For MDPI, 2026 brings great opportunity for celebration and reflection. Not only does it mark 30 years of MDPI’s commitment to advancing open science, but it also coincides with many monumental anniversaries for some of MDPI’s leading journals.

In celebration of its 20^th anniversary, this edition of our Journal Spotlight will explore the key growth milestones and thriving scholarly community of the Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research (JTAER; ISSN 0718-1876).

JTAER is an international, peer-reviewed, Open Access journal of electronic commerce.

Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Dr. Ting Chi

Current Impact Factor: 4.5

Current CiteScore: 7.1

Statics as of June 2026.

A JTAER timeline

• 2006 – JTAER was launched by the University of Talca, Chile.
• 2007 – JTAER was indexed in Scopus (Elsevier)
• 2016 – JTAER was indexed in SSCI (Web of Science)
• 2017 – JTAER received its first Impact Factor (0.774).
• 2021 – JTAER was published by MDPI from Volume 16, Issue 3
• 2026 – 20th Anniversary of JTAER

Editor-in-Chief

JTAER has been publishing high-quality research on electronic commerce for more than two decades. In this time, it has been led by 3 Editors-in-Chief (EiC), with its current EiC beginning his tenure in 2025.

Despite being relatively new to the journal’s leadership position, Dr. Ting Chi holds an extensive list of accolades which demonstrate his suitability for leading the journal into its 3^rd decade. A Professor and Chair of the Department of Apparel, Merchandising, Design, and Textiles at Washington State University, USA, Dr. Chi’s research has focused on strategic marketing and supply chain management for sustainable business development in the textile, apparel, and retail industries.

His academic contributions have resulted in him being awarded the National Science Foundation (NSF) Young Scholar Award, the ITAA Mid-Career Excellence Award, and Exceptional Faculty Award from WSU, amongst other achievements.

Dr. Ting Chi

Aims & Scope

JTAER provides a platform for high-quality electronic commerce research and has grown alongside the field itself. From its foundational theories to today’s dynamic intersections with AI, data science, digital marketing, and sustainable business, the journal continues to serve scholars within a rapidly evolving field.

In a recent editorial piece, Dr. Ting highlighted updates to the journals aims and scope, citing emerging technologies such as AI, blockchain, and Web 3.0, along with new social challenges such as ethics, privacy, digital exclusion and climate impact as key factors that have led to the journal’s ongoing evolution:

“By aligning its aims, scope, and sections with the evolving technological, organizational and societal context of the digital commerce environment, the journal is well-positioned to facilitate a global, innovative, and relevant scholarly discourse regarding the future of digital commerce.” – Dr. Ting Chi

The journals updated scope covers topics such as data science, AI, digital marketing, digital finance, FinTech, digital business models, and more. The journal’s full scope can be found here.

Journal metrics

Most cited, viewed, and downloaded

As of July 2026, the JTAER publication which boasts the highest number of citations is What Makes an Online Review More Helpful: An Interpretation Framework Using Boost and SHAP Values.

Demonstrating how far research can travel when it is empowered by Open Access, Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Online Consumer Purchasing Behaviours is the most viewed (188379 ) and downloaded (100718 ) JTAER paper.

Impact Factor

Currently, JTAER holds an Impact Factor of 4.5. This positions it in Q2 of the ‘business’ JCR subject category.

CiteScore

As of 2026, JTAER holds a CiteScore of 7.1.

To put this figure into perspective, this positions the journal in the highest quartile (Q1) for two CiteScore categories: General Business, Management and Accounting and Computer Science Applications.

Altmetrics

Journal level metrics such as Impact Factor and CiteScore are useful for comparing journals – but they say little about the impact of an individual article.

Altmetrics work to capture the broader societal resonance of research by measuring how research is shared beyond scholarly citations.

As of July 2026, JTAER has received a total of 496 mentions across social media platforms, 68 mentions across prominent news outlets and blogs, and 107 times across policy documents and patents.

Indexing

Inclusion across scholarly databases and archives signals that a journal produces quality research which is widely read and built upon. JTAER is indexed in:

• Scopus (Elsevier)
• SSCI (Web of Science)
• DOAJ
• Dimensions
• J-Gate
• Gale
• OpenAIRE

Find the complete list of associated indexing services here.

Society affiliations

The research published in JTAER speaks to a growing community of scholars focused on electronic commerce. Therefore, its affiliation with The Korean Institute of Products Safety (KPSI) works to bolster the journals authority within this field.

KPSI is an academic organization registered with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in 2008, dedicated to ensuring the safety of various electronic products. Through research and academic investigations aimed at safe products, the Institute integrates management and engineering theories to examine diverse aspects related to safety.

Members of KPSI should contact their society representative to learn more about the benefits of publishing with MDPI, such as discounts on article processing charges (APC).

Testimonials

“The celebration of 20 years of JTAER is a testament to the strong community of academic and practitioner contributors who have played a significant role in its success over that time. My engagement with the journal has been truly rewarding—not simply because it is a high-quality venue for publishing work, but also for the collegial and collaborative nature of the JTAER editorial team.” – Prof. José Luís Abrantes, Editorial Board Member .

“Over two decades, JTAER has become a respected venue for rigorous, relevant scholarship that advances both theory and practice in electronic commerce. I value the journal’s consistent commitment to quality, openness to emerging topics, and constructive editorial standards.” – Prof. Mirjana-Pejic Bach, Section EIC

Submitting a manuscript

Manuscripts for JTAER  should be submitted online at susy.mdpi.com.

Prior to submitting, we recommend that authors explore the useful resources on our instructions for authors webpage.

To submit your manuscript, register and login to the submission website. Once you have registered, click here to go to the submission form. The submitting author, who is generally the corresponding author, is responsible for the manuscript during the submission and peer review process.

All co-authors can see the manuscript details in the submission system if they register and login using the e-mail address provided during manuscript submission.

If you’d like to find out more about JTAER and its publication process, please visit the journal website.

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