International Journal of Bank Marketing: Scopus, Metrics, Scope & Submission Guide

Key Takeaways

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing; ISSN 0265-2323 and eISSN 1758-5937.
• Scopus: indexed/ranked by Scopus; supplied Source ID 145229.
• 2025 metrics: CiteScore 15.3, Journal Impact Factor 6.9, five-year Impact Factor 7.3.
• 2024 Scopus category data: Q1 in Marketing, SJR 1.439, SNIP 1.853, rank 28/215 in the university-library record used here.
• Peer review: editor screening followed, where suitable, by at least two independent referees using double-anonymous review.
• Typical article length: 5,000–11,500 words, including the structured abstract, references, tables, figures and appendices.
• Open access: gold and green routes are available; the current journal-specific gold OA APC should be verified before submission.
• Acceptance is selective: Emerald reports an 11.9% acceptance rate for submissions between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025.

International Journal of Bank Marketing at a Glance

What This Page Covers

• Aims, scope and topic fit
• Scopus and Web of Science visibility
• Current journal metrics
• Article types and word limits
• Submission and reference requirements
• Peer review and timelines
• Open access, fees and ethics
• Journal-fit and readiness checklist
• Ethical Contentxprtz support

Methodology and Sources

This profile prioritizes the official Emerald journal page for the journal’s identity, aims and scope, author guidelines, editorial team, peer-review model, open-access routes, acceptance rate and publication timelines. The supplied source record is used for Scopus Source ID 145229, while the Scopus source profile is the appropriate place to reconfirm current Scopus coverage. For SJR, SNIP and quartile values that were not exposed on Emerald’s page, this guide uses a 2024 Scopus-metrics record presented by Wageningen University & Research Library and labels the reporting year explicitly.

Journal information changes. Editorial teams, metrics, quartiles, APCs, article categories and timelines may be updated after this page is published. Authors should therefore treat this article as a research and preparation resource, not as a substitute for the official author instructions at the moment they submit.

What Is the International Journal of Bank Marketing?

International Journal of Bank Marketing is a specialist journal at the intersection of marketing, consumer behaviour, banking and broader financial services. Its stated role is to disseminate research on marketing issues affecting financial-service providers, which Emerald describes as ranging from banks and insurers to financial advisers and credit providers. This makes the journal broader than a title focused only on bank advertising or retail-bank promotion.

For researchers, the important distinction is that IJBM is not simply a general banking journal. A manuscript about bank profitability, credit risk, monetary policy or prudential regulation would need a clear marketing, customer or financial-services behaviour contribution to fit naturally. By contrast, studies of mobile-banking adoption, customer loyalty, financial-service branding, digital engagement, trust, segmentation, customer relationships, fintech behaviour or pricing perceptions sit closer to the journal’s stated domain when they contribute meaningfully to marketing theory or practice.

The journal’s current Editor-in-Chief is Hooman Estelami of Fordham University, as listed on Emerald’s editorial-team page. The wider editorial team is international, which is consistent with the journal’s global scope. Editorial membership can change, so researchers should consult the official page if they need current contact or leadership details.

International Journal of Bank Marketing Aims and Scope

Emerald states that IJBM aims to publish papers addressing the marketing challenges faced by financial-services providers around the world. It gives preference to empirically based research that expands existing theory or develops new theory about customer behaviour in financial-services contexts. The journal also invites review papers and thought pieces that help academics and practitioners understand financial-services marketing more clearly.

Its listed topic areas include advertising of financial services, behavioural finance, branding, corporate social responsibility, customer relationship management, institutional banking and finance, mobile and online banking, pricing, retail banking, regulations affecting financial-services marketing, and segmentation of financial-services customers. Recent topic patterns also make digital finance, fintech adoption, online service experiences and technology-enabled customer relationships highly relevant when the work retains a strong marketing or behavioural focus.

