Journal of Business Strategy: Scopus, Scope, Metrics & Submission Guide

Key takeaways for prospective authors

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing; print ISSN 0275-6668 and online ISSN 2052-1197.
• Scopus identification supplied for this profile: Source ID 144826; Emerald displays Scopus-derived CiteScore metrics.
• Current Emerald metrics: CiteScore 2025 = 11.3; CiteScore Tracker 2026 = 11.8.
• Emerald reports a 7% acceptance rate for submissions from April 2024 through March 2025.
• Manuscripts are generally 7,000–9,000 words, with a structured abstract of up to 250 words and up to 12 keywords.
• The journal uses double-anonymous peer review and requires identifying material to be removed from the review manuscript.
• Submission is made by the corresponding author through the journal’s ScholarOne system accessed from Emerald.
• There is no submission fee; gold open access is optional after acceptance and carries a journal-specific APC that should be checked at the time of submission.

Journal information at a glance

Methodology and sources

This profile uses the journal information supplied with the task and current authoritative publisher material from Emerald Publishing, including the journal’s aims and scope, author guidelines, editorial-team page, indexing and metrics section, peer-review information and publication-timeline data. The official Scopus source URL supplied for Source ID 144826 is also linked. Because metrics, editorial roles, fees and database coverage can change, researchers should reconfirm time-sensitive details immediately before submission.

Journal aims and scope

Emerald describes JBS as one of the relatively few titles dedicated specifically to business strategy and says it defines strategy in the broadest sense. That breadth is important. A paper does not have to sit inside a narrow strategic-management subdiscipline, but it should have a clear strategic problem, decision, implication or contribution that matters to managers, organizations or strategy scholars.

The stated scope spans marketing strategy, innovation, developments in the global economy, mergers and acquisition integration and human resources. Emerald also highlights leadership development, shareholder value, technologies that shape strategy, organizational responses to recurring problems of strategy and competition, corporate innovation and methods for outperforming competitors.

Representative research themes

Based on the official scope rather than as an exhaustive journal-approved topic list, potentially relevant themes include:

• Competitive strategy
• Corporate strategy
• Strategic leadership
• Business-model innovation
• Technology and strategy
• AI-enabled strategic change
• Marketing strategy
• M&A integration
• Human-capital strategy
• Global economic shifts
• Strategic renewal
• Organizational resilience
• Innovation management
• Value creation
• Strategic transformation

Scopus indexing, abstracting and journal metrics

The supplied source record identifies JBS as Scopus Source ID 144826, and Emerald’s metrics section currently displays Scopus-derived CiteScore information. Researchers who must satisfy a formal institutional rule—such as “active Scopus coverage in the year of publication”—should open the official Scopus source page and record the live coverage and status rather than relying on a static article.

Emerald currently reports CiteScore 2025: 11.3. It also displays a CiteScore Tracker 2026 of 11.8, explaining that the tracker is updated monthly and reflects the current year rather than a completed reporting cycle. The completed 2025 CiteScore is therefore the more stable value for formal citation; the tracker is best read as provisional context.

Emerald lists the journal as abstracted and indexed by ABI/INFORM, Business Periodicals Index, Business Source Premier (EBSCO) and Current Abstracts, Management & Marketing Abstracts, OCLC’s Electronic Collections Online, ProQuest and zetoc (British Library). It also lists a range of business-school ranking systems. These lists are useful for discoverability, but they are not interchangeable with Scopus or Clarivate indexing.

Publisher and editorial leadership

JBS is published by Emerald Publishing and hosted on Emerald’s journal platforms. The current Emerald editorial-team page names Dr Tahiru Azaaviele Liedong of the University of Bath as Editor and Joseph Johnson as Commissioning Editor. The advisory board shown by Emerald includes academics and practitioners from several countries, consistent with a journal that addresses both scholarly strategy questions and executive practice.

Types of articles published

The current author guidelines ask authors to classify submissions using established categories. These include research paper, viewpoint, technical paper, conceptual paper, case study, literature review and general review. The submission system also includes “Article” and “Editor’s Note” as article types. Authors should choose the category that matches what the paper actually does, not the category that sounds most prestigious.

For JBS in particular, a research manuscript benefits from translating evidence into strategic meaning. A conceptual paper should move beyond rearranging existing ideas; a case study should surface transferable strategic insight; and a review should clarify what the literature means for current strategic problems.

Who should consider publishing in JBS?

The journal can be relevant to management and strategy researchers, PhD scholars, faculty, consultants and professionals whose work contributes to strategic thinking. Academic status is less important than fit. A doctoral researcher can be suitable if the manuscript is mature, theoretically and methodologically credible, and written for the journal’s readership; an experienced professor can still face desk rejection if the paper sits outside the scope.

A practical journal-fit test

1. State the strategic problem in one sentence. If the paper’s central problem sounds operational rather than strategic, explain the strategic consequence.
2. Identify the reader. Ask what an executive, strategy scholar or informed practitioner learns that changes understanding or action.
3. Check recent JBS articles. Compare not only topics but also problem framing, article category, evidence style and practical implications.
4. Match the article type. Confirm that your manuscript behaves like one of the journal’s accepted categories.
5. Make the contribution explicit. Separate what is new theoretically, empirically and managerially.
6. Re-read the aims and scope before submission. Emerald explicitly warns that poor fit can lead to decline without peer review.

