Research in Transportation Business & Management: Scopus, Scope, Metrics & Submission Guide

Quick Answer: What Is Research in Transportation Business & Management?

Research in Transportation Business & Management is an international transportation-management journal published by Elsevier. It publishes work on management questions across transport modes and encourages cross-disciplinary and intermodal thinking. The official scope explicitly includes business strategy, communication, sustainability, finance, human resource management, law, logistics, marketing, franchising, privatisation and commercialisation.

The journal is indexed in Scopus and carries Scopus Source ID 20500195043 in the supplied source record. ScienceDirect's abstracting and indexing information also lists the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI). Its current official journal pages show a CiteScore of 8.7 and an Impact Factor of 4.8.

Authors should consider RTBM when the manuscript has a strong transport context and a defensible management, business, organisational, logistics, policy or governance contribution. Before submitting, verify the fit against recent RTBM articles, current author instructions, any relevant special issue, the latest metrics and the applicable open-access charge.

Key Takeaways

• Publisher: Elsevier.
• ISSNs: print 2210-5395; online 2210-5409.
• Scopus: indexed; supplied Scopus Source ID 20500195043.
• Current headline metrics: CiteScore 8.7 and Impact Factor 4.8 on the current ScienceDirect journal page.
• Scope: international transport management, including strategy, sustainability, finance, logistics, marketing, governance and related business topics.
• Peer review: double anonymized; title page and anonymized manuscript are submitted separately.
• Publishing model: hybrid/supports open access; the current listed open-access APC is USD 2,670 excluding taxes, while the subscription route states no publication fee for authors.
• Submission fit matters: a transport topic alone is not enough; the paper should show a meaningful business, management or policy contribution.

Journal Information at a Glance

What This Page Covers

• Journal aims, scope and subject fit
• Scopus and other indexing information
• Current journal metrics and how to interpret them
• Manuscript formatting and submission requirements
• Double-anonymized peer review and editorial checks
• Open-access options, subscription route and APC
• Ethics, authorship, AI-use and data expectations
• A practical journal-fit and publication-readiness checklist

Methodology and Sources

This journal profile was prepared using the supplied journal source record and the uploaded Contentxprtz HTML structure, then checked against authoritative current sources including Elsevier's journal shop, ScienceDirect journal page, official Guide for Authors and editorial-board information. The supplied task specifically identifies the journal by title, publisher, ISSN and Scopus Source ID, reducing the risk of confusing it with similarly named transportation journals.

Metrics, fees, editorial appointments, indexing, review-time indicators and policies may change. Where a current official Scopus value such as SJR, SNIP or quartile was not directly captured, this guide recommends verification rather than reproducing an unsupported number.

What Is Research in Transportation Business & Management?

RTBM sits at the intersection of transportation and management research. Its official framing is deliberately broader than a journal that studies transport engineering alone. The central question is how transport systems, organisations, markets and services are managed, governed, financed, marketed, structured or improved.

The journal's scope includes all modes of transport and welcomes themed volumes. Elsevier explains that themed issues may be cross-disciplinary for one transport mode or single-disciplinary across several modes. This makes RTBM potentially relevant to aviation, maritime transport, rail, road, public transport, urban mobility, freight, logistics and emerging mobility services when the paper carries a coherent management or business argument.

For researchers, that distinction is important. A technically sophisticated transport model can still be a weak fit if it does not explain managerial relevance, organisational implications or policy/practice consequences. Conversely, an empirical management study can fit well if the transport context is substantive rather than incidental.

Journal Aims and Scope

The official aims and scope state that RTBM publishes research on international aspects of transport management. The named areas include business strategy, communication, sustainability, finance, human resource management, law, logistics, marketing, franchising, privatisation and commercialisation.

The journal also emphasises synthesis across disciplines and modes. Elsevier describes an interest in integrating theories and concepts that originate in different disciplines or in transferring lessons among transport modes. Examples of potential themes given by the journal include sustainability and transportation management, reducing transport's carbon footprint, transport marketing and branding, benchmarking and performance measurement, franchising and concessions, freight-supply-chain integration, risk or asset management, stakeholder engagement in governance and freight reliability.

Subjects that are likely to fit

• Transport business models, organisational strategy and competitive positioning
• Public transport management, service quality, customer experience and adoption
• Freight, logistics and supply-chain integration
• Sustainable transport strategy, decarbonisation and ESG-related management questions
• Airport, airline, rail, maritime, road and mobility-service management
• Transport governance, regulation, concessions, privatisation and stakeholder management
• Finance, risk, resilience, asset management and investment decisions in transport
• Marketing, branding, communication, digital platforms and technology adoption in transport settings
• Human-resource and organisational behaviour questions within transportation organisations

Topics that may be weaker fits

As a practical interpretation, manuscripts focused almost entirely on vehicle engineering, materials, traffic-flow algorithms, infrastructure mechanics or generic machine-learning performance may need a different transportation journal unless the study connects those technical results to a meaningful management, business or policy decision. Authors should compare the manuscript with recent RTBM papers rather than relying on the title alone.

