Enterprise & Society Scopus Journal Profile, Selection & Submission Guide

Quick Answer: What Is Enterprise & Society?

Enterprise & Society is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal centred on business history and the historical relationships between firms, industries, institutions, economies, politics, culture, and society. Cambridge describes its scope as international and welcomes studies of individual firms or industries when they are situated in a broader historical framework, as well as work applying economic or management theories to business history.

The journal is published by Cambridge University Press, currently appears four times per year, and lists print ISSN 1467-2227 and online ISSN 1467-2235. Cambridge’s current abstracting and indexing page includes SCOPUS and the Social Sciences Citation Index among other services. Researchers in business history, management history, economic history, institutional analysis, political economy, and adjacent social-science or humanities fields may consider the journal when a manuscript makes a strong historical contribution and clearly explains why the business–society relationship matters.

Before submitting, authors should verify scope fit, article type, current indexing, the latest metric year relevant to their institution, manuscript length and citation style, double-anonymous preparation, funding or OA requirements, and any special-issue instructions.

Key Takeaways

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; the editorial office is associated with the Business History Conference.
• Scopus: Cambridge currently lists SCOPUS among the journal’s indexing services; supplied Scopus Source ID 20657.
• Frequency: four issues per year.
• Current metrics displayed by Cambridge: 2-year Impact Factor 0.9, 5-year Impact Factor 1.2, CiteScore 1.8, SJR 0.530, and SNIP 1.432, checked 10 August 2026.
• Article length: the author instructions state an approximate range of 8,000–12,000 words for articles.
• Peer review: articles use double-anonymous review, typically with three reviewers in the first round.
• Open access: hybrid; Gold OA is optional, with Cambridge listing an APC of GBP 2,610 or USD 3,655 where an APC is required.
• No acceptance guarantee: journal selection and manuscript preparation can improve readiness, but acceptance depends on editorial assessment and peer review.

Journal Information at a Glance

What This Page Covers

• Journal identity, publisher, ISSNs, frequency and Scopus record
• Aims, scope, subject fit and likely out-of-scope patterns
• Indexing, current metrics and how to interpret them responsibly
• Article types and manuscript expectations
• Submission steps, ORCID, keywords, cover letter and declarations
• Double-anonymous peer review and stated review expectations
• Hybrid open access, APCs and publication charges
• Journal-fit and publication-readiness checklists
• Ethical ways Contentxprtz can support manuscript preparation

Methodology and Source Note

This guide was prepared using the supplied Scopus source record and current authoritative pages from Cambridge University Press, including the journal homepage, author instructions, abstracting and indexing list, journal metrics, fees page, and peer-review information. Facts were checked on 10 August 2026. Database coverage, editor roles, metrics, APCs and detailed policies are time-sensitive and should be reconfirmed before submission.

Aims, Scope and Subject Fit

Enterprise & Society is not simply a general management journal with occasional historical papers. Its defining lens is historical: research should explain how businesses developed and interacted with larger contexts across time. The official scope welcomes work on individual firms and industries when it is grounded in a broad historical framework, as well as innovative applications of economic or management theories to business history. It also encourages business-history work emerging from allied social sciences and humanities, national studies, comparative studies, and quantitative research written accessibly for readers who may not be specialists in cliometrics.

Topics that may fit well

• Historical development of firms, industries, markets and business systems
• Business–government relations, regulation, taxation and political economy over time
• Corporate power, labour, entrepreneurship, ownership, finance and institutions in historical context
• Business, culture, race, gender, class, consumption or social change when the historical business dimension is central
• International and comparative business history
• Historically grounded applications of management, economics or institutional theory
• Quantitative historical studies whose methods and interpretation are accessible to the journal’s broader readership

When a manuscript may be a weak fit

A purely contemporary management study with no meaningful historical dimension, a descriptive company chronology without an analytical contribution, or an ahistorical paper that treats background as decoration rather than evidence may struggle to fit. The journal’s reviewer guidance explicitly notes that incoming work that is out of scope, ahistorical, or of poor quality may be returned without external review. For researchers evaluating fit, the safest step is to compare the manuscript with several recent Enterprise & Society articles and ask whether the paper contributes to the same historical conversation.

Indexing, Scopus Status and Journal Metrics

Cambridge’s official abstracting and indexing page currently lists SCOPUS, Social Sciences Citation Index, Journal Citation Reports/Social Science Edition, Current Contents: Social & Behavioral Sciences, ERIH PLUS, Historical Abstracts, America: History and Life, IBSS, and several ProQuest services. That provides strong evidence that the journal is visible across major business-history and social-science discovery systems.

