Journal of Strategy and Management: Scopus, Metrics & Submission Guide

Quick Answer: What Is Journal of Strategy and Management?

Journal of Strategy and Management is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal published by Emerald Publishing. Its stated purpose is to improve knowledge of strategy development and implementation globally, encourage new approaches to strategy research, provide executives with insights derived from original scholarship, and strengthen communication between researchers and organizational decision-makers.

The journal covers strategic management in both private and public organizations. Its scope includes strategic decision-making, competition, alliances, mergers and acquisitions, innovation, entrepreneurship, knowledge management, sustainability, leadership, corporate social responsibility, technology, foresight, and strategy implementation. It welcomes theoretical and empirical research as well as literature reviews, critiques, case studies, policy-oriented work, executive interviews, book reviews, and notes.

For authors, the practical issue is fit. A manuscript should make a clear contribution to strategy theory, strategy practice, or both. Emerald states that submissions are initially screened and may be declined before external review if they do not fit the aims and scope, submission policies, or expected manuscript quality.

Key Takeaways

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing.
• Identifiers: ISSN 1755-425X; eISSN 1755-4268; Scopus Source ID 21100853248.
• Focus: strategy development and implementation across private and public organizations, with broad theoretical and methodological openness.
• Current metrics shown by Emerald: 2025 CiteScore 10.4; 2025 Impact Factor 3.0; 2025 five-year Impact Factor 3.8.
• Peer review: double-anonymous, normally using at least two independent referees after editorial screening.
• Manuscript length: normally 5,500–7,500 words, including the structured abstract, references, tables, figures and appendices; Emerald asks authors to allow 250 words per figure or table.
• Open access: hybrid options are available. Emerald’s 2026 hybrid-journal gold OA APC is £3,222 / $4,351 / €3,710 plus VAT where applicable; green self-archiving is also available.
• Selectivity: Emerald reports an 11.4% acceptance rate for submissions from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.

Journal Information at a Glance

What This Page Covers

• Journal identity, publisher, ISSN/eISSN and Scopus Source ID
• Aims, scope and strategic-management topics
• Current citation metrics and stated publication statistics
• Article types and manuscript classifications
• Author formatting, abstract, keyword, figure, table and reference requirements
• Submission and double-anonymous peer-review process
• Open-access routes, current hybrid APC and green self-archiving
• Publication ethics, AI-use policy and a journal-fit checklist
• Ethical manuscript-preparation support from Contentxprtz

Methodology and Sources

This profile prioritizes the official Emerald journal page and author guidelines, including its metrics, editorial information, review model, submission requirements and indexing statements. ISSN identity was checked against the ISSN Portal, including the print record for 1755-425X and online record for 1755-4268. The supplied journal record provides Scopus Source ID 21100853248.

Metrics, editorial appointments, fees, indexing status and publication timelines are time-sensitive. Values on this page are reported with a year or data period when available. Researchers whose universities, funders or doctoral regulations require a specific quartile, impact metric or active indexing status should confirm the requirement in the current official database immediately before submission.

What Is Journal of Strategy and Management?

JSMA sits within the business and management literature but is intentionally broad within the strategy domain. Emerald describes it as an international journal concerned with improving knowledge and understanding of how strategy is developed and implemented. That makes the journal relevant not only to classic competitive-strategy research, but also to work on innovation, organizational capabilities, leadership, inter-organizational relationships, sustainability, technology and strategic change.

The journal’s scope is also explicitly practice-aware. One of its stated objectives is to offer executives strategic insight based on original scholarly research, and another is to improve communication between researchers and executives. This does not mean every submission must be a practitioner article. Rather, authors should be able to explain why their theoretical or empirical findings matter for strategic understanding, decision-making or implementation.

Recent and highlighted topics on the official journal site illustrate this breadth, including digital orientation and pivoting in new ventures, governance drivers of FinTech investment, dynamic capabilities, Industry 5.0 and sustainability, business digital transformation, and stakeholders in strategy-making. Calls for papers also show continuing interest in AI-enabled digital marketplaces, institutional shocks, scenario planning, strategic foresight and knowledge management.

Journal Aims and Scope

Emerald presents four connected aims: advancing knowledge of strategy development and implementation globally; encouraging new thinking and innovative approaches; translating original scholarship into strategic insights for executives; and strengthening communication between researchers and managers in public and private organizations.

Core subject coverage

The journal lists strategic decision-making, competition, alliances and partnering, networks, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, culture, new ventures, innovation, entrepreneurship, creativity, globalization, learning, knowledge management, resource leverage, environment and sustainability, leadership, corporate social responsibility, technology and its impact, future foresight, and strategy implementation.

Theoretical and methodological openness

JSMA explicitly encourages work drawing from behavioural theories, political science, sociology and economics. It also welcomes sound but diverse methodological approaches and innovative work using unusual methodologies. For a researcher, this suggests that methodological novelty can be an asset when it serves a clearly strategic research question and is explained rigorously.

What may be outside scope?

