Submissions

Author Guidelines

Manuscript template can be accessed here.

Author guidelines to use our journal system (OJS 3) can be accessed here.

FORMAT:
Articles are written in English using academic language along with standard academic writing structure and composition. Article files should be provided in Microsoft Word format using single line spacing. PDF as a sole file type is not accepted, a PDF must be accompanied by the source file. Acceptable figure file types are listed further below.

ARTICLE LENGTH:
As a general guideline, manuscripts are typed in a quarto paper size (A4), between 5000-7000 words in length including references, pictures, and tables. Please allow 280 words for each figure or table. Please contact the editor for longer submissions.

ARTICLE TITLE:
A title of not more than 20 words or 200 characters should be provided.

AUTHOR DETAILS:
All contributing authors’ names should be added, without any academic degree with an e-mail address and institution’s name, and arranged in the correct order for publication.

BIOGRAPHIES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
Authors who wish to include these items should save them together in an MS Word file to be uploaded with the submission. If they are to be included, a brief professional biography of not more than 100 words should be supplied for each named author.

RESEARCH FUNDING:
Authors must declare all sources of external research funding in their article and a statement to this effect should appear in the Acknowledgements section. Authors should describe the role of the funder or financial sponsor in the entire research process, from study design to submission.

STRUCTURED ABSTRACT:
Authors must supply a structured abstract in their submission that covers:
1. Purpose (mandatory)
2. Design/methodology/approach (mandatory)
3. Findings (mandatory)
4. Research limitations/implications (if applicable)
5. Practical implications (if applicable)
6. Social implications (if applicable)
7. Originality/value (mandatory)
Maximum is 200 words in total (including keywords and article classification).

KEYWORDS:
Authors should provide appropriate and short keywords that encapsulate the principal topics of the paper. The maximum number of keywords is 7. Keywords may be replaced by a matching term by the Editorial team to ensure consistency.

ARTICLE CLASSIFICATION:
Authors must categorize their paper as part of the submission process. The category which most closely describes their paper should be selected from the list below.
Research paper. This category covers papers which report on any type of research undertaken by the author(s). The research may involve the construction or testing of a model or framework, action research, testing of data, market research or surveys, empirical, scientific or clinical research.
Viewpoint. Any paper, where content is dependent on the author's opinion and interpretation, should be included in this category; this also includes journalistic pieces.
Technical paper. Describes and evaluates technical products, processes or services.
Conceptual paper. These papers will not be based on research but will develop hypotheses. The papers are likely to be discursive and will cover philosophical discussions and comparative studies of others' work and thinking.
Case study. Case studies describe actual interventions or experiences within organizations. They may well be subjective and will not generally report on research. A description of a legal case or a hypothetical case study used as a teaching exercise would also fit into this category.
Literature review. It is expected that all types of paper cite any relevant literature so this category should only be used if the main purpose of the paper is to annotate and/or critique the literature in a particular subject area. It may be a selective bibliography providing advice on information sources or it may be comprehensive in that the paper's aim is to cover the main contributors to the development of a topic and explore their different views.
General review. This category covers those papers which provide an overview or historical examination of some concept, technique or phenomenon. The papers are likely to be more descriptive or instructional ("how to" papers) than discursive.

HEADINGS:
Headings must be concise, with a clear indication of the distinction between the hierarchies of headings. The preferred format is for first level headings and subsequent sub-headings to be presented in bold format.

NOTES/ENDNOTES:
Notes or Endnotes should be used only if absolutely necessary and must be identified in the text by consecutive numbers, enclosed in square brackets and listed at the end of the article.

FIGURES:
All figures (charts, diagrams, line drawings, web pages/screenshots, and photographic images) should be submitted in electronic form. All figures should be of high quality, legible and numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals. Graphics may be supplied in colour to facilitate their appearance on the online database.
1. Figures created in MS Word, MS PowerPoint, MS Excel, Illustrator should be supplied in their native formats. Electronic figures created in other applications should be copied from the origination software and pasted into a blank MS Word document or saved and imported into an MS Word document or alternatively create a .pdf file from the origination software.
2. Figures which cannot be supplied as above are acceptable in the standard image formats which are: .pdf, .ai, and .eps. If you are unable to supply graphics in these formats then please ensure they are .jpeg or .bmp at a resolution of at least 300dpi and at least 10cm wide.
3. To prepare web pages/screenshots simultaneously press the "Alt" and "Print screen" keys on the keyboard, open a blank Microsoft Word document and simultaneously press "Ctrl" and "V" to paste the image.
4. Photographic images should be submitted electronically and of high quality. They should be saved as .jpeg files at a resolution of at least 300dpi and at least 10cm wide. Digital camera settings should be set at the highest resolution/quality possible.

TABLES:
Tables should be typed and included in a separate file to the main body of the article. The position of each table should be clearly labelled in the body text of the article with corresponding labels being clearly shown in the separate file.

REFERENCES:
References to other publications must be in APA (American Psychological Association) style and carefully checked for completeness, accuracy and consistency. The reference list should appear at the end of the article, include only literature actually cited in the manuscripts, and be ordered alphabetically and chronologically. More than 80% of the references should not be older than 5 years to ensure that the sources are as recent as possible. We strongly recommend authors to use reference tools, such as Mendeley, Zotero, Endnote, etc. Herewith are some of the APA-based references format structure:
Printed book: Author, A.A. (Year of Publication). Title of work. Publisher City, State: Publisher.
Online book: Author, A.A. (Year of Publication). Title of work [E-Reader Version]. Retrieved from http://xxxx or DOI: xxxx
Journal article in print: Author, A.A. (Publication Year). Article title. Journal Title, Volume (Issue), pp.-pp.
Journal article online: Author, A.A. (Publication Year). Article title. Journal Title, Volume (Issue), pp.-pp. DOI: xx.xxxx or Retrieved from journal URL
Website article: Author, A.A. (Year, Month Date of Publication). Article title. Retrieved from URL
Newspaper in print: Author, A.A. (Year, Month Date of Publication). Article title. Newspaper Title, pp. xx-xx.
Newspaper online: Author, A.A. (Year, Month Date of Publication). Article title. Newspaper Title, Retrieved from newspaper homepage URL
Magazine article in print: Author, A.A. (Year, the month of Publication). Article title. Magazine Title, Volume (Issue), pp.-pp.
Encyclopaedia: Author, A.A. (Publication Year). Entry title. In Encyclopaedia title, (Vol. XX, pp. XX). City, State of publication: Publisher.