Journal profile · Multiple
Motivation and Emotion
ISSN 0146-7239 · eISSN 1573-6644 · Springer Nature · 6 issues per year
Motivation and Emotion: CAS Zone 3 · Psychology (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.51; hybrid open access; APC about USD 3,190; median 316 days to acceptance (67 articles, last 24 months); 87 articles in 2025; indexed in SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Motivation and Emotion is published by Springer Nature and is in Zone 3 of Psychology in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Behavioral Health and Interventions, Motivation and Self-Concept in Sports and Social and Intergroup Psychology, together about 29.4% of its articles. Its main subfields are Social Psychology. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Motivation and Emotion publishes articles on human motivational and emotional phenomena that make theoretical advances by linking empirical findings to underlying processes. Submissions should focus on key problems in motivation and emotion, and, if using non-human participants, should contribute to theories concerning human behavior. Articles should be explanatory rather than merely descriptive, providing the data necessary to understand the origins of motivation and emotion, to explicate why, how, and under what conditions motivational and emotional states change, and to document that these processes are important to human functioning.A range of methodological approaches are welcome, with methodological rigor as the key criterion. Manuscripts that rely exclusively on self-report data are appropriate, but published articles tend to be those that rely on objective measures (e.g., behavioral observations, psychophysiological responses, reaction times, brain activity, and performance or achievement indicators) either singly or combination with self-report data.The journal generally does not publish scale development and validation articles. However, it is open to articles that focus on the post-validation contribution that a new measure can make. Scale development and validation work therefore may be submitted if it is used as a necessary prerequisite to follow-up studies that demonstrate the importance of the new scale in making a theoretical advance.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Multiple
Editor-in-chief James F. M.Publisher website
Editorial board by country: none in mainland China; most named United States 23, Canada 5, Australia 4, Switzerland 4, United Kingdom 3 (54 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Behavioral Health and InterventionsPsychology13.3%
- Motivation and Self-Concept in SportsPsychology8.7%
- Social and Intergroup PsychologySocial Sciences7.4%
- Emotions and Moral BehaviorPsychology6.3%
- Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentPsychology5.2%
- Psychological Well-being and Life SatisfactionPsychology5.2%
- Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesPsychology5%
- Cultural Differences and ValuesPsychology5%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Psychology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Psychology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Psychology, Experimental | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Psychology, Social | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Psychology Zone 2
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Psychology | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Psychology, Experimental | Zone 2 |
| Minor | Psychology, Social | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Psychology Zone 3
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Psychology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Psychology, Experimental | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Psychology, Social | Zone 3 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
Database indexing
SSCIScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
SCIEPsycINFOERIH PLUSCurrent ContentsPublisher website
Other: Google Scholar, EBSCO, ProQuest, Dimensions, CNKI, Baidu, Naver, OCLC, Portico, CLOCKSS
As the journal's website lists them, not checked against each database; for Web of Science editions the records above apply.
Editions, and major and minor categories, are shown separately and never merged into one zone; check which edition your institution uses before you submit or report.
Metrics
Impact metrics and publication volume
Impact
- Impact factor
- 2.51LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.5Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 4.6Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4.8LetPub ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 1.04LetPub ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.13LetPub ·
- h-index
- 155OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 1,269OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.79OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 0%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 42.86%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 87LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 636,100Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 1,900 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 91 | 55 | 30 |
| 2025 | 87 | 51 | 154 |
| 2024 | 48 | 22 | 220 |
| 2023 | 54 | 34 | 552 |
| 2022 | 79 | 45 | 889 |
| 2021 | 60 | 27 | 1,019 |
Sources count differently and were observed at different times, so each source's own value is kept; "publisher" marks figures from the journal's website.
Review & acceptance
Review time and acceptance
Review time from article dates manuscript dates registered with Crossref · to
316 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 184 days – 400 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 17 days (100 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 339 days
- Sample
- 67 articles with submission and acceptance dates (183 in the window); the latest was accepted on
Only articles that were accepted and published are counted, not the time spent on rejected manuscripts, so this usually runs longer than a publisher's "time to first decision".
Other sources
- Submission to first decision
- 42 daysPublisher website ·
- Peer review
- Double anonymous peer reviewPublisher website
Community reports come from authors' own submissions (confidence 0.5) and are not a promise from the journal; for publisher figures, the journal's own definitions apply.
Fees & open access
APC and open-access policy
Hybrid open accessLetPub
A subscription journal in which authors can pay to publish their article open access.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAlex | USD 3,190 / EUR 2,590 / GBP 2,290 | — | — |
A hybrid journal charges the APC only when the author chooses open access; publishing under the subscription model is usually free.
Other charges and waivers (author guidelines)
- Page charges
- USD 3,000
The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.