The supplied journal record identifies Scopus Source ID 20657. Because Scopus coverage can be updated, researchers should use the live source profile—not a screenshot or third-party ranking page—when they need formal evidence of current indexing for university or funding purposes.

Current metric snapshot

Cambridge’s journal-metrics page, checked 10 August 2026, displayed a 2-year Impact Factor of 0.9, a 5-year Impact Factor of 1.2, an Eigenfactor of 0.00096, an Article Influence Score of 0.55, a CiteScore of 1.8, SJR of 0.530, and SNIP of 1.432. Cambridge also cautions that journal-level metrics should be interpreted in context and not used to judge an individual article or author.

A current quartile was not displayed on the Cambridge metrics page used for this guide. Quartiles can vary by database, category and year; therefore this page does not assign a Q1/Q2/Q3/Q4 label without a current category-specific source.

Article Types Published by Enterprise & Society

The author instructions list Articles, Review Essays, Presidential Addresses, Symposia, Reviews, Comments, Krooss Prize Dissertation Summaries, In Memoriam items, Editorials and Introductions. For Gold Open Access funding purposes, Cambridge identifies Articles, Review Essays, Presidential Addresses and Symposia as research-article types.

Most independent researchers considering a standard original contribution will be looking at the Article category. A review essay or symposium has a different editorial function, so authors should not assume that the normal article word range or review pathway applies identically to every content type.

Preparing a Manuscript for Enterprise & Society

Length, spacing and reference style

The journal’s author instructions state an approximate 8,000–12,000-word range for articles. The preparation page asks authors to double-space the entire manuscript, including text, block quotations, bibliography and endnotes. It requires Chicago Manual of Style formatting for bibliography and citations and rejects social-science inserted parenthetical references in favour of endnotes using short-form citations after the full bibliographic entry.

Writing quality and historical argument

The journal’s style guidance places unusual emphasis on clear, professional prose, accurate punctuation, active construction where agency can be identified, and writing that carries evidence and argument efficiently. This is more than cosmetic. A business-history article often has to manage archives, chronology, actors, institutions and interpretation at once; weak prose can obscure the causal argument even when the underlying research is strong.

Practical publication-readiness checklist

• State the historical research question and contribution early.
• Explain why the selected period, firm, industry, archive or case matters beyond description.
• Connect evidence to a broader business-history, social-science or humanities debate.
• Check that chronology supports rather than substitutes for analysis.
• Use Chicago references consistently and verify every note against the source.
• Remove identifying information where required for double-anonymous review.
• Check tables, figures, captions and permissions before upload.
• Confirm the word count and article type against the latest author instructions.

Submission Process and Required Information

Enterprise & Society uses an all-electronic submission and review process through its online submission system. Cambridge states that submitted manuscripts must not be under consideration elsewhere and must not already have been published or accepted for publication. English is the publication language.

The submission workflow asks authors to supply at least two and up to four keywords, enter author information and identify a corresponding author, provide or attach a cover letter, state the number of figures and tables, answer submission-history questions, and upload manuscript files. Cambridge also requires corresponding authors to identify themselves with an ORCID during submission.

The journal specifically notes that the cover letter can explain why the paper would be a valuable contribution to Enterprise & Society. As a practical step, keep that letter focused on fit: the central historical question, what the paper adds, the evidence base, and why E&S readers are the right audience. Do not use the letter to make claims that the manuscript itself cannot support.

Authors can begin from the official submitting-your-materials page, which links onward to the journal’s submission system.

Peer Review, Editorial Screening and Timelines

Cambridge states that Enterprise & Society uses double-anonymous peer review. For Articles, the journal says three reviewers are typically used in the first round, with fewer possible in later rounds. Reviewer identities are confidential, and material carrying the author’s name is not sent to referees.

The journal says it strives to obtain three referee reports for manuscripts sent out for review and expects to provide referee assessments within 90 days after requests for evaluations. This is useful planning information, but it should not be converted into a promise of a 90-day total first decision. Editorial screening happens before external review, reviewer recruitment itself takes time, and revision rounds can extend the publication journey.

Review Essays, Presidential Addresses, Krooss Prize Dissertation Summaries, In Memoriam items, Editorials and Introductions are listed as not peer reviewed, while symposia use a double-anonymous process with a developmental purpose. Authors should consult the official review-process page for article-type detail.

