The overarching purpose of the journal is to create a community of scholars and promote scholarship in the field of Rural Management. It does so by acting as a vehicle that promotes scholarship and disseminates knowledge. Anything rural is of interest; however, the journal has an avowed bias towards matters of policy, institutions, organizations and practices. The journal publishes conceptual, empirical and review papers in the form of research articles, reports of research in progress, analyses of current and topical practice, policy issues relating to rural management, field notes, and book reviews.

The writing style should be such that it is addressed to an international audience. It would, therefore, be necessary that names of places, at least at the beginning, should be so provided that the reader is able to locate them in a national (country) and sub-national (region/province/state) context.

IJRM is a peer reviewed journal and follows the practice of double-blind reviews.