Journal Profile & Submission Guide

Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies: Scopus, Metrics, Scope & Submission Guide

Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies (JAEE) is an Emerald Publishing journal focused on accounting research and progress in emerging economies. Its scope connects accounting with financial reporting, auditing, corporate governance, management accounting, regulation, public-sector accountability, professional accounting, culture and socio-economic development. Emerald lists the journal as ranked by Scopus, and the supplied Scopus Source Record ID is 21100899300.

For researchers evaluating the journal in 2026, the most useful current indicators are explicitly dated: Emerald reports a 2025 CiteScore of 8.9, a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 3.8, a 2025 five-year Impact Factor of 3.9, a historical 5.6% acceptance rate for submissions between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, 38 days to first decision, and 48 days from acceptance to publication for the publisher’s stated reporting periods. These metrics can change and should be reconfirmed before a formal submission or institutional evaluation.

Key takeaways

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing.
• Identifiers: print ISSN 2042-1168; eISSN 2042-1176; Scopus Source ID 21100899300.
• Core focus: accounting research in emerging economies with relevance to development, institutions, policy and practice.
• Indexing/visibility: Emerald lists the journal as ranked by Scopus and abstracted/indexed by ProQuest, Cabell's Dictionary and ReadCube Discover.
• 2025 metrics: CiteScore 8.9; Journal Impact Factor 3.8; five-year Impact Factor 3.9.
• Peer review: double-anonymous, normally involving at least two independent referees after editorial screening.
• Manuscript length: 6,000–9,000 words, including the abstract, references, tables, figures and appendices, with Emerald’s stated figure/table allowance.
• Open access: optional gold OA after acceptance, plus a green self-archiving route; no submission fee is stated.

Journal information at a glance

What this page covers

• Journal identity, publisher, ISSN/eISSN and Scopus source record
• Aims, scope and the accounting themes most clearly aligned with JAEE
• Current, dated journal metrics and publication-process indicators
• Article classifications, manuscript length, abstract, keywords and reference style
• Double-anonymous review, editorial screening and likely desk-rejection risks
• Open-access routes, submission fees and APC considerations
• Ethics, authorship, human-participant requirements and current AI-use policy
• A practical fit checklist and ethical Contentxprtz publication-readiness support

Methodology and sources

This profile was prepared from the journal record supplied with this task and current authoritative information on Emerald’s official JAEE page, including its author guidelines, indexing and metrics, peer-review description, open-access information and research-ethics guidance. The Scopus Source ID supplied for the journal is used to identify the correct title. Because metrics, indexing coverage, editorial teams, fees and policies can change, researchers should reconfirm time-sensitive details immediately before submission.

What is the Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies?

JAEE is a specialist accounting journal built around a geographic and institutional question: how accounting develops, operates and matters in emerging economies. That orientation makes it different from a general accounting journal that accepts any accounting topic regardless of context. A manuscript is stronger for JAEE when the emerging-economy setting is not merely where the data happened to be collected, but is analytically relevant to the research question, institutions, theory, policy implications or contribution.

Emerald describes the journal as providing an authoritative overview of accounting research and progress in emerging economies and explicitly notes relevance to development policy makers. For authors, this signals an audience that can include accounting scholars, governance and regulation researchers, public-sector specialists, development researchers, practitioners and policy-focused readers.

Journal aims and scope

The official scope is broad within accounting but coherent around emerging-economy conditions. It includes professional accounting education and bodies; financial reporting and accounting standards; auditing; corporate governance; management accounting; structural-adjustment programmes and international financial agencies; accounting and privatization; accountability in public-sector organizations, NGOs and multinational corporations; family-business accounting; cultural, ethnic and historical influences on accounting; accounting in socio-economic development and poverty reduction; and theoretical approaches to accounting.

That scope supports empirical, conceptual, institutional, qualitative, quantitative and mixed-method work when the accounting question is clearly tied to an emerging-economy problem. Recent article titles shown by Emerald also indicate continuing interest in tax avoidance, independent directors, sustainability reporting, disclosure quality, audit quality and bank ratings in emerging-economy settings.

Subjects that appear especially well aligned

• IFRS adoption, financial reporting quality and accounting-standard implementation
• External and internal auditing, audit quality and audit reporting
• Corporate governance, boards, ownership, tax behavior and accountability
• Management accounting and control in emerging-market organizations
• Public-sector, NGO and state-enterprise accounting and accountability
• Accounting regulation, privatization and institutional reform
• Family firms, multinational enterprises and locally embedded business structures
• Culture, ethnicity, history and institutional context in accounting practice
• Sustainability, social accountability and the development role of accounting
• Theory-building that explains accounting phenomena in emerging economies

Topics that may be weaker fits

A technically sound accounting paper can still be unsuitable if the emerging-economy context has no meaningful role in the contribution. Likewise, a general finance, economics or management paper with little accounting content may sit outside the journal’s center of gravity. Authors should also be cautious with purely descriptive country studies that do not explain why the setting changes or extends what the field already knows.

