Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy: Scopus Indexing, Metrics & Submission Guide

Key Takeaways for Prospective Authors

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing.
• Identifiers: print ISSN 2045-2101; online ISSN 2045-211X; supplied Scopus Source ID 21100446524.
• Core focus: the interplay among entrepreneurship, enterprise development, public policy, institutions and societal or economic outcomes.
• Indexing: Emerald lists Scopus, EBSCO, INSPEC, RePEc, Summon and the Emerging Sources Citation Index among its abstracting/indexing services.
• Current metrics shown by Emerald: 2025 CiteScore 3.7; 2026 CiteScore Tracker 4.4; 2025 Impact Factor 1.7; 2025 five-year Impact Factor 2.1.
• Review model: double-anonymous peer review.
• Manuscript length: Emerald states that articles should normally be 6,000–8,000 words, including the structured abstract, references, tables, figures and appendices, with 250 words allowed for each figure or table.
• Submission: manuscripts are submitted directly by the corresponding author through the journal’s ScholarOne system accessed from Emerald’s official page; Emerald explicitly says submissions should not be made through a third-party proxy.

Journal Information at a Glance

What This Page Covers

• JEPP’s aims, scope and main research themes.
• Scopus and other verified indexing information.
• Current citation metrics published by Emerald.
• Article types, length, abstract, keyword and reference requirements.
• Peer-review, submission and post-acceptance workflow.
• Gold and green open-access routes and the 2026 hybrid APC rate.
• Journal-fit checks and common reasons a manuscript may be unsuitable.
• Publication-readiness steps and ethical ways Contentxprtz can support authors.

Methodology and Sources

This profile was prepared from journal-specific and publisher-authoritative information, prioritising the official Emerald journal page, Emerald’s current open-access information, the ISSN International Centre record, and the supplied official Scopus source profile. Recent Emerald-published JEPP articles were also reviewed to understand the kinds of topics and methods currently appearing in the journal.

Metrics, indexing, editorial teams, fees, timelines and journal policies can change. Authors should therefore use this page as a researched selection and preparation guide, then reconfirm the latest values on Emerald and Scopus immediately before submission.

What Is JEPP’s Scholarly Role?

JEPP occupies a cross-disciplinary position between entrepreneurship research and public-policy analysis. Its purpose is not limited to describing new ventures or entrepreneurial intentions. The journal’s official scope is built around the idea that entrepreneurship can transmit the effects of public policy into economic, social and sustainable outcomes, while those outcomes can feed back into the policymaking process.

This orientation makes the journal potentially relevant to business and management researchers, public-policy scholars, economists, development researchers, public-administration specialists and interdisciplinary teams. The journal explicitly highlights social, digital and sustainable entrepreneurship, social innovation, leadership, bottom-up development, institutional and administrative entrepreneurship, and public entrepreneurship.

Recent Emerald records reinforce this breadth. Papers published in 2026 include work on MSME post-crisis recovery in Ghana, startup-failure strategies in developing and lower-middle-income countries, household micro-entrepreneurship and e-commerce, and entrepreneurial orientation and digital innovation in public services. These examples should be treated as evidence of current editorial coverage, not as a closed list of acceptable topics.

Journal Aims and Scope

Emerald describes JEPP as a journal dedicated to high-quality research on the dynamic relationship between entrepreneurship, enterprise development and public policy. A strong submission should normally do more than discuss entrepreneurship in isolation; it should show a meaningful policy, institutional, administrative, social-development or public-sector connection.

Officially emphasised areas

• How public policy affects entrepreneurship and enterprise development.
• How entrepreneurial and enterprise outcomes can shape policymaking.
• Social entrepreneurship and social innovation.
• Digital entrepreneurship and digital transformation.
• Sustainable entrepreneurship and sustainable development.
• Entrepreneurship as a driver of bottom-up development.
• Leadership and innovation in response to societal challenges.
• Public-administration reform through institutional, administrative and public entrepreneurship.
• Research that connects Global North and Global South contexts.
• Evaluation of policies designed to foster entrepreneurship.
• Impact assessments and practitioner case studies of policy interventions.
• Transformation across public, private and nonprofit sectors.

Examples of potentially relevant research questions

Based on the verified scope, suitable projects could examine how startup policy affects venture survival; how regulation shapes digital entrepreneurship; whether public procurement encourages innovation; how social enterprises respond to local policy; how entrepreneurial ecosystems differ across regions; how public-sector entrepreneurial orientation influences service performance; or how entrepreneurship policy contributes to inclusion, sustainability or regional development. These are interpretive examples derived from the scope rather than an official list of JEPP topics.

What may be outside scope?

A manuscript may be a weak fit if it studies entrepreneurship only as an individual psychological trait, a marketing phenomenon or a purely firm-level performance issue without a credible policy, institutional or public-sector dimension. Similarly, a policy paper with no meaningful entrepreneurship or enterprise-development component may sit outside the journal’s central intersection. Authors should make the policy–entrepreneurship connection explicit in the title, abstract, research questions, literature positioning and implications.

