Research Journal of Business and Finance
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Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Instructions for Authors

Submission of a manuscript to the Research Journal of Business & Finance implies: that the work described has not been published before; that it is not under consideration for publication anywhere else; that its publication has been approved by all co-authors, if any, as well as by the responsible authorities – tacitly or explicitly – at the institute where the work has been carried out. The publisher will not be held legally responsible should there be any claims for compensation.

Permissions

Authors wishing to include figures, tables, or text passages that have already been published elsewhere are required to obtain permission from the copyright owner(s) for both the print and online format and to include evidence that such permission has been granted when submitting their papers. Any material received without such evidence will be assumed to originate from the authors.

How to Submit

Manuscripts should preferably be submitted in the original doc. file format Please submit your manuscript to: http://utafitionline.com/index.php/rjbf/about/submissions

In case you have challenges in submission, contact us through the address: info@utafitifoundation.com

Manuscript/Submission Template

The submission should be prepared according to the following Submission formart in the MS Word article template. [Download the UF  Journal Submission Template Here]

Title Page

Please make sure your title page contains the following information.

Title

The title should be concise and informative.

Author information

• The name(s) of the author(s)
• The affiliation(s) of the author(s), i.e. institution, (department), city, (state), country
• A clear indication and an active e-mail address of the corresponding author
• 16-digit ORCID is a requirement

If the address information is provided with the affiliation(s) it will also be published.

For authors that are (temporarily) unaffiliated we will only capture their city and country of residence, not their e-mail address unless specifically requested.

Abstract

Please provide an abstract of 150 to 250 words. The abstract should not contain any undefined abbreviations or unspecified references.

Keywords

Please provide 4 to 6 keywords that can be used for indexing purposes.

Article structure

Subdivision 

Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections.  Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line.

Introduction

The Introduction should be as concise as possible, without subheadings. These sections should be written in such a way as to clearly bring out the background of your study; statement the problem/thesis statement; justification; and theoretical framework (where applicable). The literature review may be briefly included in this section too.

Material and methods

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 also cite the source. Any modifications to existing methods should also be described.

Results and Discussion

Results and discussion may be combined and may be organized with subheadings.

Conclusions

The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section. This section should also include limitations of the study and suggestions for further research as appropriate.

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.

Text Formatting

Manuscripts should be submitted in Word.

• Use a normal, plain font (e.g., 10.5-point Book Antiqua) for text.
• Use italics for emphasis and sub-headings as defined in the manuscript submission template.
• Use the automatic page numbering function to number the pages.
• Do not use field functions.
• Use tab stops or other commands for indents, not the space bar.
• Use the table function, not spreadsheets, to make tables.
• Save your file in docx format (Word 2007 or higher) or doc format (older Word versions).

Abbreviations

Abbreviations should be defined at first mention and used consistently thereafter.

Footnotes

Footnotes can be used to give additional information, which may include the citation of a reference included in the reference list. They should not consist solely of a reference citation, and they should never include the bibliographic details of a reference. They should also not contain any figures or tables.

Footnotes to the text are numbered consecutively; those to tables should be indicated by superscript lower-case letters (or asterisks for significance values and other statistical data). Footnotes to the title or the authors of the article are not given reference symbols.

Always use footnotes instead of endnotes.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments of people, grants, funds, etc. should be placed in a separate section on the title page. The names of funding organizations should be written in full.

References

Use the APA 7th Edition Referencing Style. Cite references in the text by name and year in parentheses. Some examples:

• Linguistics research spans many disciplines (Barasa, 2021).
• This result was later contradicted by Becker and Seligman (1996).
• This effect has been widely studied (Barasa, 2016; Mudogo et al., 2019; Kebaya and Siundu, 2020; Basweti et al., 2021).

 Reference list

The list of references should only include works that are cited in the text and that have been published or accepted for publication. Personal communications and unpublished works should only be mentioned in the text.

Reference list entries should be alphabetised by the last names of the first author of each work.

Journal names and book titles should be italicised.

If available, please always include DOIs as full DOI links in your reference list (e.g.“DOI: 10.1017/9781108283991.019 or https://doi.org/abc”).

