Aims and Scope of the Journal

Global Empirical Marketing Studies (GEMS), led by Editor-in-Chief Associate Professor Dr. Chanthika Pornpitakpan (PhD, University of British Columbia, Canada; top 2% scientist globally per Elsevier/Stanford since 2019, and top 0.77% across all fields, ScholarGPS 2024), is a leading open-access journal advancing research and practice in marketing, international business, hospitality, and sustainability. We aim to spark meaningful dialogue between academics and practitioners, driving innovation and insight in these fields.

GEMS publishes high-quality, peer-reviewed articles on consumer behavior, marketing strategies, international business, and hospitality/tourism management. We welcome submissions from academics and practitioners in these relatively mutually exclusive categories, with authors encouraged to select the category that best reflects their article’s primary contribution:

• Empirical Research (ER) – Original studies analyzing primary or secondary data (e.g., surveys, big data, marketing analytics) using quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods. We value descriptive, predictive, and replication studies exploring boundary conditions and external validity (generalizability across people, places, stimuli, or time). Theory is a bonus, not a must.

• Conceptual/Theoretical (CT) – Non-empirical frameworks or theoretical advancements with practical or policy implications.

• Literature Reviews (LR) – Narrative, systematic, or meta-analytic reviews that synthesize existing research, identify gaps, and propose future directions, without new data analysis.

• Case Studies (CS) – In-depth analyses of specific real-world cases (e.g., a single firm or event) with actionable takeaways.

• Views/Perspectives (VP) – Non-empirical, thought-provoking commentaries on current or emerging issues, including policy debates or methodological discussions.

• Practical Advice (PA) – Evidence-based, prescriptive guides offering strategies, tools, or best practices for professionals in marketing, international business, or hospitality, bridging academia and practice.

GEMS invites interdisciplinary and domain-specific work on challenges, trends, and opportunities in marketing, international business, hospitality, sustainability, and beyond.

Marketing:

• Consumer behavior and psychology.

• Consumer affairs, welfare, wellness, and well-being.

• Impacts of consumer personality and values.

• Cross-cultural marketing and consumer behavior.

• Marketing strategies.

• Digital and social media marketing strategies.

• Brand management and positioning.

• Marketing analytics and big data.

• Sustainable and ethical marketing practices.

• Impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) on businesses and consumers.

• The impact of globalization on marketing practices.

• Marketing strategies and practices in specific fields/industries, such as industrial marketing (business-to-business marketing), sports marketing, healthcare marketing, entertainment marketing, education marketing, food marketing, services marketing, political marketing, insurance marketing, health and wellness marketing, social marketing, cause marketing (commercial co-ventures), social media marketing, public sector marketing, faith-based marketing, fashion marketing, beauty marketing, luxury marketing, bank marketing, real estate marketing, personal marketing, and so on.

International Business:

• Global strategy formulation and implementation.

• International business strategies and market entry modes.

• Cross-cultural management, negotiation, and leadership.

• International trade and economic policy impacts.

• Multinational enterprise management.

• Emerging markets dynamics.

• Innovation and entrepreneurship in international contexts.

• Wars, geopolitical risks, and their impact on international business.

Hospitality and Tourism:

• Service quality and customer experience.

• Technology adoption in hospitality and tourism sectors.

• Tourism marketing and destination management.

• Human resource management in hospitality and tourism sectors.

• Sustainable and green practices in hospitality and tourism operations.

• Revenue management and pricing strategies.

• Hospitality and tourism management under uncertainty (e.g., pandemics, crises).

• Dealing with problem and addictive gambling.

Articles in GEMS are open access under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). All content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, link to the full texts of the articles, or use the articles for any other lawful purposes so long as attribution is given to the articles' author(s)/creator(s) and GEMS along with the full bibliographical details of the articles, without asking prior permission from the journal or the author(s)/creator(s).

Publication Frequency, Peer Review Process, and Publication Ethics

Publication Frequency: GEMS adopts a continuous publication model, releasing papers online immediately after rigorous peer review and thorough copy-editing to the standard of Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition. All papers published within a calendar year are grouped into that year’s volume, each assigned a unique DOI and archived in Zenodo for permanent open access.

Peer Review Process: Manuscripts passing the desk review for scope, quality, and originality undergo two peer reviews: (1) a single-anonymized in-depth review by a member of the editorial team (Editor-in-Chief or Editorial Board member) and (2) a double-anonymized review by an independent expert from the Global Expert Review Panel, an ad hoc reviewer, or another Editorial Board member. Papers by Editorial or Advisory Board members receive two independent, double-anonymized reviews from Global Expert Review Panel or ad hoc reviewers. Authors cannot review their own submissions.

Publication Ethics: GEMS follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines, investigating misconduct (e.g., plagiarism, data fabrication) with rejection or retraction. Errors are corrected by uploading revised papers to Zenodo.