Scopus Indexing and Other Databases

Emerald currently lists JEPP as abstracted and indexed in Scopus. The supplied Scopus Source ID is 21100446524. The journal page also lists the British Library, EBSCO, INSPEC, RePEc, Summon, ReadCube Discover, Cabell’s Directory of Publishing Opportunities in Economics & Finance and Management, BFI (Denmark), and the Emerging Sources Citation Index.

For researchers whose university, doctoral programme or funding body requires Scopus or Web of Science coverage, this is important but should not be treated as permanent. Database coverage can change. Before a consequential submission, open the current Scopus source profile and your institution’s approved-journal guidance to confirm that the journal satisfies the exact requirement that applies to you.

Current Journal Metrics

Emerald’s live journal page currently displays a 2025 CiteScore of 3.7 and a 2026 CiteScore Tracker of 4.4. It also reports a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 1.7 and a 2025 five-year Impact Factor of 2.1.

These figures are useful signals of citation visibility, but they should not be used as a substitute for manuscript fit. JEPP’s current SJR, SNIP and Scopus quartile can be checked in the latest Scopus source profile; because quartiles can differ by category and reporting year, this guide does not manufacture a value that has not been directly verified from the current database interface.

Publication Timeline and Acceptance Rate

Emerald publishes journal-specific workflow statistics. Its current JEPP page states a time to first decision of 83 days, based on submissions between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025. It also reports an acceptance-to-publication average of 53 days, last updated in April 2025, and an acceptance rate of 23.1% for submissions between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025.

These are historical operating averages, not promises for an individual manuscript. A specific paper can move faster or slower depending on editorial screening, reviewer availability, revision cycles, topic complexity, author response time and production factors.

What Types of Articles Does JEPP Publish?

Emerald’s author guidelines ask authors to select a paper type in ScholarOne. The page lists Original Research Paper and Book Review as article-classification options, while the broader Emerald classification framework on the same page describes categories including research papers, viewpoints, technical papers, conceptual papers and case studies.

For JEPP, a researcher should use the exact options visible in ScholarOne at the time of submission and choose the best fit. A standard empirical article is most naturally aligned with the research-paper classification. Conceptual, practitioner-oriented or case-based work should be checked carefully against the editor’s current expectations and the live submission system.

Manuscript Requirements

Peer-Review Process

Emerald states that JEPP uses a double-anonymous peer-review process. In practical terms, authors should prepare the main manuscript so reviewers cannot readily identify them, while author details are managed separately in the submission system. Emerald advises authors not to reveal identities in self-citations, figures, captions, acknowledgements or author biographies within the anonymised manuscript.

The editor first evaluates whether the submission fits the journal and meets basic scholarly and ethical requirements. A manuscript that falls clearly outside the aims and scope can be declined without external review. Papers that proceed are matched with reviewers whose expertise is relevant to the submission. Reviewer comments then inform editorial decisions such as revision, rejection or acceptance.

How to Submit a Paper

1. Read the latest aims and scope and compare your manuscript with recent JEPP papers.
2. Format the manuscript according to Emerald’s author guidelines, including the structured abstract, keywords, reference style and anonymisation requirements.
3. Check originality, permissions, authorship, declarations and research-ethics obligations.
4. Access the ScholarOne submission system through Emerald’s official JEPP page.
5. Have the corresponding author submit the manuscript directly. Emerald specifically states that the journal’s only submission route is through its ScholarOne system and that authors should not submit by email or through a third-party agent or proxy.
6. Complete the metadata carefully: title, abstract, author information, classifications, keywords, files and declarations.
7. Retain submission records and respond promptly to editorial queries or revision requests.

Open Access and Publication Fees

JEPP is a hybrid journal. Authors may publish through the standard subscription route or choose gold open access after acceptance. Emerald also offers a green open-access route: the author accepted manuscript can be self-archived and made openly available after official publication without an embargo.

For 2026, Emerald lists a general hybrid-journal gold open-access APC of £3,222 / US$4,351 / €3,710, plus VAT where applicable. This charge applies only when the author chooses gold OA; Emerald says there is no submission fee and that authors are not asked to pay to submit or undergo review. Because APCs and institutional agreements can change, confirm the live rate and any funding or transformative-agreement eligibility before selecting gold OA.

Research and Publishing Ethics

Emerald states that its editors and publishing teams follow guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Authors are expected to take responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of their work, list all substantial contributors appropriately, submit original work, disclose overlapping publication where relevant, and obtain permissions for copyrighted material.

The publisher notes that Crossref Similarity Check may be used to assess originality. Emerald also identifies itself as a signatory of the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines and encourages appropriate citation of data, program code and methods, use of persistent identifiers, and compliance with privacy, data-protection and other ethical requirements.

Who Should Consider Submitting?

JEPP may be a reasonable target for scholars working in entrepreneurship, public policy, public administration, economics, development studies, innovation, sustainability or interdisciplinary business research when the manuscript has a clear entrepreneurship–policy connection. It can also suit practitioner-informed research where the analysis produces generalisable or transferable insights rather than functioning only as a local programme description.

