This paper deals with the MHD oscillatory flow of an incompressible and electrically conducting visco-elastic fluid in a vertical channel in the presence of chemical reaction and heat source. The unsteadiness in the flow is due to an oscillatory pressure gradient across the ends of the channel. A closed form solutions for velocity, temperature and concentration profiles as well as skin friction coefficient, rate of heat and mass transfers are obtained by using appropriate mathematical techniques. The analytical outcomes are assessed numerically and then are presented graphically to confer the effects of diverse parameters arriving in the problem. It is witnessed that the fluid velocity profile is parabolic in nature with extreme scale along the channel centerline and least at the walls and therefore, the oscillatory flow enhance the heat transport system by various magnitudes as compared with normal conduction. © 2017, Springer (India) Private Ltd.