Emerald does not publish a simple exclusion list. As a practical interpretation, manuscripts centred on general marketing, finance, human resources, information systems or operations without a meaningful strategy-development or strategy-implementation contribution may be vulnerable to desk rejection. Authors should make the strategic mechanism and contribution explicit rather than relying on broad managerial relevance alone.

Article Types and Manuscript Classifications

The journal states that it publishes original theoretical and empirical papers; state-of-the-art literature reviews and critiques that guide improvements in theory or practice; case studies illustrating strategy formulation or implementation; relevant economic and policy reviews; interviews with senior executives; book reviews; and notes.

Within the ScholarOne submission workflow, Emerald lists paper-type options including Research Paper, Practitioner Paper, Conceptual Paper, Practitioner Interview and Invited Paper. The wider manuscript classification guidance also describes research papers, viewpoints, technical papers, conceptual papers, case studies, literature reviews and general reviews.

Authors should choose the classification that best reflects what the paper actually does. A conceptual paper should advance or organize theory rather than merely summarize literature. A literature review should critically synthesize and illuminate the development of a field. A case study should demonstrate strategic formulation, implementation or organizational experience in a way that offers transferable insight.

Scopus Indexing, Web of Science Visibility and Journal Metrics

The supplied source record identifies the journal with Scopus Source ID 21100853248, and the official Emerald page displays Scopus CiteScore information. Emerald currently shows a 2025 CiteScore of 10.4 and a 2026 CiteScore Tracker of 6.1. Because the tracker is updated monthly and represents the current year rather than a completed reporting year, authors should not confuse it with the finalized 2025 CiteScore.

Emerald also displays a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 3.0 and a 2025 five-year Impact Factor of 3.8. Its indexing section lists ABI/INFORM, ProQuest and Clarivate Analytics’ Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), and it notes inclusion in several journal-ranking lists, including CABS and ABDC.

Quartile caution: a journal can have different quartiles across subject categories, and quartiles change over time. This page therefore does not freeze a single “current quartile” without a directly verified category-and-year value from the relevant live database. If Q1/Q2/Q3/Q4 status matters for your institution, check the exact category and reporting year before submission.

Manuscript and Formatting Requirements

Emerald’s author guidelines are detailed, and compliance matters because the journal screens submissions before sending suitable papers to external reviewers.

How to Submit to Journal of Strategy and Management

1. Recheck journal fit. Read the aims and scope against the manuscript’s research question, contribution and audience.
2. Complete the manuscript package. Verify word count, structured abstract, keywords, author information, funding, figures, tables, references and supplementary files.
3. Prepare for anonymity. Emerald asks authors to remove identifying information from the manuscript for anonymous review. Acknowledgements and author biographies should be separate files.
4. Check ethics and permissions. Resolve third-party copyright permissions, conflicts of interest, human-participant approvals, informed consent and any required disclosure statements.
5. Submit through ScholarOne. Emerald states that the journal accepts submissions only through its ScholarOne site, accessed from the Emerald journal page. The corresponding author should submit directly rather than using a third-party proxy.
6. Add ORCID where applicable. Emerald encourages authors to add ORCID identifiers in the submission process.
7. Track the manuscript number. A successful submission generates an automated confirmation and manuscript number for later correspondence.

Peer-Review and Editorial Decision Process

Each submission is first screened by the journal’s editorial office. Emerald states that a paper may be declined or un-submitted at this stage if it does not fit the journal’s submission policies or aims and scope, or if the language or manuscript quality is considered too low.

Potentially suitable papers are sent to at least two independent referees for double-anonymous peer review. Reviewer feedback can lead to acceptance, minor revision, major revision or rejection. Emerald’s journal page reports a 23-day time to first decision for submissions received from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, while the author-guideline narrative gives a broader goal of informing authors of a first decision within 60 days. These figures describe different reporting contexts and should not be treated as a guaranteed turnaround.

The official page reports 38 days from acceptance to publication, last updated April 2025. Actual timing for an individual paper may vary with revisions, production requirements, author responsiveness and editorial workflow.

Open Access and Publication Fees

Journal of Strategy and Management is not presented as a fully open-access journal; Emerald allows authors to choose gold open access in this hybrid journal. Emerald’s 2026 general APC for hybrid journals is £3,222 / $4,351 / €3,710, plus VAT where applicable. Authors should check whether an institutional agreement, funder arrangement or voucher covers the fee, and should reconfirm the current APC when the paper is accepted.

Emerald also offers a green open-access route. Its policy states that authors can make the author accepted manuscript openly available upon official publication without payment and without an embargo period. Gold OA publishes the version of record under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 licence.

Publication charges should never be confused with acceptance. Payment for an optional gold OA route does not guarantee editorial acceptance, favorable peer review or publication.

Research Ethics, Authorship, Originality and AI Policy

Emerald states that its publishing-ethics approach follows COPE guidance. Submissions should be original, not simultaneously under consideration elsewhere, and should disclose substantial previously published elements where applicable. Conflicts of interest must be declared, permissions must be obtained for protected third-party material, and authors are responsible for the accuracy and integrity of their work.

Research involving human participants may require ethics approval and informed consent. Emerald asks authors to include appropriate ethical statements and, where relevant, details such as the reviewing committee, approval number, approval date and applicable guidelines, while protecting anonymity.

