International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management: Scopus, Metrics, Scope & Submission Guide

Journal aims and scope

IJQRM positions quality and reliability as management concerns rather than purely technical engineering problems. Emerald’s scope describes a journal intended to keep managers and researchers current with new thinking, frameworks, roadmaps, concepts, principles, techniques and developments that can improve product and service quality. The journal covers business improvement in manufacturing and services as well as public and voluntary organizations.

The defining fit criterion is managerial usefulness. Emerald explicitly states that the journal’s primary scope concerns the management aspects of quality and reliability, not engineering-led or heavily mathematical components. An author using optimization, simulation, reliability modelling or statistical methods therefore needs to explain what the results mean for organizational design, leadership decisions, process improvement, risk, maintenance, service performance or quality strategy.

The scope is also receptive to methodological diversity. The publisher encourages literature reviews, case studies, action research and conceptual framework papers, provided the manuscript contains a strong research-methodology section. That makes the journal relevant to researchers who can combine theoretical contribution with practical implementation lessons.

Subjects and research themes covered

The journal’s official topic list spans both established quality-management practice and newer digital or operational-excellence themes. Relevant areas include reliability and maintenance management; sustainability of quality; service quality; product liability; economics and cost of quality; design for reliability and maintainability; quality-management systems such as ISO 9001; total quality management; quality and reliability education; performance of quality; and improvement tools such as QFD, the Kano model and statistical process control.

It also welcomes work on reliability-improvement methods such as Taguchi methods and design FMEA, computer simulation for quality and reliability improvement, Quality 4.0, Lean 4.0 and OPEX 4.0, Lean Thinking, Six Sigma, Kaizen and continuous improvement, quality-improvement frameworks, reliability standards, quality in supply chains, operational excellence and quality in project management.

Scopus indexing, visibility and journal metrics

The journal is identified in the supplied source data with Scopus Source ID 144740, and Emerald lists Scopus among the systems by which the journal is ranked. The publisher also lists EBSCO Business Source products, INSPEC, ProQuest and the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) among its abstracting and indexing services, alongside several national and business-school journal lists.

For citation metrics, Emerald currently displays a 2025 CiteScore of 8.7 and a 2026 CiteScore Tracker of 9.1. The tracker is updated monthly and should be understood as a current-year indicator rather than the final annual CiteScore. Emerald also displays a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 3.0 and a 2025 five-year Impact Factor of 3.2.

The current Emerald page does not display SJR, SNIP or a current Scopus quartile. Those indicators can vary by reporting year and subject category. For a PhD, promotion, funding or institutional compliance decision, verify the live Scopus source profile and the exact category used by your institution rather than relying on an old web listing.

Article types and classifications

During submission, authors are asked to select a paper type from Quality Paper, Reliability Paper or Book Review. They must also choose the most appropriate manuscript category. Emerald lists research paper, viewpoint, technical paper, conceptual paper, case study, literature review and general review.

This two-level classification matters because it signals both the subject emphasis and the form of contribution. A conceptual quality-management framework, for example, should not be labelled as an empirical research paper unless it actually tests data or a model. Similarly, a literature review should do more than summarize sources: it should make its review method and critical contribution transparent.

Manuscript and formatting requirements

Authors should also prepare acknowledgements and short biographies separately where used, because those materials can reveal identity during double-anonymous review. A careful pre-submission check should remove author names from the manuscript, figures, captions and self-referential wording that could identify the research team.

How to submit to IJQRM

1. Check journal fit. Re-read the official aims and scope and compare your paper with recent IJQRM articles.
2. Prepare the anonymised manuscript. Follow the length, structured-abstract, keyword, file and reference requirements.
3. Confirm authorship and ethics. Agree the author list before submission, disclose funding and conflicts, and obtain approvals or permissions where required.
4. Submit through ScholarOne. Emerald states that the corresponding author must submit through the journal’s ScholarOne system accessed from the official Emerald page; authors should not submit through a third-party proxy.
5. Add ORCID and metadata carefully. Ensure names, affiliations, title, abstract and keywords match the manuscript and are entered accurately.
6. Retain the manuscript number. The journal sends an automated confirmation after successful submission; that number should be used in later correspondence.

Peer review, editorial screening and timelines

Every submission is first screened by the journal’s editorial office. A manuscript can be declined or returned before external review if it does not fit the journal’s aims, submission policies or quality expectations. Papers considered potentially suitable are sent to at least two independent referees under a double-anonymous peer-review process.

