Consumer Behavior in Tourism and Hospitality: Scopus, Scope & Submission Guide

Quick Answer: What Is Consumer Behavior in Tourism and Hospitality?

Consumer Behavior in Tourism and Hospitality is an Emerald Publishing journal that advances understanding of how consumers and tourists think, decide, feel, evaluate and behave in tourism and hospitality contexts. The journal welcomes theoretical, empirical and methodological contributions and explicitly encourages multidisciplinary work drawing on marketing, psychology, management, organizational behavior, behavioral economics, sociology, semiotics, anthropology, geography and history.

Emerald confirms that CBTH is indexed in Scopus. For researchers whose doctoral programme or university requires a Scopus-listed outlet, that is relevant, but indexing alone is not enough: the manuscript must demonstrate a clear consumer-behavior contribution and comply with the journal’s article-type and formatting rules.

Before submitting, compare the manuscript with recent CBTH articles, confirm the current official journal page and author guidelines, and verify any institution-specific requirement for quartile, Impact Factor, open access, or publication timing.

Key Takeaways

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing; CBTH is described by Emerald as an international journal.
• Scopus: indexed; supplied Scopus Source ID 21101131421.
• Identifiers: ISSN 2752-6666; eISSN 2752-6674.
• 2025 CiteScore: 6.7; Emerald also displayed a 2026 CiteScore Tracker of 4.9 when this guide was prepared.
• Peer review: double-anonymous; suitable submissions are normally sent to at least two independent referees.
• Submission types: full-length papers, research notes and cutting-edge short commentaries with strict limits.
• Open access: hybrid, with optional gold OA and green self-archiving routes.
• Selection priority: a tourism/hospitality setting is not enough by itself; the manuscript needs a substantive consumer-behavior contribution.

Journal Information at a Glance

What This Page Covers

• CBTH aims, scope and subject fit
• Scopus indexing, CiteScore and metric cautions
• Article types and strict length limits
• Manuscript preparation and reference style
• Submission and double-anonymous review
• Published decision and acceptance statistics
• Open-access routes and current Emerald hybrid APC
• Publication ethics and AI-use policy
• A practical journal-fit and readiness checklist
• Ethical Contentxprtz manuscript support

Methodology and Sources

This journal guide prioritises the official Emerald CBTH page, including its aims and scope, author guidelines, editorial team, indexing statement, citation metrics, publication statistics and peer-review description. The supplied journal record was used for the Scopus Source ID and journal-identification fields, and the Scopus source link is provided for direct rechecking.

Open-access pricing is based on Emerald’s 2026 open-access pricing page. Metrics, database coverage, fees, editors and policies may change; authors should confirm live information immediately before submission.

Consumer Behavior in Tourism and Hospitality Aims and Scope

CBTH aims to deepen and expand understanding of consumer behavior in tourism and hospitality through conceptual and empirical scholarship. Its scope is intentionally behavioral: the strongest fit is research that uses a tourism or hospitality context to make a meaningful contribution to consumer-behavior theory, evidence, methods or practice.

The journal particularly encourages collaboration across marketing and consumer behavior, psychology, management and organizational behavior, behavioral economics, sociology, semiotics, anthropology, geography and history. Emerald also encourages varied methodological approaches and work that challenges prior research, creates new interdisciplinary linkages, or introduces creative approaches to investigating behavior.

Topics explicitly listed by the journal

• Theoretical and applied research on specific constructs of tourist behavior
• Methodological contributions to behavioral research in tourism and hospitality
• Decision-making processes, biases and behaviors
• Psychological and social factors affecting tourist behavior
• Evaluations of tourism and hospitality experiences
• Behavioral insights from technologies, social media and big data
• Generational differences in behaviors, preferences and attitudes
• Behavioral economics approaches to tourists
• Cross-cultural studies of tourist behavior
• Alternative or contested representations of consumer behavior
• Responses to advertising and social-media communication
• Individual, group and organizational behavioral issues in tourism and hospitality

What may be a weaker fit?

As an editorial interpretation of the stated scope, a manuscript may be weaker if tourism or hospitality is only a setting while the research question makes no clear contribution to consumer behavior; if the work is mainly destination planning, operations, finance or policy without a behavioral dimension; or if the study is descriptive but does not explain why the observed behavior matters theoretically or practically. Researchers should inspect recent issues because actual editorial fit is narrower than any keyword list.

