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 to present, and top 0.7% across all fields, ScholarGPS 2025), is a leading open-access journal advancing research and practice in marketing, international business, hospitality, sustainability, and wellness/well-being. We aim to spark meaningful dialogue between academics and practitioners, driving innovation and insight across these fields through interdisciplinary perspectives.

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

• Empirical Research (e1a) – 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 that explore boundary conditions and external validity (generalizability across people, places, stimuli, or time). Theory is encouraged but not required.

• Research Note (e1b) – Short, academic-oriented studies reporting research methods, empirical results, questionnaires, or scales, with or without brief literature reviews. Examples include validated scales (e.g., for consumer behavior in specific markets) or concise empirical findings for researchers.  

• Conceptual/Theoretical (e2) – Non-empirical frameworks or theoretical advancements with practical or policy implications.

• Literature Reviews (e3) – Narrative, systematic, or meta-analytic reviews that synthesize existing research, identify gaps, and propose future directions, without new data analysis.

• Case Studies (e4) – In-depth analyses of specific real-world cases (e.g., a single firm or event) with actionable takeaways.

• Views/Perspectives (e5) – Non-empirical, thought-provoking commentaries on current or emerging issues, including policy debates or methodological discussions.

• Practical Advice (e6) – Evidence-based, prescriptive guides offering strategies, tools, or best practices for professionals in marketing, international business, sustainability, hospitality, or wellness/well-being, bridging academia and practice.

GEMS supports research aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). We particularly welcome submissions that contribute to goals relevant to marketing, international business, hospitality, sustainability, and wellness/well-being, such as SDG3 (Good Health and Well-being), SDG5 (Gender Equality), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and others as appropriate to the research topic. Authors are encouraged to include relevant UN SDGs in keywords and/or abstract to enhance discoverability in databases such as Scopus and to highlight the societal impact of their work. Refer to the full list of the 17 UN SDGs: https://sdgs.un.org/goals. 

GEMS invites interdisciplinary and domain-specific work on challenges, trends, and opportunities in marketing, international business, hospitality, sustainability, wellness/well-being, and beyond. For example:

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/well-being 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.

• Wellness/well-being in global workforce management.

• 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).

• Wellness tourism and holistic guest experiences.

• Dealing with problem and addictive gambling.

Sustainability:

• Sustainable and ethical marketing practices.

• Sustainable and green practices in hospitality and tourism operations.

• Sustainable wellness/well-being initiatives in consumer and business contexts.

Wellness and Well-Being: GEMS welcomes submissions on wellness and well-being, including consumer wellness, health-oriented branding, holistic tourism, and psychological well-being in marketing, hospitality, sustainability, or international business. Sample topics include:

• Empirical Research (e1a): Impact of wellness tourism on consumer well-being; AI-driven wellness ads and mental health outcomes; effects of meditation on people's health, happiness, and performance.

• Research Note (e1b): Validated scale for consumer wellness/well-being in health marketing; employee well-being in hospitality programs.

• Conceptual/Theoretical (e2): Framework for wellness/well-being in global brand positioning.

• Literature Reviews (e3): Review of wellness tourism’s impact on destination marketing.

• Case Studies (e4): Case study of a wellness brand’s sustainable practices.

• Views/Perspectives (e5): Commentary on ethical challenges in wellness/well-being marketing.

• Practical Advice (e6): Strategies for marketing wellness tourism or employee well-being in hotels.

GEMS encourages constructive dialogue but does not accept book reviews, standalone critiques, or replies to critiques of published articles. Authors wishing to address weaknesses in prior GEMS publications (e.g., methodological issues, theoretical gaps) are invited to submit original work that improves upon the original study under the relevant category (e.g., Empirical Research, e1a, for better experiments; Research Note, e1b, for improved scales or results). Submissions must offer clear advancements (e.g., enhanced methods, new data, or refined frameworks) and reference the original article. This policy ensures contributions advance knowledge rather than merely review books or critique past studies.

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 may not serve as reviewers for 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 until June 30, 2026

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 on or before June 30, 2026, regardless of publication date! Visit our website in June 2026 for further 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 0.7% of scholars worldwide, with top 0.32% for citation impact and top 0.91% for quality (ScholarGPS, 2025), alongside Stanford University and Elsevier’s top 2% scientist designation annually since 2019 to present. 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 and Global Expert Review Panel Members: Our editorial board and global expert review panel members hold PhDs from globally recognized universities and are affiliated with universities all over the world (e.g., Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Cyprus, Egypt, Fiji, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Italy, Jordan, Macao, Mainland China, Malaysia, New Zealand, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, Türkiye, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.) and have very good publication records. Please click here for more details: 