Scopus indexing and scholarly visibility

Emerald currently lists JAEE as ranked by Scopus. The supplied Scopus Source Record ID is 21100899300, which should be used to distinguish the journal from similarly named publications. Emerald also lists Cabell's Dictionary, ProQuest and ReadCube Discover under abstracting and indexing/ranking information.

For PhD or institutional requirements, do not rely on a screenshot, old quartile, or third-party journal-ranking page. Open the live Scopus source profile and check current coverage/status for the exact source ID. If a university requires a particular quartile, category or indexing year, document the live record used for that decision.

Current journal metrics

Emerald’s current metrics panel reports a 2025 CiteScore of 8.9, a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 3.8, and a 2025 five-year Impact Factor of 3.9. The page also displays a 2026 CiteScore Tracker that is updated monthly; because a tracker is a moving current-year indicator, it should not be cited as if it were the finalized 2026 CiteScore.

The current Emerald page reviewed for this article does not provide SJR, SNIP or a Scopus quartile. Those should therefore be treated as values to verify in the relevant current database rather than inferred from other metrics.

Article types and manuscript requirements

During submission, Emerald lists Research Paper, Review Paper and Method Paper as paper-type options. Its broader article classifications include research paper, viewpoint, technical paper, conceptual paper, case study, literature review and general review. Authors should choose the option that most accurately reflects the manuscript rather than selecting a category for strategic reasons.

Submission process and peer review

Emerald states that manuscripts must be submitted by the corresponding author through the journal’s official editorial system accessed from the Emerald website. It explicitly warns that submissions should not be made by email or through third-party agents or proxy submitters. Authors should create or use their own account and add an ORCID iD during submission.

At the first stage, the editorial office screens the manuscript for policy compliance, aims-and-scope fit and manuscript/language quality. Suitable papers are then sent to at least two independent referees for double-anonymous peer review. Decisions may include acceptance, minor revision, major revision or rejection.

For anonymity, remove author names and identifying material from the review manuscript, upload acknowledgements and author biographies separately, and avoid phrasing that directly reveals your identity when citing your own work.

Review time, publication time and acceptance rate

Emerald reports 38 days to first decision based on submissions between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025. It also reports 48 days from acceptance to publication for its stated reporting period. Separately, the journal’s author-guideline text says the general goal is to inform authors of a first decision within 60 days. The metric panel is the more specific historical performance figure; neither is a guarantee for a new manuscript.

The publisher reports an acceptance rate of 5.6% for submissions between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025. This is useful context about selectivity, but it cannot be converted into a manuscript-specific probability because acceptance depends on scope fit, contribution, methods, evidence, presentation and peer review.

Open access, APCs and publication fees

JAEE is not presented as a mandatory-gold open-access journal. Emerald offers two OA paths. Under gold open access, authors can make the version of record openly available after acceptance and payment of the applicable APC, with publication under a CC BY 4.0 licence. Under green open access, the accepted manuscript can be self-archived under Emerald’s stated conditions.

Emerald states that authors are not charged a submission fee. The publisher says payment is requested only when the author chooses the gold OA route after acceptance, subject to the applicable APC, waivers or agreements. Because APCs can change by year, location or institutional agreement, this page does not invent a fixed amount: authors should confirm the current fee on Emerald’s APC list or inside the editorial system.

Publication ethics and AI-use policy

Emerald’s ethics guidance requires original work, prohibits simultaneous submission elsewhere, requires conflict-of-interest disclosure and appropriate copyright permissions, and follows COPE guidance. Research involving human participants must address informed consent and, where required, institutional or national ethical approval. Funding sources should also be disclosed.

Emerald’s current AI policy is especially important for authors using generative tools. The publisher states that generative AI must not be used to create new manuscript content, while copy-editing an author’s own existing work to improve structure, clarity, language and grammar may be permissible if used responsibly and transparently. Authors and reviewers remain accountable for accuracy and integrity. Because AI policies can change quickly, check the live policy immediately before submission.

Who should consider submitting?

JAEE is a strong candidate for scholars whose research problem is genuinely embedded in emerging-economy accounting. This may include PhD scholars, early-career academics and experienced researchers working on governance, audit, reporting, regulation, public accountability, tax, sustainability, professionalization or development where institutional conditions are central to the argument.

It may also suit comparative work that uses emerging and developed economies to test or extend theory, provided the comparison produces a meaningful accounting contribution rather than simply presenting two samples side by side.

Journal-fit checklist before submission

• Does the title and abstract clearly communicate an accounting problem?
• Is the emerging-economy setting analytically important rather than incidental?
• Can you explain in two or three sentences what the paper adds to accounting knowledge?
• Does the paper connect with one or more of JAEE’s stated scope areas?
• Have you compared your paper with several recent JAEE articles for topic, method and theoretical fit?
• Is the manuscript within the stated 6,000–9,000-word range?
• Does the structured abstract use the required headings and stay within the stated limit?
• Are references complete, accurate and consistently formatted in a recognized Harvard style?
• Have all ethics, funding, consent, permissions and conflict disclosures been prepared?
• Is the anonymized review file free of names or other obvious identifying details?