Who Should Consider Submitting?

CBTH may suit researchers in tourism, hospitality, marketing, psychology, service management and adjacent social-science fields whose manuscript explains consumer or tourist behavior. It can be relevant to PhD scholars and early-career researchers, but career stage is not a selection criterion; quality, novelty, methodological rigor and fit determine whether a manuscript progresses.

Article Types and Word Limits

The scope page lists three current submission types, and the limits are strict. Authors should choose the manuscript category before final editing because the expected depth and length differ substantially.

• Full-length papers: empirical or conceptual; strictly 6,500 words including references.
• Research notes: empirical or conceptual; strictly 3,500 words including references.
• Cutting-edge short commentaries: contemporary or emerging topics; strictly 1,500 words including 15 references.

The author-guideline section also states that articles should be no more than 6,500 words and that this total includes the structured abstract, references, text in tables, figures and appendices; it asks authors to allow 520 words for each table or figure. If a category-specific instruction appears to differ from a general instruction, follow the journal’s most specific current guidance and contact the editorial office when uncertain.

Manuscript and Formatting Requirements

Emerald’s author guidelines provide a detailed preparation checklist. For CBTH, the practical requirements include:

• Submit the main article in Microsoft Word format. A PDF may accompany it, but a PDF alone is not accepted. LaTeX may be used only with an accompanying PDF.
• Use a concise article title.
• Provide a structured abstract of no more than 250 words with required headings: Purpose, Design/methodology/approach, Findings and Originality. Research limitations/implications, Practical implications and Social implications are optional when relevant.
• Provide up to 12 short, relevant keywords.
• Enter author names, affiliations and institutional email details in ScholarOne; author biographies and acknowledgements should be uploaded separately so the review manuscript remains anonymous.
• Disclose external research funding and the funder’s role.
• Use a recognised Harvard reference style. Emerald permits its adopted Harvard style and says typesetters can adjust another recognised Harvard variant after acceptance.
• Number figures consecutively with clear captions; tables are submitted separately and numbered with Roman numerals under the current instructions.

Submission Process and Peer Review

CBTH submissions are made through ScholarOne using the link on the official Emerald journal page. Emerald explicitly states that the corresponding author should submit directly and that manuscripts are not accepted by email or via third-party agents or proxy submission services.

1. Recheck scope, formatting, ethics, permissions and anonymisation.
2. Create or use the appropriate ScholarOne account and add ORCID where available.
3. Upload the manuscript and required supplementary files.
4. The editorial office screens the paper for policy compliance, scope and baseline manuscript quality.
5. If suitable, the paper is normally sent to at least two independent referees for double-anonymous review.
6. The editor may accept, request minor or major revisions, or reject the manuscript after reviewer feedback.

Emerald’s journal-specific peer-review section describes the process as double-anonymous. Authors should therefore remove names and identifying material from the review manuscript and place biographies or acknowledgements in separate files.

Review Time, Acceptance Rate and Publication Timeline

Emerald publishes journal-level statistics that are more useful than unverified estimates, but they should be read as historical averages rather than promises.

These figures do not predict an individual manuscript. Editorial screening time, reviewer availability, revision cycles, special-issue workflows and the quality of the initial submission can all affect timing.

Scopus Indexing and Journal Metrics

Emerald states that CBTH is indexed in Scopus and lists a 2025 CiteScore of 6.7. It also displays a 2026 CiteScore Tracker of 4.9, which is a monthly updated in-year indicator rather than the completed annual metric. Researchers should avoid comparing a tracker directly with a final prior-year CiteScore without understanding that difference.

The official Emerald page does not currently display SJR, SNIP or a quartile in the visible metric section reviewed for this guide. Because quartiles can differ by database, year and subject category, this article does not import an older third-party value. Likewise, a current Clarivate Journal Impact Factor was not displayed on the official journal page reviewed. If your institution specifically requires JCR status or a particular quartile, verify it in the live database before deciding to submit.

Open Access, APC and Publication Fees

CBTH follows Emerald’s hybrid model. Authors may publish through the normal subscription route without a submission or publication fee, or choose gold open access after acceptance. Emerald states that the gold OA version uses a CC BY 4.0 licence.

Emerald’s 2026 standard hybrid APC is £3,222 / US$4,351 / €3,710, plus VAT where applicable. Institutional agreements, vouchers or other arrangements may affect what an eligible author pays, so the current invoice amount should be checked in the editorial system or publisher pricing page. Emerald also provides green open access: the author accepted manuscript can be made openly available after official publication without an embargo under the current policy.

