Abstract. Spectroscopic properties, useful for plasma diagnostics and astrophysics, of a few rubidium-like ions are studied here. We choose one of the simplest, but correlationally challenging series where d− and f − orbitals are present in the core and/or valence shells with 4d 2 D 3/2 as the ground state. We study different correlation characteristics of this series and make precise calculations of electronic structure and rates of electromagnetic transitions. Our calculated lifetimes and transition rates are compared with other available experimental and theoretical values. Radiative rates of vacuum ultra-violet electromagnetic transitions of the long lived Tc 6+ ion, useful in several areas of physics and chemistry, are estimated. To the best of our knowledge, there is no literature for most of these transitions.Electron-correlation study of Y III-Tc VII ions using a relativistic coupled-cluster theory 2