher reserve the right to determine whether the use of an AI tool is permissible.
  • If your article involves human participants, you must ensure you have considered whether or not you require ethical approval for your research, and include this information as part of your submission. Find out more about informed consent.

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.Failure to comply with this may result in your work being desk-rejected by the journal editorial office.
  • 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.
  • If you have written about a company/individual/organisation in detail using information that is not publicly available, have spent time within that company/organisation, or the work features named/interviewed employees, you will need to clear permission by using the consent to publish form; please also see our permissions guidance for full details. If you have to clear permission with the company/individual/organisation, consent must be given either by the named individual in question or their representative, a board member of the company/organisation, or a HR department representative of the company/organisation.
  • You have an ethical obligation and responsibility to conduct your research in adherence to national and international research ethics guidelines, as well as the ethical principles outlined by your discipline and any relevant authorities, and to be transparent about your research methods in such a way that all involved in the publication process may fairly and appropriately evaluate your work. For all research involving human participants, you must ensure that you have obtained informed consent, meaning that you must inform all participants in your work (or their legal representative) as to why the research is being conducted, whether their anonymity is protected, how their data will be stored and used, and whether there are any associated risks from participation in the study; the submitted work must confirm that informed consent was obtained and detail how this was addressed in accordance with our policy on informed consent.  
  • Where appropriate, you must provide an ethical statement within the submitted work confirming that your research received institutional and national (or international) ethical approval, and that it complies with all relevant guidelines and regulations for studies involving humans, whether that be data, individuals, or samples. Specifically, the statement should contain the name and location of the institutional ethics reviewing committee or review board, the approval number, the date of approval, and the details of the national or international guidelines that were followed, as well as any other relevant information. You should also include details of how the work adheres to relevant consent guidelines along with confirming that informed consent was secured for all participants. The details of these statements should ensure that author and participant anonymity is not compromised. Any work submitted without a suitable ethical statement and details of informed consent for all participants, where required, will be returned to the authors and will not be considered further until appropriate and clear documentation is provided. Emerald reserves the right to reject work without sufficient evidence of informed consent from human participants and ethical approval where required.

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 submissions and information

All our journals currently offer two open access (OA) publishing paths; gold open access and green open access.

If you would like to, or are required to, make the branded publisher PDF (also known as the version of record) freely available immediately upon publication, you can select the gold open access route once your paper is accepted. 

If you’ve chosen to publish gold open access, this is the point you will be asked to pay the APC (article processing charge). This varies per journal and can be found on our APC price list or on the editorial system at the point of submission. Your article will be published with a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 user licence, which outlines how readers can reuse your work.

Alternatively, if you would like to, or are required to, publish open access but your funding doesn’t cover the cost of the APC, you can choose the green open access, or self-archiving, route. As soon as your article is published, you can make the author accepted manuscript (the version accepted for publication) openly available, free from payment and embargo periods.

You can find out more about our open access routes, our APCs and waivers 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 10000 words in length. This includes all text, for example, the structured abstract, references, all text in tables, and figures and appendices.

 

Please allow 250 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 acknowledgements

If 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:

  • Original Research Paper
  • Review Paper
  • Case Study
  • Technical Note
  • Commentaries
  • Conference News/Events
  • Book Reviews
  • Viewpoint

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.
Tables

Tables 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. All supplementary material must be submitted prior to acceptance.

Emerald recommends that authors use the following two lists when searching for a suitable and trusted repository:

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

All references in your manuscript must be formatted using one of the recognised Harvard styles. You are welcome to use the Harvard style Emerald has adopted – we’ve provided a detailed guide below. Want to use a different Harvard style? That’s fine, our typesetters will make any necessary changes to your manuscript if it is accepted. Please ensure you check all your citations for completeness, accuracy and consistency.

Emerald’s Harvard referencing style

References to other publications in your text should be written as follows:

  • Single author: (Adams, 2006)
  • Two authors: (Adams and Brown, 2006)
  • Three or more authors: (Adams et al., 2006) Please note, ‘et al' should always be written in italics.

A few other style points. These apply to both the main body of text and your final list of references.

  • When referring to pages in a publication, use ‘p.(page number)’ for a single page or ‘pp.(page numbers)’ to indicate a page range.
  • Page numbers should always be written out in full, e.g. 175-179, not 175-9.
  • Where a colon or dash appears in the title of an article or book chapter, the letter that follows that colon or dash should always be lower case.
  • When citing a work with multiple editors, use the abbreviation ‘Ed.s’.

At the end of your paper, please supply a reference list in alphabetical order using the style guidelines below. Where a DOI is available, this should be included at the end of the reference.

