Society and Business Review: Scopus, Scope & Author Guide
Quick Answer: What Is Society and Business Review?
Society and Business Review (SBR) is a peer-reviewed Emerald Publishing journal focused on the relationship between business and society. Its scope brings together conceptual and applied research on corporate social responsibility, business ethics, sustainable development, stakeholder relationships, corporate social impact, responsible management education, international business and wider societal issues that shape—and are shaped by—business activity.
The journal’s print ISSN is 1746-5680 and its online ISSN is 1746-5699. The supplied Scopus Source ID is 21101038920, and Emerald currently displays a 2025 CiteScore of 9.7, confirming current Scopus-linked citation reporting on the publisher page. Emerald also displays a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 4.6.
For researchers considering submission, the most important question is not the metric alone but whether the manuscript makes a clear contribution to business-and-society scholarship. Before submitting, authors should also reconfirm current indexing, metrics, fees and institutional eligibility because these can change between reporting years.
Key Takeaways
- Publisher: Emerald Publishing.
- Core field: business and society, with strong coverage of CSR, business ethics, sustainability, stakeholders and responsible management.
- Scopus: Source ID 21101038920; Emerald displays CiteScore 2025 of 9.7 and a 2026 CiteScore Tracker of 8.4.
- Clarivate metric: Emerald displays a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 4.6 and five-year Impact Factor of 3.4.
- Peer review: double-anonymous.
- Manuscript length: normally 7,000–9,000 words, including references and other counted elements specified by Emerald.
- Timeline data: 37 days to first decision; 47 days from acceptance to publication for Emerald’s stated reporting periods.
- Acceptance rate: 11.6% for submissions from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025; this historical rate does not predict an individual paper’s outcome.
Journal Information at a Glance
| Field | Journal information |
|---|---|
| Journal name | Society and Business Review (SBR) |
| Source type | Academic journal |
| Scopus Source ID | 21101038920 |
| ISSN / eISSN | 1746-5680 / 1746-5699 |
| Publisher | Emerald Publishing |
| Primary subject area | Business and society; Business, Management and Accounting; Social Sciences |
| Scopus status | Current Scopus-linked citation reporting is displayed by Emerald; verify the live Scopus source profile before relying on it for institutional eligibility. |
| 2025 CiteScore | 9.7 |
| 2026 CiteScore Tracker | 8.4, updated monthly; not a completed annual CiteScore. |
| 2025 Journal Impact Factor | 4.6 |
| 2025 five-year Impact Factor | 3.4 |
| SJR / SNIP / current quartile | Verify in the latest applicable Scopus or ranking database; these values are not reproduced on the Emerald page used for this guide. |
| Acceptance rate | 11.6% for submissions from 1 Apr 2024 to 31 Mar 2025. |
| Time to first decision | 37 days for the stated 2024–2025 reporting period. |
| Acceptance to publication | 47 days, based on the previous 12 months and last updated April 2025. |
| Peer review | Double-anonymous. |
| Open access | Gold OA and green OA routes available under Emerald policies. |
| Submission fee | No submission fee stated; an APC applies only if gold OA is chosen after acceptance. |
| Official journal page | Emerald Society and Business Review |
| Scopus profile | Scopus Source ID 21101038920 |
| Submission portal | ScholarOne, accessed through the official Emerald journal page. |
What This Page Covers
- Journal identity, publisher, scope and subject fit
- Scopus and Clarivate-linked metrics currently displayed by Emerald
- Article types, manuscript length, abstract and keyword requirements
- Double-anonymous peer review and publication timelines
- Open-access choices, APC handling and submission fees
- Ethics, originality and research-transparency expectations
- A practical journal-fit and submission-readiness checklist
- Ways Contentxprtz can support authors without promising acceptance
Methodology and Sources
This guide prioritises the official Emerald journal page, the journal’s author instructions and the supplied Scopus source record. Metrics, editorial teams, indexing, policies and fees can change; authors should therefore reconfirm current values immediately before submission. Where the official source used here does not expose a value such as SJR, SNIP or a current quartile, this page does not invent one.