• Journal article

Barasa, D. (2022). Pronouns and pronominal alignment in Ateso. Arusha Working Papers in African Linguistics, 4(1): 100-114.

• Article by DOI

Thiong’o, J. & Barasa, D. (2019). Intonation as Metaphors in the song “Kama Nikifa Kesho” by Diamond Platnumz. Alternation: Interdisciplinary Journal for the study of Arts and the Humanities in Southern Africa, Special Edition, 25: 341-356.

    DOI: 10.29086/2519-5476/2019/sp25.3a15

• Book

Cameron, D. (1985). Feminism and linguistic theory. St. Martin’s Press.

• Book chapter

Deumert, A., Panović, I., Agyepong, D., Barasa, D. (2019). African Languages and Mobile Communication – Between Constraint and Creativity. In H. Ekkehard Wolff (ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of African Linguistics (555-574). Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/9781108283991.019.

• Online document

Frisch, M. (2007). Does a low-entropy constraint prevent us from influencing the past? PhilSci archive.

http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/archive/00003390. Accessed 26 June 2007.

Tables

• All tables are to be numbered using Roman numerals.
• Tables should always be cited in the text in consecutive numerical order.
• For each table, please supply a table caption (title) explaining the components of the table.
• Identify any previously published material by giving the original source in the form of a reference at the end of the table caption.
• Footnotes to tables should be indicated by superscript lower-case letters (or asterisks for significance values and other statistical data) and included beneath the table body.

Figure Numbering

• All figures are to be numbered using Roman numerals.
• Figures should always be cited in the text in consecutive numerical order.
• Figure parts should be denoted by lowercase letters (a, b, c, etc.).
• If an appendix appears in your article and it contains one or more figures, continue the consecutive numbering of the main text.

Figure Captions

• Each figure should have a concise caption describing accurately what the figure depicts. Include the captions in the text file of the manuscript, not in the figure file.
• Figure captions begin with the term Figure in bold type, followed by the figure number, also in bold type.
• No punctuation is to be included after the number, nor is any punctuation to be placed at the end of the caption.
• Identify all elements found in the figure in the figure caption; and use boxes, circles, etc., as coordinate points in graphs.
• Identify previously published material by giving the original source in the form of a reference citation at the end of the figure caption.

Permissions

If you include figures that have already been published elsewhere, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner(s) for both the print and online format. Please be aware that some publishers do not grant electronic rights for free and that the Journal of will not be able to refund any costs that may have occurred to receive these permissions. In such cases, material from other sources should be used.

English Language Editing

For editors and reviewers to accurately assess the work presented in your manuscript you need to ensure the English language is of sufficient quality to be understood

If your manuscript is accepted, it will be checked by our copyeditors for spelling and formal style before publication.

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

This journal is committed to upholding the integrity of the scientific record. Authors should refrain from misrepresenting research results which could damage the trust in the journal, the professionalism of scientific authorship, and ultimately the entire scientific endeavor. Maintaining the integrity of the research and its presentation is helped by following the rules of good scientific practice, which include*:

• The manuscript should not be submitted to more than one journal for simultaneous consideration.
• The submitted work should be original and should not have been published elsewhere in any form or language (partially or in full), unless the new work concerns an expansion of previous work. (Please provide transparency on the re-use of material to avoid concerns about text-recycling (‘self-plagiarism’).
• A single study should not be split up into several parts to increase the quantity of submissions and submitted to various journals or to one journal over time (i.e. ‘salami-slicing/publishing’).
• Concurrent or secondary publication is sometimes justifiable, provided certain conditions are met. Examples include translations or a manuscript that is intended for a different group of readers.
• Results should be presented clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation (including image-based manipulation). Authors should adhere to discipline-specific rules for acquiring, selecting and processing data.
• No data, text, or theories by others are presented as if they were the author’s own (‘plagiarism’). Proper acknowledgements to other works must be given (this includes material that is closely copied (near verbatim), summarized and/or paraphrased), quotation marks (to indicate words taken from another source) are used for verbatim copying of material, and permissions secured for material that is copyrighted.

