The paper reports on the preparation and characterization of Sm 3+ doped zinc borophosphate (ZBP) glasses. The density was measured and the corresponding molar volume was evaluated. The present glass system was investigated by the XRD, optical absorption, photoluminescence, decay curves and FTIR analysis. The Judd-Ofelt theory has been used to evaluate the JO intensity parameters (Ω 2,4,6 ) and calculated oscillator strengths (ƒ cal ). Using JO intensity parameters, various radiative parameters such as transition probability (A R ), radiative lifetime (τ R ), measured lifetime (τ m ), calculated branching ratios (β R ), measured branching ratios (β m ) have been calculated for the excited 4 G 5/2 level. The nature of the decay curves of 4 G 5/2 level for different Sm 3+ ion concentration in all ZBP glasses has been analyzed and the lifetimes are noticed to decrease with increase of concentration.