Journal Profile & Submission Guide

Arab Gulf Journal of Scientific Research: Scopus, Metrics, Scope & Author Guide

Arab Gulf Journal of Scientific Research (AGJSR), currently presented by Emerald as Arab Gulf Journal of Scientific Research: Water, Energy, Food and Environment, is an academic, open-access, peer-reviewed journal owned by Arabian Gulf University and published by Emerald Publishing on the university’s behalf. The journal now concentrates on sustainability and security questions involving water, energy, food/land and environment (WEFE), especially in arid regions and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) context.

For authors evaluating the journal in 2026, one point is particularly important: the journal’s scope changed in September 2024. Older records and previously published articles reflect a much broader multidisciplinary remit, including management, education, computing, medicine and other fields. The current Emerald page explicitly states that the title and aims were modified to create a narrower WEFE focus. A manuscript should therefore be assessed against the current aims and scope rather than against the historical breadth of the archive.

The journal is indexed in Scopus. The supplied source record identifies Scopus Source ID 19325, and Emerald’s current journal page displays a 2025 CiteScore of 6.4 and a 2026 CiteScore Tracker of 7.6. Emerald also reports an acceptance rate of 1.3% for submissions between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025. Because citation indicators, category rankings and acceptance data change, authors should reconfirm them before using them for university, promotion or PhD requirements.

Journal information at a glance

What this guide covers

• the journal’s current identity, ownership and publishing history;
• current aims and scope after the September 2024 change;
• Scopus indexing and the metrics that can be verified;
• article types and manuscript requirements;
• peer review, open-access terms and publication ethics;
• how to judge manuscript–journal fit;
• a practical pre-submission checklist; and
• how ethical editing and publication-readiness support can help without promising acceptance.

Methodology and source approach

This profile prioritises current authoritative information: the official Emerald journal page, the Arabian Gulf University journal site, official ISSN records for the print and online identifiers, and the supplied Scopus source record. Where an indicator is not available from an authoritative source reviewed here, the guide labels it for verification instead of estimating it.

Journal metrics, indexing, editorial leadership, fees and policies can change. Treat the values on this page as dated information and reconfirm the journal’s live pages immediately before submission or before reporting a ranking to a university.

What is Arab Gulf Journal of Scientific Research?

AGJSR is a long-running journal connected to Arabian Gulf University in Bahrain. The first issue was published in 1983 by the Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States under an earlier print ISSN. Since 1999, the journal has been associated with Arabian Gulf University under print ISSN 1985-9899. It is now published by Emerald on the university’s behalf, with online ISSN 2536-0051.

The journal’s current scholarly role is best understood through its WEFE orientation. It seeks research of global significance and application while giving particular attention to GCC contexts. That means the journal can be relevant to international authors, but a manuscript gains fit when it clearly connects its research problem, evidence or implications to arid-region sustainability, resource security, environmental systems, climate resilience or closely related technologies and policy questions.

This is a significant shift from the older AGJSR identity. The legacy journal accepted broad work across natural sciences, medical sciences, computing, biotechnology, management and education. Researchers discovering the journal through an older Scopus subject classification or a pre-2024 paper should not assume that every historical topic remains suitable today.

Current aims and scope: where does a manuscript fit?

Emerald states that, from September 2024, AGJSR narrowed its aims and scope to research on security and sustainability in Water, Energy, Food/Land and Environment in arid regions. The scope also covers externalities and cross-cutting issues, including climate change, waste management, circular economy and advanced tools for monitoring and sustainable management.

1. Water, energy, food and environment systems

Core topics include sustainable resource management, WEFE-nexus management, renewable energy technologies, conservation and protection strategies, and water, energy and food security. Strong submissions should move beyond mentioning sustainability in general and show how the study contributes to understanding, monitoring, managing or governing one or more WEFE resources.

2. Climate change and WEFE impacts

The scope includes climate modelling and prediction, mitigation, vulnerability, adaptation and carbon neutrality where these are connected with water, energy, food or environment. Manuscripts on climate change therefore benefit from a specific resource-system or arid-region connection rather than a purely generic climate discussion.

3. Space technologies and geoinformatics

Relevant work may use earth observation, satellite technologies, GIS, geoinformatics, remote monitoring, AI, IoT, simulation models and other emerging tools for resource management, environmental monitoring, disaster warning or renewable-energy planning. Method novelty is useful, but the application should remain aligned with the journal’s sustainability mission.

4. Circular waste management

The journal includes circular economy approaches, reuse/recycling/reduction, clean technologies, resource recovery, sustainable product design and waste reduction within food and other WEFE systems.

