International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management: Scopus, Metrics, Scope & Submission Guide

Key Takeaways

• Published by Emerald Publishing; established in 1970.
• ISSN 0960-0035 and eISSN 1758-664X.
• Indexed in Scopus, Web of Science and SSCI; supplied Scopus Source ID 144922.
• 2025 CiteScore: 15.1; 2025 Journal Impact Factor: 8.2; 2025 five-year Impact Factor: 8.9.
• Double-anonymous peer review, normally involving at least two independent referees after editorial screening.
• Official 2024–2025 submission data reports a 31-day average to first decision and an 11.9% acceptance rate.
• Regular articles may be up to 10,000 words; the structured abstract is limited to 250 words including keywords and article classification.
• Gold open access is optional; Emerald’s 2026 hybrid-journal APC is £3,222 / US$4,351 / €3,710 plus VAT where applicable.

Journal Information at a Glance

What This Page Covers

• Aims, scope and subject fit
• Scopus and major indexing
• Current citation metrics
• Article types and manuscript limits
• Peer-review and editorial screening
• Open access and publication charges
• Ethics and AI-use policy
• Publication-readiness support

Methodology and Sources

This profile prioritizes current, first-party information from Emerald Publishing, including the journal’s aims and scope, author guidelines, editorial team, indexing and metrics, review process and open-access policy. The supplied journal record was used to identify the correct source through its title, publisher, ISSN and Scopus Source ID. Where a current value was not available from the journal page reviewed—such as SJR, SNIP or a current category quartile—this guide does not invent or infer one.

Aims, Scope and the Research IJPDLM Is Trying to Publish

IJPDLM positions itself across the strategic core of supply chain management rather than treating logistics as a narrow transportation topic. Its official scope covers logistics, physical distribution, purchasing, operations and supply chain management, with an emphasis on work that is strategically focused, theoretically grounded and capable of making a meaningful contribution. Both quantitative and qualitative research can fit, as can empirical and conceptual work, provided the study is rigorous and the contribution is clearly connected to the logistics/SCM literature.

Emerald’s current scope lists a broad set of themes: social and environmental sustainability; business logistics; omni-channel and multi-channel distribution; customer-service strategy; public and international policy; supply-chain process implementation; information and communication technology; order processing and inventory; sourcing and procurement; sustainable production and consumption; risk management; physical and cyber security; marketing channels; global development; recruitment and training; collaboration and integration; international trade; network complexity; information and knowledge management; legal and financial issues; retailing; and organizational and human-resource development.

The breadth is significant, but the journal is not methodologically indiscriminate. The official scope specifically states that purely quantitative mathematical and modelling papers are outside scope. A quantitative model may form part of an empirical study, action research or design-science paper, but a stand-alone modelling contribution is not the journal’s target. Likewise, conceptual papers and literature reviews are welcome when they advance concepts or theory, whereas descriptive reviews or bibliometric analyses that mainly count citations or summarize past topics without generating new knowledge are generally not what IJPDLM seeks.

Understanding Its Scopus Coverage and Journal Metrics

For researchers whose university or doctoral programme requires publications in indexed journals, IJPDLM has strong database visibility. Emerald’s indexing list includes Scopus, Web of Science and the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI). It also lists ABI/INFORM Complete, Business Source Premier and other business and library databases. The source record supplied with this task identifies Scopus Source ID 144922.

On Emerald’s current metrics page, the journal’s 2025 CiteScore is 15.1. Emerald also displays a 2026 CiteScore Tracker of 14.0; a tracker is provisional and updated monthly, so it should not be confused with a completed-year CiteScore. For Clarivate metrics, Emerald lists a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 8.2 and a 2025 five-year Impact Factor of 8.9.

This guide does not assign a current SJR, SNIP or quartile because those values were not displayed on the official journal page reviewed. If a university specifically requires a Q1/Q2/Q3/Q4 classification, authors should check the latest relevant category directly in the applicable database and note the reporting year and subject category.

Is IJPDLM a Good Match for Your Research?

A practical fit test is to ask whether the manuscript can answer four questions convincingly: What important logistics or supply-chain problem does the paper address? Which theory or conceptual lens gives the study explanatory power? Is the method rigorous enough to support the claims? What does the study add to existing SCM/logistics knowledge beyond describing a context or dataset?

Topics such as supply-chain resilience, sustainability, cyber risk, omnichannel distribution, procurement, collaboration, international trade, inventory, customer service, digital technologies and organizational capabilities can all sit comfortably within the journal’s stated scope. Yet a topical match alone is insufficient. IJPDLM’s wording makes the theoretical contribution and connection to SCM/logistics scholarship central.

For early-career researchers and PhD scholars, this makes recent-article comparison especially useful. Before submitting, review several recent IJPDLM papers that use a similar method or examine an adjacent research problem. Compare how they frame the research gap, use theory, establish methodological credibility, discuss generalizability and explain implications. That is general publication-readiness guidance, not an official requirement, but it can reveal whether your paper speaks the journal’s current scholarly language.

What Does the Journal Publish?

During submission, Emerald lists IJPDLM classifications including Research Paper, Invited Perspective and the Innovators and Transformers section. The broader author-guideline categories also describe research papers, viewpoints, technical papers, conceptual papers, case studies, literature reviews and general reviews. Authors should select the option that best reflects the manuscript and follow any section-specific expectations.

The Innovators and Transformers section is particularly distinctive. It focuses on emerging challenges, lessons, innovation and transformation in logistics and supply chain management, with encouragement for academic-practitioner collaboration and knowledge co-creation. Emerald specifies a typical length of 5,000–7,000 words for this section. Regular articles may be up to 10,000 words.

