The “Academic Review of Business and Economics” journal accepts for publication previously unpublished materials presenting results of the Authors’ own research conducted in the fields of economics and business, prepared either in Polish or English. The papers should satisfy ethical criteria and editorial requirements applied by the journal. Files should be sent in doc, docx or pdf format. While preparing the file you may want to use a paper template:
Below you will find detailed guidelines and recommendations not only for editing, but also for the structure, content, and desired style of the paper. However, should the Author require additional support from the journal, it is possible to arrange a consultation with one of the editors. In such cases, please contact us by e-mail at arbe@uekat.pl.
1. Page format
Page format should be A4 page size with standard margins (2.5 cm from each side). Pages should be numbered; page number located at right bottom corner.
2. Main text
- The papers should be between 20,000 (minimum) and 40,000 (maximum) characters long (with spaces). This includes main body, abstract, references, tables, and figures.
- All lines in the paper should be numbered (see Template) so as to make it easier for reviewers to provide feedback.
- The text should follow the rules of spelling, grammar and punctuation applicable to the English/Polish language respectively. Avoid long, multiple sentences, but also too short paragraphs consisting of only one or two sentences – one paragraph should represent one thought.
- The text should be concise and arranged according to the logic of argumentation (from the general to more specific issues). Use scientific language (avoid colloquial expressions!), as precise as possible, but at the same time understandable and clear even to a reader with less knowledge of the subject.
- If long scientific terms and/or names composed of many words are frequently repeated in the text, it is worth defining appropriate abbreviations/acronyms for them and then using them consistently in the rest of the paper. Such an abbreviation should be placed in the main body of the paper where the term/name appears for the first time (the abbreviation should be given in brackets next to the full name).
- E.g. “Sustainable consumer behavior (SCB) has recently become the subject of numerous studies. Research on SCB has been conducted …”.
- Avoid platitudes, obvious statements (e.g. “Forests are very important ecosystems“), unnecessary “embellishments” (e.g. “It is common knowledge that…“; “Everyone can probably agree that...”) and eliminate phrases that add nothing to the discussion. Clarity of deliberation is a priority.
3. Fonts and styles
- Main body of the text: Times New Roman, 12 font size; 1,15 line spacing; justified. In each new paragraph the first line should be indented (0,75 cm).
- Italics and bold can be used in the text, but do not use underlining or caps. Use italics to highlight terms and phrases discussed in the text, foreign words and titles of books, chapters, and papers.
- Sections headings: Times New Roman, 12 font size; bold; 1,15 line spacing; left-aligned; space after 12 pt.
- Subsections headings: TNR, 12 font size; bold, italics; 1,15 line spacing; justified; space before: 12 pt, after: 6 pt.
- Sub-subsections headings: TNR, 12 font size; italics; 1,15 line spacing; justified; first line indented 0,75 cm.
- References: TNR, 12 font size; 1,15 line spacing; justified; first line out 1,25 cm.
Additional information about the styles is given in the template.
4. Tables and figures (if included):
- All graphical objects appearing in the paper should be described either as a Table or Figure (i.e. all objects other than tables, e.g. charts, graphs, schemes, images, drawings, etc.);
- Should be numbered continuously and appropriately referenced in the main text before they appear in it (e.g.: cf. Figure 1; see Figure 2; as in Table 1);
- Should be integrated within the text as close as possible to where they are first mentioned;
- Should be centered and described appropriately: the header should be placed below the figure and above the table (see the template);
- Should include the reference (source of information) presented right below it (see examples in the template);
- Font size:
- headers – 11 pt, left-aligned, single spacing, 12 pt space before and after the header;
- sources – 9 pt, left-aligned, 6 pt space before and 12 pt after, single line spacing;
- inside table/figures – depending on the amount of data presented use 6 to 10 pt font size, single line spacing.
- Any graphical object may be placed at the end of a section but cannot begin one.
NOTE: The sources must be provided for all photos, drawings, schemes, and charts. Do not include in the text any illustration materials to which you have no copyrights or if you are not certain that consent for their public use has been given.
5. In-text and bibliographic references
- Both types of references should be prepared in accordance with the APA 7th citation style (see e.g. https://libguides.williams.edu/citing/apa; https://aut.ac.nz.libguides.com/APA7th; https://libraryguides.vu.edu.au/apa-referencing/7GettingStarted).
- Instructions on in-text references are given at: https://libguides.williams.edu/citing/apa#s-lg-box-24887775, while numerous examples of how to refer to various sources in the bibliographic references can be found at: https://libguides.williams.edu/citing/apa#s-lg-box-24887776
- For electronic sources include the retrieval date in References if the page is designed to change over time and is not archived (see examples in the template).
