International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences: Scopus, Scope & Submission Guide

Quick Answer: What Is International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences?

International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences is a peer-reviewed Emerald journal that examines quality and services as closely related phenomena. Its official scope extends beyond narrow organizational or managerial questions to cultural, economic, social, environmental and global processes. Emerald describes the journal as an open forum for multi- and interdisciplinary work in the emerging field of quality and service sciences.

The journal carries print ISSN 1756-669X and online ISSN 1756-6703. The supplied Scopus Source ID is 21100385809. Emerald’s current journal page lists Scopus, ESCI, INSPEC, ProQuest, EBSCO business databases and ReadCube Discover among its indexing and abstracting services.

It may be a strong candidate for authors studying service quality, quality management, customer and stakeholder experience, service innovation, organizational excellence, public or digital services, sustainability in services, co-creation, service recovery and related interdisciplinary questions. Fit should be judged from the official aims and scope plus recent articles—not from indexing or a metric alone.

Key Takeaways

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing.
• Scopus: Emerald currently lists the journal as indexed in Scopus; supplied Source ID 21100385809.
• 2025 metrics: CiteScore 8.7; Journal Impact Factor 3.9; five-year Impact Factor 3.3.
• Peer review: double-anonymous, with at least two independent referees after editorial screening.
• Article length: 4,000–8,000 words including references and appendices, with a 280-word allowance per figure or table.
• Abstract: structured, maximum 250 words including keywords and article classification; up to 12 keywords.
• Submission: directly by authors through ScholarOne Manuscripts.
• Open access: optional Gold OA is available; authors should verify the current APC before submission.

Journal Information at a Glance

What This Page Covers

• Aims, scope and subject areas
• Scopus and other indexing
• 2025 citation metrics and journal-performance data
• Article types and manuscript requirements
• Submission and double-anonymous peer review
• Open access, publication fees and ethics
• Journal-fit examples and a pre-submission checklist
• Ethical Contentxprtz manuscript-preparation support

Methodology and Sources

This profile prioritises the official Emerald journal page and author guidelines, the supplied Scopus Source ID, and Emerald’s publishing-ethics and open-access information. Current values were checked on 10 August 2026. Metrics and publisher policies are time-sensitive, so authors should reconfirm them before making a submission or institutional reporting decision.

International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences Aims and Scope

The journal’s official aim is to investigate quality and services as interconnected phenomena within ongoing transformations of organizations and societies. Its scope is deliberately wider than micro-level management. It considers patterns, behaviours, processes, mechanisms, principles and consequences associated with quality and services across cultural, economic, social, environmental and global dimensions.

That breadth matters for journal selection. A manuscript need not be a conventional “service quality scale” study, but it should make a credible contribution to understanding quality, services, service systems or their management. Interdisciplinary designs can be suitable where the connection to quality and services is explicit and substantial rather than incidental.

Representative areas that may fit

• service quality measurement and management
• customer, citizen or stakeholder experience
• quality management and organizational excellence
• service innovation and service design
• co-creation and value co-creation
• service recovery and complaint management
• digital, platform and technology-enabled services
• public-sector and nonprofit service systems
• sustainable and circular service models
• quality culture, leadership and organizational behaviour
• cross-cultural quality management
• health, education, tourism, transport and professional services where the quality/service contribution is central
• service-dominant logic and related theoretical development
• methods and frameworks for evaluating service performance
• social and environmental consequences of service systems

These examples are publication-fit guidance derived from the stated scope and recent content; they are not an exhaustive official topic list.

Scopus Indexing and Other Databases

Emerald currently lists International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences among journals indexed and abstracted in Scopus. The source record supplied for this task is 21100385809. Emerald also lists the journal in Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), INSPEC, ProQuest, ReadCube Discover and several EBSCO Business Source products.

For university, promotion or PhD requirements, authors should verify not only that a journal appears in Scopus but also any required coverage years, status, subject category and institution-specific rules. The current Scopus source profile is the appropriate place to confirm live Scopus category, SJR, SNIP and quartile values.

Current Journal Metrics and What They Mean

Emerald reports a 2025 CiteScore of 8.7, a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 3.9, and a 2025 five-year Impact Factor of 3.3. The page also displays a 2026 CiteScore Tracker of 5.1, which is updated monthly and should not be treated as the final 2026 CiteScore.

Emerald also reports operational data: a 7.3% acceptance rate for submissions between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, 47 days to first decision for that submission window, and 56 days from acceptance to publication based on the prior 12 months as last updated in April 2025. These figures describe historical journal-level performance. They do not predict the outcome or exact timeline of an individual paper.

Quartile note: a journal can have different quartiles across subject categories and reporting systems. Because a directly verifiable live official category/quartile value was not available in the accessible source used here, authors should check the latest Scopus source profile rather than rely on an uncited third-party ranking page.