5. Biotechnology applications

Bioremediation, environmental cleanup, biofuels, biodegradation and sustainable-agriculture applications such as biofertilisers and pest control can fit when they are framed within the journal’s WEFE and sustainability emphasis.

6. Innovation for sustainability

The scope also encompasses technological innovation, green startups, sustainable cities, green business models, innovation policy and corporate social responsibility when the contribution is tied to sustainability challenges in water, energy, food or environment.

Scopus indexing, visibility and journal metrics

AGJSR is listed among the abstracting and indexing services on Emerald’s journal page, including Scopus, Current Contents, EBSCO Discovery Service, INSPEC, Zoological Record and CABI services. Emerald also identifies Web of Science-related services in its indexing list. Authors who require a specific Web of Science Core Collection index or a Journal Impact Factor for institutional eligibility should verify that exact requirement in Clarivate rather than treating the general phrase “Web of Science” as interchangeable with every Clarivate index.

The current Emerald metrics panel reports a 2025 CiteScore of 6.4. It also displays a 2026 CiteScore Tracker of 7.6, which is updated monthly and should not be presented as the final 2026 annual CiteScore. The journal owner, Arabian Gulf University, reported that the journal’s 2024 SJR was 0.343 and that it rose to Q2 in SCImago’s 2024 review. Because quartiles are category-specific and databases update annually, researchers should quote the year and category when a university asks for “Q1/Q2/Q3/Q4.”

Emerald’s page also reports a 1.3% acceptance rate based on submissions between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025. That is a publisher-reported historical rate for a defined window, not a prediction of an individual manuscript’s chances. Scope fit, originality, research quality and review outcomes remain manuscript-specific.

What article types does AGJSR publish?

The official author instructions classify submissions using common Emerald categories. These include research papers, viewpoints, technical papers, conceptual papers, case studies, literature reviews and general reviews. The older university journal description also references research, viewpoint, technical, conceptual, literature review, policy brief and case-study work; authors should follow the live Emerald classification options shown during submission.

A research paper can report empirical, scientific, clinical, survey, action-research or model-testing work. A technical paper focuses on a technical product, process or service. Conceptual papers develop hypotheses or theoretical arguments. Literature reviews should do more than summarise sources: they should critically organise and interpret a defined body of literature. Case studies and viewpoints should still demonstrate clear relevance to the current WEFE remit.

Who should consider submitting?

AGJSR may be a plausible target for researchers in environmental science, water science, renewable energy, food systems, sustainable agriculture, geospatial science, climate adaptation, circular economy, environmental biotechnology and sustainability innovation. It may be particularly attractive for work involving arid environments or GCC policy and resource-management challenges.

For PhD scholars and early-career researchers, the journal’s indexing and diamond open-access model can be relevant, but “Scopus indexed” alone is not enough to establish suitability. Universities often impose additional rules about quartile, subject category, accepted document type, publication date or supervisor approval. Check those institutional criteria independently before committing to a journal.

Manuscript requirements authors should know

According to Emerald’s current author guidelines, manuscripts should be supplied in Microsoft Word. A PDF may accompany the Word file, but a PDF alone is not accepted. LaTeX can be used when an accompanying PDF is supplied. The article length is a maximum of 8,000 words, including the abstract, references, text in tables and figures, and appendices; Emerald asks authors to allow 280 words for each figure or table.

Peer review and editorial decision process

Emerald’s transparency statement says AGJSR uses double-blind peer review. Submissions first undergo an initial assessment by the journal editor. Papers considered suitable then go to a minimum of two external reviewers, and the Editor-in-Chief has final responsibility for editorial decisions.

The journal does not need to send every submission to external review. Emerald explicitly advises authors to reread the aims and scope because an unsuitable manuscript may be declined without peer review. This makes scope alignment a practical first-stage requirement, not merely an SEO or keyword exercise.

An official average peer-review duration was not verified on the journal page reviewed for this guide. Authors should therefore avoid planning around unofficial “review time” estimates found on third-party sites.

Open access, copyright and publication fees

AGJSR is a sponsored or diamond open-access journal. Emerald states that authors do not pay an article processing charge and that publication is free to the author. Published articles use a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 licence, allowing reuse subject to the licence’s attribution requirements.

This no-APC arrangement is current publisher information and should still be reconfirmed at the point of submission, especially if the journal’s partnership model changes. Authors should not confuse “no APC” with “no publishing requirements”: permissions, ethical approvals, authorship, originality and licence steps still apply.

