Emerald journals receive highest Impact Intensity rating for SDG commitment

Emerald Publishing has been recognised for publishing two of the six journals to receive the highest ‘Five Wheel’ rating from Cabells and St Joseph’s University’s (SJU) first Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Impact Intensity rating.

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment and Gender in Management were both highly rated for reflecting research that demonstrates a commitment to the UN’s SDGs. Two of Emerald’s journals received a ‘Four Wheel’ rating, the second highest rating in the study.

The pilot study – the first full ratings are expected in early 2022 – seeks to highlight the differences between business and management journals regarded as leaders in their disciplines, and those who have focused on sustainability related issues. It consists of 100 journals, of which Emerald has five, and these were rated according to their relevance or intensity to the UN’s 17 SDGs, determined by the relative focus they have exhibited in their article publications over the past five years. Using a sophisticated AI methodology from SJU and journals based on Cabells’ Journalytics database, journals were rated from zero to five, with six journals achieving the top rating.

Sally Wilson, Director of Publishing at Emerald Publishing, commented: “We have been actively championing and acquiring research aligned to the UN SDGs as part of our commitment to deliver Real Impact. We are delighted that the Emerald team’s focus and commitment to publish research that can help solve real-world issues has been recognised in this pilot study and we are looking forward to the full ratings in 2022.”

Simon Linacre, Marketing Director at Cabells, commented: "One of the aims of the SDG Impact Intensity project was to recognise those journals and publishers who were seeking to positively engage with the SDGs. The data clearly shows that Emerald Publishing and its journals are leaders in enabling this engagement, and I am sure more of its titles will achieve similarly high ratings in the future as a result of its proactive approach to publishing SDG-relevant content."

In its commitment to helping solve global challenges, Emerald has moved towards being a facilitator of research, in addition to publishing research outputs. It has focused its commissioning activities on interdisciplinary, mission-led research that is aligned to its core goals that correspond to overlapping SDGs; Healthier Lives, Responsible Management, Quality Education for All and A Fairer Society.

In 2021, Emerald also became a founding signatory of the UN’s SDGs Publishers Compact, which is designed to inspire action among publishers and accelerate progress to achieve the SDGs by 2030.

To find out more about Emerald’s commitment to the SDGs visit: How we're doing | Emerald Publishing

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