What Is Society and Business Review?
SBR is positioned at the intersection of management research and wider societal questions. Rather than treating organizations only as economic actors, the journal examines how business decisions, institutions, managerial practices and corporate behaviour affect people, communities, public life and the planet. That makes it relevant to scholars working across management, business ethics, sustainability, CSR, international business, organizational studies, governance and responsible management education.
The journal is international in orientation. Its editorial team and published research span multiple countries and institutional settings, and recent papers include work on sustainability narratives, corporate social innovation, ethical decision-making, governance, social responsibility and organizational responses to social and environmental challenges. For authors, this means a locally grounded study can still fit if it develops a contribution that speaks clearly to broader business-and-society debates.
Journal Aims and Scope: What Research Does SBR Seek?
Emerald states that SBR aims to cultivate and share knowledge that can help businesses and organizations strengthen their commitment to society and the planet. The journal welcomes multiple theoretical and methodological approaches and publishes both conceptual and applied research. Its stated emphasis is on substantive debate and practical developments in the business-and-society field.
Topics explicitly identified by the journal include corporate social responsibility and corporate social performance; new theories and models in CSR, business ethics and sustainable development; international business and global social issues such as modern slavery; the corporatization of politics and politicization of corporations; corporate political activism; corporate social impact measurement, communication and reporting; organizational values; business schools and society; responsible management education; sustainable business strategies and ecological prosperity; the Sustainable Development Goals; and stakeholder theory and stakeholder integration.
Editorial interpretation: this scope is broad, but not generic. A manuscript about finance, HR, marketing, entrepreneurship, strategy or governance is more likely to fit when the paper makes the societal dimension central rather than incidental. Authors should be able to explain what the study changes in our understanding of the relationship between organizations and society.
Examples of research that may align well
- How CSR practices influence employees, communities, customers or social outcomes.
- Business ethics, ethical leadership, whistleblowing, values and responsible decision-making.
- Corporate sustainability, climate responsibility, environmental disclosure and SDG-related strategy.
- Stakeholder theory, stakeholder integration, legitimacy and social licence to operate.
- Corporate political activism, business–government relationships and societal power.
- Responsible management education and the societal role of business schools.
- Social innovation, social entrepreneurship and business responses to inequality or fragility.
- International business questions where societal consequences are analytically important.
Research that may be less suitable
A technically sound business paper may still be out of scope if it treats societal implications as a short concluding paragraph rather than a core research problem. Likewise, a sustainability paper that measures operational efficiency without developing a business-and-society contribution may fit another specialist journal better. This is a practical fit judgment, not an official rejection rule.
Understanding Its Indexing and Journal Metrics
The supplied source record identifies SBR with Scopus Source ID 21101038920. Emerald’s journal page currently displays a 2025 CiteScore of 9.7 and a 2026 CiteScore Tracker of 8.4. Because the tracker changes monthly, it should be treated as an in-year indicator rather than a final annual score.
Emerald also displays a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 4.6 and a 2025 five-year Impact Factor of 3.4. The same page lists the journal as abstracted/indexed in services including Emerging Sources Citation Index, ABI/INFORM Complete and Professional ProQuest Central, and it lists several journal-ranking systems.
For a PhD, promotion, funding or institutional publication requirement, do not rely on a screenshot or an older third-party ranking page. Check the current Scopus source record and the exact university rule. A journal can remain academically reputable while a particular institutional requirement changes its eligible lists or quartile thresholds.
What Does the Journal Publish?
During submission, Emerald lists paper-type options including Research Paper, Theoretical Paper, Literature Review and Practitioner Paper. The author guidance also describes 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 paper’s structure matches the selected form.