The journal does not publicly state an acceptance rate on the official pages reviewed for this guide. No acceptance-rate estimate should be inferred from metrics, reviewer counts or publication volume.

Open Access, APCs and Other Charges

Enterprise & Society is a hybrid journal. Authors can publish through the journal’s non-Gold route or choose Gold Open Access under a Creative Commons licence. Cambridge notes that institutional open-access agreements may cover Gold OA costs for eligible authors.

For cases where an APC is required, the journal’s fees page currently lists GBP 2,610 or USD 3,655, with additional taxes potentially applicable. For articles not published Gold OA, the Gold OA APC is not applicable. Cambridge also lists optional colour-print charges of GBP 200 or USD 320, while online colour itself is not presented as the same charge.

Fees can change. Authors should confirm the live fees and pricing page after acceptance or when planning grant and institutional funding. The publishing agreement also differs depending on whether the final article is Gold OA; Cambridge states that copyright ownership remains unchanged while the appropriate licence to publish is granted.

Publication Ethics and Author Responsibilities

The journal operates within Cambridge University Press publishing-ethics policies. At minimum, authors should ensure original work, accurate attribution, truthful data and archival representation, appropriate authorship, disclosure of relevant competing interests and funding, legitimate permissions, and compliance with research-ethics requirements where people, sensitive records or protected materials are involved.

Enterprise & Society’s submission instructions explicitly prohibit simultaneous consideration elsewhere. Researchers should also avoid fabricated citations, altered evidence, invented archival references, undisclosed duplicate publication, manipulated peer review or false reviewer identities. If an institution or funder has AI-use rules, those should be checked alongside Cambridge’s current journal policies before submission.

How to Decide Whether Enterprise & Society Fits Your Manuscript

Researchers should treat this as a selection aid, not as an unofficial acceptance test. A paper can fit the scope and still be rejected for contribution, evidence, method, writing, originality or editorial-priority reasons.

Common Reasons a Manuscript May Be Unready

• The paper is historically descriptive but does not make an analytical argument.
• The business element is peripheral to a broader history paper.
• The manuscript does not explain how the case changes a larger debate.
• Sources are interesting but thin, unbalanced, poorly contextualised or insufficiently documented.
• The prose obscures agency, chronology or causality.
• The manuscript uses a reference system inconsistent with the journal’s Chicago/endnote requirements.
• The article exceeds the expected length without a clear reason.
• Author identity remains visible in a file intended for double-anonymous review.
• The cover letter repeats the abstract rather than explaining journal fit.

How Contentxprtz Can Support Ethical Publication Readiness

Contentxprtz can help authors prepare more clearly and consistently without influencing editorial decisions. Relevant support may include journal publication services, manuscript assessment, academic editing, language polishing, Chicago-style consistency checks, journal formatting, cover-letter editing, submission-file checks, and reviewer-response editing after a legitimate editorial decision.

For a journal such as Enterprise & Society, useful support is often diagnostic: Is the historical contribution visible? Does the introduction explain why the case matters? Is evidence linked to interpretation? Are notes and bibliography consistent? Does the manuscript read clearly for an international audience? These are preparation questions, not promises of publication.

Contentxprtz does not guarantee journal acceptance, peer-review success, indexing, citation performance or publication timelines, and it does not offer fabricated data, invented citations, deceptive authorship or peer-review manipulation. The author remains responsible for the research, evidence, analysis, ethical disclosures and final submission.

Summary

Enterprise & Society is a Cambridge University Press business-history journal with an international scope and a strong interest in the historical relationship between business and wider political, cultural, institutional, social and economic contexts. Cambridge currently lists the journal in SCOPUS and the Social Sciences Citation Index, and its current metrics page displays Impact Factor 0.9, CiteScore 1.8, SJR 0.530 and SNIP 1.432.

For standard articles, authors should plan around the journal’s approximate 8,000–12,000-word range, double spacing, Chicago bibliography/citation format, electronic submission, 2–4 keywords, ORCID for the corresponding author and double-anonymous review. Gold OA is optional because the journal is hybrid; where an APC is required, Cambridge currently lists GBP 2,610 or USD 3,655 plus applicable taxes.

The strongest reason to choose the journal is not a metric alone. It is a demonstrable match between the manuscript’s historical question, business focus, evidence, argument and the conversations visible in recent Enterprise & Society scholarship. Researchers should verify all time-sensitive details directly before submitting.