For books

Surname, initials (year), title of book, publisher, place of publication.

e.g. Harrow, R. (2005), No Place to Hide, Simon & Schuster, New York, NY.

For book chapters

Surname, initials (year), "chapter title", editor's surname, initials (Ed.), title of book, publisher, place of publication, page numbers.

e.g. Calabrese, F.A. (2005), "The early pathways: theory to practice – a continuum", Stankosky, M. (Ed.), Creating the Discipline of Knowledge Management, Elsevier, New York, NY, pp.15-20.

For journals

Surname, initials (year), "title of article", journal name, volume issue, page numbers.

e.g. Capizzi, M.T. and Ferguson, R. (2005), "Loyalty trends for the twenty-first century", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp.72-80.

For published 
conference proceedings

Surname, initials (year of publication), "title of paper", in editor’s surname, initials (Ed.), title of published proceeding which may include place and date(s) held, publisher, place of publication, page numbers.

e.g. Wilde, S. and Cox, C. (2008), “Principal factors contributing to the competitiveness of tourism destinations at varying stages of development”, in Richardson, S., Fredline, L., Patiar A., & Ternel, M. (Ed.s), CAUTHE 2008: Where the 'bloody hell' are we?, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Qld, pp.115-118.

For unpublished 
conference proceedings

Surname, initials (year), "title of paper", paper presented at [name of conference], [date of conference], [place of conference], available at: URL if freely available on the internet (accessed date).

e.g. Aumueller, D. (2005), "Semantic authoring and retrieval within a wiki", paper presented at the European Semantic Web Conference (ESWC), 29 May-1 June, Heraklion, Crete, available at: http://dbs.uni-leipzig.de/file/aumueller05wiksar.pdf (accessed 20 February 2007).

For working papers

Surname, initials (year), "title of article", working paper [number if available], institution or organization, place of organization, date.

e.g. Moizer, P. (2003), "How published academic research can inform policy decisions: the case of mandatory rotation of audit appointments", working paper, Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds, Leeds, 28 March.

For encyclopaedia entries 
(with no author or editor)

Title of encyclopaedia (year), "title of entry", volume, edition, title of encyclopaedia, publisher, place of publication, page numbers.

e.g. Encyclopaedia Britannica (1926), "Psychology of culture contact", Vol. 1, 13th ed., Encyclopaedia Britannica, London and New York, NY, pp.765-771.

(for authored entries, please refer to book chapter guidelines above)

For newspaper 
articles (authored)

Surname, initials (year), "article title", newspaper, date, page numbers.

e.g. Smith, A. (2008), "Money for old rope", Daily News, 21 January, pp.1, 3-4.

For newspaper 
articles (non-authored)

Newspaper (year), "article title", date, page numbers.

e.g. Daily News (2008), "Small change", 2 February, p.7.

For archival or other unpublished sources

Surname, initials (year), "title of document", unpublished manuscript, collection name, inventory record, name of archive, location of archive.

e.g. Litman, S. (1902), "Mechanism & Technique of Commerce", unpublished manuscript, Simon Litman Papers, Record series 9/5/29 Box 3, University of Illinois Archives, Urbana-Champaign, IL.

For electronic sources

If available online, the full URL should be supplied at the end of the reference, as well as the date that the resource was accessed.

Surname, initials (year), “title of electronic source”, available at: persistent URL (accessed date month year).

e.g. Weida, S. and Stolley, K. (2013), “Developing strong thesis statements”, available at: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/588/1/ (accessed 20 June 2018)

Standalone URLs, i.e. those without an author or date, should be included either inside parentheses within the main text, or preferably set as a note (Roman numeral within square brackets within text followed by the full URL address at the end of the paper).

For data

Surname, initials (year), title of dataset, name of data repository, available at: persistent URL, (accessed date month year).

e.g. Campbell, A. and Kahn, R.L. (2015), American National Election Study, 1948, ICPSR07218-v4, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (distributor), Ann Arbor, MI, available at: https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07218.v4 (accessed 20 June 2018)

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 anonymous 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.

The only way to submit to the journal is through the journal’s ScholarOne site as accessed via the Emerald website, and not by email or through any third-party agent/company, journal representative, or website. Submissions should be done directly by the author(s) through the ScholarOne site and not via a third-party proxy on their behalf.

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 the journal editor in the first instance.

Post submission

Review and decision process

Each submission is screened and checked by the journal’s editorial office. At this stage, they may choose to decline or un-submit your manuscript if it doesn’t fit the journal’s submission policies, 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 anonymous 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.