After reviewer reports are received, the editor may accept, request minor or major revisions, or decline the paper. Emerald’s journal-specific operational data currently reports 81 days to first decision for submissions received from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025. It reports 34 days from acceptance to publication, based on the previous 12 months and last updated in April 2025. These figures are historical averages, not guaranteed timelines.

The publisher-reported acceptance rate is 22.2% for submissions between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025. Authors should treat this as context about selectivity, not as a probability calculator for their manuscript. Scope fit, methodological quality, contribution, clarity and reviewer/editor judgement all affect individual outcomes.

Open access and publication fees

IJQRM operates as a hybrid journal. After acceptance, authors can choose gold open access. Emerald states that gold OA uses a CC BY 4.0 licence and requires an article processing charge. The APC is journal-specific and can change, so the precise amount should be checked on Emerald’s current APC price list or in the editorial system at the point of acceptance.

Authors who do not choose gold OA can use Emerald’s green open-access/self-archiving route. Emerald states that the accepted manuscript can be made openly available without an embargo once the article is published. There is no submission fee merely for sending a paper to the journal; Emerald says payment is requested only when an author elects gold open access after acceptance, subject to applicable arrangements.

Research ethics and publication integrity

Emerald’s journal guidance follows research-integrity principles aligned with COPE. Manuscripts should be original, not simultaneously under consideration elsewhere, and transparent about conflicts of interest. Where human participants are involved, authors must consider ethics approval and informed consent and include the required statements. Permissions must be obtained for third-party material and for non-public organizational or individual information where publication consent is required.

The publisher’s AI policy also requires careful attention. Emerald states that generative AI should not be used to create new submission content, while certain copy-editing uses on an author’s own original work may be permitted under its policy and disclosure expectations. Large language models cannot be credited as authors. Researchers should read the current policy directly before submission because publisher AI rules can evolve.

Who should consider submitting?

IJQRM may be appropriate for researchers, PhD scholars, faculty members and practitioners whose work addresses a substantive quality or reliability management question and produces insight that can influence organizational practice. Strong candidates include studies of operational excellence, Lean and Six Sigma, service quality, quality-management systems, reliability or maintenance management, supply-chain quality, Quality 4.0, improvement frameworks and implementation outcomes.

How to prepare a stronger, journal-aligned manuscript

As a practical publication-readiness step, start with the contribution statement rather than the formatting. In one paragraph, explain the management problem, the evidence or conceptual approach, what the study adds to prior quality/reliability literature, and what a manager can do differently because of the findings. If that paragraph is vague, the manuscript is likely to feel unfocused even when the analysis is sound.

Next, compare the paper with several recently published IJQRM articles on adjacent topics. Look for how they position their research problem, describe methodology, build managerial implications and handle limitations. This is general scholarly practice rather than an official requirement, but it can reveal whether your paper speaks the journal’s intellectual language.

Finally, audit the submission package: structured abstract; paper classification; keyword selection; anonymisation; funding and conflict disclosures; ethics statements where applicable; reference consistency; table and figure files; and a concise title that reflects the real contribution. Do not wait until ScholarOne upload to discover missing materials.

How Contentxprtz can support authors

Contentxprtz can help researchers improve clarity, academic language, manuscript organization, abstract structure, referencing consistency, table and figure presentation, and alignment with documented author guidelines. Support can also include a publication-readiness check that flags scope mismatch, incomplete declarations or formatting gaps before the author submits.

That support should remain ethical and transparent. Contentxprtz cannot guarantee acceptance, peer-review success, indexing, citation performance or publication. The author remains responsible for the originality and accuracy of the research, all ethical declarations, the final manuscript, and direct submission through the journal’s official system.

Editorial leadership

Emerald currently lists Professor Jiju Antony of Newcastle Business School at Northumbria University as Editor, supported by an international team of associate editors and an editorial advisory board spanning quality and reliability expertise. Editorial appointments can change, so authors seeking pre-submission advice should use the current contact details shown on the official journal page rather than saved or third-party addresses.

Author decision guide: when IJQRM may not be the right journal

Consider another journal if the manuscript’s dominant contribution is engineering design, mathematical reliability theory or algorithm development with little management interpretation; if the quality/reliability connection is only superficial; if the paper cannot demonstrate a rigorous research method appropriate to its article type; or if your institution requires a specific current quartile or indexing category that you have not verified.

A desk rejection for scope is often avoidable. Before submission, write down the exact IJQRM scope statement your paper addresses and identify two or three recent papers that show comparable managerial relevance. If you cannot do that convincingly, the manuscript may need reframing or a different target journal.

Authoritative sources

• Emerald Publishing — International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management
• Scopus source profile — Source ID 144740
• Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)