Article Processing Charge (APC) Waived for 2025 Submissions

GEMS maintains an article processing charge (APC) of US$999 to support high-quality peer review, rigorous editorial support (including compliance to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition and citation accuracy), professional production, indexing, website maintenance, and promotional efforts. As a community service, Editor-in-Chief Dr. Chanthika Pornpitakpan fully funds GEMS, waiving the APC for all manuscripts submitted in 2025, regardless of publication date. Additionally, GEMS donates 500 Thai Baht per published article to Thai hospitals, advancing healthcare in Thailand. Submit by December 31, 2025, to benefit from this waiver! Visit our website in January 2026 for 2026 APC updates.

Overview of GEMS Advisory and Editorial Boards

1. GEMS Advisory Board: Our advisory board memberes are globally acclaimed scholars and nationally renowned business administrators. Please click here for more details: https://sites.google.com/view/gems-team/advisory-board

2. Editor-in-Chief and Brief Biography:

Dr. Pornpitakpan, Associate Professor in Management at the University of Macau’s Faculty of Business Administration, is a globally renowned scholar in marketing and consumer behavior. Her global impact is evidenced by ranking in the top 0.77% of scholars worldwide, with top 0.36% for citation impact and top 1.74% for productivity (ScholarGPS, 2024), alongside Stanford University and Elsevier’s top 2% scientist designation annually since 2019. Building on her distinguished standing, she earned a PhD in International Business/Marketing from the University of British Columbia, an MBA (Distinction) from Sasin School of Management of Chulalongkorn University, and a BA (First Class Honors) from Chulalongkorn University, all globally ranked institutions. This foundation underpins her research, published in prestigious journals like Journal of International Business Studies and Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology and adopted in teaching materials globally. Her global recognition is affirmed in biographical compendiums, including the 25th Silver Anniversary Edition of Who’s Who in the World and the Marquis Who’s Who Official Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award (2018), underscoring her extraordinary impact.

Her scholarly influence extends to teaching at top universities like National University of Singapore and Monash University Malaysia, and leading executive training for organizations such as Bank of Thailand. Beyond academia, she honed marketing expertise at Colgate-Palmolive. Additionally, she leads as Editor-in-Chief of Global Empirical Marketing Studies, organizes meditation sessions for University of Macau staff and students, is fluent in Thai and English, and pursues Mandarin studies, promoting cross-cultural understanding. Dr. Pornpitakpan demonstrates exceptional leadership through academic excellence, industry expertise, and community engagement. She advances scholarship, mentors future leaders, and promotes cross-cultural understanding, contributing to global knowledge and development.

• https://sites.google.com/view/gems-team/editorial-board

• https://fba.um.edu.mo/faculty/chanthikap 

• https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=bJu39rcAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra

3. Editorial Board Members: Our editorial board members hold PhDs from globally recognized universities and are affiliated with universities all over the world (e.g., Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, China including Hong Kong and Macau special administrative regions, Jordan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Oman, the Netherlands, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the UK, and the USA) and have very good publication records. Please click here for more details: https://sites.google.com/view/gems-team/editorial-board

Why Publish Your Work in GEMS?

1. Articles published in GEMS can be seen and potentially cited by a wide audience because of the following:

   • GEMS is an open access journal, meaning that readers can access and download articles at no cost.

   • We actively promote all articles on major research and social media platforms, such as ResearchGate.net, Academia.edu, LinkedIn, and X (formerly Twitter).

   • Every article in GEMS is assigned a unique, valid DOI (digital object identifier) and permanently stored at Zenodo, an extremely reliable open repository under OpenAIRE, ensuring your research is available to the public for decades to come.

   • Articles published in GEMS are indexed by Zenodo, Google Scholar, and Google Search, making them easily discoverable and accessible.

2. No fees of any kind (i.e., submission fees, article processing fees, publication fees, membership fees, journal subscription fees, and so on) are charged for manuscripts submitted by Dec 31, 2025. After that, the fee policy may be revised to cover the costs.

3. Our reviewing process is helpful with reasonable expectations. You will not be asked to revise your manuscript multiple rounds for years and yet end up with the manuscript being rejected.

4. You can submit your manuscripts in any style and format. We will ask you to format it according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition, only when your manuscript is accepted for publication. This greatly minimizes your time and frustration.

5. The submission method is fast and simple—just email both the MSWord and PDF files of the manuscript to GEMS2025@yahoo.com.

