• Original Research Articles (5,000–8,000 words): empirical, data-driven studies (quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods) that generate new empirical evidence or test existing theoretical frameworks.

• Review Articles (4,000–7,000 words): critically review existing research in a defined area. They compare key studies, highlight consistent findings and gaps, and outline directions for future work.

• Preliminary Communications (4,000–7,000 words): reports of initial or partial findings from ongoing research, intended for early dissemination.

• Professional Papers (3,000–6,000 words): peer-reviewed applied contributions that translate theoretical insights into professional or managerial practice rather than presenting new empirical data.

• Book Reviews and Commentary (up to 2,000 words): invited contributions providing critical reviews of recent scholarly books or commentary on current issues relevant to the Journal.

*Word counts exclude references, tables, figures, and appendices.

Note on Conference Papers:

• The Journal may consider extended and substantially revised versions of papers previously presented at academic conferences.

• Eligible submissions must be based on conference abstracts only - not on full papers published in proceedings.

• Manuscripts must demonstrate significant new content or analysis beyond the original conference version.

• Such papers are treated as new submissions and undergo independent peer review.

• While the Journal follows a double-anonymous process, complete anonymity cannot always be maintained for publicly presented work.

• Authors must acknowledge and cite the original conference source, including any reused tables, figures, or data.

• Accepted papers must state the conference title, date, and location.

All manuscripts must be submitted in MS Word (.docx) format. PDF submissions are not accepted. Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with the APA Style, 7th Edition. The Journal follows APA 7, for referencing and citation, with minor adaptations in manuscript formatting as specified below.

General formatting

• Paper size: A4, margins: 2.5 cm (1 inch) on all sides.

• Font: Cambria, 11 pt.

• Line spacing: 1.1, with no extra spacing before or after paragraphs.

• Alignment: left-aligned (ragged right). Do not use full justification or manual hyphenation.

• Paragraphs: Indent first line by 0.75 cm.

• Page numbers: right-aligned, beginning with the title page as page 1.

• Equations: submit as editable text (not images).

• Abbreviations: spell out in full at first mention.

Order of sections

Authors must follow the standard order of sections:

1. Title page

• • Article title (Cambria 14 pt, bold, centered, sentence case).

  • Author details: full name; institutional affiliation (institution, department, city, country); e-mail address; ORCID iD

  • Corresponding author marked with an asterisk (*).

  • Funding acknowledgments (See Author Responsibilities)

    • If there is no funding, state: “This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.” 

  • Data Availability Statement (DAS).

  • Author contributions (CRediT taxonomy) and Conflict of Interest statement

  • If applicable, include an Ethics Statement for research involving human participants or survey data, confirming informed consent and compliance with institutional standards.

2. Abstract and Keywords

• • Abstract length: 150–250 words, in English only.

  • Structure: Purpose; Design/Methodology; Findings; Practical Implications; Originality/Value.

  • Font: Cambria 10 pt, italic, justified.

  • Keywords: 4 - 5, listed below the abstract.

  • JEL Classification: Authors must include relevant JEL codes, listed below the keywords. 

3. Main text (anonymous for review)

Manuscripts must be structured into the following required sections:

1. Introduction

2. Literature Review or Theoretical Background

3. Methodology

4. Results

5. Discussion

6. Conclusion

4. References

Must follow APA 7th Edition (see Section 4).

5. Figures and Tables

• • Tables must be fully editable (not pasted as images)

  • Figures must also be uploaded as separate high-resolution files in TIFF, JPG, or EPS format (minimum 300 dpi)

  • All figures and charts must use grayscale or high-contrast black-and-white shading

  • No titles inside the figure itself (titles and captions are outside)

  • Number all tables and figures consecutively in the order of appearance (e.g. ,Table 1, Table 2, Figure 1, etc.)

  • Table captions should appear above the table, left-justified, and include a bold label (e.g., Table 1)

  • Figure captions should appear below the figure, left-justified, and include a bold label (e.g., Figure 1)

  • The title must be in italics, written in sentence case, and end with a period

  • Every Table or Figure must include:

    • source (or “Author’s calculation/illustration”)

    • explanation of abbreviations (if any)

    • methodological/data notes (as applicable).

    • Typography: the label "Note" must be font 9 pt, italics

      • e.g. "Note. Source: Author’s analysis."

      • place a single note line directly below the table/figure.

      • spacing: 6 pt before the note line (gap between display and note) and 8 pt after

      • order of elements: in one line, separated by semicolons. 

  • All captions and notes should be left-justified

  • Ensure every table and figure is explicitly referred to in the text.

  • Use a decimal point and a space as the thousands separator (e.g. 31.1, 45 000.87)

  • If using third-party material, obtain and declare permission for reuse, and provide a credit line (e.g., “Adapted from …”).

6. Appendices (if applicable)

• • Supplementary material such as questionnaires, extended datasets, technical notes, robustness checks, and detailed model specifications may be placed in appendices.

  • Cite appendices in text and list in the order of first mention (Appendix A, Appendix B, …).

  • Normally, figures and tables belong in the main text, not in appendices.

Numbered Heading System

• Headings must be numbered (1., 1.1., 1.1.1., …), Title Case, left-aligned, and consistent.

• Level 1: Cambria 12 pt, bold; two blank lines before / one after.

• Level 2: Cambria 12 pt; one blank line before and after.

• Level 3 (and lower): Cambria 11 pt, italics; one blank line before and after.