This journal offers an article transfer service. If the editor decides to decline your manuscript, either before or after peer review, they may offer to transfer it to a more relevant Emerald journal in this field. If you accept, your ScholarOne author account, and the accounts of your co-authors, will automatically transfer to the new journal, along with your manuscript and any accompanying peer review reports. However, you will still need to log in to ScholarOne to complete the submission process using your existing username and password. While accepting a transfer does not guarantee the receiving journal will publish your work, an editor will only suggest a transfer if they feel your article is a good fit with the new title.

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 contact the journal editor in the first instance.

Manuscript transfer service

Emerald’s manuscript transfer service takes the pain out of the submission process if your manuscript doesn’t fit your initial journal choice. Our team of expert Editors from participating journals work together to identify alternative journals that better align with your research, ensuring your work finds the ideal publication home it deserves. Our dedicated team is committed to supporting authors like you in finding the right home for your research.

If a journal is participating in the manuscript transfer program, the Editor has the option to recommend your paper for transfer. If a transfer decision is made by the Editor, you will receive an email with the details of the recommended journal and the option to accept or reject the transfer. It’s always down to you as the author to decide if you’d like to accept. If you do accept, your paper and any reviewer reports will automatically be transferred to the recommended journals. Authors will then confirm resubmissions in the new journal’s ScholarOne system.

Our Manuscript Transfer Service page has more information on the process.

If your submission is accepted

Open access

Once your paper is accepted, you will have the opportunity to indicate whether you would like to publish your paper via the gold open access route.

If you’ve chosen to publish gold open access, this is the point you will be asked to pay the APC (article processing charge).  This varies per journal and can be found on our APC price list or on the editorial system at the point of submission. Your article will be published with a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 user licence, which outlines how readers can reuse your work.

For UK journal article authors - if you wish to submit your work accepted by Emerald to REF 2029, you must make a ‘closed deposit’ of your accepted manuscript to your respective institutional repository upon acceptance of your article. Articles accepted for publication after 1st January 2021 should be deposited as soon as possible, but no later than three months after the acceptance date. For further information and guidance, please refer to the REF 2029 website. Emerald is one of only a handful of publishers that doesn’t impose an embargo period. You may deposit your author accepted manuscript at any point, but it must not be made publicly accessible until official publication (i.e. as soon as it appears on Emerald Insight in its final typeset version).

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), and never at submission.

Read about our APCs

At no other time will you be asked to contribute financially towards your article’s publication, processing, or review. If you haven’t chosen gold open access and you receive an email that appears to be from Emerald, the journal, or a third party, asking you for payment to publish, please contact our support team via [email protected].

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.
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

  • Managing Editor

  • Associate Editors

    • Professor Abiola Akanmu
      Virginia Tech University - USA
    • Dr Svetlana Besklubova
      University of Cambridge - UK
    • Professor Saleh Abu Dabous
      University of Sharjah - UAE
    • Dr Daniel Luiz De Mattos Nascimento
      Universitat de Barcelona Business School - Spain
    • Dr Faris Elghaish
      Queen's University Belfast - UK
    • Dr Mohammad Fotouhi
      Delft University of Technology - The Netherlands
    • Professor Amirhosein Ghaffarianhoseini
      Auckland University of Technology - New Zealand
    • Professor Ipek Gürsel Dino
      Middle East Technical University - Turkey
    • Associate Professor Carol Hon
      Queensland University of Technology - Australia
    • Dr M. Reza Hosseini
      The University of Melbourne - Australia
    • Professor Ümit Işıkdağ
      Mimar Sinan Güzel Sanatlar Üniversitesi - Turkey
    • Professor Joseph Lai
      Hong Kong Polytechnic University - Hong Kong
    • Professor Xiao Li
      Faculty of Engineering, The University of Hong Kong - Hong Kong
    • Associate Professor Behzad Najafi
      Politecnico di Milano - Italy
    • Professor Chansik Park
      Chung-Ang University - South Korea
    • Professor Sergio Rodriguez
      Teesside University - UK
  • Publisher