No submission fee should be paid. Emerald’s own FAQ says payment is requested only when an author chooses gold OA, and then only after acceptance.

Publication Ethics and Responsible AI Use

Emerald states that its research and publishing ethics framework follows COPE guidance. Submissions should be original, not simultaneously under consideration elsewhere, free of undisclosed conflicts, and compliant with copyright, permissions and participant-consent requirements. Human-participant research should include appropriate ethical approval and informed-consent information where required.

The publisher’s current AI policy is especially important for authors using generative tools. Emerald states that generative AI must not be used to create or draft new manuscript content. It permits copy-editing of an author’s own original work for structure, clarity, language and grammar when used responsibly and transparently, and it does not permit large language models to be credited as authors. Authors should read the live policy because AI guidance is evolving quickly.

How to Decide Whether Your Manuscript Fits CBTH

A practical fit test is to ask whether the paper would still make sense as a consumer-behavior contribution if the tourism or hospitality context were removed. If the answer is no because the behavioral mechanism is central to the study, that is a good sign. If the only reason for choosing CBTH is that the sample consists of tourists, hotel guests or restaurant customers, the manuscript may need stronger theoretical alignment.

How to Prepare a Stronger, Journal-Aligned Manuscript

As a practical publication-readiness step, build the manuscript around the behavioral contribution rather than around the dataset. The title and abstract should make the consumer-behavior question visible immediately. The literature review should identify a meaningful conceptual or empirical gap, not merely claim that a topic has been “little studied.” Methods should be explained sufficiently for reviewers to judge rigor, and discussion should return to the specific behavioral theory or mechanism introduced at the start.

Before submission, compare the manuscript with several recent CBTH papers for topic framing, theory use, methods, contribution statements and discussion style. This is general publication guidance rather than an official journal requirement, but it is one of the most reliable ways to test whether your paper speaks to the journal’s active research conversation.

Manuscript Preparation Checklist

How Contentxprtz Can Support Publication Readiness

Preparing for CBTH submission involves more than correcting grammar. Authors need to ensure that the behavioral contribution is visible, the argument is coherent, the manuscript fits the selected article type, the structured abstract is compliant, references are consistent, tables and figures are readable, and ethics or disclosure statements are complete.

Contentxprtz can support researchers, PhD scholars, academics and professionals with journal publication services, including manuscript assessment, academic editing, proofreading, ESL language polishing, journal formatting, reference checking, cover-letter editing, reviewer-response editing and publication-readiness review. Support should improve how the author’s own research is communicated; it should not create data, fabricate references, replace author accountability or bypass journal policy.

Contentxprtz does not control editorial decisions and does not guarantee acceptance or publication. All editorial and publication decisions remain solely with the journal.

Summary: Consumer Behavior in Tourism and Hospitality

Consumer Behavior in Tourism and Hospitality is an Emerald Publishing journal dedicated to consumer behavior research in tourism and hospitality. It is indexed in Scopus under Source ID 21101131421, carries ISSN 2752-6666 and eISSN 2752-6674, and displayed a 2025 CiteScore of 6.7 on the official Emerald page when this guide was prepared.

The journal accepts full-length conceptual or empirical papers, research notes and cutting-edge short commentaries, uses double-anonymous review, and provides both subscription and optional open-access publishing routes. The strongest submissions are those in which tourism or hospitality is more than a setting: the paper should make a credible contribution to understanding consumer or tourist behavior. Before submission, verify the live author guidelines, Scopus status, any institution-specific metric requirement and the current Emerald open-access fee.

Conclusion: Is CBTH a Good Match for Your Research?

CBTH may be a strong candidate when a manuscript makes a clear theoretical, empirical or methodological contribution to consumer behavior in tourism or hospitality. Its Scopus indexing, established Emerald platform, defined behavioral scope and published review statistics give researchers useful information for journal selection, but none of those factors substitutes for manuscript fit.

Read the latest journal issues, confirm the current author guidelines and database records, and prepare the submission around the journal’s behavioral focus and strict article-type requirements. Professional editing or publication-readiness support can help improve clarity and compliance, but the research decisions, authorship responsibility and final submission remain with the authors, while acceptance remains entirely with CBTH’s editorial and peer-review process.