Telecommunications Policy: Scopus, Scope & Submission Guide

Quick Answer: What Is Telecommunications Policy?

Telecommunications Policy, subtitled The International Journal of Digital Economy, Data Sciences and New Media, is a long-established Elsevier journal that examines digitalization and its policy, economic, managerial and societal consequences. The journal is multidisciplinary and accepts conceptual, theoretical and empirical work using quantitative or qualitative approaches.

The journal is currently listed by Elsevier as indexed in Scopus, SSCI and SCIE. It is therefore visible across major bibliographic and citation systems, but authors should still verify the live database record if their university requires a particular quartile, category or index status on the date of submission.

Researchers in telecommunications, digital economy, information systems, technology policy, platform governance, AI policy, innovation, development and related fields may consider it when their work has a strong policy or governance dimension. A purely technical engineering paper with no meaningful policy, economic, management or societal contribution may be a weaker match.

Key Takeaways

• Publisher: Elsevier; Elsevier also identifies Pergamon as the imprint in its journal comparison information.
• ISSNs: print 0308-5961; online 1879-3258.
• Scopus: indexed; supplied Scopus Source ID 20870.
• Current publisher-displayed metrics: CiteScore 11.9 and Impact Factor 6.4; verify the reporting year before formal use.
• Publishing model: hybrid; open access is optional, with a subscription route also available.
• Open-access APC currently displayed: USD 3,680 excluding taxes, subject to possible reductions and change.
• Fit: strongest for rigorous research that connects digital technology with policy, regulation, governance, markets, management or societal outcomes.
• No official acceptance rate: none was found in the authoritative information reviewed, so it should not be estimated.

Journal Information at a Glance

What This Page Covers

• Aims, scope and subject fit
• Scopus and other indexing
• Current publisher-displayed metrics and what remains to verify
• Article types and recent research themes
• Open-access options and publication fees
• Submission, peer review and publication timeline
• Ethics and generative-AI policies
• Journal-fit examples, pre-submission checks and reviewer-response guidance

Methodology and Sources

This profile prioritizes the official Telecommunications Policy page, Elsevier’s journal insights and editorial-board information, the supplied Scopus source identifier, Elsevier publishing-ethics and AI policies, and recent ScienceDirect content. Metrics, fees, indexing, editorial roles and policies can change; authors should reconfirm the live pages immediately before submission.

Telecommunications Policy Aims and Scope

The journal’s stated focus is the impact of digitalization on the economy and society. That framing is deliberately broader than traditional telecom regulation. It allows research on telecommunications infrastructure and markets to sit alongside work on platform governance, AI, data science, digital services, innovation, entrepreneurship and technology use.

Research themes that align well

• telecommunications policy, competition and regulatory design
• broadband access, affordability, inclusion and digital divides
• 5G, 6G, spectrum, infrastructure and resilience with policy implications
• AI policy, data governance, privacy and digital platforms
• digital economy, labor, productivity, sustainability and development
• new media, content moderation and platform governance
• technology adoption, management, entrepreneurship and innovation
• comparative national, regional or international digital-policy analysis

Recent 2026 content reinforces this broader digital-policy orientation. ScienceDirect has published work on the evolution of the journal’s agenda from telecommunications regulation toward privacy, digitalization, AI, 5G, platforms, data governance and inclusion. That recent thematic evidence can help authors judge whether their research question is close to the journal’s present conversation rather than only its historical title.

What may be a weaker fit?

As a practical interpretation of the scope, a manuscript may be weaker if it is primarily an engineering optimization study, algorithm benchmark or device-level technical paper with little connection to policy, governance, economics, management, innovation or societal outcomes. Strong technical work may still fit if the manuscript explains why the results matter for policy choices, institutions, market design, access, adoption, governance or public value.

Indexing, Visibility and Journal Metrics

Elsevier currently lists Telecommunications Policy in Scopus, SSCI and SCIE. These are meaningful visibility indicators, but indexing should be treated as a factual property to verify, not as a guarantee of manuscript quality or acceptance. If a degree program or employer requires a specific database, the author should capture the live record close to the submission date.

Elsevier’s journal page currently displays a CiteScore of 11.9 and an Impact Factor of 6.4. The accessible page did not make the reporting year sufficiently explicit in the rendered search view used for this review, so this article does not attach an unsupported year to those values. For formal reporting, verify the latest Scopus and Clarivate records.

