Electronic Commerce Research and Applications: Journal Profile, Scopus & Submission Guide

Quick Answer: What Is Electronic Commerce Research and Applications?

Electronic Commerce Research and Applications (ECRA) is a peer-reviewed Elsevier journal for multidisciplinary research on electronic commerce and digital business. Its scope is deliberately broad: information systems and computing sit alongside marketing, finance, supply chains, business strategy, artificial intelligence, data science, public policy, legal studies, platform markets, digital payments, trust, security, mobile commerce, and emerging technology.

The journal is indexed in Scopus and is also listed by Elsevier as covered by the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) and Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE). It uses double-anonymized peer review, supports both subscription publishing and optional open access, and currently lists an open-access APC of USD 3,440 excluding taxes. The subscription route has no publication fee charged to authors.

Researchers should consider ECRA when the manuscript makes a clear contribution to e-commerce knowledge and demonstrates why the findings matter to the journal’s interdisciplinary readership. Before submission, check the latest author guide, compare the manuscript with recent ECRA papers, confirm current metrics/indexing if required by your institution, and verify the live APC or funding agreement if choosing open access.

Key Takeaways

• Publisher: Elsevier; articles are hosted through ScienceDirect.
• Scopus: Elsevier lists the journal as Scopus indexed; supplied Source ID is 15057.
• Identifiers: Print ISSN 1567-4223; online ISSN 1873-7846.
• Current official display: CiteScore 10.9 and Impact Factor 6.3 on Elsevier’s Journal Insights information reviewed for this guide.
• Peer review: Double anonymized; suitable papers are typically sent to at least two independent reviewers.
• Publishing model: Hybrid—optional open access or subscription publishing.
• Open-access APC: USD 3,440 excluding taxes as currently listed by Elsevier; reductions may apply.
• Author preparation: Separate title page and anonymized manuscript, editable source files, abstract up to 250 words, 1–7 keywords, and article highlights are among the stated requirements.

Journal Information at a Glance

What This Page Covers

• the journal’s identity, publisher, aims, scope, and subject coverage
• Scopus indexing, other database coverage, CiteScore, Impact Factor, SJR, SNIP, and quartile context
• article fit and the kinds of research questions that align with ECRA
• manuscript preparation, anonymization, abstract, keywords, highlights, and references
• submission workflow and what happens during double-anonymized peer review
• open-access and subscription options, including the currently listed APC
• publishing ethics, authorship, competing interests, funding, and AI-use declarations
• a practical fit checklist and ethical Contentxprtz publication-readiness support

Methodology and Sources

This profile was prepared using the supplied journal record together with authoritative information from Elsevier and ScienceDirect, including the journal homepage, Journal Insights, Guide for Authors, issues archive, editorial information, and Elsevier publishing policies. The supplied record establishes the requested Scopus Source ID and Contentxprtz article parameters; the official journal pages were used to verify publisher-facing details such as scope, ISSNs, peer review, article publishing options, fees, timelines, and author requirements.

Scopus and JCR metrics can change between reporting years. Where an exact SJR, SNIP, or quartile was not visible in Elsevier’s own journal page results, this article uses a university library journal guide for the 2024 Scopus values and labels the year clearly. Authors should verify any metric that forms part of a doctoral, promotion, funding, or institutional eligibility rule immediately before submission.

What Does the Journal Aim to Publish?

Elsevier describes ECRA’s purpose as creating and disseminating knowledge that remains useful in a fast-changing e-commerce environment. That wording points to an important editorial tension: e-commerce research can become outdated quickly when it focuses only on a current platform, interface, or trend. Stronger submissions usually connect a timely digital phenomenon with theory, evidence, methods, or applications that can remain informative beyond a single product cycle.

The journal positions electronic commerce as multidisciplinary. Its official scope connects information systems and technology with computing and informatics; marketing, finance, and supply-chain management; strategy and management; artificial intelligence and machine learning; data science and business analytics; public policy; and legal studies. For authors, that means a paper can be technically sophisticated, behaviorally focused, managerial, analytical, or policy-oriented—but the electronic-commerce contribution needs to be visible.

Topics explicitly represented in the official scope

• agent-based commerce, electronic auctions, electronic marketplaces, and business models
• B2C and B2B electronic commerce, consumer behaviour, CRM, and data mining
• recommender systems, internet search, web mining, big-data analytics, and social-commerce analytics
• responsible and trustworthy AI, digital transformation, and the digital economy
• pricing, marketing, payments, sharing economy, e-government, public policy, and digital-divide questions
• e-commerce in supply chains and inventory management, organizational theory, empirical studies, and economic/management modelling
• security, trust, card applications, mobile commerce, ubiquitous computing, inter-organizational systems, standards, and emerging technologies

A manuscript can still be unsuitable even when it uses one of these keywords. A generic machine-learning model, for example, may not fit if the e-commerce context is incidental. Conversely, an interdisciplinary paper can be well aligned when the technology, theory, business problem, data, and implications are integrated around an electronic-commerce question.