Conceptual and review work can be viable when it advances theory or produces new conceptual insight. A review paper whose main result is only a descriptive map of who cited whom, which topics appeared most often, or how publication counts changed over time is much less aligned with the scope as currently described.

Preparing a Manuscript for IJPDLM

Emerald’s author instructions require article files in Microsoft Word; a PDF may accompany the Word file but cannot be the only manuscript file. LaTeX may also be used when accompanied by a PDF. Regular submissions have a maximum length of 10,000 words, including the structured abstract, references, text in tables and figures, and appendices. Emerald asks authors to allow 280 words for each figure or table when calculating length.

Structured abstract and keywords

All submissions need a structured abstract with four required headings: Purpose, Design/methodology/approach, Findings and Originality. Research limitations/implications, practical implications and social implications may be added when relevant. The abstract has a maximum length of 250 words in total, including keywords and article classification. Up to 12 short, appropriate keywords may be provided.

References, figures and tables

References must use a recognized Harvard style; Emerald’s own Harvard style is acceptable, while another recognized Harvard variant may also be submitted. Figures should be high quality, numbered consecutively and captioned clearly. Tables are submitted separately from the main manuscript and are numbered with Roman numerals. Authors remain responsible for permissions and attribution when third-party material is used.

Anonymous manuscript preparation

Because IJPDLM uses double-anonymous review, the manuscript file should not reveal author identity. Emerald tells authors to remove names from the manuscript, figures and captions, avoid self-referential phrasing that identifies the research team, and upload acknowledgements or biographies separately. Each listed author needs a ScholarOne account, and the corresponding author submits the manuscript.

What Happens After You Submit a Manuscript?

Submissions are made through the journal’s ScholarOne editorial system. The journal first carries out editorial screening. Emerald states that the editor may decline or return a manuscript if it does not fit the aims and scope or if the language or manuscript quality is too low. This first stage is therefore where scope alignment and presentation quality matter immediately.

If the paper appears suitable, it is sent to at least two independent referees for double-anonymous peer review. Reviewer reports inform the editor’s decision to accept, request minor or major revision, or decline the manuscript. Emerald’s journal-specific metrics currently report a 31-day average to first decision for submissions between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025. Its general author guidance says the goal is to communicate the first decision within 60 days.

The same journal metrics page reports an 11.9% acceptance rate for that 2024–2025 submission window. This figure is descriptive, not predictive: no acceptance rate can tell an individual author whether a specific manuscript will be accepted. Scope, originality, theoretical contribution, methods, clarity and reviewer/editorial judgment remain decisive.

For accepted papers, Emerald reports an average of 40 days from acceptance to publication in its April 2025 update. The article passes through licence completion, editorial checks, copyediting and typesetting, followed by proofs. The final proofed version appears online as EarlyCite before assignment to a volume and issue.

Open Access, APCs and Publication Fees

IJPDLM is not a mandatory-fee journal. Emerald states that it asks for payment only when an accepted author chooses the gold open-access route. The publisher’s 2026 hybrid-journal APC is £3,222 / US$4,351 / €3,710, plus VAT where applicable. Because agreements, vouchers or funding arrangements can affect what an individual author pays, the current amount should be reconfirmed at acceptance or on Emerald’s open-access page.

Authors selecting gold OA receive a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 licence for the published version of record. Emerald also offers a green open-access route: according to its current policy, authors can make the accepted manuscript openly available once the article is officially published, without an embargo and without paying an APC.

For researchers with funder or university OA mandates, the practical step is to check institutional agreements before paying personally. The applicable licence, repository route and funding eligibility should all be confirmed from current publisher terms.

Research Ethics, Originality and Responsible AI Use

Emerald states that it follows guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Manuscripts should be original, should not be under consideration elsewhere, and must disclose conflicts of interest and relevant prior publication. Authors are responsible for third-party permissions and for the integrity of the research. The publisher may use Crossref Similarity Check during editorial assessment.

Its current AI policy is also important for manuscript preparation. Emerald states that large language models cannot be credited as authors and that authors remain accountable for accuracy, originality and integrity. The journal page says generative AI may not be used to copywrite new manuscript content, while copy-editing an author’s own original existing work for structure, clarity, language and grammar is permitted subject to Emerald’s transparency and responsibility principles. Authors using AI-related tools should therefore read the latest policy rather than assume that practices accepted elsewhere are automatically permitted.

IJPDLM also participates in Transparency and Openness Promotion guidance. Emerald encourages authors to cite and reference data, program code and methods, use persistent identifiers where possible, and follow appropriate data-protection, privacy and ethical procedures.

A Journal-Fit and Publication-Readiness Checklist

How Contentxprtz Can Ethically Support Publication Readiness

Contentxprtz can support researchers who already have their own study, analysis and manuscript by improving how that work is communicated and prepared for journal submission. Relevant support may include academic editing, language polishing, structured-abstract refinement, reference and citation consistency, journal-format checks, manuscript assessment, cover-letter editing and reviewer-response editing.

For an IJPDLM-targeted manuscript, ethical support should focus on clarity and alignment: making the research question explicit, strengthening the logical connection between theory and results, checking that the implications are understandable, ensuring the abstract accurately represents the study, and helping the author follow the journal’s formal submission requirements. Contentxprtz should not fabricate data or citations, invent authorship, manipulate peer review, or write new research content that the journal’s current AI policy prohibits.