Journal of Accounting Education: Scopus, Scope, Metrics & Submission Guide

Quick Answer: What Is the Journal of Accounting Education?

Journal of Accounting Education is an Elsevier-published scholarly journal focused on improving accounting education worldwide. Its official aims describe a forum for empirical research, instructional ideas and resources, educational cases, and best practices relevant to accounting teaching and learning. Topics can include technology use, learning approaches, assessment, curriculum, and faculty-related issues, provided the work contributes meaningfully to accounting education.

The journal is currently listed by Elsevier as indexed in Scopus, and the supplied source data identifies Scopus Source ID 29852. The journal's ScienceDirect page also displays a CiteScore of 3.9 as of 10 August 2026. Because that display does not show the reporting year beside the number, this guide does not assign a year to the metric without a live Scopus confirmation.

Before submitting, determine which journal section best matches the manuscript, read several recent JAEd articles, and check the live Journal of Accounting Education homepage and Guide for Authors. Indexing or a respectable citation metric cannot compensate for weak journal fit.

Key Takeaways

• Publisher: Elsevier; the journal is presented on ScienceDirect and the Elsevier journal shop.
• Core field: accounting education rather than accounting research in general.
• Scopus: Elsevier lists Scopus among indexing services; supplied Scopus Source ID is 29852.
• CiteScore: ScienceDirect displays 3.9 on the current page checked 10 August 2026; verify the reporting year in the live Scopus record.
• Article pathways: Main Articles, Teaching and Educational Notes, Educational Cases, and Best Practices.
• Peer review: Elsevier's current journal shop states double-anonymized peer review.
• Publishing model: hybrid choice—open access with a currently listed APC of USD 3,910 excluding taxes, or subscription publication with no author publication fee according to the journal page.
• Best fit: manuscripts that make an explicit, evidence-based contribution to accounting education and satisfy the requirements of the selected section.

Journal Information at a Glance

What This Page Covers

• The journal's aims, scope, readership, and distinctive section structure
• Scopus indexing, CiteScore, and how to interpret unverified quartile or Impact Factor claims
• Recent accounting-education themes visible in the journal
• Open-access and subscription publishing choices
• Peer review and publisher-reported decision timelines
• How to evaluate manuscript–journal fit before submission
• Practical preparation for research articles, teaching notes, educational cases, and best-practice papers
• Publication ethics and ethical professional editing support

Methodology and Source Note

This profile was prepared from the journal's current ScienceDirect page, the Elsevier journal shop record, the supplied Scopus Source ID 29852, the journal's current editorial-board page, and Elsevier's Publishing Ethics Resource Kit. The journal's ScienceDirect page was checked on 10 August 2026.

Metrics, editorial teams, article charges, submission portals and database coverage are time-sensitive. Where an authoritative current numeric value could not be verified, this guide says so rather than substituting a third-party estimate. That distinction is particularly important for quartile, SJR, SNIP, Impact Factor, acceptance rate and review-duration claims.

What Does Journal of Accounting Education Aim to Publish?

JAEd's stated purpose is to promote research on accounting education and improve its quality worldwide. The practical implication is that a paper needs more than an accounting topic: it needs an education contribution. A technically sound study of audit pricing, tax compliance or financial reporting may fit another accounting journal better if teaching, learning, curriculum, educators or students are not central to the research question.

The journal describes itself as a vehicle for empirical findings and for the exchange of ideas, instructional resources and best practices. Its scope explicitly includes technology, learning styles, assessment, curriculum and faculty-related issues. Recent content also shows the breadth of that educational lens. The June 2026 issue included work on academic accounting careers, an introductory resource on accounting theories, the usefulness of ChatGPT in ethical accounting dilemmas, fraud and forensic accounting education, and business simulation in introductory accounting. These examples suggest room for both classroom-facing innovation and research on the accounting academic environment, provided the educational contribution is explicit.

