Journal of Innovation & Knowledge: Scopus, Metrics, Scope & Submission Guide

What This Page Covers

• Journal aims and scope
• Scopus and indexing
• Current verified metrics
• Article and topic fit
• Open access and APCs
• Peer review
• Manuscript preparation
• Submission workflow
• Publication ethics

Methodology and Source Note

This profile was prepared from the journal record supplied with the task and authoritative public sources, prioritizing Elsevier’s official ScienceDirect journal pages and Guide for Authors, then checking the ISSN Portal and DOAJ for independent journal identity and open-access metadata. Current journal metrics, fees, timelines, editorial teams and database coverage can change between reporting periods.

Where an official current numeric value was not available in the material checked—particularly SJR, SNIP and a current subject-specific quartile—this guide does not substitute an estimate from an undated ranking site. The practical recommendation is to verify those values directly in the relevant live database when they matter to a university, funder or doctoral requirement.

What Does the Journal Aim to Publish?

The journal’s editorial identity is unusually explicit: innovation and knowledge must be linked. Elsevier states that papers lacking a relationship to innovation and/or knowledge are likely to be desk rejected. Interdisciplinary work is welcome, but breadth is not a substitute for fit. A manuscript should show how innovation contributes to knowledge outcomes, how knowledge shapes innovation, or how methods can better explain that relationship.

The innovation side of the scope is broad. It includes technological innovation, organizational innovation, business innovation and social innovation in business, economic and societal settings. Official examples include innovation management and performance, strategy, technological change, organizational behavior, creativity, team and group innovation, innovation systems, institutional and social innovation, open innovation, innovation alliances and networks, adoption and diffusion, and both positive and negative consequences of innovation.

The knowledge side is similarly broad but must remain connected to innovation. The Guide for Authors highlights organizational learning, knowledge strategies, technology that improves knowledge quality, links between knowledge and performance initiatives, intellectual capital, and the use of innovation and technology to develop knowledge. Recent and special-issue material also demonstrates continued interest in sustainability, digital transformation, AI, knowledge augmentation and the diffusion of new technologies.

Topics that may align well

Understanding Its Scopus Coverage and Journal Metrics

The journal record supplied for this article identifies Scopus Source ID 21100932830. The ISSN Portal also lists the journal as indexed by Scopus, while Elsevier’s own Journal Insights page displays the journal’s citation indicators. This matters for researchers whose institutions explicitly require a Scopus-indexed outlet, but the correct check is the live source record rather than the journal title alone.

Elsevier currently displays a CiteScore of 20.5 and an Impact Factor of 15.5. These metrics describe citation performance over defined reporting windows; they do not measure the quality of an individual manuscript and should not be treated as a prediction of acceptance. The journal’s abstracting and indexing list also includes DOAJ, the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), ABDC, SJR and SNIP resources.

A current Scopus quartile can depend on the reporting year and subject category. Because the official material used here did not provide a single current numeric quartile, SJR or SNIP value suitable for accurate reproduction, those fields are intentionally left for live verification. This is preferable to copying a number from a third-party metric page whose year or category may not match the reader’s requirement.

Is This Journal a Good Match for Your Research?

A realistic fit decision should begin with the manuscript’s central contribution. Ask whether a reader could understand the paper’s innovation–knowledge connection from the title, abstract, research problem and conclusion without adding a few keywords. If that link is weak, the journal’s own scope suggests a high risk of editorial rejection before external review.

Next, compare the manuscript with recent Journal of Innovation & Knowledge papers. Recent issues illustrate empirical work on digitalization, education and knowledge, manufacturing technology, sustainability, entrepreneurship, social responsibility and methodological development. These examples show breadth, but the journal’s identity is still anchored in innovation and knowledge rather than in any one technique or sector.

Three practical manuscript-fit examples

What Does the Journal Publish?

Recent regular ScienceDirect issues prominently label papers as Research articles. The journal’s calls for papers also show that review-oriented contributions may be invited when they are impactful and aligned with a special topic. Because the accessible Guide for Authors used here does not present a simple exhaustive article-type list, authors should check the current submission system and any active call for papers before preparing a manuscript category that differs from a standard research article.

Methodologically, the journal’s published record is diverse. Recent and historical papers include quantitative empirical studies, qualitative work, systematic reviews, bibliometric research and configurational approaches such as fsQCA. That diversity does not mean every method will fit equally well; the method should be appropriate to the question and support a credible contribution about innovation and knowledge.

Open Access, Publication Fees and Licences

Journal of Innovation & Knowledge is a fully open-access journal. Elsevier’s open-access page states that articles are immediately and permanently free to read and download, subject to the selected Creative Commons licence. Authors should review the available licence choices against funder or institutional mandates before completing the publishing agreement.

Elsevier’s Journal Insights page displays an Article Publishing Charge of USD 2,400 excluding taxes. DOAJ’s record, last fully reviewed in April 2026, lists publication fees up to USD 2,640 and indicates that a waiver policy exists. The difference may reflect taxes, updates or metadata timing. Treat the Elsevier checkout and current journal open-access page as the operative source for the amount payable for a specific accepted paper.