6. GEMS advisory and editorial boards are truly expert and trustworthy. First, advisory board members for GEMS are globally acclaimed scholars and nationally renowned business administrators (https://sites.google.com/view/gems-team/advisory-board). Second, the Editor-in-Chief, Associate Professor Dr. Chanthika PORNPITAKPAN, has undeniably impressive accomplishments. She holds a PhD in international business/marketing from the University of Columbia (ranked 41st of the world by Times Higher Education 2025), has been among the top 2% of scientists worldwide annually since 2019 (Stanford University and Elsevier citation analysis), and has worked at esteemed universities such as the National University of Singapore (ranked 17th) and the University of Macau (ranked 180th; working from 2008 to present). Finally, our editorial board members hold PhDs from globally recognized universities all over the world and have very good publication records. For more details, see https://sites.google.com/view/gems-team/editorial-board.

7. GEMS was founded by dedicated scholars with a passion for sharing knowledge, not making profits.

Submission Guidelines

1. Submission Preparation: 

   1. Authors must obtain permission to publish any material included with the submission, such as photos, documents, datasets, and so on. 

   2. All authors listed on the submission must have made significant contributions to the research, agreed to be identified as authors, and approved the final manuscript. Authorship changes post-submission are managed by the first author, who ensures agreement among contributors.

   3. Authors should provide the manuscript title, as well as name, affiliation, and e-mail of all authors on the cover page.

   4. Authors must ensure that the research procedure used does not harm participants in the study and that the research design and argument are properly structured and articulated. 

   5. Manuscripts are screened for plagiarism using detection tools (e.g., Turnitin) to ensure originality.

   6. All references and DOI URLs have been checked for accuracy and completeness. Any citation in the text must be listed with complete bibliographical details in the references section, and any article listed in the references section must be cited in the text.

   7. All tables, figures, and appendixes are self-explanatory, numbered sequentially in order of their mention in the text, and formatted per the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition (e.g., bold Table 1 or Figure 1, italicized titles). 

   8. Use tables for tabular data; use figures for other visuals (e.g., charts, diagrams).

   9. Equations must use standard mathematical notation with italicized single-letter variables (e.g., m, n, x_ij) and spaces after commas in seriations (e.g., i = 1, 2, …, n). Default mathematical fonts (e.g., Cambria Math) are accepted due to technical constraints, but surrounding text, including figure/table titles and notes, must use Noto Serif 10 pt. Ordinal indicators (e.g., i^th, j^th) use superscripted “th” without hyphens, for example, ith, jth .

   10. Use % (not “percent”) for percentages in text, tables, and figures to ensure conciseness and consistency, per GEMS’ house style.

   11. Authors should include an abstract of no more than 300 words along with 5–10 keywords.

2. Format, Style, and Length: Manuscripts can be prepared in any format during the review stage but must be formatted according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition, when they are accepted for publication. Specifically, please refer to this publication in GEMS for formatting when accepted: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16883723. Other examples are available at https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/sample-papers. The maximum length is 12,000 words, including everything (title page, abstract, references, tables, figures, and appendixes). Literature review manuscripts can be longer but should not exceed 20,000 words, including everything.

3. Declaration Statements on the Cover Page of the Manuscript: When submitting a manuscript to GEMS, authors are required to include all the following statements on the cover page; failure to do so will prevent the manuscript from being processed.

   1. Originality: I/We, the author(s) of this submitted manuscript, hereby attest that the manuscript is original work. It is not simultaneously under review by any other journals or publications and has not been previously published or copyrighted.

   2. Copyright and Publication Exclusivity: I/We, the author(s) of this submitted manuscript, hereby assign worldwide copyright of the Work in all forms and media (whether now known, or hereafter developed), in all languages for the full term of copyright and all extensions and renewals thereof, to Global Empirical Marketing Studies (GEMS). This agreement can be revoked only when the manuscript is rejected for publication by GEMS. I/We agree not to submit the published Work, or any substantially similar version, to other journals or publications. Reposting of the published article in repositories or personal websites is permitted with full citation details (APA or Chicago format provided by GEMS on the article) acknowledging GEMS as the original publisher.

   3. Ethics: I/We, the author(s) of this submitted manuscript, confirm that all listed authors made significant contributions and approved the final manuscript. I/We declare no conflicts of interest (financial, personal, or professional) that could influence the research. All research procedures and questionnaires were designed to avoid harm to respondents, adhering to ethical standards.

4. Submission Method: To submit manuscripts, please email both the MSWord and PDF files of the manuscript to GEMS2025@yahoo.com.

5. Timeline: Manuscripts can be submitted anytime. Authors will be informed of the initial decision within four weeks from the submission date. Organized by volume and issue number,  manuscripts are published as soon as they are accepted for publication.

Contact Us

For further information, please contact Associate Professor Dr. Chanthika PORNPITAKPAN, Editor-in-Chief, at GEMS2025@yahoo.com. We look forward to receiving your contributions and advancing the knowledge in these vital fields together. Thank you for considering us for your hard work and valuable research!