Nankai Business Review International: Scopus, Scope, Metrics & Submission Guide

Quick Answer: What Is Nankai Business Review International?

Nankai Business Review International (NBRI) is an English-language scholarly journal published by Emerald Publishing. It concentrates on management research and financial studies related to China, with an official scope spanning business management, corporate governance, strategic management, marketing, human resource management, organizational behaviour and finance. It is the English-language sister publication of the Mandarin-language Nankai Business Review.

The supplied Scopus source record identifies NBRI with Scopus Source ID 21100448929. The journal’s official Emerald page also displays Scopus CiteScore metrics, including a 2025 CiteScore of 4.6. For researchers working under institutional publication rules, the safest practice is to verify current Scopus coverage directly in the Scopus source profile immediately before submission.

NBRI may be relevant to researchers whose manuscripts examine China-focused management or financial questions, use China as an empirical setting, contribute to theory through evidence from Chinese firms or markets, or connect Chinese business practice with broader management debates. Scope fit remains essential: Scopus indexing or citation metrics alone do not make a journal suitable for a particular paper.

Key Takeaways

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing.
• ISSNs: print 2040-8749; online 2040-8757.
• Scopus: Source ID 21100448929; Emerald displays a 2025 CiteScore of 4.6.
• Clarivate metric: Emerald currently displays a 2025 Impact Factor of 2.6 and five-year Impact Factor of 2.2.
• Scope: management and financial activities in China, including strategy, governance, marketing, HRM, organizational behaviour and finance.
• Manuscript length: 4,000–8,000 words under the current author guidelines.
• Peer review: double-anonymous; suitable manuscripts are normally sent to at least two independent referees.
• Open access: gold OA is optional after acceptance with an APC; green self-archiving is also available.

Journal Information at a Glance

What This Page Covers

• What NBRI publishes and how its China focus shapes manuscript fit
• Scopus visibility, citation metrics and how to interpret time-stamped journal indicators
• Article classifications and manuscript categories listed in the author guidance
• Structured abstract, keywords, word count, figures, tables and reference style
• Submission through ScholarOne and requirements for anonymous review
• Peer-review process, reported acceptance rate and publication timeline
• Gold and green open-access routes and how to verify APCs
• Ethics, originality, authorship, AI-use and human-participant requirements
• A practical journal-fit and publication-readiness checklist

Methodology and Sources

This profile was prepared from the journal’s current official Emerald page and author guidelines, the supplied Scopus Source ID, the Nankai University Business School journal page, and publisher-linked scholarly publishing policies. Indexing, metrics, fees, editorial teams and submission policies can change. Researchers should reconfirm these details on the official publisher and database pages before making a submission decision.

Journal Aims, Scope and Research Community

NBRI’s stated aim is to assess management practices and financial activities in China while advancing management theory through frontier knowledge from Chinese business. The journal therefore sits at an intersection: it is not simply a general management journal that happens to accept papers from China, nor is it limited to descriptive reports about Chinese companies. Strong submissions should normally connect the Chinese empirical or institutional setting to a meaningful management, organization, strategy, marketing, HR or finance question.

The official scope explicitly welcomes high-quality papers using any research paradigm. That wording gives methodological room for quantitative, qualitative, mixed-method, conceptual and other defensible approaches, provided the research question and contribution fit the journal. Recent articles highlighted by Emerald include work on live-streaming e-commerce, manufacturer channel selection, ESG and firm diversity, sustainable entrepreneurship, AI-assisted literature reviews and IPO-market disclosure, illustrating a broad enterprise-management portfolio rather than one narrow methodology.

Topics clearly within the stated scope

• Business and enterprise management in China
• Corporate governance and disclosure
• Strategic management and competitive behaviour
• Marketing, digital commerce and customer behaviour
• Human resource management and organizational behaviour
• Corporate finance, markets and financial decision-making
• Innovation, sustainability and technology where linked to management theory or practice

For manuscript selection, the key question is not whether a topic can be labelled “business.” The stronger test is whether the study offers a clear management or finance contribution and whether China is substantively relevant to the theory, phenomenon, evidence or managerial implications.

Understanding Scopus, Web of Science and Journal Metrics

The journal record supplied for this task identifies NBRI as Scopus Source ID 21100448929, and Emerald’s official page displays Scopus-branded citation metrics. This makes the journal relevant to researchers specifically checking Scopus visibility. Because universities may apply their own rules about active coverage dates, quartiles, document types or publication year, authors should confirm the source in Scopus at the time they submit and again when their institution evaluates the publication.

