Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management: Scopus, Scope & Submission Guide

Quick Answer: What Is Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management?

Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management is an Emerald Publishing journal devoted to the advancement and dissemination of research in public budgeting, accounting, auditing, financial management and performance management. Its remit extends beyond conventional government accounting to entities operating in the public or public-private sphere, including territorial governments, universities, schools, hospitals, state-owned enterprises, hybrid organizations, public-private partnerships, non-profits and NGOs.

Emerald describes JPBAFM as interdisciplinary and welcomes contributions from fields such as accounting, public management and public finance. It accepts different theoretical positions and qualitative, quantitative and comparative methods where the manuscript offers a clear contribution or a new perspective on established, emerging or future issues.

Key Takeaways

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing; print ISSN 1096-3367 and eISSN 1945-1814.
• Indexing: Emerald lists Scopus and Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI).
• Scopus Source ID: 11600153707, as supplied in the journal record for this article.
• Current headline metrics: 2025 CiteScore 6.4 and 2025 Journal Impact Factor 2.5 on Emerald's journal page.
• Review model: double-anonymous peer review; suitable papers are sent to at least two independent referees.
• Manuscript length: Emerald states 8,000–10,000 words, including abstract, references, tables, figures and appendices, with 250 words allowed per figure or table.
• Open access: hybrid publishing options are available; gold OA carries an APC after acceptance, while green OA/self-archiving is also available under Emerald's policy.

Journal Information at a Glance

What This Page Covers

• Journal aims, scope and subject areas
• Scopus and other indexing information
• Current metrics and publication timeline data
• Article types and manuscript requirements
• Submission and double-anonymous peer-review process
• Open-access routes and publication fees
• Journal-fit and publication-readiness checks
• Ethical ways Contentxprtz may support manuscript preparation

Methodology and Sources

This profile was prepared primarily from the official Emerald journal page and author guidelines, including the journal's aims and scope, editorial team, indexing and metrics, peer-review description, manuscript requirements and open-access information. The supplied journal record was used for the Scopus Source ID and target page details. Where a current value was not available from the authoritative material reviewed, this guide says to verify it rather than estimating it.

Journal metrics, acceptance statistics, editorial appointments, fees and database coverage can change. Reconfirm them before submission, especially when a university, funder or doctoral programme has a formal indexing or quartile rule.

Journal Aims and Scope

JPBAFM's core scholarly territory is the management and accountability of public resources. Emerald states that the journal advances research in public budgeting, accounting, auditing, and financial and performance management, with particular interest in work that challenges or innovates accounting, management and governance in the public and public-private spheres.

Its scope is deliberately interdisciplinary. Relevant manuscripts may draw from accounting, public administration, public management, public finance, governance or related areas. The journal welcomes critical and comparative analyses, an international perspective, varied theoretical frameworks—including positivist, interpretative and critical traditions—and qualitative, quantitative or comparative methods.

Topics explicitly highlighted by the journal

• Public-sector accounting systems and standards
• Financial reporting and alternative forms of reporting
• Traditional and innovative budgeting approaches and tools
• Long-term planning and strategic-management models and techniques
• Public financial management, performance management and cost systems
• Fiscal and financial sustainability and fiscal policy
• Auditing and evaluation
• Transparency, accountability and corruption
• Digital government and its implications for accounting

For manuscript selection, the practical question is whether the paper contributes to this public-sector or public-private management conversation. A technically sound accounting paper focused entirely on private corporate reporting may still be outside scope if it lacks a meaningful public-sphere dimension.

Who Should Consider Submitting?

JPBAFM may suit academics, doctoral researchers and practitioners whose work addresses how public resources are planned, budgeted, accounted for, audited, governed or evaluated. The journal's stated audience includes academics, politicians and policy-makers, consultants and advisors, practitioners, analysts, journalists and students, so authors should explain both scholarly contribution and practical or policy relevance where the study allows it.

Strong candidate manuscripts might examine public financial reforms, municipal budgeting, sustainability and accountability, public-sector digital transformation, performance measurement, auditing practices, transparency, or financial sustainability across governments or public-purpose organizations. Comparative and internationally framed studies may be particularly natural fits because the journal explicitly welcomes broad international perspectives and comparative analysis.

Article Types and Manuscript Categories

During submission, Emerald lists Research Paper and Book Review as paper-type options. Its category guidance also describes research papers, viewpoints, technical papers, conceptual papers, case studies, literature reviews and general reviews. Authors should select the best available classification in ScholarOne and make sure the manuscript's structure and contribution are consistent with the chosen category.

A literature review, for example, should do more than summarize papers; Emerald describes that category as work whose main purpose is to annotate or critique literature in a field. A conceptual paper should advance hypotheses or conceptual thinking, while a case study centres on an intervention, experience or illustrative case.

Manuscript and Formatting Requirements

Submission and Peer-Review Process

Submissions are made through ScholarOne. Before submission, Emerald asks authors to reread the aims and scope, confirm compliance with research and publishing ethics, obtain necessary permissions and follow the journal's formatting requirements.

