BNR Economic Review
Journal / BNR Economic Review / Submissions

 

 1. Description

BNR Economic Review is a peer-reviewed journal for the publication of research on a wide range of economic issues, with a particular focus on broader mandates of central banks. Specific areas of interest include:

• Monetary policy
• Macroprudential policy
• Financial stability
• Financial institutions supervision
• Financial sector development
• Macro-financial linkages
• Liquidity management
• Financial and capital markets
• Payment systems
• Macroeconomic policy
• Fiscal policy
• Economic growth and development
• Trade policy
• Exchange rates
• Open economy macroeconomics

 

Editor-in-Chief

Dr Thierry Mihigo Kalisa, National Bank of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda

Editorial Board

Dr Adam Mugume, Bank of Uganda, Kampala, Uganda

Prof Victor Murinde, Centre for Global Finance, SOAS University of London, London, UK

 

Guide for Authors

1. Introduction

• Aims and scope

BNR Economic Review is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal devoted to publish original articles of interest to policy-makers, academics and practitioners on a wide range of economic issues. The journal welcomes empirical, theoretical, as well as review articles with an emphasis on broader mandates of central banks and related economic policies.

The journal aims to foster evidence-based policymaking by enhancing interactions between researchers and policymakers. In addition, the journal contributes to knowledge dissemination across stakeholders with particular interests in the following areas:

• Monetary policy
• Macroprudential policy
• Financial stability
• Financial institutions supervision
• Financial sector development
• Macro-financial linkages
• Liquidity management
• Financial and capital markets
• Payment systems
• Macroeconomic policy
• Fiscal policy
• Economic growth and development
• Trade policy
• Exchange rates
• Open economy macroeconomics
• Editorial policy

The editors of the BNR Economic Review aim to provide initial decisions on manuscripts within twelve weeks of submission. Upon initial submission, the Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to reject an incoming manuscript even without undergoing external review (i.e. desk rejections) if the paper is deemed to be unsuitable for publication in BNR Economic Review. An incoming paper is deemed unsuitable if it falls outside the journal scope, or on the basis of its poor grammar, scientific flaws, or insufficient originality.  A desk rejection decision will be communicated to the corresponding author within two weeks.

In a rare case an incoming manuscript will be accepted without external review if deemed “exceptional”. Upon completion of external review, Chief Editor communicates the decision to the corresponding author. There are three types of decision, namely “rejected”, “accepted with minor revisions” and (iii) “accepted with major corrections”.

Deadline for major and minor revisions are twelve and six weeks, respectively. Revisions received after the deadline will be treated as new initial submissions.

Reviewers advise Chief Editor, who is responsible for the final decision to accept or reject the manuscript. The final decision will be sent to the author along with the recommendations made by the referees.

Upon acceptance of the manuscript, a proof is sent to the corresponding author who is is responsible for the accuracy of all content in the proof. The journal editor will not correct errors after publication.

• Review policy

BNR Economic Review uses a ‘double blind’ reviewing system, in which both the referees and authors remain anonymous to one another throughout and after the refereeing process. Referees are selected from a database based on their expertise. At least one referee provides his/her assessment on the originality of ideas and methods, soundness of methodology, clarity of results and relevance of conclusions, observance of research ethics, and contribution to knowledge. 

Correction of language is not part of the review process, but reviewers may suggest corrections. In some cases, a manuscript may be returned to the author(s) during initial submission for revision of language and style.

• Submission checklist

 Author(s) should ensure that the following items are submitted:

• Contacts (email address, postal address and telephone number) of the author designated as the corresponding author.
• Manuscript:
• Include keywords.
• All figures including relevant captions.
• All tables including titles, description and footnotes where necessary.
• All figures and tables citations in the text match the files provided.
• Manuscript has been 'spell checked' and 'grammar checked'.
• All references mentioned in the reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa.
  
  
• Ethics in publishing

All submitted articles should meet ethical standards in line with the National Bank of Rwanda policies and procedures and staff rules.