Manuscript and formatting requirements

Emerald’s current JBS author guidelines specify 7,000–9,000 words. The count includes the structured abstract, references, text in tables, figures and appendices, and authors are asked to allow 250 words for each figure or table. The main article file should be provided in Microsoft Word format. A PDF may accompany it but is not acceptable by itself; LaTeX can be used with an accompanying PDF.

Every submission must contain a structured abstract using the mandatory headings Purpose, Design/methodology/approach, Findings and Originality. Research limitations/implications, practical implications and social implications can be added where relevant. The full abstract package, including keywords and classification, must not exceed 250 words. Authors may provide up to 12 short keywords.

Headings should be concise and hierarchical. Figures should be submitted electronically at high quality, numbered consecutively and captioned clearly. Emerald accepts common professional image formats including AI, EPS, JPEG, BMP and TIFF. Biographies and acknowledgements, when included, are uploaded separately; biographies should be no more than 100 words per author.

Reference style

JBS requires a recognised Harvard referencing style. Emerald’s own Harvard variant is acceptable, and another recognised Harvard style can also be used. Citations and the reference list should be complete, accurate and consistent, and DOI information should be supplied when available.

Submission process

The corresponding author submits through the journal’s ScholarOne system via the Emerald journal page. Emerald states that this is the only submission route and that submissions should be made directly by the authors, not by a third-party proxy. Each journal requires an author account, and Emerald encourages authors to add an ORCID iD during submission.

1. Complete the manuscript, declarations and separate author-identifying files.
2. Confirm JBS scope and article-category fit.
3. Create or access the ScholarOne account through Emerald.
4. Upload the anonymised manuscript and required supporting files.
5. Complete metadata, authorship, funding, conflicts, keywords and ORCID details.
6. Submit and retain the manuscript number in the confirmation email.

Peer review, editorial screening and publication timeline

JBS uses double-anonymous peer review. The review manuscript should therefore avoid names and other clues that identify the authors. Emerald advises authors to upload acknowledgements and biographies separately and to phrase self-citations neutrally where identification could otherwise be obvious.

Before external review, the editorial office screens the submission for policy compliance, aims-and-scope fit and manuscript quality. A paper may be declined or returned at this stage. Suitable submissions proceed to detailed editorial consideration and peer review, followed by decisions that can include revision, acceptance or rejection.

Open access and publication fees

JBS follows Emerald’s hybrid open-access model. Authors can choose gold open access after acceptance, in which case an article processing charge applies and the version of record is published under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 licence. Emerald says the APC varies by journal and directs authors to the current APC price list or the editorial system for the live amount.

Authors who do not choose gold OA can use Emerald’s green open-access/self-archiving route for the accepted manuscript under the publisher’s policy. Emerald also states that there is no submission fee and no charge for ordinary publication unless gold OA is chosen. Authors should verify eligibility for institutional agreements, waivers or vouchers before assuming they will personally pay an APC.

Publication ethics, originality and AI use

Emerald states that it follows COPE guidance and requires original work that is not simultaneously under consideration elsewhere. Authors must declare relevant conflicts of interest, permissions and previous publication of substantial overlapping material. Research involving human participants should address whether ethics approval and informed consent are required.

The publisher’s current AI policy is especially important to read before submission. Emerald states that large language models cannot be authors because they cannot take responsibility for a work. It also requires responsible and transparent use of AI tools. The current policy distinguishes permitted editing of an author’s own original text from prohibited generative copywriting of new submission material. Because publisher AI policies can evolve, authors using AI-assisted tools should review the live Emerald ethics page before submitting.

Journal-fit and publication-readiness checklist

Common reasons a manuscript may be unsuitable

Some problems are journal-specific; others reflect general scholarly publishing practice. For JBS, likely fit problems include a paper that mentions “strategy” without offering a real strategic contribution, a narrow technical study with no executive or competitive implication, weak links between evidence and managerial meaning, or a submission that ignores the required article format.

More generally, insufficient novelty, weak research design, unclear argumentation, poor reporting, ethical gaps, inaccurate references and failure to anonymise a manuscript can all reduce publication readiness. These are not claims that JBS will reject every paper with a particular flaw; they are practical risks authors should resolve before submission.

How to prepare a stronger JBS-aligned manuscript

1. Rewrite the research problem in strategic terms without exaggerating its importance.
2. Show why the question matters now to organizations, leaders or strategy scholarship.
3. Connect theory, evidence and practical implications rather than placing them in isolated sections.
4. Use recent JBS papers to calibrate tone, depth and the balance between scholarship and practice.
5. Strengthen the abstract so it communicates purpose, method, findings and originality without promotional language.
6. Audit tables, figures and references for accuracy and consistency.
7. Run a final anonymisation, ethics and policy check against the live Emerald instructions.

Authoritative links to verify before submission