- In-text reference are obligatory, footnotes should be used only in exceptional cases.
- It is recommended to cite source publications (containing original reflections of the actual author of a given concept) rather than review publications (works quoting source publications).
- The references list should contain only the items used in the text, and at the same time the Author should make sure that all the sources cited are listed in the references.
- Items in the list should be arranged alphabetically by the name of the first author.
- Unpublished sources should not be cited in the references.
- Where possible, DOI (digital object identifier) should be provided for the reference.
6. Paper structure
It is recommended that articles submitted to ARBE consist of 5 main parts: introduction, literature review, methodology, research results, discussion and conclusions. However, in special cases some (minor) deviations from this version are possible, resulting from the specificity of a given paper.
The expected content of each part is characterized below.
- Introduction
Each article begins with an introduction that should outline the broader area (context, background) in which the issues addressed in the article are located. In relation to these considerations, it is necessary to identify a gap in the current knowledge, i.e. to indicate what is missing from the knowledge to date, what has not been examined/established yet, and what are the reasons justifying necessity to conduct the discussed research. Following these arguments, the novelty/ uniqueness/ originality of one’s own work should be demonstrated and the extent to which it will complement the existing state of knowledge should be identified. The introduction should then outline (depending on the type of an article) the research problem, the aim(s) and/or research questions and possibly the main research hypothesis/thesis. At the end of the introduction, the structure of the article should be presented.
- Literature review
This section should thoroughly review the current state of research in the field, citing the most important publications, theories (briefly), researchers and their findings. The literature review should include both world and national literature. On this basis a synthetic characteristics of the previous theoretical and empirical findings should emerge, showing the essence of a given issue. It is critical to define terms and concepts used in the paper (in the case of numerous and varied definitions of a term, the one that will be used in the paper should be indicated). In addition to the prevailing views, controversial concepts may also be indicated, if necessary, and/or discrepancies in the results/conclusions presented by different authors may be cited.
It is best to summarize or paraphrase the text from the quoted sources. This also applies to translations.
When referring to literature, phrases similar to examples below should be used:
- According to Smith (2019) … .
- Another approach to this problem (Smith, 2005, p. 67) points to … .
- Research confirms the important role of … in … (Smith & Kowalski, 2017; Smith 2012).
When citing the exact excerpts from the original text (e.g. whole sentences or longer passages), they must be placed in quotes, in which case the source must be indicated immediately after the reference. Also, the number of page from which the quotation is taken should be given in a reference (if possible).
NOTE: If you do not follow these rules, you may be accused of plagiarism or content “recycling” (unjustified, excessive use of previously published text, data, illustrations, etc.), or of creating a duplicate (hence redundant) publication.
- Methodology
This part should present the way the research was conducted, i.e. discuss the methodological solutions applied by the Author, regarding data collection and analysis. In the case of primary research, this part may begin with a section containing specific research hypotheses or description of the research model together with the set of tested hypotheses. Next, it is necessary to describe subsequent stages of the study, data sources, and methods of their collection (such as a survey, an experiment), measurement instruments used (e.g. scales used in the questionnaire) and methods of analysis applied (including statistical methods). The methodology should be described in sufficient detail to allow for study replication and/or secondary use of the research results. New methods/solutions should be discussed most precisely, while well-known techniques may be described in shorter terms, in which case the reader should be referred to the relevant sources. In the case of research articles an important element of this section should be a sample description.
- Research results
This part should contain a concise yet precise description of the research results and analyses conducted (but without conclusions and recommendations). In the case of quantitative research, the statistical interpretation of results should be included. Particularly important elements of this part are appropriately selected, clear, and complete (i.e. fully comprehensible even without reading the text) graphic objects presenting data and results of analyses. Data presented in tables should not be repeated on graphs (and vice versa).
- Discussion and conclusions
In this part, the Author should discuss conclusions of the research in relation to the verified research hypotheses and/or answer the questions posed in the introduction. The author should also make an objective comparison between the obtained results and the previously published results of other (external and own) studies (this is the discussion). This part does NOT serve to present new data or to explain theoretical concepts, but it allows to emphasize the importance of the study output and to make some generalizations. However, one should not overgeneralize one’s own conclusions if there is no reason to do so. Next, it is worth presenting recommendations and practical implications resulting from the findings. Finally, it is necessary to indicate limitations of the conducted research (in the sphere of collected data, applied methods) as well as suggestions for the future research in th