Topics that can plausibly fit

• Accounting curriculum design and curriculum change
• Assessment of accounting knowledge, skills and competencies
• Pedagogy, active learning, simulations and instructional design
• Artificial intelligence, analytics and other technologies in accounting education
• Ethics education in accounting and auditing contexts
• Student learning, performance, motivation and educational outcomes
• Faculty development, academic careers and accounting-education institutions
• Educational cases tested in real courses
• Evidence-informed practices in recruitment, retention, advising or practitioner engagement

What may fall outside the journal's centre of gravity?

Research that is primarily about accounting markets, corporate reporting, auditing practice, taxation or governance without a meaningful education question is likely to require a different journal. Likewise, a classroom activity described only as an interesting idea, without the evidence or implementation detail demanded by the relevant JAEd section, may be underdeveloped for this outlet.

What Types of Articles Does the Journal Publish?

The four-section structure is one of the most important facts to understand before drafting. Authors should choose the section first and then design the manuscript around what that section is trying to contribute.

Educational cases receive unusually specific treatment in the official scope. The accompanying teaching note must include implementation guidance based on actual use and evidence regarding case efficacy against stated learning objectives. Direct assessment—such as grades by requirement/objective or pre/post testing—is required for the efficacy element; student perception surveys alone are described as indirect assessment. The case should have been used more than once in a course. This makes “we designed a case” materially different from “we have a submission-ready JAEd educational case.”

Understanding Its Scopus Coverage and Journal Metrics

For researchers whose PhD programme, promotion policy or grant requires Scopus coverage, the journal is currently relevant: Elsevier lists Scopus in its abstracting and indexing information, and the supplied record maps the journal to Source ID 29852. The print ISSN is 0748-5751 and the online ISSN is 1873-1996, which helps distinguish this title from similarly named sources.

The ScienceDirect journal page currently displays a CiteScore of 3.9. Because the page checked on 10 August 2026 does not identify a reporting year next to that displayed value, the safest phrasing is “ScienceDirect currently displays 3.9,” rather than “the 2025 CiteScore is 3.9” or another year-specific claim. If your institution requires a dated metric screenshot, use the live Scopus source details.

What about SJR, SNIP and quartile?

Elsevier's insights page lists SJR and SNIP among the journal's abstracting/indexing information, but this article did not verify current official numeric values for either metric. A quartile is also not claimed here because quartile status depends on the metric system, subject category and reporting year. If a doctoral regulation says “Q1/Q2 Scopus journal,” verify the category-specific quartile in the database named by that regulation.

Does the journal have an Impact Factor?

The Elsevier insights comparison currently shows a dash in the Impact Factor field for Journal of Accounting Education. This guide therefore does not describe the journal as having a Journal Impact Factor. Researchers who specifically need Web of Science or JCR eligibility should search the current Clarivate record before relying on secondary claims.

How Established and Visible Is the Journal?

The ScienceDirect archive shows a long publication history, with issues extending back decades and Volume 73 in progress in June 2026. Elsevier also maintains current special issues and article collections, including work on artificial intelligence and large language models in teaching and learning, accounting as a STEM discipline, ethics in accounting and auditing, big data, audit education, tax education and accounting information systems education.

For journal selection, longevity and indexing are useful signals but not substitutes for topical alignment. A well-established outlet can still be a poor match if your manuscript is aimed primarily at practitioners, economics researchers or general management educators rather than the accounting-education community.

Open Access, Subscription Publishing and Publication Fees

Journal of Accounting Education uses a hybrid model. The current ScienceDirect page offers an open-access route and a subscription route. As of 10 August 2026, the listed open-access APC is USD 3,910 excluding taxes; Elsevier notes that the amount may be reduced during submission when applicable. The subscription option is described as having no publication fee charged to authors, with articles available immediately to subscribers.

This distinction matters when budgeting. A hybrid journal does not mean every accepted author must pay the APC. The charge is associated with the open-access publishing choice. Institutional agreements, funding rules and author eligibility may also alter the effective amount, so check the journal's current open-access options before selecting a route.

Do not treat the price quoted here as permanent. APCs can change, taxes can vary by jurisdiction, and funding agreements can be institution-specific.

What Happens After You Submit a Manuscript?

