International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research: Scopus, Metrics & Submission Guide

Key takeaways

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing; official journal abbreviation: IJEBR.
• Scope: human, behavioural and organizational dimensions of entrepreneurship, including smaller and growing organizations.
• Indexing: Emerald lists Scopus among the journal’s abstracting and indexing services; supplied Scopus Source ID 144744.
• Current verified metrics: 2025 CiteScore 11.6; 2025 Impact Factor 5.1; five-year Impact Factor 6.1.
• Peer review: double-anonymous, normally with at least two independent referees after editorial screening.
• Manuscript length: 8,000–10,000 words under current author guidelines; structured abstract up to 250 words including keywords and article classification.
• Submission: corresponding authors submit directly through the journal’s ScholarOne system linked by Emerald.
• Acceptance rate: Emerald reports 6.7% for submissions between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025; this is a historical journal statistic, not an acceptance prediction.

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research at a glance

What this page covers

• Journal aims and scope
• Scopus and indexing
• Current verified metrics
• Article types
• Author guidelines
• Peer review and timelines
• Open access and fees
• Journal-fit checklist
• Ethical publication readiness

Methodology and sources

This guide was prepared from the supplied journal record and the journal’s official Emerald pages, including its aims and scope, author guidelines, editorial team, indexing and metrics, peer-review information and ScholarOne submission route. The supplied record identifies the journal through ISSN 1355-2554 and Scopus Source ID 144744.

Metrics, editorial teams, fees, database coverage and author policies can change. Authors should reconfirm time-sensitive values on the official journal and indexing platforms immediately before submission.

What is the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research?

IJEBR is an international research journal for scholarship on entrepreneurship with a particularly strong interest in the people, behaviours and organizational processes that shape entrepreneurial activity. Emerald describes the journal as a platform for conceptual papers and empirical studies relevant to academic researchers and educators, policy-makers and practitioners worldwide.

That positioning matters for journal selection. A paper about a start-up, SME or family firm is not automatically a fit merely because the organization is entrepreneurial. The manuscript should connect its research question and contribution to entrepreneurship scholarship and explain why the human, behavioural, organizational, educational, social, cultural or policy dimensions are theoretically meaningful.

Recent and current topics on the journal site span entrepreneurial ecosystems and behaviour, women’s social entrepreneurship and digital transformation, climate and circular-economy entrepreneurship, international entrepreneurship, sport entrepreneurship and AI-related bias. These examples illustrate breadth, but authors should still compare their manuscript with recent IJEBR articles rather than treating any entrepreneurship-adjacent topic as in scope.

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research aims and scope

Emerald states that IJEBR takes an international perspective and seeks high-quality work advancing the study of the human and behavioural dimensions of entrepreneurship and smaller organizations. Its scope includes both conceptual and empirical research and aims to connect scholarship with scientific, policy, commercial and social concerns.

For researchers evaluating fit, the practical question is not simply “Is my subject entrepreneurship?” but “Does my manuscript advance an entrepreneurship conversation that IJEBR’s audience is likely to recognize as important?” A strong submission normally makes that contribution visible in the title, abstract, introduction, literature framing and discussion.

Is IJEBR indexed in Scopus and other major databases?

Yes. Emerald’s official journal page lists Scopus among IJEBR’s abstracting and indexing services. It also lists ABI/INFORM, ANVUR Class A, the Association of Business Schools/Academic Journal Guide rating, the Australian Business Deans Council Journal Quality List, BFI, CNRS, Emerald Management Reviews, Publication Forum and ReadCube Discover.

The uploaded journal record identifies Scopus Source ID 144744 and links directly to the Scopus source profile. Because database coverage can change, researchers whose university, doctoral programme or funder requires a particular index should verify the journal directly in that database before submitting or paying any publication charge.

Current IJEBR metrics and what they mean

Emerald currently displays a 2025 CiteScore of 11.6, a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 5.1 and a 2025 five-year Impact Factor of 6.1. It also displayed a 2026 CiteScore Tracker of 10.5 when this guide was researched; tracker values are provisional indicators updated monthly.

These metrics help researchers understand citation visibility, but they should not substitute for scope fit. A manuscript can be excellent and still be unsuitable if it does not address the journal’s readership, contribution expectations or research conversations.

Emerald also reports a 6.7% acceptance rate for submissions received from 1 April 2024 through 31 March 2025. That figure signals selectivity; it does not provide an individual manuscript probability, and it should never be used to promise or predict acceptance.

What types of manuscripts does IJEBR publish?

The current author guidelines identify Research Paper as the submission type and provide classification descriptions that include research papers, viewpoints, technical papers, conceptual papers, case studies, systematic literature reviews and general reviews. IJEBR specifically notes that systematic literature reviews should make a clear contribution by integrating debates and advancing entrepreneurship scholarship; purely descriptive or bibliometric reviews are outside that stated ambition.

Authors should verify the live ScholarOne classification menu because platform options can change. The practical objective is to choose the category that truthfully reflects the manuscript and then structure the argument, method and contribution to meet expectations for that type.

Who should consider submitting to IJEBR?

IJEBR may be a strong candidate for researchers studying entrepreneurship through behavioural, psychological, educational, organizational, social, cultural, innovation or smaller-firm perspectives. This can include PhD scholars, early-career researchers, established academics and research-active professionals.