Research and publication ethics

Emerald states that it follows guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The author instructions require original work, prohibit simultaneous consideration elsewhere, require conflict-of-interest disclosure and require authors to obtain appropriate permissions for third-party copyrighted material.

For studies involving human participants, authors must consider whether ethical approval and informed consent are required and include relevant information in the submission. Emerald also encourages transparent citation of data, code and methods under Transparency and Openness Promotion principles.

The current Emerald AI policy deserves special attention: large language models cannot be listed as authors. Emerald states that generative AI may not be used to copywrite new submission material, while copy-editing an author’s own original existing work may be permitted subject to the publisher’s transparency and responsibility principles. Authors using AI-assisted tools should check the live policy before submission because publisher rules can evolve.

How to decide whether your manuscript is a good fit

1. Start with the post-2024 scope. Identify the exact WEFE or sustainability problem your study addresses.
2. Check geographic and application relevance. Global work is welcome, but GCC/arid-region relevance can strengthen alignment where naturally supported by the research.
3. Match the contribution, not just keywords. Adding “sustainability,” “climate” or “AI” to a title cannot compensate for a research question outside the journal’s mission.
4. Review recent papers. Examine papers published after the scope change to understand current methods, questions and editorial direction.
5. Confirm the article category. Decide whether the manuscript is best treated as a research paper, technical paper, conceptual paper, review, case study or viewpoint.
6. Check your institutional rule. If the purpose is PhD completion, promotion or funding, verify the exact Scopus/SCImago/Clarivate criteria your institution accepts.

Publication-readiness checklist before submission

• The research question clearly belongs to the journal’s current WEFE/sustainability scope.
• The title, abstract and keywords accurately represent the study rather than overstate its contribution.
• The manuscript is within the 8,000-word maximum after accounting for tables and figures.
• The abstract uses the required structured headings and stays within the stated limit.
• References follow APA style and every in-text citation has a matching reference entry.
• Figures and tables meet Emerald’s file, numbering and caption requirements.
• Funding, conflicts of interest, ethics approval, consent and permissions are disclosed where applicable.
• Author names and identifying clues are removed from the anonymous manuscript file.
• The manuscript has been checked for originality, accurate attribution and unsupported claims.
• The corresponding author has confirmed all co-authors, affiliations and author order before submission.

How to submit a manuscript

The corresponding author should use the official AGJSR page on Emerald and select Submit your paper. Emerald currently routes authors through Paperpal Preflight, which checks the manuscript against journal guidance; authors can bypass that step and proceed to ScholarOne. Each author’s details are captured through the submission system, and Emerald encourages authors to add ORCID identifiers.

After submission, the corresponding author receives an automated confirmation and manuscript number. If accepted, the article moves through licensing, production, copyediting, typesetting and author proof review. Emerald describes the final proofed online version before issue assignment as the EarlyCite version, which receives a DOI and is citable.

Common reasons a manuscript may be unsuitable

• The topic reflects AGJSR’s older broad scope but not its current WEFE focus.
• The paper uses AI, GIS, IoT or another technology without a meaningful water, energy, food or environmental application.
• The contribution is largely descriptive and does not demonstrate sufficient scholarly or applied significance.
• The manuscript exceeds the word limit or ignores required abstract, reference or file-format instructions.
• The paper contains authorship, ethics, permissions, duplicate-submission or originality problems.
• The argument overclaims regional relevance without evidence or treats the GCC context superficially.

How Contentxprtz can support ethical publication readiness

Preparing for AGJSR involves more than correcting grammar. Authors need to align the manuscript with a narrowed scope, communicate the contribution clearly, comply with Emerald formatting, apply APA references consistently and present methods, figures and evidence in a form reviewers can evaluate.

Contentxprtz can support authors with academic editing, proofreading, journal formatting, reference and citation checking, manuscript assessment, cover-letter editing, reviewer-response editing and publication-readiness review. Support should preserve the researcher’s own analysis, evidence and conclusions and remain consistent with the target journal’s rules on permitted editorial and AI assistance.

Contentxprtz does not control editorial decisions and does not guarantee journal acceptance or publication. The purpose of professional support is to help authors present their own research clearly, accurately, ethically and in line with applicable journal requirements.

Summary: Arab Gulf Journal of Scientific Research

Arab Gulf Journal of Scientific Research is a Scopus-indexed, diamond open-access journal owned by Arabian Gulf University and published by Emerald. Since September 2024 its focus has narrowed to Water, Energy, Food/Land and Environment, including climate impacts, geoinformatics, circular waste management, biotechnology applications and sustainability innovation. Emerald lists a 2025 CiteScore of 6.4, a 2026 CiteScore Tracker of 7.6 and a publisher-reported 1.3% acceptance rate for a defined 2024–2025 submission window.