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

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

  • Editorial Advisory Board

    • Professor Robert Amor
      University of Auckland - New Zealand
    • Professor Chimay Anumba
      The University of Florida - USA
    • Professor Emeritus Tomasz Arciszewski
      George Mason University - USA
    • Professor Salman Azhar
      Auburn University - USA
    • Professor Ioannis Brilakis
      Cambridge University - UK
    • Distinguished Professor Albert Chan
      Hong Kong Polytechnic University - Hong Kong
    • Professor Jack Cheng
      Hong Kong University of Science and Technology - Hong Kong
    • Professor Irem Dikmen
      University of Reading - UK
    • Professor David Edwards
      Birmingham City University - UK
    • Professor Núria Forcada
      Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - Spain
    • Professor Borja García de Soto
      New York University Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates
    • Professor Ali Ghaffarianhoseini
      Auckland University of Technology - New Zealand
    • Professor Jack Steven Goulding
      UnisearchUK Ltd. - UK
    • Professor Rahinah Ibrahim
      Universiti Putra Malaysia - Malaysia
    • Professor Mohamad Kassem
      Newcastle University - UK
    • Professor Thomas Linner
      Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Regensburg - Germany
    • Professor Kerry London
      Torrens University Australia - Australia
    • Professor Carol Menassa
      University of Michigan - USA
    • Professor Raufdeen Rameezdeen
      University of South Australia - Australia
    • Professor Suresh Renukappa
      University of Wolverhampton - United Kingdom
    • Professor Ashraf Salama
      University of Northumbria, Newcastle upon Tyne - UK
    • Professor Mirosław Skibniewski
      University of Maryland - USA
  • Editorial Review Board