A SCImago result reviewed for this article listed Telecommunications Policy with SJR 1.728 and Q1, but again the result did not expose a sufficiently clear reporting year for a durable “current quartile” claim. Quartiles are category- and year-dependent. Authors should therefore verify the live category, percentile and reporting year rather than quoting “Q1” without context.

Article Types and Recent Research Published

Recent ScienceDirect issues visibly classify the journal’s main scholarly contributions as Research articles. The journal also publishes editorials and thematic special-issue collections. Examples of recent topics include digital divides and e-government use, AI and global value chains, broadband affordability, content moderation, labor mobility in the digital economy, mobile money and women’s economic empowerment, telecom resilience, generative-AI policy and digital sustainability.

This pattern suggests that authors should present more than a technology description. Successful scope alignment is likely to require a clearly framed research problem, a defensible method or conceptual approach, and explicit implications for policy, governance, markets, organizations or society. The exact selectable article types in Editorial Manager should be checked against the live Guide for Authors before submission.

Open Access, Publication Fees and Frequency

Telecommunications Policy uses a hybrid publishing model. Elsevier currently offers an open-access route with an APC of USD 3,680 excluding taxes; the publisher notes that the amount may be reduced during submission where applicable. The subscription route carries no publication fee charged to authors, according to Elsevier’s journal information.

Authors should not assume that an APC buys faster review, editorial preference or acceptance. The fee relates to the publication route after editorial acceptance. Before submission, check the current APC, institutional agreements, funder requirements and available licenses on the official publisher page. Elsevier Shop lists one annual volume with 10 issues.

Submission and Peer-Review Process

The journal homepage provides a Submit your article route and links to its Guide for Authors. Official special-issue pages state that the journal uses Editorial Manager for submissions. Those pages also state that special-issue manuscripts deemed suitable for review are evaluated by at least two independent reviewers.

Because the regular Guide for Authors could not be reliably rendered in the source view used for this article, this guide does not guess the exact regular-issue anonymization model or claim a universal reviewer count beyond what the official special-issue instructions explicitly state. Authors should read the current Guide for Authors on the journal homepage before preparing submission files.

Practical submission workflow

1. Confirm scope and select the correct manuscript type.
2. Read the current Guide for Authors and prepare editable source files.
3. Check title, abstract, keywords, figures, tables, references and declarations.
4. Use the journal’s official submission link and enter complete metadata in Editorial Manager.
5. Complete technical checks and editorial screening.
6. If the manuscript is sent to peer review, respond carefully to reviewer and editor comments.
7. After acceptance, review production proofs and publication choices.

Elsevier currently displays journal-level timing indicators of 2 days to first decision, 40 days to decision after review, 140 days to acceptance, and 13 days from acceptance to online publication. These are not promises for an individual paper; complex review, reviewer availability and revision cycles can make a specific manuscript faster or slower.

Publication Ethics and Generative-AI Requirements

Authors are subject to Elsevier’s publishing-ethics standards, including responsibilities concerning originality, authorship, conflicts of interest, research integrity and appropriate handling of submitted work. Authors should also confirm any study-specific ethics approval, consent, data or funding statements relevant to their methods.

Elsevier’s generative-AI policy for journals, updated June 2026, permits responsible AI assistance in manuscript preparation with human oversight, verification and disclosure when required. Authors remain accountable for accuracy and originality; AI tools cannot be listed as authors. Basic spelling, grammar and punctuation checking does not require the same declaration, while substantive AI assistance should be disclosed in the manuscript. Reviewers and editors must protect manuscript confidentiality and should not upload submitted manuscripts to general-purpose AI tools.

How to Decide Whether Your Manuscript Fits

Practical Journal-Fit Examples

Strong scope match

A PhD researcher studies how spectrum-policy changes affect rural 5G deployment and affordability across several countries. The topic links telecommunications infrastructure, regulation and inclusion, so the author should next verify methodological rigor, novelty and recent journal coverage.

Weak scope match

An engineering team proposes a new antenna optimization algorithm but does not evaluate regulatory, economic, adoption or public-policy implications. The technical contribution may be strong, yet a specialized engineering journal could be more appropriate unless the policy dimension is substantive.

Formatting problem

An author has a well-aligned digital-platform governance study but uploads inconsistent references, unclear tables and incomplete declarations. Scope fit does not compensate for weak submission preparation; the current Guide for Authors should be applied before submission.