• Do not skip levels. If you introduce 2.1, include 2.2; if 2.1.1, include 2.1.2.

Notes

• Do not include any personal or institutional identifiers in the anonymous manuscript .doc file (to preserve double-anonymous review).

• The manuscript file must not contain any author identifiers in the text, footnotes, file name, or document properties (see Section 8). 

The Journal follows the APA Style, 7th Edition for referencing and citation with Journal adaptations. Authors must ensure accuracy, completeness, and consistency in all references. Both in-text citations and the reference list must fully comply with the requirements below.

General rules

• Every in-text citation must have a matching entry in References, and vice versa.

• Do not use ibid., op. cit., supra, infra.

• Every reference must have a corresponding bookmark within the document. Each in-text citation, e.g., (Smith, 2020) or Smith et al., (2020); must be hyperlinked to the corresponding bookmarked reference entry in the reference list.

• The Editorial Board recommends that authors use relevant and up-to-date sources, preferably not older than ten (10) years, except when citing seminal or foundational works.

Paraphrasing

• Parenthetical: (Surname, Year). Example: (Novak, 2025).

• Narrative: Surname (Year). Example: According to Novak (2025)…

• Page numbers are optional for paraphrases.

Direct quotations

• Short quotes (≤40 words): use quotation marks.

  • Parenthetical: “…” (Smith, 2020, p. 15).

  • Narrative: Smith (2020) stated that “…” (p. 15).

• Long quotes (>40 words): block quote, 0.5 in left indent, same font/spacing, no quotation marks.

Multiple authors

• Two authors: cite both each time (Smith & Jones, 2023)

• "Smith and Jones (2023) argued ..."

• Three or more: first author + et al. (Keller et al., 2025)

References list

• Section title: References (use consistently; do not use “Bibliography” or “Literature”)

• Entries must be:

  • Left-aligned, hanging indent 0.6 cm

  • Alphabetical by first author’s surname and consecutively numbered (1., 2., 3., …) for clarity

• DOI or URL is required when available, with https://doi.org/ format; hyperlinks must be active

• Italicize journal titles, book titles, and volume numbers

Examples

Journal article:

Smith, J. A., & Jones, B. C. (2020). Innovation in business excellence. Journal of Excellence, 45(2), 123–145. https://doi.org/10.1234/jms.2020.123456

Book:

Brown, P. R. (2019). Organizational quality and performance management. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429498765

Book chapter:

Miller, A. (2021). Quality systems in transitional economies. In D. Johnson (Ed.), Business excellence in emerging markets (pp. 55–78). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12345-6_4

Website:

World Bank. (2024). Enterprise survey data. https://www.worldbank.org/data/enterprises

All research manuscripts submitted are subject to screening for originality, plagiarism (self-plagiarism included), and AI-generated text using iThenticate and other content integrity tools. By submitting a manuscript, authors consent to these checks.

Manuscripts containing substantial plagiarism, overlap with prior work, or undeclared AI-generated content will be rejected or returned for revision.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools

To maintain research integrity and transparency:

1. Declaration

• Authors must explicitly declare any use of AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, image generators, machine learning models).

• Declarations must specify the tool name and scope of use (e.g., language editing, data analysis, figure creation, idea generation).

• This disclosure must appear in the Methods or Acknowledgments section.

2. Author Responsibility

• Authors retain full responsibility for all content, including AI-assisted parts.

• AI tools cannot be credited as authors or co-authors.

• Authors must critically check all AI outputs for accuracy, originality, and compliance with ethical/legal standards.

3. Reproducibility and Transparency

• If AI is used for research methods (e.g., data analysis, modeling), sufficient details (data, code, parameters) must be provided for reproducibility.

• All research questions, interpretations, and conclusions must result from human judgment, not AI.

4. Prohibited Practices

• • Hidden or manipulative text (e.g., invisible characters, deceptive metadata) designed to bypass plagiarism or AI detection is prohibited.

  • Such misconduct will lead to immediate rejection and may be reported to the authors’ institutions.

To preserve double anonymity, all identifying information (author's details) must be removed from submitted files. In MS Word (.docx):

1. File → Info → Check for Issues → Inspect Document.

2. Select Document Properties and Personal Information.

3. Remove all personal information.

4. Save before submission.

Repeat for all files (main text, figures, tables, appendices). Failure to anonymize may compromise review.

Additional requirements:

• Author details should appear only on the separate Title Page (uploaded as a separate file).

• References to your own previous work must be written in a way that does not reveal authorship (e.g., use “Author(s), Year” instead of “We have previously shown…”).

The Journal encourages authors to make data, materials, and methods that support the findings of their manuscript available to the scholarly community, in line with theh FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable).

A Data Availability Statement (DAS) must be included in every submission, clearly indicating where and how the data can be accessed, or explaining restrictions if the data cannot be shared. Examples of acceptable DAS:

• The dataset supporting this article is available in xxx repository, at https://doi.org/xxxxx

• The data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

• This study did not generate any new data.

• Authors are encouraged to deposit datasets in recognized institutional or subject repositories and to provide persistent identifiers (DOIs or accession numbers) wherever possible.

• If the data include sensitive or proprietary information, authors must describe the restrictions and justify the limitations.

• Providing access to data, code, or supplementary materials increases transparency, facilitates reproducibility, and may improve citation impact.

• At submission: the DAS should be provided on the Title Page (not in the anonymized manuscript) to preserve anonymity.

• At publication: the DAS will appear in the final version of record, placed after the Funding statement and CRediT statement and before the Introduction.