    • Dr Fonbeyin Henry Abanda
      École Nationale Supérieure des Travaux Publics - Cameroon
    • Dr Maszura Abdul Ghafar
      Universiti Putra Malaysia - Malaysia
    • Dr Sepehr Abrishami
      Portsmouth University - UK
    • Dr Nana Akua Adu-Amankwa
      University of Strathclyde - UK
    • Professor Yasemin Afacan
      Bilkent University - Turkey
    • Associate Professor Kofi Agyekum
      Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi - Ghana
    • Dr Muhammad Riaz Ahmad
      The Hong Kong Polytechnic University - Hong Kong
    • Dr Riyadh Al-Ameri
      Deakin University - Australia
    • Dr Mohammed Al-Mhdawi
      Teesside University - UK
    • Dr Karam Al-Obaidi
      Sheffield Hallam University - UK
    • Dr Hamidreza Alavi
      University of Cambridge - UK
    • Dr Malik Mansoor Ali Khalfan
      Khalifa University - UAE
    • Dr Sepehr Alizadehsalehi
      Northwestern University - USA
    • Dr Abdulbasit Almhafdy
      Qassim University - Saudi Arabia
    • Dr Mohammed Taha Alqershy
      Tongji University - China
    • Dr Ashtarout Ammar
      Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University - USA
    • Dr Maxwell Antwi Afari
      Aston University - UK
    • Dr. Hedieh Arfa
      Technische Universiteit Delft - Netherlands
    • Dr Guzide Atasoy
      Middle East Technical University - Turkey
    • Dr Athira Azmi
      Universiti Putra Malaysia - Malaysia
    • Abdollah Baghaei Daemei
      Massey University - New Zealand
    • Dr Faezeh Bagheri-Moghaddam
      Teesside University - UK
    • Dr Amirhossein Balali
      University of Greater Manchester - UK
    • Dr Saeed Banihashemi
      University of Canberra - Australia
    • Dr Uttama Barua
      UNSW Sydney - Australia
    • Dr Hassan Bazazzadeh
      EHT Zurich - Switzerland
      [email protected]
    • Dr Nimish Biloria
      University of Technology Sydney - Australia
    • Malsha Buddha Koralage
      Deakin University - Australia
    • Dr Nikhil Bugalia
      Indian Institute of Technology Madras - India
    • Dr Megan Burfoot
      Auckland University of Technology - New Zealand
    • Dr Maria Calahorra-Jimenez
      Florida International University (FIU) - USA
    • Dr Dongping Cao
      Tongji University - People's Republic of China
    • Dr Xichen Chen
      Auckland University of Technology - New Zealand
    • Dr Babangida Idi Danfulani
      Bayero University Kano - Nigeria
    • Dr Hongtao Dang
      Washington State University - USA
    • Dr Jamiu Dauda
      Leeds Beckett University - UK
    • Dr M. D. Deepak
      National Institute of Technology Warangal - India
    • Dr Amruta Deshpande
      Indira Group of Institutes - India
    • Carlos Alejandro Diaz Schery
      Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
    • Dr Biyanka Ekanayake
      University of Technology Sydney - Australia
    • Dr Mazi Erfani
      Michigan Technological University - USA
    • Dr Volkan Ezcan
      Liverpool John Moores - UK
    • Dr Fodil Fadli
      Qatar University - Qatar
    • Dr Abdelrahman M. Farouk
      Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah - Malaysia
    • Dr Amir Ghanbaripour
      Bond University - Australia
    • Dr Barry Gledson
      Northumbria University - UK
    • Dr Argaw Gurmu
      Deakin University - Australia
    • Dr Seng Hansen
      President University - Indonesia
    • Seamus Harrington
      Head of Quantity Surveying - TU Dublin - Ireland
    • Dr Elham K. Hassani
      Sapienza Università di Roma - Italy
    • Dr Hosam Hegazy
      University of Louisiana at Lafayette - USA
    • Dr Fahriye Hilal Halicioglu
      Dokuz Eylul University - Turkey
    • Assistant Professor Rund Hiyasat
      Zayed University - UAE
    • Dr Siamak Hoseinzadeh
      Sapienza University of Rome, Rome - Italy
    • Professor Seyed Morteza Hosseini
      Aalborg University - Copenhagen
    • Dr Matthew Ikuabe
      University of the Witwatersrand - South Africa
    • Dr Prachi Vinod Ingle
      NICMAR University, Pune - India
    • Dr Siva Jaganathan
      CHRIST University - India
    • Dr Atif Jahanger
      Hainan University - China
    • Dr Zahra Jalali
      Auckland University of Technology - New Zealand
    • Dr Ruchini Jayasinghe
      Adelaide University - Australia
    • Dr Mohd Johari bin Mohd Yusof
      Universiti Putra Malaysia - Malaysia
    • Dr Sina Joneidy
      Teesside University - UK
    • Jan-Iwo Jäkel
      smaecs GmbH - Germany
    • Dr Amit Kaushik
      Northumbria University - UK
    • Dr Ania Khodabakhshian
      Politecnico di Milano - Italy
    • Mr Moslem Sheikh Khoshkar
      University of Lorraine - France
    • Ms Elham Mehrinejad Khotbehsara
      University of Southern Queensland - Australia
    • Dr Soheila Kookalani
      University of Cambridge - UK
    • Dr Aysu Kuru
      The University of Sydney - Australia
    • Yilin Lee
      Chinese University of Hong Kong - Hong Kong
    • Dr Yirang Lim
      TU Delft - The Netherlands
    • Dr Eric Lou
      Manchester Metropolitan University - UK
    • Dr Joseph Louis
      Oregon State University - USA
    • Dr Armin Mahmoodi
      Toronto Metropolitan University - Canada
    • Dr Rehan Masood
      Otago Polytechnic - New Zealand
    • Dr Sandra Matarneh
      Al Ahliyya Amman University - Jordan
    • Dr Mohammad Mayouf
      Birmingham City University - UK
    • Dr Yiping Meng
      Teesside University - UK
    • Dr Alireza Moghayedi
      University of Cape Town - South Africa
    • Dr Mohammdreza Mohammadi
      Teesside University - UK
    • Dr Saeed Reza Mohandes
      University of Manchester - UK
    • Dr Amirmohim Mohimi
      Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, Tehran - Iran
    • Dr Leila Moslemi Naeni
      University of Technology Sydney - Australia
    • Dr Mahir Msawil
      Northumbria University - UK
    • Dr Imrose Muhit
      Teesside University - UK
    • Dr Mark Mulville
      TU Dublin - Ireland
    • Dr Wafaa Nadim
      The German University in Cairo - Egypt
    • Dr Quan Nguyen
      Hanoi University of Civil Engineering - Vietnam
    • Dr Donatus Okonta
      Teesside University - UK
    • Dr Olayiwola O. Oladiran
      University of Sheffield - UK
    • Dr Stephen Oliver
      Teesside University - UK
    • Associate Prof Dr. Osama Omar
      University of Bahrain - Bahrain
    • Dr Mazen M. Omer
      Universiti Teknologi Malaysia - Malaysia
    • Dr Temitope Omotayo
      Leeds Beckett University - UK
    • Dr Hossein Omrany
      University of Adelaide - Australia
    • Dr Mehran Oraee
      University of Melbourne - Australia
    • Dr Ahmed Osama Daoud
      The British University in Egypt - Egypt
    • John J. Parman
      Urban Construction Laboratory - United States of America
    • Dr Akeem Pedro
      Chung-Ang University - Republic of Korea
    • Dr Peiman Pilehchi Ha
      Uniklinik RWTH Aachen - Germany
    • Dr Mani Poshdar
      Auckland University of Technology - New Zealand
    • Professor Vimlesh Prabhu Desai
      India
    • Amila Premakumara
      The University of Melbourne - Australia
    • Dr Alessandro Premier
      University of Auckland - New Zealand
    • Dr Samuel Prieto Ayllon
      NYU Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates
    • Dr Qingyao Qiao
      Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences - China
    • Dr Ali Rashidi
      Monash University - Australia
    • Dr Sara Rashidian
      Queensland University of Technology - Australia
    • Dr Carla Reséndiz-Villaseñor
      Teesside University - UK
    • Dr Ali Reza Sadeghi
      Shiraz University - Iran
    • Ali Safaeianpour
      Polytechnic University of Turin - Italy
    • Shadi Salimimoghadam
      Bond University - Australia
    • Dr Saleh Seyedzadeh
      University of Strathcldye - UK
    • Dr Amirhosein Shabani
      Najafabad Azad University - Iran
    • Dr Zalina Shari
      Universiti Putra Malaysia - Malaysia
    • Dr Arezoo Shirazi
      University of Technology Sydney - Australia
    • Dr Salman Shooshtarian
      RMIT University - Australia
    • Dr Michael Sing
      The Hong Kong Polytechnic University - Hong Kong
    • Dr Atul Kumar Singh
      National Institute of Construction Management and Research (NICMAR) - India
    • Dr J. S. Sudarsan
      NICMAR University (Pune) - India
    • Dr Thadshajini Suntharalingam
      Teesside University - UK
    • Professor Subashini Suresh
      Wolverhampton University - UK
    • Dr Shima Taheri
      Azad University - Iran
    • Ridwan Taiwo
      Hong Kong Polytechnic University - Hong Kong
    • Dr Nicola Thounaojam
      Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati - India
    • Dr Serik Tokbolat
      University of Nottingham - UK
    • Roger Vergés Eiras
      Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - Spain
    • Dr Johnny Kwok-Wai Wong
      University of Technology Sydney - Australia
    • Dr Mun On Wong
      University of Macau - People's Republic of China
    • Dr Bo Xia
      Queensland University of Technology - Australia
    • Dr Ibrahim Yitmen
      Jönköping University - Sweden
    • Diran Yu
      University College London - UK
    • Mr Anthony Yusuf
      Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University - USA
    • Dr Junxiang Zhu
      University of Cambridge - UK
    • Dr Parisa Ziaesaeidi
      Western Sydney University - Australia
    • Zahra Zolfaghari
      cove.tool - USA
    • Dr Ozan Özener
      Istanbul Technical University - Turkey
Indexing & metrics