Editorial Leadership

Emerald currently lists Professor Riadh Ladhari of Laval University, Canada, as Editor. Associate Editors listed on the journal page include Dr Jaylan Azer, Dr Walid Chaouali, Dr Elodie Massa and Dr Nurhafihz Noor. The wider editorial advisory board spans institutions in multiple regions and disciplines, consistent with the journal’s international, interdisciplinary scope.

Types of Articles Published

The author guidelines ask authors to classify submissions into one of the journal’s supported article categories:

• Research paper — reports research such as model construction/testing, action research, data analysis, surveys or empirical studies.
• Viewpoint — opinion- and interpretation-led work, including journalistic-style contributions.
• Technical paper — describes and evaluates technical products, processes or services.
• Conceptual paper — develops hypotheses or conceptual arguments without being based on original empirical research.
• Case study — describes actual interventions or organizational experiences.
• Literature review — primarily annotates or critiques a defined body of literature.
• General review — provides an overview or historical examination of a concept, technique or phenomenon.

Who Should Consider Submitting?

The journal may be relevant to researchers in service management, quality management, marketing, operations, public administration, organizational studies and adjacent fields when the manuscript’s main contribution is clearly about quality and/or services. PhD scholars and early-career researchers can consider it, but fit should be based on the research contribution rather than academic status.

A useful test is whether the paper can answer all three questions: What quality-or-service problem does this study address? Why does IJQSS’s multidisciplinary readership need the result? How does the paper extend knowledge beyond a narrow local application?

How to Decide Whether Your Manuscript Fits

If fit remains uncertain after reading the aims and scope, Emerald advises authors to contact the journal editor with the paper title and structured abstract for guidance.

Manuscript Submission Guidelines

Submissions are made through ScholarOne Manuscripts. Emerald explicitly states that authors should submit directly through ScholarOne rather than by email or through a third-party proxy.

1. Create or use a ScholarOne account.
2. Open the Author Centre and start a new manuscript.
3. Complete required metadata and article classification.
4. Upload the manuscript and all supporting files.
5. Preview the generated PDF proof.
6. Submit only after checking completeness and anonymity.

Emerald also asks authors to add ORCID during submission. All contributing authors should have accurate names, email addresses and affiliations in their individual ScholarOne accounts.

Manuscript Preparation and Formatting Requirements

• File format: Microsoft Word is accepted. LaTeX can be used with an accompanying PDF. A PDF alone is not accepted.
• Length: 4,000–8,000 words, including references and appendices; allow 280 words per figure or table.
• Title: no more than eight words.
• Structured abstract: 4–7 headings; Purpose, Design/methodology/approach, Findings and Originality/value are mandatory; total maximum 250 words including keywords and article classification.
• Keywords: maximum 12.
• Headings: concise and hierarchically clear.
• Figures: high quality, numbered consecutively; accepted technical formats depend on figure type, with image files generally expected at least 300 dpi and 10 cm wide.
• Tables: placed in a separate file, with positions clearly indicated in the manuscript.
• Supplementary material: submitted before acceptance and clearly labelled.
• References: Harvard style, checked for accuracy and consistency.

Citation and Reference Style

IJQSS uses Harvard author-date referencing. In-text citations follow patterns such as (Adams, 2006), (Adams and Brown, 2006), or (Adams et al., 2006). The reference list is alphabetical. Emerald’s guidance includes formats for books, book chapters, journal articles, conference papers, working papers, electronic sources and datasets.

As a publication-readiness step, verify every DOI, author name, year, volume, issue and page range against the original source. Reference-manager output should be treated as a draft, not as an error-free final list.

Peer-Review Process

The journal uses double-anonymous peer review. Each paper is first reviewed by the editor. If judged suitable for the journal, it is sent to at least two independent referees. Authors should therefore remove identifying names from the manuscript and figures and upload acknowledgements or biographies separately where instructed.

After reviews, the editor may reject, request revision or accept the paper. The reported 47-day first-decision metric is journal-level historical data and should not be interpreted as a guaranteed review time.

Open Access and Publication Fees

IJQSS allows authors to choose Gold Open Access during submission. Emerald also provides a Green Open Access route. Under Emerald’s journal policy, there is no submission fee and no standard-route publication charge; payment is requested only if Gold OA is selected, unless a special sponsored arrangement applies.

The exact Gold OA APC should be checked on Emerald’s current APC page immediately before submission because fee schedules, institutional agreements, discounts and funder arrangements can change. Authors should also verify the applicable Creative Commons licence for their chosen OA route.