AI use requires particular care. Emerald states that large language models cannot be authors. Its current policy permits generative-AI copy-editing of an author’s own original existing work for structure, clarity, language and grammar when used responsibly and transparently, but does not permit generative-AI copywriting that creates new submission material. Authors should review the current Emerald AI policy before using AI-assisted tools in a manuscript workflow.

Editorial Leadership

The official Emerald page currently names Professor Nicholas O’Regan of Aston University as Editor. It lists consulting editors Professor Abby Ghobadian and Professor Howard Thomas, together with associate editors based in Saudi Arabia, the United States, India, Poland, Italy and the United Arab Emirates, a regional editor in New Zealand, and a broad international editorial and advisory board.

For authors, the international composition supports the journal’s global strategy remit. However, editorial roles can change, so researchers who need current contact or leadership information should use the live Emerald editorial-team section rather than an archived profile.

Who Should Consider Submitting?

The journal may be a strong candidate for researchers whose central question concerns how organizations formulate, adapt or implement strategy. This includes scholars studying competition, strategic alliances, innovation, entrepreneurship, dynamic capabilities, strategic leadership, sustainability, digital transformation, organizational culture, foresight, corporate responsibility, knowledge management or technology through a clearly strategic lens.

It may suit PhD scholars and early-career researchers when the manuscript is mature enough to demonstrate a defensible research gap, a well-grounded theoretical contribution and a method appropriate to the question. Practitioner-oriented researchers may also find a fit when a paper converts robust analysis into strategic insight for executives or public-sector leaders.

Reasons a manuscript may be unsuitable

• The main problem is managerial but not meaningfully strategic.
• The manuscript describes a phenomenon without advancing theory, evidence or strategic practice.
• The literature review is broad but does not identify a clear contribution.
• The methodology is not explained rigorously enough for peer review.
• The practical implications are generic and disconnected from findings.
• The paper does not comply with anonymization, abstract, word-count or reference requirements.
• Language or organization prevents reviewers from assessing the underlying contribution.

How to Prepare a Stronger, Journal-Aligned Manuscript

As a practical publication-readiness step, authors should read several recent JSMA articles that resemble their topic or method. The goal is not to imitate their wording, but to understand how the journal frames strategic contributions, balances theory and managerial relevance, structures discussions and positions methodological choices.

Before submission, test the paper against five questions: What strategic problem does this study explain? What does it add to prior strategy research? Why is the chosen method capable of answering the question? Which finding changes or sharpens current understanding? What can a strategist, executive or policy decision-maker learn from the evidence?

For empirical work, ensure that constructs, sampling, measures, analysis and robustness checks are transparent. For conceptual work, make the logical architecture visible and show how the proposed relationships differ from existing theory. For literature reviews, go beyond cataloguing studies: explain patterns, contradictions, boundary conditions and a future research agenda. For case studies, connect context-specific observations to broader strategic insight.

Journal-Fit and Submission-Readiness Checklist

• My research question is clearly about strategy development, strategic choice, strategic change or strategy implementation.
• The introduction identifies a specific gap rather than asserting novelty without evidence.
• The literature review supports a strategic theoretical contribution.
• The method is appropriate, transparent and reproducible where relevant.
• The discussion distinguishes findings from interpretation and links them back to theory.
• The manuscript explains practical implications without exaggerating what the data can support.
• The paper is within the 5,500–7,500 word guideline after accounting for tables and figures.
• The structured abstract uses the required headings and stays within the stated 250-word maximum including keywords and classification.
• I have no more than 12 concise keywords.
• The manuscript is anonymized for double-anonymous review.
• All funding, conflicts, ethics approvals, consent and permissions are appropriately disclosed.
• References follow a recognized Harvard style and have been checked for completeness and accuracy.
• I have verified the current journal metrics, APC and indexing status if these are material to my institutional requirement.

How Contentxprtz Can Support Publication Readiness

Contentxprtz can support researchers with ethical manuscript preparation, including academic editing, proofreading, language polishing, journal formatting, reference consistency, manuscript assessment, journal-selection guidance, cover-letter editing and reviewer-response editing. The appropriate role is to improve how the author’s own research is communicated, not to manufacture data, invent citations or bypass author responsibility.

For Journal of Strategy and Management, useful support may include checking whether the paper’s strategic contribution is visible in the title, abstract, introduction and discussion; improving paragraph logic; aligning the structured abstract and keywords with Emerald requirements; checking anonymization and formatting; and reviewing references for consistency before the author submits through ScholarOne.

Professional editing does not guarantee acceptance. Editorial decisions remain with the journal, and peer reviewers assess the scholarly quality, novelty, rigor and fit of the research.

Official Sources and Useful Links

• Emerald: Journal of Strategy and Management — journal information, author guidelines, metrics, peer review and editorial team
• ScholarOne: Journal of Strategy and Management submission portal
• Scopus Source ID 21100853248
• ISSN Portal: print ISSN 1755-425X
• ISSN Portal: online ISSN 1755-4268
• Emerald open-access routes and 2026 APC information