Citation metrics

Scopus Logo

12.7

CiteScore 2024

Scopus Logo

12.7

CiteScore 2024

Further information

CiteScore is a simple way of measuring the citation impact of sources, such as journals.

 

Calculating the CiteScore is based on the number of citations to documents (articles, reviews, conference papers, book chapters, and data papers) by a journal over four years, divided by the number of the same document types indexed in Scopus and published in those same four years.

 

For more information and methodology visit the Scopus definition

 

Scopus Logo

14.2

CiteScore Tracker 2025

(updated monthly)

Scopus Logo

14.2

CiteScore Tracker 2025

(updated monthly)

Further information

 CiteScore is a simple way of measuring the citation impact of sources, such as journals.

 

CiteScore Tracker is calculated in the same way as CiteScore, but for the current year rather than previous, complete years.

 

The CiteScore Tracker calculation is updated every month, as a current indication of a title's performance.

 

For more information and methodology visit the Scopus definition

Clarivate analytics logo

4.6

2024 Impact Factor

Clarivate analytics logo

4.6

2024 Impact Factor

Further information

The Journal Impact Factor is published each year by Clarivate Analytics. It is a measure of the number of times an average paper in a particular journal is cited during the preceding two years.

 

For more information and methodology see Clarivate Analytics

Clarivate analytics logo

4.8

5-year Impact Factor (2024)

Clarivate analytics logo

4.8

5-year Impact Factor (2024)

Further information

A base of five years may be more appropriate for journals in certain fields because the body of citations may not be large enough to make reasonable comparisons, or it may take longer than two years to publish and distribute leading to a longer period before others cite the work.

 

Actual value is intentionally only displayed for the most recent year. Earlier values are available in the Journal Citation Reports from Clarivate Analytics.


Publication timeline

Time to first decision

36

days

Time to first decision

36

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

44

days

Acceptance to publication

44

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 April 2025)

Acceptance rate

22.4

%

Acceptance rate

22.4

%

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

25155

Articles

Downloads

25155

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 abstracted and indexed by

  • Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) Journal Quality List
  • British Library
  • Cabell's Directory of Publishing Opportunities in Computer Science - Business Information Systems, Economics & Finance and Management
  • CAPES QUALIS
  • Construction Management Abstracts
  • EBSCO
  • Emerging Sources Citation Index (Clarivate Analytics)
  • ICONDA®CIBlibrary
  • INSPEC
  • Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals
  • ReadCube Discover
  • Summon
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:
31 Dec 2026

From Data to Decisions: AI, Digital Twins, and Cyber-Physical Systems for Intelligent and Sustainable Built Environments

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment

Submit your manuscript here by 31 December 2026!Introduction ​​Buildings account for approximately 40% of global energy consumption and carbon em...