The editorial office screens each submission. A manuscript can be declined or returned at this stage if it does not meet submission policies, aims and scope, or minimum language/manuscript-quality expectations. Papers considered potentially suitable are sent to at least two independent referees under a double-anonymous process. The editor then decides whether to accept, request minor or major revisions, or decline.

Emerald states a goal of communicating the first decision within 60 days, while the journal's current metrics panel reports an average 31 days to first decision for submissions received from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025. These figures describe different measures, so authors should not interpret either as a guaranteed personal review time.

Open Access and Publication Fees

JPBAFM is a hybrid journal. Emerald allows authors to choose gold open access after acceptance; gold OA uses a CC BY 4.0 licence and requires an article processing charge unless a waiver, agreement or other arrangement applies. The verified journal page does not state a fixed JPBAFM APC amount in the text reviewed, so the safest approach is to check Emerald's current APC price list or the editorial system at submission.

Authors who do not choose gold OA are not charged a submission or publication fee under the standard subscription route. Emerald also describes a green open-access/self-archiving route that allows the author accepted manuscript to be made openly available under its stated policy. Funding and institutional agreements can affect the practical cost, so confirm your eligibility before selecting an OA route.

Publication Ethics and Research Integrity

Emerald requires original submissions and expects authors to be accountable for accuracy and research integrity. Authors must include people who made substantial contributions and exclude non-contributors. Where human participants are involved, appropriate ethics review and informed-consent information may be required without compromising anonymity. Third-party copyrighted material also requires appropriate permission before submission.

Emerald's AI guidance states that large language models cannot be credited as authors. Authors must describe content created or modified using AI and appropriately identify and cite the tool where required; standard spelling and grammar tools are treated differently. These policies should be read in full before submission because acceptable AI use depends on context and the publisher's current rules.

How to Decide Whether JPBAFM Fits Your Manuscript

As a practical publication-readiness step, compare your draft with several recent JPBAFM articles. Look for similarities in research questions, theoretical framing, methods, public-sector setting and the way authors articulate contribution. This is general journal-selection guidance rather than an official Emerald requirement.

How to Prepare a Stronger, Journal-Aligned Manuscript

1. State the public-sector problem early. Make it clear why the issue matters for public budgeting, accounting, financial management, auditing or performance management.
2. Build a contribution, not just a topic match. Explain what the study changes in theory, evidence, method, policy or practice.
3. Use the structured abstract strategically. The required headings should communicate purpose, method, findings and originality without vague claims.
4. Respect double-anonymous review. Remove identifying information from the manuscript where required by the submission instructions.
5. Audit tables, figures and references. Check separate-file requirements, numbering, captions, permissions and consistency.
6. Check ethics and disclosure language. Funding, conflicts, participant ethics, permissions and AI use should be addressed accurately where relevant.
7. Do a scope comparison immediately before submission. Editorial scope can evolve, and recent issues are the best practical evidence of what the journal is currently publishing.

How Contentxprtz Can Support Publication Readiness

Contentxprtz can ethically support researchers preparing for JPBAFM through manuscript editing, academic proofreading, journal-formatting checks, reference and citation consistency, structured-abstract refinement, cover-letter editing, reviewer-response editing and publication-readiness assessment. Support should improve clarity, organization and compliance while preserving the author's research decisions, evidence and intellectual ownership.

Professional editing cannot guarantee acceptance, publication, peer-review success, indexing or citation outcomes. Editorial decisions remain with the journal, and researchers remain responsible for the accuracy, originality, ethics and final submission of their work. Researchers who need support can review Contentxprtz journal publication services.

Final Submission Checklist

• Scope and recent JPBAFM articles have been reviewed for genuine fit.
• Manuscript is within the stated 8,000–10,000-word range.
• Structured abstract uses the required headings and stays within the 250-word limit.
• No more than 12 appropriate keywords are included.
• Author details and order are agreed before ScholarOne submission.
• Funding, ethics, consent, permissions and AI disclosures are complete where relevant.
• Tables, figures, captions and supplementary files follow Emerald's instructions.
• References are complete, traceable and formatted consistently.
• Anonymous-review requirements are satisfied.
• Current indexing, metrics, OA costs and institutional eligibility rules have been reconfirmed.

Conclusion: Is JPBAFM a Good Fit for Your Research?

JPBAFM is most relevant to researchers whose work advances understanding of public budgeting, accounting, auditing, financial management, performance management or related governance questions in public and public-private settings. Its Scopus and ESCI coverage, 2025 CiteScore and Impact Factor may be useful when institutional visibility matters, but those metrics should not substitute for a careful fit assessment.

Before submission, verify the current author guidelines, compare your manuscript with recent articles, and check the latest indexing and fee information. A well-aligned submission should make its public-sector relevance, scholarly contribution, methodology and practical or policy significance easy for editors and reviewers to see. Contentxprtz may assist with publication readiness, but no editing or support service can guarantee journal acceptance or publication.