Publication Ethics and AI Policy

Emerald journals follow COPE principles and require original work that is not under consideration elsewhere in substantially similar form. Authors are responsible for accurate attribution, authorship, conflicts, research integrity, permissions and relevant human-participant ethics or informed-consent requirements. The journal may use iThenticate or related similarity-checking systems.

Emerald’s current AI policy is particularly important: generative AI may not be used to create or draft new submission content. Copy-editing an author’s own original work using generative AI to improve structure, clarity, language and grammar is permitted under Emerald’s responsible-use principles. Large language models cannot be credited as authors, and authors remain accountable for accuracy and integrity.

Recent Research and Current Calls for Papers

Recent IJQSS content shows the breadth of the journal, including work on service recovery, municipal biowaste management services, consumer emotional responses, co-creation, quality management and organizational excellence. This pattern reinforces that service quality can be studied through marketing, operations, sustainability, public services and interdisciplinary management lenses when the quality/service contribution is explicit.

Emerald currently lists a call for papers titled “Advancing service management in the Asia-Pacific amidst an uncertain new world”, closing 31 December 2027. Authors interested in a special issue should read its full call and submission instructions because thematic fit may be narrower than the journal’s general scope.

Practical Journal-Fit Examples

Strong scope match

A study develops and validates a model of service recovery quality across digital banking channels and links it to trust and retention. The quality/service contribution is central, so the next checks are novelty, recent IJQSS coverage and methodological strength.

Interdisciplinary but plausible

A municipal-services paper evaluates environmental impacts and citizen-perceived service quality. It may fit because IJQSS explicitly allows wider social and environmental dimensions, provided the manuscript connects those findings to quality/service sciences.

Weak scope match

A machine-learning paper predicts equipment failure with no substantive service, customer, quality-management or organizational contribution. Technical strength alone would not establish IJQSS fit.

Formatting problem

A suitable manuscript has a 12-word title, unstructured abstract and numeric references. These are fixable pre-submission issues; they should be corrected before ScholarOne submission.

Revision stage

An author receives major revisions. A strong response copies each reviewer comment, answers point by point, identifies manuscript changes precisely, and explains respectfully when a suggestion is not implemented.

Pre-Submission Checklist

• Confirm the manuscript is directly within IJQSS aims and scope.
• Verify current Scopus status and any institution-specific journal requirements.
• Select the correct article classification.
• Keep the title within eight words.
• Keep total article length within 4,000–8,000 words.
• Use the required structured abstract and stay within 250 words.
• Use no more than 12 keywords.
• Prepare the manuscript for double-anonymous review.
• Move tables to a separate file and mark table positions in the text.
• Check figure format and resolution.
• Format and verify all references in Harvard style.
• Declare funding and relevant conflicts or ethical approvals.
• Add ORCID information in ScholarOne.
• Confirm all authors approve the final submission.
• Review any AI-assisted copy-editing for compliance with Emerald policy.
• Verify the current Gold OA APC only if choosing that route.

Common Reasons a Manuscript May Be Unsuitable

Although IJQSS does not publish a public breakdown of rejection reasons, general editorial practice and its author instructions suggest predictable risks: weak scope alignment, limited contribution, unclear methods, unsupported conclusions, poor reporting, failure to anonymize, excessive or insufficient length, non-compliant abstract/reference formatting, incomplete declarations, or ethical/originality concerns. These are guidance points, not journal-specific rejection statistics.

How Contentxprtz Can Support IJQSS Publication Readiness

Contentxprtz can help researchers prepare a clearer, more polished, journal-aligned manuscript while all editorial and publication decisions remain solely with the journal. For IJQSS, useful support may include scope-alignment review, manuscript assessment, academic editing, proofreading, ESL language polishing, structured-abstract refinement, journal formatting, Harvard reference checking, table and figure language review, cover-letter editing and reviewer-response editing.

Because Emerald’s current AI policy distinguishes copy-editing from AI-generated drafting, support should preserve the researcher’s original scholarship and comply with the publisher’s rules. Contentxprtz does not guarantee acceptance, peer-review success or publication and does not submit as a proxy for authors.

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Summary: International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences

International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences is an Emerald Publishing journal for multidisciplinary research on quality and services. Emerald currently lists it in Scopus and ESCI and reports a 2025 CiteScore of 8.7 and 2025 Impact Factor of 3.9. The journal uses double-anonymous review, normally sends suitable papers to at least two independent referees, and requires 4,000–8,000-word manuscripts, an eight-word maximum title, a structured abstract of up to 250 words, up to 12 keywords and Harvard references. Submission is directly through ScholarOne. Gold OA is optional and carries an APC that should be reconfirmed immediately before submission. For researchers, the decisive question is not simply whether the journal is indexed, but whether the manuscript makes a clear, defensible contribution to quality and service sciences for the journal’s international readership.