PhD scholars should pay special attention to institutional publication rules. A journal can be well aligned academically and still fail a university’s requirement if the institution demands a particular quartile, database, discipline list or reporting year. Confirm those administrative criteria separately from scholarly fit.

Journal-Fit Checklist

• Does the manuscript clearly connect entrepreneurship or enterprise development with public policy, institutions, public administration or societal outcomes?
• Is the contribution more than a descriptive account of entrepreneurs or firms?
• Does the literature review engage both the entrepreneurship and policy dimensions relevant to the research question?
• Are the methods rigorous enough for the claims being made?
• Do the findings offer implications for policy, public administration, institutions, enterprise ecosystems or entrepreneurial development?
• Does the paper add something that recent JEPP articles have not already established?
• Can the paper fit the 6,000–8,000-word requirement without losing essential analysis?
• Can the manuscript be anonymised appropriately for double-anonymous review?
• Have all references, declarations, permissions and ethical approvals been checked?
• Does the journal satisfy your institution’s current Scopus, Web of Science, quartile or other publication requirement?

Common Reasons a Manuscript Could Be Unsuitable

Potential problems include a weak connection to public policy, insufficient novelty, a purely local description without a transferable scholarly contribution, methods that do not support the claims, a mismatch between the theoretical framing and policy implications, incomplete engagement with current literature, or failure to follow the journal’s manuscript requirements.

Presentation problems can also create avoidable friction. A manuscript with inconsistent references, an unstructured or oversized abstract, identifiable author details in an anonymised file, unclear tables or figures, unsupported causal claims or weak English-language clarity may be harder for editors and reviewers to evaluate even when the underlying research is promising.

How to Prepare a Stronger JEPP-Aligned Manuscript

1. State the intersection early. Make the entrepreneurship–policy relationship visible in the title, abstract and opening pages.
2. Use recent JEPP literature strategically. Review several recent papers to understand the level of theory, method and policy interpretation the journal currently publishes.
3. Clarify the contribution. Explain what prior scholarship cannot yet account for and how your study advances theory, policy knowledge or both.
4. Keep implications evidence-based. Do not convert statistical association or a small case study into broad policy prescription without appropriate limits.
5. Follow the abstract structure exactly. A concise Purpose, Design/methodology/approach, Findings and Originality sequence helps editors quickly understand the paper.
6. Check references line by line. Ensure every in-text citation has a matching reference, Harvard formatting is consistent and DOIs are included where available.
7. Prepare for anonymity. Remove names and identifying acknowledgements from the review manuscript and inspect file properties where appropriate.
8. Use the word budget intelligently. Keep the core argument, evidence and policy implications within the stated 6,000–8,000-word range.

How Contentxprtz Can Support Publication Readiness

Contentxprtz can support researchers with academic editing, proofreading, manuscript structure, journal formatting, reference and citation consistency, structured-abstract refinement, language polishing, journal-fit review, cover-letter editing and reviewer-response editing. For a JEPP submission, the most useful support is usually focused on making the author’s own research clearer, more coherent and more compliant with Emerald’s stated requirements.

Ethical publication support does not mean submitting the paper through a proxy, fabricating data or references, concealing authorship, manipulating similarity checks or promising acceptance. The author remains responsible for the research, interpretations, disclosures, final manuscript and direct ScholarOne submission. Contentxprtz cannot guarantee peer-review success, journal acceptance, indexing outcomes or publication.

Recent Research Signals from JEPP

Recent Emerald records illustrate the journal’s international and interdisciplinary orientation. A 2026 article on Ghanaian MSMEs examined innovation strategy, business agility, idea search and frugal spending in post-crisis recovery. Another 2026 paper considered financial strategies connected with startup failure in developing and lower-middle-income countries. Other recent work has analysed household micro-entrepreneurship and e-commerce as a resilience strategy and entrepreneurial orientation, digital literacy and innovation adoption in public service performance.

For journal selection, the useful lesson is not to imitate these topics. Instead, notice the recurring editorial logic: entrepreneurship is examined in relation to policy, development, public-sector performance, resilience, institutional context or broader economic and social outcomes.

Conclusion: Is JEPP a Good Fit for Your Manuscript?

The Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy is most compelling for research that treats entrepreneurship and public policy as connected systems rather than separate topics. Its current scope gives room for empirical, interdisciplinary and practice-informed work on social, digital and sustainable entrepreneurship, public-sector innovation, institutional entrepreneurship, policy evaluation and development across diverse geographic contexts.

Before submission, verify the current Scopus profile and any institutional requirements, then audit the manuscript against Emerald’s author guidelines: 6,000–8,000 words, a concise structured abstract, up to 12 keywords, consistent Harvard references, strong anonymisation and direct ScholarOne submission. Current metrics and operating statistics are useful context, but fit, contribution, methodological credibility and ethical compliance remain more important than any single ranking number.

Authoritative Sources

• Emerald Publishing — Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy
• Scopus — Source ID 21100446524
• ISSN International Centre — ISSN-L 2045-2101
• Emerald Publishing — Open-access journal routes and 2026 APCs