Guest editor(s):
Dr. M. Reza Hosseini, Dr. Ania Khodabakhshian, Dr. Mazdak Nik-Bakht, Dr. Ruoyu Jin
From Data to Decisions: AI, Digital Twins, and Cyber-Physical Systems for Intelligent and Sustainable Built Environments

News

Thank you to the 2024 Reviewers!

The publishing and editorial teams would like to thank the following for their invaluable service as 2024 reviewers for Smart and Sustainable Built Environment. We are very grateful for all the contributions made! It is with their...

26/08/2025
Thank you to the 2024 Reviewers!

Thank you to the 2023 Reviewers of Smart and Sustainable Built Environment

The publishing and editorial teams would like to thank the following, for their invaluable service as 2023 reviewers for this journal. We are very grateful for the contributions made. With their help, the journal has been able to publish such high...

27/08/2024
Thank you to the 2023 Reviewers of Smart and Sustainable Built Environment

Thank you to the 2022 Reviewers of Smart and Sustainable Built Environment

The publishing and editorial teams would like to thank the following, for their invaluable service as 2022 reviewers for this journal. We are very grateful for the contributions made. With their help, the journal has been able to publish such high...

28/07/2023
Thank you to the 2022 Reviewers of Smart and Sustainable Built Environment

Thank you to the 2021 Reviewers of Smart and Sustainable Built Environment

The publishing and editorial teams would like to thank the following, for their invaluable service as 2021 reviewers for this journal. We are very grateful for the contributions made. With their help, the journal has ...

14/09/2022
Thank you to the 2021 Reviewers of Smart and Sustainable Built Environment

Literati awards

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment - Literati Award Winners 2024

We are pleased to announce our 2024 Literati Award winners. Outstanding Paper An investigation for integra...

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment - Literati Award Winners 2024
2023 literati award winners banner

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment - Literati Award Winners 2023

We are pleased to announce our 2023 Literati Award winners. Outstanding Paper Exploring Applicability, Interoperabil...

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment - Literati Award Winners 2023

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment  - Literati Award Winners 2022 

We are pleased to announce our 2022 Literati Award winners. Outstanding Paper The impact of COVID-19 outbr...

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment  - Literati Award Winners 2022 

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment is a CIB-encouraged journal that aims to inform research and industry practice on integrated approaches to developing smart and sustainable built environments

ISSN: 2046-6099
eISSN: 2046-6102

You can choose to publish your article open access in this journal by indicating on the editorial system when you submit your paper.

Aims and scope

The world has never been exposed to such a paradigm shift prior to the emerging industry 4.0 revolution – the governing foundations for shaping and delivering progressive changes for addressing issues embracing Society, Knowledge, Economy, and People. Scientific advances and innovative technologies in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) are key factors in this process, the tenets of which can help countries move towards developing smarter and more sustainable communities. The European Commission’s Industry 5.0 framework extends this evolution by integrating human-centric innovation, resilience, and sustainability, to align technological advancements with societal and environmental needs. In this respect, the nine pillars supporting Industry 4.0 are widely accepted by the research and practice communities to include: the integration of eXtended Reality (XR=VR/AR/MR); where Digital Twins and mainstream Building Information Models in particular are seen as a vehicle for addressing such issues as industry fragmentation, value-driven solutions, decision making, client engagement, and design/process flow to name but a few.

Advanced Simulation, Computer Vision, Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Linked Data all provide immense opportunities for dealing with these challenges; more importantly, perhaps, provide real tangible (evidenced-based) innovative solutions that until now, have never been possible before. These technologies, alongside Large Language Models (LLMs) and Natural Language Processing (NLP), provide unprecedented opportunities to tackle challenges and drive tangible, evidence-based innovations in the built environment. They are perceived as the ‘true’ enablers of future practice. Examples from other industries such as automotive, aerospace, and oil and gas have provided a showcase of solutions using advanced technologies. However, until relatively recently, AEC has only started to recognise terms such as “golden key” and “golden thread” as part of Digital Twins processes and workflows, recognising their potential in creating interconnected, transparent, and resilient systems.

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment (SASBE) links together the various pioneering smart and sustainable targets, bottom lines, endpoints and project deliverables through the whole development cycles and project processes. The objective of the journal is to identify, develop, and promote research and practice in the integration of innovation and sustainability in order to help the AEC industry go through a smooth transition and paradigm shift. The journal highlights holistic problem-solving and decision-making, collaborative system and product development, innovative solutions enhancing sustainability, and mutually beneficial outcomes for all stakeholders of the built environment. It also emphasises international collaboration, inclusivity, emerging challenges, issues arising from developing economies, and knowledge transfer to businesses and industries.

