Submissions

Submission Preparation Checklist

The author should ensure that the main body of the manuscript is structured as outlined below:

1. The title, key words and abstract

The title should reflect the essence of the article, its novelty and its relevance to the business and Socioeconomic fields of interest. It should be clear, brief, specific, not include jargon or non-standard and unexplained abbreviations, reflect the purpose of the study and state the issue(s) addressed rather than the conclusions. Indicative titles are, therefore, better than declarative ones. Obviously, the title and abstract should correlate with each other. The title of systematic reviews should ideally follow the participants, interventions, comparisons, outcomes, and study design (PICOS) approach, and include the terms “systematic review”, “meta-analysis”, or both

2. Introduction

The aim of the introduction is to introduce the topic to the readers in a straightforward way, avoiding excessive wordiness. It should be short and focused, comprising no more than three paragraphs. The first paragraph should mention the questions or issues that outline the background of the study and establish, using the present tense, the context, relevance, or nature of the problem, question, or purpose (what is known)^. The second paragraph may include the importance of the problem and unclear issues (what is unknown). The last paragraph should state the rationale, hypothesis, main objective, or purpose thus clearly identifying the hypothesis to be treated and the questions addressed in the manuscript (why the study was done).

3. Methods

The methods section is the most important parts of a scientific manuscript and its aim is to give the reader all the necessary details to replicate the study. The two essential elements of this section are a clear presentation of the study design and the identification and description of the measurement parameters used to evaluate the purpose of the study. This Journal accepts manuscripts that embeds a thorough explanation of the research methodology, including the study design, data collection, analysis principles and rationale. Special attention should be paid to the sample selection, including inclusion and exclusion criteria and to any relevant ethical considerations. A description of the randomisation or other group assignment methods used should be included, as should be the pre-specified primary and secondary outcome(s) and other variables. In addition to describing and identifying all the measurement parameters used, it is also important to describe any exceptional statistical methodology applied, how subjects were identified and compensated. The rationale for end-point selection and the reason for the non-collection of information on important non-measured variables must be explained. References in this section should be limited to methods developed in the manuscript or to similar methods reported in the literature.

4. Results and Discussion

The results section consists of the organised presentation of the collected data. All measurements that the authors described in the materials and methods section must be reported in the results section. The Author(s) must ensure that they use proper words when describing the relationship between data or variables. These “data relation words” should be turned into “cause/effect logic and mechanistic words” in the discussion section. This section if separated from the discussion should include only data, including negative findings, and not background or methods or results of measurements that were not described in the methods section. Results for primary and secondary outcomes can be reported using tables and figures for additional clarity.

Figures and tables should be simple, expand text information rather than repeat it, be consistent with reported data and summarise them in addition, they should be comprehensible on their own, that is, with only title, footnotes, abbreviations and comments.

The discussion should aim to explain the meaning of the results. This section if separated from the results should be structured as if it were a natural flow of ideas and should start with a simple statement of the key findings and whether they are consistent with the study objectives enunciated in the last paragraph of the introduction. The strengths and the limitations of the research and what the study adds to current knowledge should then be addressed

Through logical arguments, the authors should convert the relations of the variables stated in the results section into mechanistic interpretations of cause and effect using the present tense as these relations do exist at present. In addition, they should describe how the results are consistent or not with similar studies and discuss any confounding factors and their impact.

Authours should avoid (i) excessive wordiness and information unrelated to the stated purpose of the article; (ii) repeating detailed data previously presented in the results section; (iii) not interpreting and not critically analysing results of other studies reviewed and cited but rather just repeating their findings; (iv) presenting new data or new details about techniques and enrolment criteria, and (v) overstating the interpretation of the results.

5. Conclusion

The conclusion is a separate, last paragraph that should present a concise and clear “take home” message avoiding repetition of concepts already expressed. The authors should also avoid excessive generalizations of the implications. Finally, the areas for possible improvement with future studies should be addressed avoiding ambiguous comments such as “there is a need for further research” and if there is a real need for further studies on the topic it is strongly advisable to be specific about the type of research suggested.

6. Acknowledgments

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. The authors should, therefore, add a statement on the type of assistance, if any, received from the sponsor or the sponsor’s representative and include the names of any person who provided technical help, writing assistance, editorial support or any type of participation in writing the manuscript.

7. References

It is vitally important that authors fully acknowledge all relevant sources of information. They should also consult relevant policies on ethics for general guidance on compiling the author’s work. The referencing style for this journal is APA (https://apastyle.apa.org). A reference should give the reader enough information to locate the article concerned and should consist of: author name(s) and initials, year of publication, title of the journal or book, the volume number, for books: town of publication and the name of the publisher, and finally the article number or page numbers. Where there are up to ten authors, all authors’ names should be given in the reference list. Where there are more than ten authors, only the first name should appear, followed by et al. Authors should take particular care to ensure that the information is correct so that links to referenced articles can be made successfully. Material which is really a footnote to the text should not be included in the reference list, which should contain only references to bibliographic data. Copies of cited publications not yet available publicly should be submitted for the benefit of the referees. Unpublished results and lectures should be cited for exceptional reasons only. Before submitting the article, authors must ensure they have done a literature search to check for any relevant references that may have missed.

8. Tables and Figures

Carefully chosen and well-prepared figures, such as diagrams and photographs, can greatly enhance your article. Author should prepare figures that are clear, easy to read and of the best possible quality. Characters should appear as they would be set in the main body of the article. Figures will be used as submitted. No unreadable and unclear Figure or Table will be published. It will be the responsibility of the author(s) to ensure that Tables and Figure are legible and technically correct.

9. Colour Figures

The use of colour in figures can enhance the effective presentation of results, and there are no restrictions on the use of colour in the online version of the article. However, please note that readers of the journal may download and print out on a black-and-white printer, which may make coloured lines difficult to distinguish. It is therefore advised to use the colours which are readable even when it is printed in white-and-black colour printouts. If possible, keep the figure and table in black and white colour unless otherwise, coloured figures and tables are very crucial for enhancing visibility.

10. Table and/or Figure Captions

The tables and/or figures should be numbered in order which they appear in the text. If there is more than one part to a figure (e.g. Figure 1(a), Figure 1(b) etc.), the parts should be identified by a lower-case letter in parentheses close to or within the area of the figure/table. Captions should be included in the text and not in the graphics files. Micrographs should include a scale bar of appropriate size, e.g. 1 μm.

11. Style and Format

The manuscript shall be prepared in Times New Roman, 12 Font Size, Single Line and Paragraph Spacing, and Justified Text. Figures, tables and formula are placed within the text, not at the end. Figures include maps, sketches, diagrams, illustrations, charts, scatters and histograms. The size of the article should range between 4,000 - 8,000 words.