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

• https://sites.google.com/view/gems-team/global-expert-review-panel

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 June 30, 2026. 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 40, QS 2026), has been among the top 2% of scientists worldwide annually since 2019 to present (Stanford University and Elsevier citation analysis), and has worked at esteemed universities such as the National University of Singapore (ranked 8, QS 2026) and the University of Macau (ranked 145, THE 2026; working from 2008 to present). Finally, our editorial board members and global expert review panel 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; https://sites.google.com/view/gems-team/global-expert-review-panel 

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

Submission Guidelines

1. Submission Preparation: 

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

   2. Ensure that all authors listed on the submission 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. Provide the manuscript title, as well as name, affiliation, and email of all authors on the cover page.

   4. 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. Check the manuscript for plagiarism using detection tools (e.g., Turnitin) to ensure originality.

   6. Follow the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition strictly for references. Journal titles and volume numbers are italicized, but commas after journal names are not italicized. Verify all DOIs. 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. Non-compliant references will be returned for revision.

   7. Use American English spelling throughout the manuscript, except for original titles and journal names in the references that retain British spelling.

   8. Ensure that 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). 

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

   10. Use standard mathematical notation for equations 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.

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

   12. Include an abstract of no more than 300 words along with 5–15 keywords.

   13. Follow the references section (including works cited in appendices) with appendices (Appendix A, B, …), where applicable.

   14. If relevant, include United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) in keywords and/or abstract, where applicable (e.g., SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production) to enhance discoverability in databases such as Scopus and to highlight the societal impact of their work. Refer to the full list of the 17 UN SDGs: https://sdgs.un.org/goals.

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/Warranty Statements on the Cover Page of the Manuscript: When submitting a manuscript to GEMS, authors must include all the following statements on the cover page, which includes the manuscript title and all authors' names and affiliations. These represent standard professional conduct. Failure to do so will prevent the manuscript from being processed.

I/We, the authors of this submitted manuscript, hereby declare/warrant the following:

1. Breach, Authors' Accountability, and Legal Consequences: To protect research integrity, I/We acknowledge that GEMS relies on all the following declarations/warranties in good faith, and that any subsequent matters arising from non-compliance shall remain the sole accountability of the authors, with GEMS bearing no liability therefor. Any breach of the following declarations/warranties—including false or misleading statements—will result in immediate retraction, notification to the authors' institutions and funding bodies, and, where applicable, legal action by Global Empirical Marketing Studies (GEMS) at the authors' expense.

2. Originality and Publication Exclusivity: The manuscript is original, has not been previously published or copyrighted in whole, in part, or in any substantially similar form, and is not under consideration elsewhere. The manuscript and its published version in GEMS, if applicable, will not be submitted in whole, in part, or in any substantially similar form to any other publications. Reposting of the published article in repositories, social media platforms, or personal websites is permitted with full citation details (APA or Chicago format provided by GEMS) acknowledging GEMS as the original publisher.

3. Copyright: I/We 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 GEMS. This agreement can be revoked only when the manuscript is rejected for publication by GEMS.

4. Compliance with Research Ethics and Intellectual Property Standards: Where applicable, all research procedures, instruments, and questionnaires avoid harm to participants and adhere to ethical standards. I/We declare/warrant that the research complies fully with applicable ethical guidelines and intellectual property laws.

5. Authorship: All listed authors have made significant contributions, approved the final manuscript, and declared no conflicts of interest (financial, personal, or professional) that could influence the research.

6. Citation Integrity: All cited sources have been validated, are accurately represented, and directly support the claims made in the text.

7. Funding (select one and provide details where applicable):

☐ This research received no external funding.

☐ This research was funded by:  

Grant Number: ______________________________________________  

Funder: _____________________________________________________  

Principal Investigator Name: _______________________________

8. Data Integrity and Availability (select one and provide details where applicable):

☐ There is no data to share (for articles presenting measurement scales only; theoretical/conceptual articles; qualitative review articles; case studies; views/perspectives articles; practical advice articles).

☐ For empirical studies, research notes that involve empirical data, and meta-analyses: all primary data are authentic, have not been fabricated, falsified, or manipulated in any way (including via artificial intelligence tools), and, where applicable, are derived from human participants. All data and statistics are verified to be free from all kinds of errors. Raw data, code, and materials are available to readers upon reasonable request to the corresponding author. 

Note: If proprietary/confidential data is involved, provide a brief explanation of why sharing is limited, per the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines on exemptions for legal/ethical reasons: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Declaration/Warranty Statements on the Published Article: GEMS selects the relevant statements from the cover-page declarations/warranties (as shown above) to appear before the References on the published article.

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

6. 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!