In this paper we consider some properties of quasi-cyclic codes over the integer residue rings. A quasi-cyclic code over ℤ
k
, the ring of integers modulo
k, reduces to a direct product of quasi-cyclic codes over
\mathbbZpiei{\mathbb{Z}}_{p_i^{e_i}}
,
k = Õi=1s pieik = \prod_{i=1}^s p_i^{e_i}
,
p
i
a prime. Let
T be the standard shift operator. A linear code
C\mathcal{C}
over a ring
R is called an
l-quasi-cyclic code if
Tl(c) Î CT^l(c) \in \mathcal{C}
, whenever
c Î C c\in \mathcal{C}
. It is shown that if (
m,
q) = 1,
q =
p
r
,
p a prime, then an
l-quasi-cyclic code of length
lm over ℤ
q
is a direct product of quasi-cylcic codes over some Galois extension rings of ℤ
q
. We have discussed about the structure of the generator of a 1-generator
l-quasi-cyclic code of length
lm over ℤ
q
. A method to obtain quasi-cyclic codes over ℤ
q
, which are free modules over ℤ
q
, has been discussed.
Keywords Quasi-cyclic codes - circulant matrices - Galois rings - Hensel’s lift