Articles should be submitted through the online submission form in Microsoft Word format. Before submitting your article please ensure that it is prepared in accordance with the Author Guidelines below.
For further information please also view details of the journal review process, copyright and licencing policy, and publication ethics statement.
Please note that we prefer manuscripts to be approximately 5,000 words in length. However, consideration will be given to papers that are somewhat longer or shorter.
Please also note that papers already submitted to or published in IAFOR Conference Proceedings are not accepted for publication in any of IAFOR’s journals.
Contributors are expected to submit the initial draft of their paper in the IAFOR Journal house style which is APA (the American Psychological Association), for details see Purdue Owl https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/. If accepted for publication, the paper’s style will likely be slightly modified to provide consistency across papers. There may also be minor editorial edits to ensure the academic rigour of the language, grammar and spelling. British and American English are both acceptable, but spelling and punctuation conventions should be consistent with the form of English used.
Only papers that demonstrate the following attributes will be accepted:
- Written in correct and fluent English at a high academic standard;
- Sufficient reference to the current, worldwide, mainstream literature (usually within the last 5 years, and scholarly references. Avoid the use of websites and popular sources);
- Showing sufficient evidence of research (as a research article or comprehensive review);
- Applicable to the topics covered by the journal. The well-written manuscript should address critical issues and current trends and research in business and management. For more information about the Aims and Scope of the Journal, see the About the Journal page.
Contributors whose command of English is not at the level outlined above are responsible for having their manuscript corrected by a native-level, English-speaking academic prior to submitting their paper for publication. These standards are non-negotiable and strictly enforced by the editor of the IAFOR Journal of Business & Management.
If you have any queries about how to prepare your article for submission, please contact publications@iafor.org.
Article Structure
Title
Ensure that your title accurately reflects the contents of your paper and is free of errors.
Abstract
A concise and factual abstract is required (maximum length of 250 words). The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, references should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.
Keywords
Immediately after the abstract, provide a minimum of three keywords.
Introduction
Present purposes of the study and provide background for your work.
Conclusion
The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a Conclusion section, which can include the main findings, the implications and limitations.
Acknowledgements
Collate any acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proofreading the article).
Footnotes
Footnotes should be used sparingly. Insert them using Word's footnote function, ensuring that they are numbered consecutively throughout the article in superscript Arabic numerals. Please do not insert footnotes manually.
References
In-text citations
Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa).
Reference Style
Within the text: Citations in the text should follow the referencing style used by the American Psychological Association (APA). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition, ISBN 978-1-4338-0561-5.
List at end of paper: References should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. Please single-space, and indent after the first line of each.
Reference to a journal publication:
Lee, J. (2018). Yasukuni and Hiroshima in Clash? War and Peace Museums in Contemporary Japan. Pacific Focus, 33(1), pp. 5–33. https://doi.org/10.1111/
Reference to a book:
Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B. (2000). The elements of style. (4th ed.). New York: Longman (Chapter 4).
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
Mettam, G. R., & Adams, L. B. (2009). How to prepare an electronic version of your article. In B. S. Jones, & R. Z. Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the electronic age (pp. 281–304). New York: E-Publishing Inc.
For more details about referencing, please read our APA Referencing Style Guide.
Style Checklist
- Please use APA style for referencing – APA Referencing Style Guide.
- 12-point Times New Roman font.
- All paragraphs and body text justified and 1.15 spaced.
- One line should separate paragraphs or sections. Do not indent paragraphs.
- Set page size to A4.
- Margins: Top and bottom – 2.54cm; left and right – 2.54cm (Microsoft Word "Normal").
- Main headings, subheadings and sub-subheadings should be formatted as in the Article Template below. We recommend a maximum of three levels of headings.
- All figures and images must be inserted in a JPEG image format, within the page margins. Centre images. Do not insert loose objects such as arrows, lines or text boxes. Please include figure number and caption below the figure (Figure 1: Caption), centre aligned. Please ensure that all figures are referenced at least once in the main body of the text.
- Tables should be created within the Microsoft Word document, should fit onto one A4 page and should be numbered and captioned below the table, centre aligned. Please do not insert tables as images. Please ensure that all tables are referenced at least once in the main body of the text.
- Do not use any page headers, footers or page numbers (footers are acceptable if they contain footnotes).
- Use only portrait layout. Do not include any pages in landscape layout.
- Corresponding author contact email address should be added to the end of the paper after the reference list as in the article template below. IAFOR is not responsible for unsolicited emails received.
- An optional Acknowledgments section may be included as the last section before the reference list. Please ensure this is as concise as possible.
- References should be single-spaced. Each reference should be indented after the first line with a 1-cm hanging indent.
- Title page should include:
- Title of the paper.
- Author names and affiliations: Provide affiliations for all authors (where the work was done) including full institution name and country.
- Abstract: A concise and factual abstract not exceeding 250 words is required.
- Keywords: Immediately following the abstract provide a minimum of three keywords.
Article Template
Please use this template as a guide when preparing your article.