How to prepare a stronger JAEE-aligned manuscript

As a practical publication-readiness step, make the emerging-economy contribution visible early. The introduction should explain why the institutional, regulatory, cultural or developmental context changes the accounting problem, what prior literature leaves unresolved, and how your evidence advances that conversation. Avoid leaving the journal fit to be inferred from the country name alone.

The literature review should position the paper within both the substantive accounting topic and the emerging-economy conversation. The methods section should be sufficiently transparent for readers to evaluate design, sampling, measures, coding, model specification or case selection. The discussion should return to the paper’s theory and context rather than repeating the results.

Before submission, compare the manuscript with recently published JAEE papers. Look at how they frame context, justify methods, articulate originality and discuss implications. This is general publication-readiness guidance rather than an additional official journal rule, but it is one of the most reliable ways to test whether your manuscript actually reads like a contribution to the journal’s scholarly community.

How Contentxprtz can support publication readiness

Contentxprtz can ethically support manuscript editing, language polishing, formatting, reference and citation consistency, structured-abstract refinement, journal-fit assessment, cover-letter editing and reviewer-response editing. For a JAEE submission, support can focus on clarity of the accounting contribution, consistency with the journal’s manuscript requirements, and removal of avoidable presentation problems before the author submits through the official Emerald system.

Publication support should never be represented as a guarantee of acceptance. Contentxprtz does not control editorial screening, reviewer selection, revision requirements or publication decisions. The author remains responsible for the research, evidence, interpretation, ethical compliance and final submission.

Explore Contentxprtz journal publication services for ethical manuscript preparation and publication-readiness support.

Official links researchers should verify before submitting

• Emerald: Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies — aims and scope, author guidelines, metrics, review information and submission access.
• Scopus Source ID 21100899300 — verify current indexing coverage/status and category information.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies indexed in Scopus?

Yes. Emerald lists the journal as ranked by Scopus, and the supplied Scopus Source Record ID is 21100899300. Because database coverage can change, authors should still confirm the source profile immediately before using indexing status for university or funding requirements.

What is the 2025 CiteScore of the Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies?

Emerald currently reports a 2025 CiteScore of 8.9. The publisher also displays a 2026 CiteScore Tracker that changes during the year, so the finalized annual CiteScore and the tracker should not be treated as the same metric.

What is the current Impact Factor of the Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies?

Emerald reports a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 3.8 and a 2025 five-year Impact Factor of 3.9. Impact Factor values are annual Clarivate metrics and should be cited with the reporting year.

What is the acceptance rate of the journal?

Emerald reports an acceptance rate of 5.6% for submissions between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025. This is a historical publisher-reported rate, not a prediction of any individual manuscript’s chance of acceptance.

What topics are within the journal’s aims and scope?

The journal covers accounting research in emerging economies, including financial reporting, standards, auditing, corporate governance, management accounting, public-sector and NGO accountability, family-business accounting, regulation and privatization, professional accounting education, culture and history, socio-economic development, and theoretical approaches to accounting.

How long should a manuscript be?

The current Emerald author guidelines state that articles should generally be 6,000 to 9,000 words, including the structured abstract, references, tables, figures and appendices, with an allowance of 250 words for each figure or table.

What abstract format does the journal require?

Submissions must include a structured abstract of no more than 250 words in total. Required headings are Purpose, Design/methodology/approach, Findings and Originality, with Research limitations/implications, Practical implications and Social implications included when applicable.

What reference style does the journal use?

Emerald requires references to be presented in a recognized Harvard style and permits authors to use Emerald’s Harvard style. Authors should check every citation for completeness, accuracy and consistency before submission.

What peer-review model does JAEE use?

The journal uses double-anonymous peer review. Emerald states that suitable submissions are normally sent to at least two independent referees after editorial screening.

How fast is the review and publication process?

Emerald currently reports 38 days to first decision based on submissions between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, and 48 days from acceptance to publication based on its reported period. These are historical averages, not guaranteed turnaround times.

Does the journal charge a submission fee?

Emerald states that there is no submission fee. Authors pay an article processing charge only if they choose the gold open-access route after acceptance, unless a funding, waiver or agreement applies.

Is open access available?

Yes. Emerald offers gold open access for the version of record under a CC BY 4.0 licence after payment of the applicable APC, and also offers green open access through self-archiving of the accepted manuscript under the publisher’s stated conditions.

Can AI be used when preparing a manuscript for Emerald?

Emerald’s current policy says generative AI must not be used to create new manuscript content, while copy-editing an author’s own original work for structure, clarity, language and grammar may be permitted when used responsibly and transparently. Authors remain accountable for the work and should check the latest policy before submission.

Who is most likely to find this journal suitable?

Researchers studying accounting questions in emerging, developing or transitional economic settings are the clearest fit, particularly when the paper connects accounting institutions or practices with governance, regulation, development, culture, organizations, public policy or socio-economic outcomes.

Can Contentxprtz guarantee acceptance in this journal?

No. Contentxprtz can ethically support editing, formatting, reference consistency, journal-fit assessment and publication readiness, but editorial screening, peer review and publication decisions remain entirely with the journal and publisher.