International Marketing Review: Scopus, Metrics, Scope & Submission Guide

Key Takeaways

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing; ISSN 0265-1335; eISSN 1758-6763.
• Supplied Scopus Source ID: 22839.
• 2025 CiteScore reported by Emerald: 11.2; 2026 CiteScore Tracker displayed as 8.9.
• 2025 Journal Impact Factor: 4.6; 2025 five-year Impact Factor: 6.2.
• Emerald reports double-anonymous review with at least two independent referees for suitable papers.
• Current author guidance states a typical article length of 7,000–9,000 words and a structured abstract.
• Emerald reports a 10.5% acceptance rate and 40-day time to first decision for the stated 2024–2025 data window.
• Gold open access is optional after acceptance; the current APC should be checked in Emerald’s live APC list or submission system.

Journal Information at a Glance

What This Page Covers

• Aims, scope and research themes
• Scopus identity and current metrics
• Journal-fit decisions
• Manuscript and abstract requirements
• ScholarOne submission process
• Peer review and timelines
• Open access and fees
• Ethics and publication readiness
• Contentxprtz support boundaries

Methodology and Sources

This profile was prepared using the official Emerald journal page and author guidelines as the primary source, cross-checked against the supplied Scopus source record for identity. The journal page was used for the 2025 CiteScore and Impact Factor figures, editorial leadership, indexed services, peer-review model, reported timelines and acceptance rate. The supplied source record was used for Scopus Source ID 22839. Because metrics, indexing, editorial teams, open-access prices and policies can change, the live official pages should be reconfirmed immediately before submission.

Useful authoritative links include the official International Marketing Review page, the Scopus source profile, and Emerald’s journal publishing guidance.

What Does International Marketing Review Aim to Publish?

IMR’s core purpose is to advance knowledge in international marketing theory and practice. The journal welcomes work addressing challenges faced by organizations operating across borders, and it deliberately interprets international marketing broadly rather than restricting the field to export marketing alone.

Its stated interests include cross-cultural consumer behaviour, global branding, international market-entry strategies, digital marketing in global contexts and the effects of globalization on marketing practice. The scope also extends to established international-marketing variables such as cultural orientation, ethnocentrism, cosmopolitanism, consumer animosity, internationalization capabilities, standardization versus adaptation and global versus local brand positioning.

Importantly, the journal also encourages research where international marketing intersects with sustainability and corporate social responsibility, digital transformation, entrepreneurship, innovation and knowledge management, supply-chain management and geopolitics. That breadth creates room for interdisciplinary work, but the paper still needs a clear marketing contribution rather than merely using marketing as background context.

Conceptual, quantitative and qualitative work

IMR describes itself as pluralistic. Conceptual development, quantitative empirical studies and qualitative research can all be suitable. The practical implication is that methodological type alone does not determine fit. The decisive question is whether the research design can support a meaningful contribution to international marketing knowledge.

Understanding Its Scopus Coverage and Journal Metrics

For authors working under doctoral, promotion or institutional rules, indexing is often the first screening question. The supplied source record identifies International Marketing Review as a Scopus journal under Source ID 22839. Emerald also uses Scopus to display the journal’s CiteScore and includes Scopus among the journal’s recognized ranking services.

The official Emerald page currently shows a 2025 CiteScore of 11.2 and a 2026 CiteScore Tracker of 8.9. A tracker is provisional and updated during the year, so it should not be compared as if it were a final annual CiteScore. For Clarivate metrics, Emerald shows a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 4.6 and a 2025 five-year Impact Factor of 6.2.

Emerald also lists the journal as abstracted or indexed in services including Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Journal Citation Reports/Social Sciences Edition, Current Contents/Social and Behavioural Sciences and PsycINFO. Those listings may matter to universities that distinguish between Scopus, Web of Science and other databases.

Is International Marketing Review a Good Match for Your Research?

A manuscript is likely to have stronger fit when the international element is embedded in its research problem. A multi-country comparison of consumer adoption, an examination of cultural differences in brand loyalty, research on international market entry, global versus local positioning, cross-border digital platforms, or internationalization capabilities all align naturally with the journal’s stated themes.

Fit is weaker when a paper studies a purely domestic marketing problem and adds a short paragraph about globalization at the end. The same applies when a manuscript is primarily about general management, supply chains, entrepreneurship or sustainability without a clear international-marketing mechanism or contribution. These adjacent areas can fit IMR, but the marketing and cross-border logic needs to be explicit.

As a practical publication-readiness step, compare your manuscript with several recent IMR articles. Look at the research questions, theoretical framing, unit of analysis, international comparison, data sources and claimed contribution. This is general journal-selection practice rather than a separate formal Emerald requirement, but it is one of the most reliable ways to identify scope mismatch before submission.

What Types of Papers Does the Journal Publish?