Is Research in Transportation Business & Management Scopus Indexed?

Yes. The source record supplied for this article gives Scopus Source ID 20500195043, and Elsevier's current journal pages display a CiteScore, which is a Scopus-based journal metric. ScienceDirect's indexing information also lists Scopus among the journal's abstracting and indexing services.

ScienceDirect currently also lists the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) among the journal's indexing services. Because university promotion rules and PhD regulations often specify an index, category, reporting year or quartile, researchers should capture a dated screenshot or official database record at the point of submission if institutional evidence is required.

Do not assume that “Scopus indexed” by itself answers every institutional requirement. Some universities require current active status, a specified quartile, coverage in a certain year, or Web of Science inclusion. These are separate checks.

Current Journal Metrics: CiteScore, Impact Factor and Quartile

The current ScienceDirect journal page displays CiteScore 8.7 and an Impact Factor of 4.8. CiteScore is produced from Scopus data; the Journal Impact Factor is associated with Clarivate's Journal Citation Reports.

Metrics are useful context, but they should not be the sole journal-selection criterion. A paper that strongly matches the journal's scope, audience and recent literature is usually a more defensible submission choice than a paper selected only because of a metric.

This guide does not state a current SJR, SNIP or Scopus quartile because a current official value was not independently captured from the live Scopus source profile during preparation. Researchers who need Q1/Q2/Q3/Q4 evidence should verify the latest category-specific quartile directly in Scopus or the institutional database required by their university.

What Types of Articles Does the Journal Publish?

Current ScienceDirect issue pages visibly classify regular papers as Research articles, and the journal publishes themed volumes and special issues. The Guide for Authors does not present a short, fixed public list of every acceptable article type in the retrieved material, so authors should not assume that all generic article categories are automatically accepted.

If you are preparing a review, conceptual article, methods-focused contribution, case-based study or special-issue paper, check the current submission system and the relevant call for papers before final formatting. A special issue may have a narrower theme, deadline or editorial emphasis even though the journal's core peer-review standards continue to apply.

Who Should Consider Submitting?

RTBM may be appropriate for transportation researchers, business and management scholars, logistics researchers, economists, policy researchers and interdisciplinary teams whose work addresses a transport-management problem. It can also be relevant to PhD scholars and postgraduate researchers when the paper has mature methods, a clear literature contribution and implications beyond a local descriptive case.

International relevance is part of the journal's stated scope. A single-city or single-country study can still be publishable, but authors can strengthen fit by explaining what the case teaches other contexts, theories, managers, operators or policymakers. Merely stating that the topic has not been studied in one location is usually a weaker contribution than showing why the context tests, extends or challenges existing knowledge.

Manuscript and Formatting Requirements

The official Guide for Authors asks for editable source files for the entire submission. Word files should be saved as .doc or .docx and use a single-column layout; LaTeX submissions may use double-column formatting. A PDF alone is not accepted as the editable source file.

Because RTBM uses double-anonymized review, identifying information should not appear in the anonymized manuscript. The title page should carry article title, authors, affiliations, acknowledgements, declaration of interest and corresponding-author contact details.

How to Submit a Manuscript

1. Confirm scope fit. Compare the paper with the journal's aims and several recent RTBM articles.
2. Prepare separate review files. Create the title page and anonymized manuscript as required for double-anonymized review.
3. Complete required front matter. Check abstract, keywords, author details, declarations, funding, CRediT roles and data statement as applicable.
4. Check figures, tables and references. Ensure every item cited in text is present and permissions are secured for third-party copyrighted material.
5. Use the official online system. The Elsevier submission workflow collects manuscript metadata, converts files for peer review and sends editorial correspondence by email.
6. Respond transparently to revisions. If revision is invited, address reviewer points systematically and explain changes rather than assuming a revision request means eventual acceptance.

Open the official RTBM Guide for Authors before submission.

Peer-Review Process and Editorial Timelines

RTBM follows double-anonymized peer review, meaning the authors' identities are concealed from reviewers and reviewers' identities are concealed from authors. The Guide for Authors states that the journal requires author details to be separated from the anonymized manuscript.

ScienceDirect's live journal snippets currently report approximately 77 days from submission to first decision and 213 days from submission to decision after review. These are journal-level indicators, not promises for an individual manuscript. Review time can vary by topic, editor availability, reviewer recruitment, revision cycles and special-issue workflow.