Empirical papers should make the research design, evidence and contribution explicit. Conceptual and theoretical work needs a clear intellectual advance rather than a descriptive summary. Literature reviews should do more than compile prior papers: a strong review normally needs a defensible method, synthesis logic and an original agenda or framework. Practitioner-oriented papers should still demonstrate why their evidence or insight matters to the journal’s scholarly and professional audience.
Is This Journal a Good Match for Your Research?
| Fit question | What a strong answer looks like |
|---|---|
| Is the societal dimension central? | The research question directly addresses the relationship between business/organizations and society, stakeholders, ethics, sustainability or social impact. |
| Is the contribution visible? | The manuscript explains what it adds to a defined business-and-society conversation, not only what it finds in one sample. |
| Does the theory fit the journal conversation? | The theoretical framing connects to CSR, stakeholder, ethics, sustainability, governance, responsible management or adjacent debates relevant to SBR. |
| Is the methodology defensible? | The design, sampling, measurement or qualitative procedures are transparent and appropriate for the research question. |
| Does the paper engage recent SBR literature? | Recent articles are reviewed to understand the journal’s current debates without forcing irrelevant self-citations. |
| Can the practical or societal implications be evidenced? | Implications follow from the findings rather than being generic claims about policy or practice. |
Preparing and Submitting a Manuscript
Manuscript length and file format
Emerald states that articles should be 7,000–9,000 words. The count includes the structured abstract, references, text in tables and figures, and appendices; the guidance asks authors to allow 250 words for each figure or table. Article files should be provided in Microsoft Word format. A PDF may accompany the Word file, but PDF alone is not accepted. LaTeX may be used when an accompanying PDF is supplied.
Structured abstract and keywords
All submissions require a structured abstract. The four mandatory headings are Purpose, Design/methodology/approach, Findings and Originality. Research limitations/implications, practical implications and social implications are optional where relevant. Emerald states that the abstract package should be no more than 250 words in total, including keywords and article classification. Authors may provide up to 12 short keywords.
Authorship, acknowledgements and funding
All contributing authors should be entered in ScholarOne in the intended publication order, with email and affiliation information. Emerald distinguishes authors from contributors who should instead be acknowledged. If biographies or acknowledgements are included, they should be uploaded separately, and brief biographies should not exceed 100 words per named author. External research funding should be disclosed with the funder’s role described.
References, figures and presentation
The journal provides an Emerald house style for references and asks authors to include a DOI where available. Figures should be supplied electronically at high quality in accepted formats. As a practical readiness step, authors should run a consistency check across in-text citations, reference entries, table/figure numbering, abbreviations and statistical reporting before upload.
What Happens After You Submit?
Society and Business Review uses double-anonymous peer review. The journal describes a process intended to match reviewer expertise to the manuscript and to provide constructive, evidence-based feedback. Authors should therefore ensure the review copy does not reveal identity where the journal’s anonymisation instructions require separation of author details.
Emerald currently reports 37 days to first decision for submissions between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025. It reports 47 days from acceptance to publication for the previous 12 months, last updated April 2025. These are aggregate historical figures, not a service-level guarantee. Review complexity, reviewer availability, revision rounds and production issues can change the timeline for an individual paper.
The publisher also reports an 11.6% acceptance rate for the same 2024–2025 submission period. Authors should interpret that figure as context only. Acceptance depends on scope fit, originality, methodological quality, contribution, presentation and editorial judgment; no editing or submission-support provider can guarantee an outcome.
Open Access, APCs and Publication Fees
Emerald offers two open-access paths across its journals: gold open access and green open access. For gold OA, authors choose the option after acceptance and pay the journal’s applicable article processing charge. Emerald states that the version of record is then published under a CC BY 4.0 licence. The current APC is variable by journal and should be checked on Emerald’s APC price list or in the editorial system.
Under Emerald’s current green OA policy, authors can self-archive the author accepted manuscript. The journal page states that this route is available without an APC and without an embargo period under the publisher’s current terms. Researchers should still check funder and institutional repository requirements.