For prospective authors, the most important decision is current scope fit. A historical AGJSR article in management, education, medicine or general computing does not necessarily indicate that a similar paper remains in scope. Review the current Emerald aims, recent articles and live author instructions before submitting.

Frequently asked questions

What is Arab Gulf Journal of Scientific Research?

AGJSR is an academic, open-access, peer-reviewed journal owned by Arabian Gulf University and published by Emerald Publishing on the university’s behalf. Its current title presentation and scope emphasise Water, Energy, Food and Environment.

Who publishes Arab Gulf Journal of Scientific Research?

Emerald Publishing currently publishes the journal on behalf of Arabian Gulf University, which owns the journal and manages the editorial team in collaboration with Emerald.

Is Arab Gulf Journal of Scientific Research indexed in Scopus?

Yes. Emerald lists Scopus among the journal’s indexing services, and the supplied Scopus source record identifies Source ID 19325. Authors should still confirm current active coverage before using the status for institutional eligibility.

What are the ISSN and eISSN?

The current print ISSN is 1985-9899 and the online ISSN is 2536-0051. The journal has also used an earlier ISSN in its historical publishing period.

What is the 2025 CiteScore?

Emerald’s current metrics panel lists a 2025 CiteScore of 6.4. It also displays a 2026 CiteScore Tracker of 7.6, which is a monthly tracker rather than the final annual 2026 score.

What is the journal’s quartile?

Arabian Gulf University reported that the journal’s 2024 SCImago ranking improved to Q2 with an SJR of 0.343. Quartiles can vary by category and year, so verify the latest category-specific value before citing it.

Does AGJSR have an Impact Factor?

A current Clarivate Journal Impact Factor was not verified from an official JCR source for this guide. Do not treat CiteScore, SJR or a third-party impact score as the same metric as Clarivate’s Journal Impact Factor.

Is the journal open access and is there an APC?

Yes. Emerald describes AGJSR as a sponsored or diamond open-access journal and states that authors do not pay an APC. Articles are published under a CC BY 4.0 licence.

What subjects does the journal currently cover?

The current scope centres on Water, Energy, Food/Land and Environment in arid regions, with connected research on climate change, circular waste management, space technologies and geoinformatics, biotechnology applications and sustainability innovation.

What manuscript types are accepted?

Emerald’s author guidance includes research papers, viewpoints, technical papers, conceptual papers, case studies, literature reviews and general reviews among the classification categories.

What is the maximum manuscript length?

Emerald states a maximum of 8,000 words, including the structured abstract, references, text in tables and figures, and appendices. The guidance also asks authors to allow 280 words for each figure or table.

What reference style does AGJSR use?

The current Emerald author instructions require APA-style references, with authors responsible for completeness, accuracy and consistency.

How does peer review work?

The journal uses double-blind review. Manuscripts undergo editor assessment first; suitable papers are then reviewed by at least two external reviewers, with the Editor-in-Chief retaining final responsibility for editorial decisions.

How long does peer review take?

An official average peer-review duration was not verified on the current journal page reviewed for this guide. Authors should avoid relying on unofficial timeline estimates.

What is the acceptance rate?

Emerald reports a 1.3% acceptance rate based on submissions between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025. This is historical journal-level data and does not predict the outcome of an individual submission.

Is AGJSR suitable for PhD publication requirements?

It may be suitable where a university accepts the journal’s current indexing, category and article type, but PhD rules differ. Confirm your institution’s Scopus, quartile, date and discipline requirements before submission.

Where should I submit my paper?

Use the official Emerald AGJSR page and select “Submit your paper.” The current route opens Paperpal Preflight and allows authors to proceed to the ScholarOne editorial system.

Can Contentxprtz guarantee acceptance in AGJSR?

No. Contentxprtz can assist with ethical editing, formatting, reference consistency and publication-readiness review, but all editorial and publication decisions remain with the journal.

Authoritative sources checked

• Emerald Publishing — AGJSR official journal page, author guidelines, indexing and metrics
• Arabian Gulf University — AGJSR journal site
• ISSN Portal — print ISSN 1985-9899
• ISSN Portal — online ISSN 2536-0051
• Scopus source profile — Source ID 19325

Information reviewed 10 August 2026. Metrics, indexing, editorial details and policies can change; always reconfirm on the journal’s official pages before submission.