Elsevier's current journal shop states that JAEd uses double-anonymized peer review. In practical terms, authors should expect to separate identifying information from the manuscript and remove obvious identity cues from the version sent for review. The exact current file requirements belong to the live Guide for Authors and submission system.

The ScienceDirect journal page also displays publisher-reported timeline indicators: 17 days from submission to first decision, 103 days from submission to decision after review, 382 days from submission to acceptance, and 13 days from acceptance to online publication. These are journal-level indicators, not promised turnaround times. A manuscript may take more or less time depending on editorial screening, reviewer availability, revisions, special-issue handling and the complexity of the paper.

The journal does not publicly state an acceptance rate in the authoritative sources used for this guide. It would be inappropriate to estimate one from third-party sites.

Is This Journal a Good Match for Your Research?

A useful fit test is to read the abstract of your manuscript without the journal name attached. If the educational problem is not obvious in the first few sentences, JAEd may not be the natural destination. Strong candidates usually connect a clear accounting-education problem to a credible design, interpretable evidence and implications for educators, students, curriculum or academic practice.

For PhD scholars, institutional rules create a second layer of fit. A journal may fit the manuscript academically while failing a university rule about Scopus status, quartile, journal lists, authorship position or publication date. Verify those requirements separately; no journal profile can interpret every university's doctoral policy.

Four Practical Manuscript-Fit Examples

1. AI-assisted ethics teaching in auditing

A study compares student performance before and after a structured AI-supported ethics exercise in an auditing course, reports learning outcomes, and analyses where AI improves or harms reasoning. This is plausibly within scope because technology, ethics and assessed learning all connect directly to accounting education. Recent JAEd publication on ChatGPT and accounting ethics reinforces topical relevance, though it does not guarantee acceptance.

2. A technically strong earnings-management study with no education component

A paper tests capital-market reactions to earnings management using archival data but says nothing about students, curriculum, teaching or education. Even if the accounting analysis is rigorous, the paper is likely misaligned with JAEd's stated purpose. A general accounting research journal would probably provide a more natural readership.

3. A newly written classroom case used once

An instructor develops an engaging sustainability-reporting case and collects only student satisfaction ratings after one class. The official case requirements make this weak for the Educational Case section: the case should have been used more than once, and direct assessment evidence is required for efficacy rather than perception surveys alone.

4. An institutional mentoring programme for accounting majors

A school reports a structured mentoring initiative designed to improve retention, explains implementation resources and faculty time, and provides evidence of benefit. This may align with the Best Practices section, particularly if the paper avoids treating a positive anecdote as evidence and discusses both value and relevant costs.

Preparing and Submitting a Stronger Manuscript

The live Guide for Authors should govern formatting and submission. Where the current guide cannot be reliably accessed or a detail is not stated in the official material used here, authors should not copy requirements from another Elsevier journal and assume they are identical. Use the following as publication-readiness guidance, not as a substitute for the journal's instructions.

Start with section alignment

State internally which JAEd section you are targeting before revising. That decision affects what counts as persuasive evidence. A Main Article needs a research contribution; a teaching note should deliver concentrated instructional value; a case needs implementation and direct assessment evidence; a Best Practices paper needs evidence of benefit plus a realistic treatment of costs.

Make the educational contribution explicit

The introduction should identify an accounting-education problem, explain what is missing in prior work, and state what the study contributes. Avoid framing the gap only as “few studies have examined X.” A stronger gap shows why the absence matters for theory, pedagogy, assessment, curriculum, institutional decisions or educator practice.

Use recent JAEd papers as alignment evidence

Review several recent issues and note how successful papers structure their questions, methods, implications and limitations. This is not an invitation to imitate wording. It is a way to understand what the journal's current readership recognizes as an accounting-education contribution.

Check anonymization and declarations

Because the journal is described as using double-anonymized review, prepare a clean manuscript without author-identifying details and a separate title-page file if the live guide requests it. Check acknowledgements, self-citations, file metadata, institutional ethics statements, appendices and links for accidental identity disclosure.