Submission fee: Emerald states that authors are not charged to submit, process or review a standard non-gold-OA article. Payment is requested only when gold open access is selected after acceptance (unless a sponsored arrangement applies).
Research and Publication Ethics
Emerald states that its editors and employees follow guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and its own research and publishing ethics policies. Submitted manuscripts should be original and should not have been published previously in the same or a substantially similar form unless an applicable policy exception exists and the prior material is properly declared. The editor may use Crossref Similarity Check during originality screening.
The journal also points authors to Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) principles. Researchers are encouraged to cite and reference data, code and methods where appropriate, use persistent identifiers for research objects, and comply with data-protection, privacy and other ethical requirements. Depending on the study, authors may also need to disclose ethics approval, informed consent, conflicts of interest, funding and data availability.
Common Reasons a Manuscript May Be Unsuitable
- The societal contribution is peripheral even though the paper is technically about business or management.
- The research question is descriptive and does not connect to a meaningful theoretical or applied debate.
- The manuscript falls outside the 7,000–9,000-word requirement without a justified journal-approved exception.
- The abstract is unstructured or does not communicate purpose, method, findings and originality clearly.
- The evidence does not support broad claims about sustainability, ethics, stakeholders or social impact.
- The review copy reveals author identity in a way that conflicts with double-anonymous review preparation.
- References, figures, declarations or submission files do not follow the author instructions.
- The paper is submitted because of its metrics alone without a careful scope and recent-article fit check.
Publication-Readiness Checklist for SBR Authors
- Confirm scope fit: write one sentence explaining the business-and-society problem and one sentence explaining the paper’s contribution.
- Read recent SBR papers: compare topic, theory, methods and contribution positioning with several recent articles.
- Check length: verify the full counted manuscript remains within the journal’s 7,000–9,000-word range.
- Build the structured abstract: include all mandatory headings and stay within the journal’s stated abstract limit.
- Strengthen contribution language: distinguish findings from the theoretical, practical and societal implications that follow from them.
- Audit methods: make sampling, measures, analytical choices and limitations transparent enough for peer review.
- Protect anonymity: remove identifying details from the review manuscript where required and keep author information in the proper submission fields/files.
- Check ethics and declarations: originality, funding, conflicts, data/privacy requirements and any approvals should be handled consistently.
- Validate references and figures: confirm citation accuracy, DOI details, labels, captions and file quality.
- Recheck live journal data: verify current indexing, metrics, APC and author instructions immediately before submission.
How Contentxprtz Can Support Publication Readiness
Contentxprtz can ethically support authors who have already developed the research and remain responsible for its scholarly content. Support may include academic editing, language polishing, manuscript formatting, reference and citation consistency, structured-abstract refinement, journal-fit review, cover-letter editing, reviewer-response editing and a final publication-readiness check.
For Society and Business Review specifically, useful support can include checking whether the manuscript’s contribution is framed around a genuine business-and-society problem, whether the abstract follows Emerald’s required structure, whether the paper fits the stated word range and whether the review version is prepared appropriately for double-anonymous peer review.
Contentxprtz does not guarantee journal acceptance, peer-review success, indexing outcomes or publication. Editorial decisions remain with Emerald, the journal editors and reviewers. Explore journal publication support from Contentxprtz.
Summary: Should You Consider Society and Business Review?
Society and Business Review is a strong candidate for researchers whose work examines the two-way relationship between organizations and society. Its stated scope is especially relevant to CSR, business ethics, sustainable development, social impact, stakeholder theory, responsible management education and broader societal challenges in business.
The journal currently combines established citation visibility with selective editorial performance: Emerald displays a 2025 CiteScore of 9.7, a 2025 Impact Factor of 4.6 and an 11.6% historical acceptance rate for the stated period. Those numbers may make the title attractive, but manuscript-journal fit should remain the first filter. A well-aligned submission should clearly demonstrate why its theoretical or empirical contribution belongs in a business-and-society conversation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Society and Business Review indexed in Scopus?