Emerald’s submission system asks authors to select a paper type such as Article or Teaching Case, and to choose the closest category. Categories described in the current guidance include research paper, viewpoint, technical paper, conceptual paper, case study, literature review and general review.

That menu should not be interpreted as permission for any topic. A literature review, for example, still needs to advance understanding relevant to IMR’s international-marketing scope. A conceptual paper needs more than a broad model: it should develop propositions or theoretical insight that matter to international marketing. A teaching case should likewise be suited to the journal’s editorial expectations and selected classification.

Preparing a Manuscript for International Marketing Review

Length, file type and anonymous review

The current author guidance states that articles should normally be 7,000–9,000 words, including the structured abstract, references, text in tables and figures, and appendices. Authors should allow 250 words for each figure or table. The primary article file should be supplied in Microsoft Word format. A PDF may accompany it, but PDF alone is not acceptable; LaTeX can be used when an accompanying PDF is provided.

Because the journal uses double-anonymous peer review, the manuscript needs to be anonymized. Emerald specifically advises authors to remove names from the manuscript, figures and captions and to upload acknowledgements and biographies separately where applicable. Self-citations should be phrased in a way that does not reveal authorship.

Structured abstract and keywords

Submissions must include a structured abstract with four required headings: Purpose, Design/methodology/approach, Findings and Originality. Optional headings include research limitations/implications, practical implications and social implications. Emerald states that the abstract package should not exceed 250 words in total and permits up to 12 short keywords.

References, tables and figures

References should use a recognized Harvard style; Emerald permits its own Harvard variant or another recognized Harvard approach, provided citations are complete, accurate and consistent. Tables are submitted separately and numbered consecutively using Roman numerals. Figures should be high quality, clearly numbered and supplied in acceptable electronic formats with appropriate captions and permissions.

What Happens When You Submit?

The corresponding author submits through the ScholarOne link on the Emerald journal page. Emerald explicitly warns that the proper route is direct author submission through ScholarOne—not email and not a third-party agent submitting as a proxy. Each contributing author should have the required author details in the system, and the corresponding author is encouraged to add an ORCID identifier.

1. Confirm that the manuscript fits IMR’s aims and scope and follows the current author guidelines.
2. Prepare an anonymized manuscript and separate files for any author-identifying information.
3. Complete the structured abstract, keywords, funding statement, conflicts and ethical declarations.
4. Submit through the official ScholarOne route linked from Emerald.
5. Pass editorial screening for policy compliance, scope and manuscript quality.
6. If suitable, the paper is sent to at least two independent referees for double-anonymous review.
7. The editor may accept, request minor or major revision, decline, or in some cases suggest Emerald’s manuscript transfer service.

Emerald currently reports a 40-day time to first decision based on submissions between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025. The author guidance also states a broader goal of informing authors of a first decision within 60 days. The journal reports 50 days from acceptance to publication based on the previous 12 months as last updated April 2025. These are historical metrics or goals, not guaranteed processing times.

The same official page reports a 10.5% acceptance rate for submissions in that 2024–2025 window. A low acceptance percentage should be read as context about selectivity, not as a mathematical forecast for an individual manuscript.

Open Access, APCs and Publication Charges

International Marketing Review is not presented as a fully open-access journal. Emerald offers authors two open-access routes across the journal: gold open access and green open access/self-archiving. If authors choose gold OA after acceptance, an article processing charge is payable and the article is published under a CC BY 4.0 licence. The journal page directs authors to Emerald’s APC price list or editorial system for the current amount.

The exact IMR APC was not stated on the journal page used for this guide, so it would be inappropriate to publish an unverified amount here. Authors with funder mandates should also check institutional agreements, eligibility for waivers or discounts, and Emerald’s current open-research terms before making a budget decision.

Research Ethics and Publication Integrity

Emerald states that its journals follow guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Manuscripts should be original, not under consideration elsewhere and compliant with copyright and permissions requirements. Conflicts of interest must be declared. Where research involves human participants, the author guidelines require informed consent and, where applicable, a clear ethics statement giving relevant approval details without compromising participant or author anonymity.

The publisher may use Crossref Similarity Check to assess originality. Authors should therefore focus on accurate citation, transparent attribution and genuinely original analysis rather than attempting to manipulate a similarity score. Funding sources should be acknowledged, and the role of the funder should be described.

A Publication-Readiness Checklist Before You Submit

How Contentxprtz Can Support Publication Readiness

Contentxprtz can ethically support authors with manuscript editing, language polishing, structure and clarity, journal-format checks, reference consistency, cover-letter editing, reviewer-response editing and publication-readiness review. For an IMR submission, that can include checking whether the abstract follows the required structure, whether the international-marketing contribution is expressed clearly, and whether formatting aligns with current Emerald instructions.

Professional editing does not change the journal’s editorial independence. Contentxprtz cannot guarantee acceptance, influence reviewers or editors, manufacture data or citations, or submit under a false identity. The author remains responsible for the research, evidence, authorship, declarations and final submission.