Suggesting/excluding reviewers

Authors are welcome to suggest suitable reviewers and/or request the exclusion of certain individuals when they submit their manuscripts. When suggesting reviewers, authors should make sure they are totally independent and not connected to the work in any way. It is strongly recommended to suggest a mix of reviewers from different countries and different institutions. When suggesting reviewers, the Corresponding Author must provide an institutional email address for each suggested reviewer, or, if this is not possible to include other means of verifying the identity such as a link to a personal homepage, a link to the publication record or a researcher or author ID in the submission letter. Please note that the Research Journal of Business & Finance may not use the suggestions, but suggestions are appreciated and may help facilitate the peer review process.

Data transparency

All authors are requested to make sure that all data and materials as well as software application or custom code support their published claims and comply with field standards

Role of the Corresponding Author

One author is assigned as the Corresponding Author and acts on behalf of all co-authors and ensures that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately addressed.

The Corresponding Author is responsible for the following requirements:

• ensuring that all listed authors have approved the manuscript before submission, including the names and order of authors;
• managing all communication between the Journal and all co-authors, before and after publication; *
• providing transparency on the re-use of material and mention any unpublished material (for example manuscripts in press) included in the manuscript in a cover letter to the Editor;
• making sure disclosures, declarations, and transparency on data statements from all authors are included in the manuscript as appropriate (see above).

* The requirement of managing all communication between the journal and all co-authors during submission and proofing may be delegated to a Contact or Submitting Author. In this case please make sure the Corresponding Author is clearly indicated in the manuscript.

Affiliation

The primary affiliation for each author should be the institution where the majority of their work was done. If an author has subsequently moved, the current address may additionally be stated. Addresses will not be updated or changed after the publication of the article.

Changes to authorship

Authors are strongly advised to ensure the correct author group, the Corresponding Author, and the order of authors at submission. Changes of authorship by adding or deleting authors, and/or changes in Corresponding Author, and/or changes in the sequence of authors are not accepted after acceptance of a manuscript.

Please note that author names will be published exactly as they appear on the accepted submission!

Please make sure that the names of all authors are present and correctly spelled, and that addresses and affiliations are current.

Adding and/or deleting authors at the revision stage are generally not permitted, but in some cases, it may be warranted. The reasons for these changes in authorship should be explained. Approval of the change during revision is at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.

Author identification

Authors are recommended to use their ORCID ID when submitting an article for consideration or acquire an ORCID ID via the submission process.

Deceased or incapacitated authors

For cases in which a co-author dies or is incapacitated during the writing, submission, or peer-review process, and the co-authors feel it is appropriate to include the author, co-authors should obtain approval from a (legal) representative who could be a direct relative.

Authorship issues or disputes

In the case of an authorship dispute during peer review or after acceptance and publication, the Research Journal of Business & Finance will not be in a position to investigate or adjudicate. Authors will be asked to resolve the dispute themselves. If they are unable the Journal of Musicology Online reserves the right to withdraw a manuscript from the editorial process or in case of a published paper raise the issue with the authors’ institution(s) and abide by its guidelines.

Confidentiality

Authors should treat all communication with the Journal of Musicology Online as confidential which includes correspondence with direct representatives from the Journal such as Editors-in-Chief and/or Handling Editors and reviewers’ reports unless explicit consent has been received to share information.

After acceptance

Upon acceptance, your article will be exported to Production to undergo typesetting. Once typesetting is complete, you will receive a link asking you to confirm your affiliation, choose the publishing model for your article as well as arrange rights and payment of any associated publication cost.

Once you have completed this, your article will be processed, and you will receive the proofs.

Offprints

Offprints can be ordered by the corresponding author.

Proofreading

The purpose of the proof is to check for typesetting or conversion errors and the completeness and accuracy of the text, tables, and figures. Substantial changes in content, e.g., new results, corrected values, title, and authorship, are not allowed without the approval of the Editor. After online publication, further changes cannot be made to the article.

Publication

The article will be published online after receipt of the corrected proofs.