Yes. The journal is represented by Scopus Source ID 21101038920, and Emerald currently displays a Scopus CiteScore for the title. Researchers should still verify the current source status in Scopus before using the journal to satisfy a university, funder, or promotion requirement.
What is the 2025 CiteScore of Society and Business Review?
Emerald displays a 2025 CiteScore of 9.7 and a 2026 CiteScore Tracker of 8.4. The tracker is updated monthly and is not the same as a completed annual CiteScore.
Does Society and Business Review have an Impact Factor?
Yes. Emerald displays a 2025 Journal Impact Factor of 4.6 and a 2025 five-year Impact Factor of 3.4. Journal metrics can change each reporting year, so authors should verify the latest values before submission.
What is the acceptance rate of Society and Business Review?
Emerald reports an acceptance rate of 11.6% for submissions between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025. This is historical performance, not a prediction of the likelihood that any individual manuscript will be accepted.
How long does peer review take at Society and Business Review?
Emerald reports 37 days to first decision for submissions in the stated 2024–2025 reporting period. It also reports 47 days from acceptance to publication for the previous 12 months as last updated in April 2025. Individual manuscripts may take more or less time.
What peer-review model does the journal use?
Society and Business Review uses double-anonymous peer review. Authors should therefore prepare the manuscript so identifying information is handled in line with the journal’s anonymisation instructions.
What topics are in scope for Society and Business Review?
The journal focuses on business-and-society research, including corporate social responsibility, business ethics, sustainable development, international business and global social issues, corporate political activity, social impact, responsible management education, SDGs, and stakeholder theory.
How long should a manuscript be?
Emerald states that articles should be 7,000–9,000 words, including the structured abstract, references, tables, figures and appendices, with 250 words allowed for each figure or table.
What abstract format does the journal require?
The journal requires a structured abstract with Purpose, Design/methodology/approach, Findings and Originality. Research limitations/implications, Practical implications and Social implications are optional where relevant. The abstract package should not exceed 250 words, including keywords and article classification.
What article types can authors select?
The journal’s submission guidance lists Research Paper, Theoretical Paper, Literature Review and Practitioner Paper as submission types, with categories including research paper, viewpoint, technical paper, conceptual paper, case study, literature review and general review.
Does Society and Business Review charge a submission fee?
Emerald states that there is no submission fee. Authors are asked to pay an article processing charge only if they choose gold open access after acceptance. The current APC should be checked on Emerald’s APC price list or in the editorial system.
Can I publish open access in Society and Business Review?
Yes. Emerald offers gold open access and green open access routes. Gold open access makes the version of record openly available under CC BY 4.0 after payment of the applicable APC; the green route allows self-archiving of the author accepted manuscript under Emerald’s current policy.
How do I submit a paper to Society and Business Review?
The corresponding author should submit directly through the journal’s ScholarOne system accessed from the Emerald journal page. Emerald explicitly states that submission should not be made by email or through a third-party proxy.
Is Society and Business Review suitable for a PhD publication requirement?
It may be suitable when the manuscript clearly fits the journal’s business-and-society scope and when the journal meets the specific indexing, quartile, ranking or institutional rules that apply to the researcher. University requirements should be checked separately because journal acceptance and institutional eligibility are different questions.
Can Contentxprtz guarantee acceptance in this journal?
No. Contentxprtz can support ethical manuscript preparation, language editing, formatting, reference consistency, journal-fit assessment and submission readiness, but editorial decisions remain entirely with the journal and its peer-review process.
Final Submission Reminder
Before uploading, use the official Emerald journal page as the source of truth for the latest author instructions, submission portal, open-access terms and metrics. Then compare your manuscript with recent SBR publications to ensure the contribution, not only the topic, fits the journal’s current conversation.