Do not treat an APC as a payment for acceptance. The publication charge applies within the journal’s open-access publishing model; editorial screening and peer review remain separate from payment. Researchers should also check whether their institution has an Elsevier open-access agreement or whether they qualify for a waiver or funding arrangement.

Preparing and Submitting a Manuscript

The official Guide for Authors asks for editable source files for the full submission. Word files should normally be submitted in DOC or DOCX using a single-column layout, while TeX is accepted for LaTeX workflows. A PDF by itself is not an acceptable source file. The manuscript should use clearly numbered sections and subsections, with the abstract kept outside the section numbering.

Double-anonymized submission files

Because the journal uses double-anonymized review, the title page and anonymized manuscript are submitted separately. The title page contains author names, affiliations, acknowledgements, declaration of interest information, and corresponding-author contact details. The anonymized manuscript contains the research content, references, figures and tables but must exclude identifying names or affiliations.

References and article structure

Elsevier specifies APA referencing style. Authors should check names, titles, years, pagination and DOI links carefully because inaccurate reference metadata can interfere with linking to services such as Crossref and Scopus. The introduction should state the objectives clearly; the methods section should contain enough detail for an independent researcher to understand or reproduce the approach where applicable.

Declarations and supporting information

The Guide for Authors includes policies for authorship, competing interests, funding sources, CRediT contribution roles, preprints, inclusive language, research data and generative AI use. If generative AI or AI-assisted technology was used in manuscript preparation in a way covered by Elsevier’s policy, the use should be declared as instructed by the journal. Basic grammar, spelling and reference-checking tools are treated differently under the policy.

1. Read the current aims and scope and compare your central contribution with recent JIK papers.
2. Open the live Guide for Authors and confirm article type, files, references, declarations and data requirements.
3. Create a complete title page and a genuinely anonymized manuscript as separate files.
4. Check that the abstract, keywords, theory, methods, results and discussion consistently explain the innovation–knowledge contribution.
5. Verify references in APA style and check DOI and bibliographic accuracy.
6. Confirm the current APC, any waiver or institutional agreement, and funder licence requirements.
7. Submit through the official Elsevier online submission route linked from the Guide for Authors.

What Happens After You Submit a Manuscript?

The journal uses double-anonymized peer review, but a manuscript can first be evaluated editorially for scope and basic suitability. The scope statement specifically notes that papers not relating to innovation and/or knowledge may be rejected, often at desk-review stage. A clear fit statement in the manuscript itself is therefore more useful than a cover letter that tries to compensate for weak alignment.

Elsevier’s Journal Insights page currently shows journal-level publishing timeline indicators of 5 days from submission to first decision, 99 days from submission to decision after review, 161 days from submission to acceptance, and 14 days from acceptance to online publication. These are aggregate indicators, not promises. Revision rounds, reviewer availability, editorial workload and the complexity of the study can materially change an individual manuscript’s path.

After acceptance, the corresponding author completes the publishing agreement, chooses the applicable open-access licence, handles proof correction and resolves any production queries. Elsevier asks authors to return proof corrections promptly; major scientific changes are generally not intended for the proof stage.

Publication Ethics and Research Integrity

The Guide for Authors applies Elsevier’s publishing ethics framework. A submitted paper should be original, not simultaneously under consideration elsewhere, and approved by all authors and responsible authorities where required. The journal may use screening tools to check compliance with publishing policies.

Authorship should reflect substantial contributions to the study and manuscript, with all authors agreeing to accountability for the work. The corresponding author manages communication with the journal. Competing interests, funding and relevant AI-assisted manuscript preparation should be declared according to the current policy. Researchers using human participants, sensitive data, copyrighted material or discipline-specific reporting standards should also follow the applicable ethical, legal and reporting requirements for their study.

Journal-Fit and Publication-Readiness Checklist

How Contentxprtz Can Support Publication Readiness

For a manuscript targeting Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, ethical support should focus on clarity, fit and compliance rather than promises about editorial outcomes. Contentxprtz can help researchers assess whether the manuscript communicates its innovation–knowledge contribution clearly, improve academic English, edit structure and argumentation, proofread the final draft, align references and formatting, and review submission documents such as a cover letter or response to reviewers.

Support can also be useful for ESL researchers, thesis-to-article conversion and teams that need an independent publication-readiness check. The research ideas, data, analysis and scholarly claims remain the authors’ responsibility, and journal acceptance remains entirely at the discretion of the editors and peer reviewers.

Authoritative Sources Checked

• Elsevier / ScienceDirect — Journal of Innovation & Knowledge
• Elsevier — Journal Insights
• Elsevier — Guide for Authors
• Elsevier — Open Access Information
• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
• ISSN Portal — 2444-569X
• Scopus Source ID 21100932830