ESL manuscript

A researcher has sound empirical findings on mobile-money policy, but ambiguous language obscures the causal argument and policy implications. Academic editing can improve clarity without changing the author’s results or creating unsupported claims.

Major revision

An author receives reviewer requests for robustness checks and clearer policy implications. A strong response should address each comment point by point, identify changes precisely, provide evidence when disagreeing and ensure that the revised manuscript matches the response letter.

Pre-Submission Checklist for Telecommunications Policy

• Journal scope and recent article fit checked
• Scopus / institutional indexing requirement verified on the current date
• Correct manuscript type selected in the live submission system
• Current Guide for Authors downloaded and followed
• Title and abstract communicate the digital-policy contribution clearly
• Keywords are specific and discoverable
• Method, data and limitations are transparent
• Policy, governance, economic or societal implications are evidence-based
• Figures and tables are readable and correctly cited
• References are complete, accurate and consistent
• Ethics, funding and competing-interest declarations are complete where applicable
• Authorship and contribution statements are agreed by all authors
• AI-use disclosure is included if required by Elsevier policy
• Open-access / subscription choice and possible APC are understood
• Cover letter and submission metadata match the manuscript
• Language, grammar and formatting have been proofread
• All authors approve the final version and submission

After Submission: What Authors Can Expect

Authors should expect an initial technical and editorial check before external review. A manuscript can be rejected without external review if it falls outside scope, lacks sufficient contribution or has major presentation or methodological problems. If sent to reviewers, comments may lead to minor revision, major revision or rejection. A revision invitation is not an acceptance guarantee.

For reviewer responses, copy or summarize each comment, answer directly, identify where the manuscript changed and explain evidence-based disagreements respectfully. Recheck every revised section for consistency. After editorial acceptance, the article moves into production, where proofs, publication agreements and access choices are finalized.

Is Telecommunications Policy Suitable for PhD Researchers?

Yes, potentially—but not automatically. A PhD manuscript may be a good candidate when its subject, methods and contribution align closely with the journal’s digital-economy and policy scope. Scopus or Web of Science visibility may also matter for some universities, but doctoral requirements differ by institution and country. Researchers should confirm supervisor expectations, indexing rules, publication policies and whether the manuscript genuinely contributes to the journal’s audience.

Is Telecommunications Policy a Good Journal?

“Good” depends on the researcher’s goal. Objectively, the journal has a long publication history, an established international publisher, current indexing in Scopus/SSCI/SCIE, visible citation metrics, a large international editorial board and transparent open-access pricing. Those are useful indicators of scholarly infrastructure. They do not mean that every manuscript belongs there, nor do they predict acceptance. The best decision is based on scope alignment, audience, institutional requirements, cost preferences and the strength of the research contribution.

How Contentxprtz Can Support Authors Preparing for Telecommunications Policy

Preparing a manuscript for Telecommunications Policy involves more than grammar correction. Authors may need to clarify the policy contribution, align the manuscript with the journal’s scope, improve logical flow, strengthen the title and abstract, check tables and figures, standardize references and verify that submission documents are complete.

Contentxprtz can support researchers with ethical journal publication support, manuscript assessment, academic editing, proofreading, journal formatting, citation and reference checks, cover-letter editing, reviewer-response editing and publication-readiness review. The research, analysis, data, interpretations and final submission remain the author’s responsibility.

Summary: Telecommunications Policy

Telecommunications Policy is an Elsevier journal covering the intersection of digital technology with policy, regulation, governance, economics, management, innovation and society. It is currently listed by Elsevier in Scopus, SSCI and SCIE; the supplied Scopus Source ID is 20870. Elsevier currently displays a CiteScore of 11.9 and Impact Factor of 6.4, while its journal information lists a hybrid publishing model with an optional USD 3,680 open-access APC excluding taxes.

The journal may suit authors whose work is analytically rigorous and clearly policy-relevant, including research on telecommunications, platforms, AI, data governance, digital inclusion, innovation and the wider digital economy. Before submission, researchers should verify the current Guide for Authors, live indexing record, metric year, article type, APC and submission requirements.

Final Publication-Readiness Note

Telecommunications Policy is most appropriate when a manuscript speaks directly to the journal’s evolving digital-policy agenda and can demonstrate both scholarly rigor and practical relevance. Check the official journal homepage and Guide for Authors immediately before submission, particularly for current article types, formatting instructions, peer-review details, fees and metrics. Professional editing or publication-readiness support can improve presentation, but no third party can ethically promise acceptance.