Scopus Indexing, Web of Science Visibility and Journal Metrics

For researchers asking whether the International Journal of Bank Marketing is Scopus indexed, the answer is yes based on the supplied Scopus Source ID 145229 and Emerald’s statement that the journal is ranked by Scopus. Emerald also lists the journal as abstracted and indexed in the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) and in services including Business Source Complete and EBSCOhost. Because indexing databases can change coverage decisions over time, researchers should open the database record itself when they need evidence for promotion, PhD submission or institutional compliance.

Emerald’s current journal page reports a 2025 CiteScore of 15.3, a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 6.9 and a 2025 five-year Impact Factor of 7.3. These are different metrics with different methodologies and should not be treated as interchangeable. The article therefore keeps the database and reporting year attached to each value.

For Scopus category metrics, Wageningen University & Research Library’s journal record reports 2024 values of SJR 1.439, SNIP 1.853, and Q1 in the Marketing category, with a CiteScore rank of 28 out of 215 and an 87th percentile. This is useful historical/current-context information, but authors needing the latest quartile should verify the newest Scopus record rather than assuming that a 2024 quartile remains unchanged.

What Types of Articles Does IJBM Publish?

Emerald’s author guidelines ask authors to select a submission classification such as Research Paper, Executive Insight or Book Review. The same guidelines also explain content categories including research papers, viewpoints, technical papers, conceptual papers, case studies and literature reviews. In practical terms, the correct classification should reflect what the paper actually contributes rather than what appears easiest to publish.

Manuscript and Formatting Requirements

Emerald’s current IJBM guidelines state that article files should be submitted in Microsoft Word format. A PDF may accompany the Word file, but a PDF alone is not acceptable. LaTeX can be used when accompanied by a PDF. Articles should generally be 5,000 to 11,500 words, and that count includes the structured abstract, references, text in tables and figures, and appendices; the guidance asks authors to allow 250 words for each table or figure.

All submissions require a structured abstract. The mandatory headings are Purpose, Design/methodology/approach, Findings and Originality. Optional headings may include research limitations/implications, practical implications and social implications. Emerald states that the abstract should be no more than 250 words in total, including keywords and article classification. Authors may provide up to 12 short, appropriate keywords.

References must use a recognized Harvard style. Emerald permits its own Harvard variant and notes that another recognized Harvard style is acceptable, but citations should be complete, accurate and internally consistent. Funding sources must be disclosed in the acknowledgements, and biographies or acknowledgements should be uploaded separately when required so the main manuscript remains anonymous for peer review.

• Remove author names and identifying information from the anonymized manuscript.
• Keep author details in ScholarOne and separate files where instructed.
• Use a concise title that reflects the actual study.
• Prepare the structured abstract with the required headings.
• Check that every table, figure and appendix is necessary and consistently labelled.
• Verify all citations, DOIs and references for completeness and consistency.
• Declare research funding, conflicts of interest and ethics information where applicable.

How to Submit a Paper to the International Journal of Bank Marketing

Emerald states that submissions must be made through the journal’s ScholarOne site by the corresponding author. The publisher specifically warns authors not to submit by email or through a third-party agent, company, representative or proxy. This is important for researchers using publication-support services: ethical support can help prepare the files and explain the process, but the author should control and complete the official submission.

1. Recheck scope. Compare the manuscript’s question, theory and audience with IJBM’s aims and several recent papers.
2. Prepare the anonymized manuscript. Remove author identifiers, acknowledgements and other clues that could compromise double-anonymous review.
3. Prepare supporting information. Confirm author names, affiliations, ORCID identifiers, funding statements, permissions and ethical declarations.
4. Check technical requirements. Word count, structured abstract, keywords, Harvard references, tables/figures and supplementary files should match the current guidance.
5. Submit through ScholarOne. The corresponding author completes the metadata and uploads files directly.
6. Retain the manuscript number. Emerald sends an automated confirmation and uses that number in later correspondence.