Understanding Scopus Coverage and Journal Metrics

For researchers working under institutional publication requirements, indexing is often the first screening question. Elsevier’s Journal Insights page lists Scopus, SSCI, and SCIE among the journal’s abstracting and indexing services. The supplied source record gives Scopus Source ID 15057, which provides a precise identifier for checking the source directly in Scopus.

Elsevier currently displays a CiteScore of 10.9 and an Impact Factor of 6.3. A university library journal guide reports the 2024 Scopus metrics as SJR 1.411 and SNIP 1.701, with Q1 placement across Computer Networks and Communications, Computer Science Applications, Management of Technology and Innovation, and Marketing. Those category rankings are useful because a journal can have different quartile positions across subjects and years.

Metrics should be interpreted carefully. CiteScore reflects Scopus citation data; the Journal Impact Factor is a Clarivate metric; SJR and SNIP use different normalization approaches. None measures whether a specific manuscript belongs in the journal. For a PhD scholar, the safest approach is to confirm which database, reporting year, category, and quartile your university recognizes rather than relying on a generic statement such as “Q1 journal.”

Who Should Consider Submitting?

ECRA may be a strong candidate for researchers whose work explains, tests, models, designs, or evaluates electronic-commerce phenomena with a contribution that matters beyond one local implementation. Typical author profiles include information-systems researchers, computer scientists, marketing scholars, operations and supply-chain researchers, data scientists, AI researchers, economists, management scholars, policy researchers, and interdisciplinary teams.

Examples of potentially aligned manuscript directions include trustworthy AI in digital marketplaces; recommender-system effects on consumer choice; platform pricing and seller behaviour; digital-payment adoption and risk; social-commerce analytics; cross-border mobile commerce; digital transformation of firms; marketplace trust and security; e-commerce logistics; algorithmic decision support; and policy or legal questions created by digital commerce.

As a practical publication-readiness step—not an official journal rule—compare your abstract with several recent ECRA papers. Ask whether the research question, unit of analysis, method, theoretical framing, and implications would make sense to the same readership. Topic overlap alone is weaker evidence of fit than a clear contribution to the journal’s ongoing research conversation.

How to Judge Whether Your Manuscript Fits ECRA

If several answers are uncertain, revise the manuscript–journal rationale before submitting. A precise fit statement can also strengthen the cover letter by showing why the study belongs in ECRA rather than in a broader computer-science or management journal.

Preparing and Formatting the Manuscript

Editable files and anonymization

Elsevier asks authors to submit editable source files. Word submissions should use .doc or .docx and a single-column layout; LaTeX is also supported. A PDF is not accepted as the source file. Because ECRA uses double-anonymized review, the identifying title page must be separated from the anonymized manuscript.

The title page should include the article title, author names, affiliations, acknowledgements, declaration of interest, and corresponding-author contact details. The anonymized manuscript should contain the paper body, references, figures, and tables without author names, affiliations, or other identifying material. Authors should also check self-citations and file metadata for accidental identity disclosure.

Abstract, keywords, and highlights

The abstract must be concise and factual and may not exceed 250 words. Elsevier asks it to state the purpose, principal results, and major conclusions and to stand alone. The journal requires 1 to 7 English keywords and also requires article highlights at submission. Highlights should capture novel findings and, where relevant, new methods.

Structure, glossary, CRediT, and references

Manuscripts should use clearly defined sections. The Guide for Authors also asks for a glossary of field-specific terms when relevant and requires corresponding authors to acknowledge co-author contributions using the CRediT roles that apply. Funding information must be disclosed.

The journal does not require a rigid reference format at initial submission as long as the style is consistent and complete. Its stated citation approach is author–year, with the reference list arranged alphabetically and then chronologically where needed. Accurate DOIs and complete bibliographic data matter because errors can prevent linking to services such as Scopus and Crossref.

What Happens After You Submit?

The online submission system collects manuscript details and files and generates a review PDF. An editor first assesses whether the paper is suitable for the journal. If it proceeds, Elsevier states that the manuscript will typically be sent to a minimum of two reviewers for independent assessment of scientific quality. The process is double anonymized, so reviewers do not receive author identities and authors do not receive reviewer identities.

Elsevier’s Journal Insights information currently reports average journal-level timelines of 6 days to first decision, 90 days to decision after review, 272 days from submission to acceptance, and 5 days from acceptance to online publication. These figures describe past journal performance and should not be treated as promised turnaround times. A complex revision, difficulty securing reviewers, special-issue workflow, or editorial concern can alter an individual paper’s path.

Authors may appeal an editorial decision only under Elsevier’s stated appeal procedure. If a paper is judged better suited to another Elsevier journal, the publisher may offer its Article Transfer Service. Any transferred manuscript is still independently evaluated by the destination journal.

Open Access, APCs, and the Subscription Route

ECRA supports open access but is not an author-pays-only journal. Elsevier currently lists an open-access Article Publishing Charge of USD 3,440 excluding taxes. The amount may be reduced during submission depending on factors such as institutional agreements or applicable country arrangements. Because APCs and agreements can change, authors should verify the live price and their eligibility before making funding commitments.