Emerald also lists NBRI among journals indexed in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (Clarivate Analytics). The publisher currently displays a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 2.6 and a 2025 five-year Impact Factor of 2.2. On the Scopus side, Emerald displays a 2025 CiteScore of 4.6 and a 2026 CiteScore Tracker updated monthly. Tracker values are provisional indicators, so the final annual CiteScore should be distinguished from the tracker in CVs, institutional forms and journal comparisons.

This guide does not assign a current SJR, SNIP or Scopus quartile because the official publisher page does not present a current value for those indicators. If those metrics matter to a PhD or promotion requirement, verify them in the latest applicable Scopus/SCImago record rather than relying on an undated third-party ranking page.

What Does the Journal Publish?

During submission, Emerald lists NBRI paper classifications including Research Paper, Empirical Study, Case Study and Conceptual Paper. The detailed author guidance also describes journal categories such as research paper, viewpoint, technical paper, conceptual paper, case study, literature review and general review. Authors should choose the closest available classification in ScholarOne and make sure the manuscript’s design actually matches that category.

A conventional empirical article should state a precise research question, explain its theoretical basis, justify the China-related context, describe data and methods transparently, report findings without overclaiming, and connect the results to theory and practice. A conceptual or review paper needs a similarly clear contribution: simply summarising prior studies is unlikely to be enough unless the synthesis produces a meaningful framework, critique, research agenda or conceptual advance.

Is This Journal a Good Match for Your Research?

NBRI is most plausible when the manuscript has a genuine connection to China and a recognisable contribution to management or financial scholarship. A study of Chinese listed firms, consumer behaviour in Chinese digital markets, organizational practices in Chinese enterprises, corporate governance, innovation networks, HR systems or financial decision-making could all fit if the research question is aligned with the journal’s aims.

A manuscript may be less suitable if China is only mentioned superficially, if the paper is primarily technical without a management contribution, if the research belongs mainly to a different discipline, or if the article does not explain why its findings matter beyond the immediate dataset. Before submission, compare the manuscript with several recent NBRI articles: examine their research questions, theoretical framing, empirical settings, methods and contribution statements. This is a practical fit check, not an official acceptance criterion.

Preparing a Manuscript for NBRI

Length, files and title

According to the official author instructions, articles should be 4,000–8,000 words. The count includes the structured abstract, references, text in tables, figures and appendices, with an allowance of 250 words for each figure or table. A Word file is expected; a PDF may accompany it but is not accepted as the only manuscript file. LaTeX may be used when accompanied by a PDF.

Structured abstract and keywords

Every submission requires a structured abstract with the mandatory headings Purpose, Design/methodology/approach, Findings and Originality. Optional headings are Research limitations/implications, Practical implications and Social implications. The abstract must remain within 250 words in total, including keywords and article classification. Up to 12 keywords may be supplied.

References, figures and tables

References must use a recognised Harvard style. Emerald’s own Harvard variant is acceptable, and the publisher asks authors to check citation completeness, accuracy and consistency. Figures should be supplied electronically at high quality, numbered consecutively with clear captions and any necessary credit lines. Tables are submitted separately from the main manuscript and are numbered consecutively using Roman numerals under the current guidance.

Submission, Anonymisation and Peer Review

The corresponding author must submit through the journal’s ScholarOne editorial system accessed from Emerald. Emerald explicitly states that submission should be made directly by the author rather than by email, a third-party agent or a proxy service. Authors should add all contributing authors in the intended publication order and include accurate email and affiliation details in ScholarOne.

Before peer review, the editorial office screens the submission for policy compliance, aims and scope, and manuscript/language quality. Suitable papers are sent to at least two independent referees under a double-anonymous process. To preserve anonymity, names should be removed from the manuscript and identifying acknowledgements or biographies uploaded separately.

The publisher’s journal-specific operating data reports 116 days to first decision for submissions from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, while the general author-guideline text states a goal of informing authors of a first decision within 60 days. These two figures measure different things: one is historical journal performance for a specified period and the other is a stated goal. Neither is a guarantee for an individual paper. Emerald also reports an average 34 days from acceptance to publication, last updated April 2025.