Submission
Article types and submission policies (journal website)
What to prepare2 items from the author guidelines
- Keywords
- ≥ 4
- Reference style
- Author–date
Article types accepted1
- editorialDouble-blind peer review This journal follows a double-blind reviewing procedure. This means that the author will remain anonymous to the reviewers throughout p…Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteAI use, Authorship, Conflicts of interest, Data availability, Publication ethics, License & copyright, Open access, Peer review, Trial registration / reporting guidelines
- AI use Generative AI Images
Please check Springer’s policy on generative AI images and make sure your work adheres to the principles described therein. Back to top
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Authorship Authorship principles
Manuscript submission implies originality, not under consideration elsewhere, and approval by co-authors and authorities. Model summary
These guidelines describe authorship principles and good authorship practices to which prospective authors should adhere to. Authorship clarified The Journal and Publisher assume all authors agreed with the content and that all gave explicit consent to submit and that they obtained consent from the responsible authorities at the institute/organization where the work has been carried out, before th…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Conflicts of interest Disclosures and declarations
All authors are requested to include information regarding sources of funding, financial or non-financial interests, study-specific approval by the appropriate ethics committee for research involving humans and/or animals, informed consent if the research involved human participants, and a statement on welfare of animals if the research involved animals (as appropriate). The decision whether such …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Data availability Data availability statements
All original research must include a data availability statement. This statement should explain how to access data supporting the results and analysis in the article, including links/citations to publicly archived datasets analysed or generated during the study. Please see our full policy here. If it is not possible to share research data publicly, for instance when individual privacy could be com…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Publication ethics Compliance with Ethical Standards
To ensure objectivity and transparency in research and to ensure that accepted principles of ethical and professional conduct have been followed, authors should include information regarding sources of funding, potential conflicts of interest (financial or non-financial), informed consent if the research involved human participants, and a statement on welfare of animals if the research involved an…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- License & copyright Copyright
Open Choice articles do not require transfer of copyright as the copyright remains with the author. In opting for open access, the author(s) agree to publish the article under a Creative Commons license. Details of the OA licences offered to authors can be found on the individual journal website, in the journal's How to publish with us guide. Back to top
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Open access Open Access
The journal offers authors the option of making their article freely available to all members of the scientific community through the SpringerLink platform. The fee to authors of $3,000 allows anyone online access to your published article via Springer Open Choice that provides all the benefits of a regular subscription-based article. In some cases, institutions and funding agencies have entered i…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review Double-blind peer review
Journal switched to a new submission and peer review system; some information is submitted via the system interface. Model summary
This journal follows a double-blind reviewing procedure. This means that the author will remain anonymous to the reviewers throughout peer review. It is the responsibility of the author to anonymize the manuscript and any associated materials. Author names, affiliations and any other potentially identifying information should be removed from the manuscript text and any accompanying files (such as …
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Trial registration / reporting guidelines Clinical Trial Registration
The World Health Organization (WHO) definition of a clinical trial is "any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes". The WHO defines health interventions as “A health intervention is an act performed for, with or on behalf of a person or population whose purpose is to ass…
Source ↗Publisher website ·
Excerpts are quoted from the journal's website; "model summary" lines are written by Workers AI and checked against the text. The journal's website is authoritative.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- Springer Nature
- Frequency
- 6 issues per year
- ISSN
- 0146-7239
- Electronic ISSN
- 1573-6644
- Society / sponsor
- Society for the Science of Motivation
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 50, Issue 4 (August 2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗LetPub
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Author guidelines ↗LetPub
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Motivation and Emotion
What CAS zone is Motivation and Emotion in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Motivation and Emotion is in Zone 3 of Psychology, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Psychology, Experimental / Psychology, Social. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 2 of Psychology. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Motivation and Emotion?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.51; CiteScore 4.8, h-index 155.
How long does peer review take at Motivation and Emotion?
Based on the dates recorded on 67 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 316 days (interquartile range 184–400 days). Article statistics cover accepted papers only, publisher figures follow the journal's own definitions, and community reports come from authors' own submissions; none is a promise from the journal.
What are the manuscript requirements of Motivation and Emotion?
According to the journal's author guidelines: Keywords: ≥ 4; Reference style: Author–date. A model extracted these from the author guidelines and each was checked against the text; check the latest version on the journal's website before submitting.
Where are the editorial board members of Motivation and Emotion based?
Of the 54 board members whose country the journal's board page names, none are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (23), Canada (5) and Australia (4). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Motivation and Emotion?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Motivation and Emotion is indexed in SSCI and Scopus. The journal's website also lists SCIE, PsycINFO, ERIH PLUS and Current Contents; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Motivation and Emotion open access, and what is the APC?
Motivation and Emotion is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC about USD 3,190.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, OpenAlex, Publisher website; every figure is tagged with its source and the date it was observed, and conflicting values are kept per source. LetPub source page: view ↗ (archived 2026-08-25). Last updated: .