The alternative subscription route carries no publication fee charged to authors, according to the journal page. Under that route, access is primarily through subscribers and authorized access pathways rather than immediate gold open access. Authors with funder mandates should check whether their required licence or repository route is compatible with the journal’s options.

Publishing Ethics and Author Responsibilities

ECRA follows Elsevier’s publishing-ethics framework. Submission implies that the work has not been published previously except in allowed forms such as a preprint, abstract, thesis, or registered report; is not under consideration elsewhere; is approved by all authors and relevant authorities; and will not be republished in the same form without the appropriate rights.

Authorship is expected to reflect substantial contribution to the study, drafting or critical revision, final approval, and accountability. The author list should be settled before submission because changes are generally restricted and require justification and agreement. Authors must disclose competing interests and funding sources and obtain permission for copyrighted material where necessary.

Elsevier also requires disclosure when generative AI or AI-assisted technologies have been used in manuscript preparation beyond basic tools such as grammar, spelling, or reference checking. Authors remain responsible for verifying accuracy, sources, originality, privacy, intellectual-property compliance, and the final text. AI tools cannot be listed as authors. Reviewers and editors are not currently permitted to use generative AI tools in peer review under Elsevier’s stated confidentiality policy.

Common Reasons a Manuscript May Be a Poor Fit

The journal does not publish a simple public list of desk-rejection reasons, so the following are practical interpretations rather than official rejection criteria. A paper may struggle at editorial screening if electronic commerce is peripheral, the contribution is incremental, the theoretical or empirical value is unclear, or the manuscript reads as a narrow technology implementation without broader research significance.

Other avoidable weaknesses include a vague abstract, weak connection to the journal’s literature, inadequate anonymization, incomplete declarations, inconsistent references, unsupported claims, poorly explained methods, or conclusions that exceed the data. Language problems can also obscure a strong contribution even when the research itself is sound.

Before submission, ask a colleague unfamiliar with the project to read only the title, abstract, introduction, and conclusion. If they cannot identify the e-commerce problem, the research gap, the method, the principal finding, and the contribution, those sections probably need sharper alignment.

A Practical Publication-Readiness Checklist

1. Confirm the live journal title, ISSNs, Scopus Source ID, indexing, and any institutional eligibility requirement.
2. Read the current aims and scope and at least several recent articles close to your topic.
3. Write a one-sentence explanation of why the manuscript belongs specifically in ECRA.
4. Check that the abstract is 250 words or fewer and clearly reports purpose, results, and conclusions.
5. Prepare 1–7 precise English keywords and the required article highlights.
6. Separate the identifying title page from the fully anonymized manuscript.
7. Use editable source files and ensure figures, tables, captions, supplementary material, and data statements are complete.
8. Verify authorship order, CRediT contributions, funding, conflicts of interest, acknowledgements, and any AI-use declaration.
9. Check every in-text citation against the reference list and verify DOI/bibliographic data.
10. Confirm the current APC and funding arrangement only if choosing open access.
11. Run a final language, logic, formatting, and consistency review before uploading.

How Contentxprtz Can Support Ethical Publication Readiness

Contentxprtz can help researchers prepare a stronger submission without claiming influence over editorial decisions. Support may include manuscript assessment, academic editing, proofreading, ESL language polishing, journal-aligned formatting, reference and citation consistency, cover-letter editing, reviewer-response editing, and thesis-to-journal-article preparation.

For ECRA, a useful pre-submission review can focus on whether the paper makes its electronic-commerce contribution explicit, whether the abstract and introduction align with the journal’s multidisciplinary readership, whether anonymization is complete, and whether tables, figures, references, declarations, highlights, and supporting files are internally consistent.

Editorial support should preserve the author’s intellectual ownership and research responsibility. It cannot guarantee peer-review success, acceptance, indexing outcomes, citation performance, or publication. To explore ethical manuscript preparation support, visit Contentxprtz Journal Publication Services.

Official Links Authors Should Recheck Before Submission

• Electronic Commerce Research and Applications journal homepage
• Elsevier Journal Insights
• Guide for Authors
• Editorial Board
• Scopus Source Profile 15057
• Elsevier publishing and pricing policy

Final Assessment

Electronic Commerce Research and Applications is a well-established Elsevier venue for interdisciplinary work on e-commerce and digital business, with verified Scopus coverage, broad technology-and-management scope, double-anonymized peer review, and both subscription and optional open-access publishing routes. Its value for a particular researcher depends less on a single metric than on whether the manuscript contributes durable knowledge to electronic commerce and speaks to the journal’s interdisciplinary readership.

Use the metrics and indexing information as eligibility checks, then make the submission decision on scope, recent editorial direction, methodological fit, audience, practical requirements, and publication model. Reconfirm live database and fee information immediately before submission, because journal metrics, policies, and charges can change.

At Contentxprtz, we don’t just edit; we help ideas reach their fullest potential.