Pre-prints & conference papers policies

When you submit your work to Emerald, you are asked to confirm that it is original and previously unpublished. The good news is, if you have already uploaded your research to a pre-print server, that doesn’t prevent you from submitting it to an Emerald journal as it’s not considered prior publication.  

However, this policy only applies if:

• You notify the Emerald editor when you submit that your paper is hosted on a pre-print server
• Copyright has not been assigned to the pre-print server.

Peer review anonymity

Wherever possible, we will take steps to maintain your anonymity through the double blind peer review process, for example, by asking editors to remove any reference to the pre-print before sharing the paper with reviewers.

What to do on acceptance

If your submitted paper is accepted for publication, we expect the pre-printto be amended to state: “This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication in [insert name of journal]”.

What to do after publication

Upon publication, the pre-print should also be amended to include the Digital Object Identifier (DOI), which will direct the reader to the version of record hosted on our content platform, Emerald Insight.

Over the course of your research career, we understand that you will submit working papers and conference papers that may be hosted online. This doesn’t prevent you from submitting that work to our journals and we don’t expect that paper to be removed from the conference website.

However, this policy only applies if:

• You notify the Emerald editor when you submit that your paper is hosted on a publicly available conference website
• Your submitted paper is substantially developed from the conference paper, either with further discussion or a different conclusion
• You fully reference any working papers in the submitted paper, for example, “This article is based upon conference paper X, hosted on X”
• Copyright has not been assigned to the conference organisers.

Peer review anonymity

Wherever possible, we will take steps to maintain your anonymity through the double blind peer review process, for example by asking editors to remove any reference to the conference before sharing the paper with reviewers.

Published conference papers

This policy does not apply to any work that has been included in a conference proceeding volume or publication that has been assigned an ISSN or ISBN. In these instances, please get in touch with us before you submit your paper.