The journal does not publicly state an acceptance rate in the official materials reviewed for this guide. An acceptance rate should not be estimated from third-party websites.

Open Access, APC and Publication Fees

RTBM supports open access but also offers subscription publication. The current ScienceDirect page lists an open-access Article Publishing Charge of USD 2,670 excluding taxes and notes that the amount may be reduced during submission where applicable.

For the subscription route, the journal page states that no publication fee is charged to authors and the published article is available to subscribers. This means authors should distinguish “submission/publication under the subscription route” from “optional open-access APC.” Funding agreements, institutional open-access arrangements and applicable reductions can affect the amount ultimately payable.

Authors should reconfirm the APC immediately before choosing an open-access licence because fees and agreements can change.

Publication Ethics, Authorship and AI Policies

The Elsevier author guide requires original submission: the work should not be under consideration elsewhere and publication must be approved by all authors and relevant responsible authorities. Elsevier may use screening tools to check compliance with publishing policies.

Authorship should reflect substantial contribution to the study, drafting or critical revision, final approval and accountability. The guide warns that authorship changes after submission are generally restricted and require formal justification and agreement.

For generative AI, the guide allows AI tools to support manuscript preparation only with human oversight and responsibility. Authors must verify AI output, protect privacy and intellectual property, and disclose qualifying AI-tool use in a dedicated statement. AI tools must not be listed as authors. Basic grammar, spelling and reference-checking tools do not require that declaration under the current guidance.

As a practical publication-readiness step, authors should also check data permissions, research ethics approvals where relevant, conflicts of interest, funding disclosures, image permissions and citation accuracy before submission.

How to Decide Whether RTBM Fits Your Manuscript

A strong fit does not guarantee acceptance. Editorial decisions also depend on novelty, methodological quality, clarity, ethical compliance, reviewer assessment and the journal's current priorities.

How to Prepare a Stronger, Journal-Aligned Manuscript

1. Write the contribution before polishing the prose. State what the study changes in transport-management knowledge, not only what data were collected.
2. Use recent RTBM literature intelligently. Do not add citations for cosmetic fit; use relevant articles to show how the paper enters an existing scholarly conversation.
3. Make managerial implications evidence-based. Link recommendations directly to results and acknowledge context limits.
4. Strengthen international relevance. Explain which mechanisms may generalise and which depend on local institutions, regulation or infrastructure.
5. Align title, abstract and keywords. The abstract should communicate purpose, method, principal results and conclusions within 250 words.
6. Protect anonymization. Remove names, affiliations and identifying self-references from the review manuscript while preserving necessary methodological transparency.
7. Audit references and data claims. Verify every DOI, table, figure and source; make data availability clear.
8. Review journal instructions on the submission day. Templates, fees, policies and editorial teams can change.

Common Reasons a Manuscript May Be Unsuitable

• The paper is about transport but lacks a business, management, governance or policy contribution.
• The research question is descriptive and does not explain why the findings matter theoretically or managerially.
• The manuscript overclaims international relevance from a narrowly local dataset.
• Methods are not sufficiently rigorous or are poorly justified.
• The literature review does not engage current transport-management research.
• The anonymous manuscript contains author-identifying information.
• References, figures, permissions, declarations or data statements are incomplete.
• The paper is submitted to a special issue without clearly addressing its stated theme.

How Contentxprtz Can Ethically Support Publication Readiness

Contentxprtz can support researchers with manuscript editing, academic proofreading, journal formatting, reference and citation consistency, journal-selection guidance, cover-letter editing, reviewer-response editing and publication-readiness review. The goal is to improve clarity, structure, compliance and communication while preserving the author's original scholarship.

Ethical support should not fabricate data or references, disguise authorship, misrepresent AI-generated content, manipulate similarity reports, or promise an editorial outcome. Journal acceptance is controlled by the journal's editors and peer reviewers. Contentxprtz does not and cannot guarantee acceptance or publication.

RTBM Pre-Submission Checklist

• My research question is clearly within transport business, management or policy.
• I have compared the manuscript with recent RTBM articles.
• My title is concise and informative.
• My abstract is no more than 250 words.
• I have 1–7 English keywords.
• I prepared a separate title page and anonymized manuscript.
• All references cited in text appear in the reference list and vice versa.
• Figures and tables meet Elsevier technical requirements.
• Authorship, CRediT, funding, conflicts and data statements are accurate.
• Any reportable generative-AI use is disclosed as required.
• I have checked the current APC only if choosing open access.
• I understand that strong preparation improves readiness but cannot guarantee acceptance.

Official Sources and Verification Links

• Research in Transportation Business & Management — ScienceDirect
• Official Guide for Authors
• Editorial Board
• Elsevier Shop journal profile
• Scopus Source ID 20500195043
• Elsevier explanation of CiteScore