IJEBR manuscript and formatting requirements

According to Emerald’s current author guidelines, articles should be 8,000–10,000 words. The count includes all text, the structured abstract, references, text in tables and figures, and appendices; Emerald asks authors to allow 250 words for each figure or table.

How to submit a paper to IJEBR

1. Confirm scope fit. Re-read the aims and scope and compare your manuscript with several recent IJEBR papers, especially those using a similar theoretical lens or methodology.
2. Prepare the anonymous manuscript. Remove names, affiliations, acknowledgements and other identifying information that could compromise double-anonymous review.
3. Check the author-guideline details. Confirm length, structured abstract, keywords, figures, tables, funding, ethics declarations, permissions and references.
4. Submit directly in ScholarOne. Emerald states that the corresponding author should submit through the journal’s ScholarOne site, not by email or via a third-party agent or proxy.
5. Add author metadata carefully. Enter author names and affiliations exactly as they should appear, and add ORCID information where applicable.
6. Keep the manuscript number. The journal sends an automated confirmation after successful submission; use the manuscript number in later correspondence.

Peer-review process, review time and editorial decisions

Each submission is first checked by the editor. Emerald states that a manuscript may be declined or returned at this stage when it does not fit the aims and scope or when language or manuscript quality is too low. Papers considered potentially suitable are sent to at least two independent referees for double-anonymous peer review.

After reviewer feedback, the editor may accept, request minor or major revisions, or decline the manuscript. Emerald reports a goal of informing authors of the first decision within 60 days; the journal’s metrics panel reports an observed time to first decision of 36 days for submissions between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025.

Emerald also reports an average of 37 days from acceptance to publication, with that statistic last updated in April 2025. These are historical averages and goals rather than guaranteed timelines for any individual paper.

Open access, APCs and publication fees

IJEBR offers both gold open access and green open access. Under the gold route, authors who choose immediate open access for the version of record are asked to pay an APC after acceptance, and the article is published under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 licence according to Emerald’s current journal guidance.

Under the green route, Emerald says the author accepted manuscript can be made openly available after publication without a payment or embargo period, subject to the publisher’s policy. The journal page does not present a fixed APC amount in the author-guideline text; it directs authors to the current APC price list or editorial system because the charge varies by journal and waiver or agreement arrangements may apply.

Publication ethics and responsible manuscript preparation

Emerald states that manuscripts should be original, should not be under consideration elsewhere, and must meet its research and publishing ethics requirements. The publisher follows Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidance and may use Crossref Similarity Check to assess originality.

For research involving human participants, authors should determine whether ethics approval is required, secure informed consent where applicable, and provide appropriate ethics statements without compromising participant or author anonymity. Conflicts of interest, external funding and permissions for third-party material should also be handled transparently.

Emerald’s current AI policy is particularly important for manuscript preparation. The publisher states that large language models cannot be authors and that generative-AI copywriting of new submission content is not permitted, while copy-editing an author’s own original existing work for language, grammar, formatting or structure may be permitted subject to responsible and transparent use. Authors should read the live policy before submission because AI policies can evolve.

How to decide whether IJEBR fits your manuscript

If several answers are “no,” the best next step may be to revise the paper’s framing or consider another journal rather than forcing a mismatch. Scope fit is a scholarly judgment, not a formatting exercise.

How to prepare a stronger journal-aligned manuscript

As a practical publication-readiness step, start by mapping the paper’s contribution to the journal’s scope. Identify the specific entrepreneurship conversation your study advances, then make that contribution consistent across the title, structured abstract, introduction, theory section, results and discussion.

Next, test whether the evidence supports the strength of the claims. Qualitative papers should show transparent sampling, data collection and analytical logic; quantitative papers should justify measures, models and robustness; reviews should move beyond description and demonstrate how synthesis creates new theoretical or methodological insight. These are general scholarly principles rather than a substitute for IJEBR’s official instructions.

Finally, check presentation quality. Tables and figures should have a clear analytic purpose, references should be complete and consistent, and language should be precise enough that reviewers can evaluate the intellectual contribution without being distracted by preventable ambiguity. Good editing cannot manufacture novelty, but it can make genuine novelty easier to see.

How Contentxprtz can support authors preparing for IJEBR

Contentxprtz can help researchers improve the presentation and publication readiness of work they have created. Relevant support may include academic editing, language polishing, manuscript structure review, journal formatting, reference and citation consistency, cover-letter editing, reviewer-response editing and journal-selection guidance.

Support should remain ethical and author-led. Researchers retain responsibility for the originality, methods, data, analysis, interpretations, authorship and declarations in their manuscript. Because Emerald’s AI and ethics rules are explicit, authors should also ensure any tools or services used in preparation are consistent with the publisher’s live policy.

No editing or publication-assistance service can guarantee acceptance, peer-review success, indexing or publication. Editorial screening and peer review are independent decisions made by the journal.

Official sources to verify before submission

• Emerald — IJEBR journal home, aims and scope, author guidelines, editorial team, indexing and metrics
• ScholarOne — IJEBR submission portal
• Scopus — Source ID 144744
• COPE — publication ethics guidance