References, tables and figures

Before submission, verify that every in-text citation has a matching reference and that bibliographic data are accurate. Tables and figures should answer a research or teaching question rather than decorate the manuscript. For educational cases, presentation of learning objectives, implementation guidance and assessment evidence deserves special attention.

Submission Portal: Verify the Live Entry Point Before Uploading

The current ScienceDirect journal page provides a “Submit your article” link. When checked during preparation of this guide, that link led to a Journal of Accounting Education Editorial Manager page displaying the message “Site under development. Do not use for live manuscript submission.” For that reason, this article does not tell authors to upload files to that destination without rechecking it.

The safer workflow is to open the live journal homepage, select the current submission link there, and confirm that the destination is presented by Elsevier as active before entering manuscript or personal information. If the warning persists, use Elsevier support or the journal contact route rather than guessing an alternate portal.

Publication Ethics and Research Integrity

JAEd is an Elsevier journal, so authors should read the journal-specific instructions together with Elsevier's publishing-ethics policies. Elsevier's Publishing Ethics Resource Kit addresses duties of editors, reviewers, authors and publishers and provides resources on plagiarism, duplicate submission, fabrication or falsification, conflicts of interest, corrections, retractions and generative-AI policies.

For accounting-education studies involving students, ethical responsibilities may include institutional approval where required, informed consent or appropriate exemptions, privacy protection, careful handling of grades and assessment data, and transparent disclosure of research procedures. The exact requirements depend on institution, jurisdiction and study design.

Professional editing should remain transparent and bounded. It can improve language, logic, formatting and clarity, but it should not invent data, fabricate references, create undisclosed authorship, manipulate peer review or misrepresent the study's originality.

Publication-Readiness Checklist for JAEd Authors

How Contentxprtz Can Ethically Support Publication Readiness

Preparing for JAEd submission can involve more than grammar correction. Researchers may need to strengthen the educational contribution, improve argument flow, align sections with the target article type, check references, polish tables and figures, or ensure that reviewer-facing language is precise without overstating findings.

Contentxprtz can support authors through academic editing, manuscript editing, proofreading, journal formatting, reference and citation checks, manuscript assessment, cover-letter editing, reviewer-response editing and publication-readiness review. For researchers preparing a paper for Journal of Accounting Education, the most useful support is journal-aligned: preserving the author's research while making the manuscript easier for editors and reviewers to evaluate.

Explore journal publication and manuscript-readiness support if you want an additional review before submission. Contentxprtz does not control editorial decisions and does not guarantee acceptance or publication.

Summary: Journal of Accounting Education

Journal of Accounting Education is a specialist Elsevier journal for research and educational resources that advance accounting education. Its official scope covers empirical research, teaching and educational notes, educational cases and best practices, with topics including technology, learning, assessment, curriculum and faculty issues. The supplied Scopus record identifies Source ID 29852, and Elsevier currently lists Scopus among the journal's indexing services.

ScienceDirect displays a CiteScore of 3.9 when checked on 10 August 2026, while current authoritative numeric SJR, SNIP and quartile values were not verified for this guide. The journal supports hybrid publishing: an open-access APC of USD 3,910 excluding taxes is currently displayed, while Elsevier states that the subscription route does not charge authors a publication fee. Peer review is described as double anonymized.

A strong submission decision should be based on scope and section fit first. Researchers should then verify the live Guide for Authors, submission portal, indexing, fees and any institution-specific journal requirements immediately before submission.

Conclusion: Evaluate Fit Before You Submit

Journal of Accounting Education can be a credible target for researchers whose work is genuinely about accounting teaching, learning, curriculum, assessment, educational technology, faculty or accounting-education practice. Its section structure rewards authors who understand what kind of contribution they are making and who provide the evidence appropriate to that contribution.

Before submission, confirm current journal instructions and database status, then read recent JAEd papers closely enough to judge whether your manuscript belongs in the same scholarly conversation. Careful editing and publication-readiness support can improve clarity and compliance, but acceptance remains an editorial and peer-review decision.

At Contentxprtz, we don’t just edit; we help ideas reach their fullest potential.