Acceptance Rate: How to Interpret the 13.7% Figure

Emerald reports an acceptance rate of 13.7% based on submissions between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025. This is useful context about selectivity, but it cannot predict the chance that a particular manuscript will be accepted. Editorial fit, originality, methodological quality, evidence, clarity, reviewer assessment and revision quality all matter. Authors should therefore treat the statistic as a historical journal-level indicator, not an acceptance probability for their paper.

Open Access, APCs and Copyright Options

Emerald states that its journals offer gold open access and green open access. For gold OA, authors choose the route after acceptance and pay the applicable article processing charge; the publisher states that the amount varies by journal and should be checked on the current APC price list or in the editorial system. Gold OA articles are published under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 licence under the stated policy.

For green OA, Emerald says authors can make the accepted manuscript openly available without payment or embargo once the article is published. Because funder agreements, institutional arrangements, waivers and APC pricing can change, confirm the exact terms before choosing an OA route.

Research Ethics, Authorship and AI Use

Emerald’s publishing ethics guidance follows COPE principles and places responsibility for research integrity on authors. Manuscripts should be original, not simultaneously under consideration elsewhere, and should disclose conflicts of interest and relevant funding. Third-party copyrighted material requires appropriate permission before publication. Research involving human participants may require ethical approval and informed consent statements with sufficient details for editorial assessment.

Emerald’s current AI policy is particularly important for authors using generative tools. The publisher states that generative AI must not be credited as an author and that authors remain accountable for accuracy and integrity. Its journal guidance permits AI-assisted copy-editing of an author’s own original text subject to transparency and policy conditions, while generative AI copywriting that creates new submission content is not permitted under the stated policy. Researchers should review the latest Emerald ethics guidance and COPE resources before submission.

Publication-Readiness Checklist for NBRI

• The research question fits China-focused management or financial studies.
• The manuscript explains why the China context matters theoretically or practically.
• The contribution is explicit and differentiated from prior literature.
• The article is within the 4,000–8,000-word range or has a defensible reason to contact the editor.
• The structured abstract uses the required headings and remains within the 250-word limit.
• Up to 12 targeted keywords accurately describe the study.
• All references use a consistent recognised Harvard style and every citation is verified.
• Tables, figures and supplementary files follow the stated submission rules.
• Author names and other identifiers are removed from the anonymised manuscript.
• Funding, conflicts, ethics approval, consent and permissions are documented where applicable.
• The manuscript has been checked against several recent NBRI articles for topic and methodological fit.
• Scopus status, metrics and any APC have been reconfirmed on current official pages.

Common Reasons a Manuscript May Be Unsuitable

Emerald’s screening process allows papers to be declined before peer review when they do not fit the aims and scope, submission policies or expected manuscript/language quality. For NBRI, likely fit problems include a weak or incidental link to China, unclear management or finance contribution, insufficient engagement with relevant literature, underdeveloped theoretical framing, methods that do not answer the research question, and conclusions that overreach the evidence.

Formatting alone cannot rescue a weak research contribution. Conversely, a strong study can still face preventable delays if it ignores the structured abstract, anonymisation, reference or file requirements. Journal readiness requires both scholarly fit and technical compliance.

How Contentxprtz Can Support Ethical Publication Readiness

Contentxprtz can help authors improve a manuscript’s clarity and readiness without claiming influence over editorial decisions. Appropriate support may include academic editing, language polishing, structured-abstract refinement, reference consistency, journal-format checks, manuscript assessment, cover-letter editing, reviewer-response editing and a final publication-readiness review.

For NBRI specifically, support can focus on whether the manuscript clearly articulates its China-related management contribution, whether the abstract reflects the research design and findings accurately, whether the paper meets Emerald’s technical requirements, and whether language obscures an otherwise sound argument. The author remains responsible for the research, evidence, interpretations, citations and final submission.

Explore journal publication-readiness support

Conclusion: Should You Consider Nankai Business Review International?

Nankai Business Review International is a focused option for researchers studying management and financial questions connected with China. Its Emerald publishing platform, Scopus source record, ESCI listing, current citation metrics and broad enterprise-management scope make it a journal worth evaluating for appropriately aligned research. The deciding factor, however, should be the manuscript’s actual fit with the journal’s aims, readership and recent publications.

Before submission, reconfirm the latest author instructions, indexing status, journal metrics and any open-access charge. Then check the manuscript for a clear contribution, defensible methods, precise language, accurate references and complete ethical declarations. Professional editing or publication-readiness support can help with presentation and compliance, but no service can guarantee peer-review success or journal acceptance.