• Submission declaration and verification

Article submitted should not have been published previously elsewhere (except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture or academic thesis) and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Submission also implies that all authors have approved publication of the article.

• Copyright

The author have right to reuse the work. The National Bank of Rwanda can also reuse the work subject to written permission from the author designated as corresponding author if the latter is not a National Bank of Rwanda employee.

Apart from any commercial purpose, the reprint of the BNR economic review or of its parts is permitted.

• Open access

The third party reuse is permitted under Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives. That is:

• Any use of article for commercial purpose is prohibited.
• In case of copy and redistribution, give appropriate credit to the authors and clearly indicate if there have been changes.
• Copy or redistribution of article, which has been modified or altered, is restricted.
  
  
• Submission

Article(s) should be submitted to the Editor in Chief, in both word and PDF form.

Authors should ensure compliance with the checklist for submission and the article format in the next sections.

• Peer review

This journal operates a single blind review process. Initially, the Editor-in-Chief will assess the suitability of the article for the journal and send suitable article to at least one independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles.

2. Main elements of the article

a. Essential title page information

• Title

As titles are often used in information-retrieval systems, they should be concise and informative, without abbreviations and formulae where possible.

• Author names and affiliations

Provide the names of authors starting with the main author. Names of each author should begin with a surname and first name after. Full address (email and institution) clearly identified. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address.

b. Abstract

A concise and factual abstract is required. The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from the paper/ 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. The length should be between 100 and   250 words.

• Keywords & JEL classification

Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6, but at least 3, keywords, using American spelling and avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, 'and', 'of'). Use abbreviations sparingly: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible.  Next to this, authors should indicate the Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classification corresponding to the scope of the paper/article. These keywords & JEL classification are used for indexing purposes.

c. Paper/ Article structure

Divide your paper/ article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2…), 1.2, etc. (the abstract is not included in section numbering). Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Note that sections may differ depending on the objective the paper/ article.

i. Introduction

Describe the background and objective of the study. Indicate the specific goal or purpose of the paper/ article, and indicate why it is worthy of attention. Explain the hypothesis to be tested, the dilemma to be resolved, or the deficiency to be remedied. The objective stated here must be identical to the one given in the title. As previously indicated, this part can be followed by a section that discusses some stylized facts related to the topic.

ii. Literature review

Discuss the current knowledge including substantive findings, as well as theoretical and methodological contributions to your topic. This is considered as secondary sources, and do not report new or original experimental work.

iii. Methodology

Describe the methods used to achieve the objective explained in the introduction. Provide sufficient details to allow the work to be reproduced by an independent researcher. Methods that are already published should be summarized, and indicated by a reference. If quoting directly from a previously published method, use quotation marks and cite the source. Any modifications to existing methods should also be described.

iv. Results

The findings are presented here. All results should flow in a clear, logical sequence from the methods described and not stray from the specific objective of the paper.

v. Conclusions

State what conclusion(s) can be drawn and next steps if any. The conclusion should mirror the conclusion in the abstract. Note that this part must end with policy recommendations in line with the problem statement and results obtained.

vi. References

Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text.  Use Harvard_ Anglia 2008 for references. Do not use footnotes or endnotes as a substitute for a reference list.

vii. Appendices

If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, Eq. (B.1) and so on. Similarly for tables and figures: Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.

d. Other elements to consider

• Format

Please make sure that the format (font size 12, Bentonsans Regular, 1.5 lines space within one paragraph, 3 cm margins, 12pt after paragraphs, one empty lines before a heading)

• Language

Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these), using correct diction, syntax, and grammar.

• Figure captions

Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Provide captions separately, not attached to the figure. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.

• Tables

Tables should be in editable text and not as images. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. Use tables sparingly and ensure that the data presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the paper/ article.

• Math formulae

Please submit math equations as editable text and not as images. Present simple formulae in line with normal text where possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms, e.g., X/Y. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).

3. Authors’ inquiries

For any inquiry regarding this guide, please feel free to contact the journal’s Editorial Manager. (Email address: economicreview@bnr.rw).