These themes strongly align with global efforts towards smart and sustainable built environments. SASBE is firmly committed to and supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). We encourage research outputs on circular economy principles, climate-responsive design, and digital innovation. We also value interdisciplinary research addressing critical environmental, economic, and social challenges. Through discussions on material reuse, adaptive infrastructure, energy efficiency, and AI-driven urban management, SASBE hosts original contributions to knowledge and provides inputs to policies and industry practices.
SASBE publishes original papers, review papers, case studies, and research reports as well as commentaries, technical notes, book reviews and conference news which focus on the linking of, and the holistic solutions for, key aspects of developing the built environment from project conceptualisation; through building, infrastructure and urban design; construction development; and facility operation and management; to deconstruction, recycling and reuse; for long term sustainable outcomes.

The coverage of the journal includes, but is not limited to:

    • Sustainable buildings, infrastructure, districts, cities and the community
    • Smart and healthy workplace and living environments
    • Smart and sustainable design, construction, and operation of new built facilities and regeneration of existing ones
    • Climate-responsive architecture and net-zero infrastructure
    • Regenerative urban planning and adaptive reuse
    • Circular economy in construction, material passports, closed-loop supply chains
    • Strategies for building adaptability, reuse, extended service life
    • Lifecycle impact assessment and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)
    • Disaster-resilient urban planning and early warning systems
    • Nature-based solutions and biomimicry in architecture
    • EU Taxonomy and green finance strategies for sustainable urban investment
    • Social Innovation and Participatory Design in urban development
    • Participatory urban planning through social innovation and stakeholder engagement

Advanced Technologies and Digital Transformation
    • Digital Twins, Smart Technologies, Internet of Things (IoT), Network of Sensors and Intelligent Agents
    • AI-driven analytics, ML, predictive modelling for adaptable city planning
    • Explainable AI (XAI) and bias mitigation for transparent, accountable decision-making
    • Blockchain and smart contracts for enhanced transparency in construction and urban governance
    • Digital twins and cyber-physical systems in architecture and construction
    • IoT-enabled smart buildings and cities
    • IoT-enabled monitoring systems for energy efficiency and sustainability
    • eXtended Reality (XR) and virtual environments for training and simulation
    • AI governance and ethical urbanisation policies
    • Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Transfer Learning, Deep Learning and Data Driven Approach for Optimisation of Built Environment
    • LLMs and NLP for Sustainable Development, AI-driven automation, decision-making, knowledge extraction for regulatory compliance, data-driven urban planning, construction     optimisation
    • NLP and LLMs in regulatory compliance, smart contracts, automated knowledge extraction for AEC
    • openBIM, linked data and semantic web for automating design and code checking

Next-Generation Construction and Circularity
    • Offsite Construction, Modern Methods of Construction, Additive Manufacturing, DfMA
    • Circularity in the Built Environment, Material reuse, regenerative design, circular construction strategies
    • Next-Generation Construction & Manufacturing, Offsite construction, 3D printing, Design for Adaptability (DfA), Disassembly (DfD), Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA), and Circularity
    • Building Adaptability and Lifecycle Extension, Adaptive reuse, modular construction, deconstruction strategies
    • Circular economy-driven strategies for material reuse, deconstruction, lifecycle extension
    • Smart Contracts, Distributed Ledger Technologies and Blockchain for AEC Industry

Sustainable Regulations, Governance, and Policy
    • Regulatory and Environmental Standards, Compliance frameworks such as the European Commission’s Construction Product Regulation (CPR), EU Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance, Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)
    • Environmental assessment frameworks that align with the European Commission’s CPR, the EU Taxonomy, and EPDs
    • Sustainable development processes, regulations, governance and community engagement

Human-Centric and Data-Driven Approaches
    • Human-Centric Sustainable Design, Social equity, inclusive architecture, health-driven urban solutions
    • Smart and healthy workplaces and living environments
    • Digital accessibility and equity in urban transformation
    • Social Innovation, Co-Creation, and Participatory Design, Engaging communities, policymakers, stakeholders in sustainable urban development through dynamic learning agendas
    • AI governance and ethical urbanisation policies
    • Social science perspectives on sustainable urban development

Data-Driven Optimisation and Automation
    • Management of information and knowledge on innovation and sustainability
    • Communication, education and training of sustainability principles and professional skills
    • People-centred design systems based on virtual reality and cognitive tools (such as eye tracking and EEG)
    • Design for health and safety concepts in construction project using BIM and VR
    • BIM-Based and Speech recognition platform for design checking
    • Use of Social Media and Data Science for Construction and Facilities Management
    • Computer Vision and Image Processing for Construction and Facilities Management