Peer-Review Process, Acceptance Rate and Timelines

Each IJBM submission is first checked by an editor. At this stage, the manuscript can be declined or returned if it does not fit the aims and scope or if the language/manuscript quality is too low. Papers considered potentially suitable are sent to at least two independent referees for double-anonymous peer review. After review, the editor may accept the manuscript, request minor or major revisions, or decline it.

Emerald reports a 34-day time to first decision for submissions between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, an 11.9% acceptance rate for the same period, and an average of 33 days from acceptance to publication based on the preceding 12 months, last updated April 2025. These are journal-reported historical performance measures, not promises for an individual manuscript. Review complexity, reviewer availability, revisions and special issues can make a particular paper faster or slower.

Open Access and Publication Fees

IJBM follows Emerald’s hybrid open-access model. Authors can choose gold open access after acceptance, in which case the version of record is made openly available under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 licence and an article processing charge applies unless an agreement, waiver or sponsorship changes the amount. Emerald also provides a green open-access route, allowing the accepted manuscript to be self-archived under the publisher’s policy.

Emerald states that there is no submission fee for the journal. The publisher says authors are asked for money only if they choose gold open access after acceptance, subject to applicable arrangements. Because APC price lists can change, this guide does not reproduce a monetary amount that could become outdated. Authors should confirm the current IJBM APC in Emerald’s official APC price list or in the editorial system before making a funding decision.

Research Ethics, Originality, Authorship and AI Use

Emerald states that it follows guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and requires manuscripts to be original, not simultaneously under consideration elsewhere, and transparent about conflicts of interest, permissions and ethical approval. Research involving human participants should address informed consent and provide appropriate ethics statements where required. Authors remain accountable for the accuracy and integrity of their work.

For AI use, Emerald’s current policy places responsibility on authors and reviewers and requires responsible, transparent use. The publisher states that large language models cannot be credited as authors. Its policy permits certain copy-editing uses of generative AI on an author’s own existing work while restricting generative copywriting of new submission material. Because AI policies evolve quickly and can be context-specific, authors should read the current Emerald policy before using any AI-assisted workflow.

As a practical publication-readiness step, keep an audit trail for data sources, analysis decisions, ethics approvals, permissions and substantive revisions. This is good scholarly practice even when the journal does not request every document at initial submission.

Who Should Consider Submitting to IJBM?

IJBM may be a strong candidate for PhD scholars, faculty members, early-career researchers and practitioners whose work makes a clear contribution to financial-services marketing. A topic match alone is not enough. Stronger candidates typically have a research question that matters to the journal’s audience, use relevant marketing or behavioural theory, employ methods appropriate to the claim, and explain how the findings advance knowledge rather than only reporting local descriptive results.

Five questions to test journal fit

1. Is the central problem explicitly about financial-services marketing, customers, market behaviour or a closely related service/branding issue?
2. Does the paper engage with theory relevant to the journal rather than using banking merely as a data setting?
3. Would readers interested in financial-services marketing learn something transferable beyond one organization or location?
4. Do recent IJBM articles use related concepts, methods or conversations, even if your exact topic is novel?
5. Can the abstract explain the paper’s originality and relevance to IJBM in a few precise sentences?

How to Prepare a Stronger, Journal-Aligned Manuscript

How Contentxprtz Can Support Publication Readiness

Preparing for a journal such as IJBM involves more than grammar correction. Authors need to align the manuscript with scope, communicate the contribution clearly, follow current author instructions, maintain consistent scholarly language, present evidence effectively and meet referencing and ethical requirements.

Contentxprtz can support researchers with academic editing, proofreading, journal formatting, reference and citation checking, manuscript assessment, cover-letter editing, reviewer-response editing, thesis-to-article preparation and publication-readiness review. Support should preserve the author’s ideas, data, decisions and responsibility for the work. It should not fabricate research, manipulate peer review, submit through unauthorized proxies or misrepresent authorship.