International Journal of SME Research and Innovation (IJSMERI)

International Journal of SME Research and Innovation (IJSMERI): Guidelines for Submission

Invitation

Prospective authors are invited to submit article manuscripts for possible publication in IGI Global Journals.

Types of Submissions

  • Empirical research
  • Conceptual models
  • Theory building
  • Innovative methodologies and applications
  • Case studies
  • Book reviews on selected books or textbooks dealing with values, concepts
  • Applications of specific research topics
  • Literature Reviews
  • Research Notes
  • Position Papers

Originality and Copyright

Please note that all submissions must be original, unpublished, and not under the review of any other publication. Upon submission to an IGI Global Journal, it is assumed that the contents of any submission are not held by the copyright of any other publication or under review by any other publication. IGI Global has first publication rights and as such, any manuscript that is already published elsewhere as open access will not be re-published by IGI Global.

Please note that all manuscripts submitted for consideration to IGI Global journals must be professionally copy edited. IGI Global highly recommends eContent Pro, a professional editorial services provider, for supplemental editorial services, for which IGI Global authors and editors receive a 25% discount.

The following illustrates the IGI Global Originality and Copyright policy for submissions:

1. Originality of manuscripts: Only original and previously unpublished article manuscripts will be accepted for publication. Authors are asked to sign an Author’s Warranty Agreement confirming that the article manuscript is original and has not been submitted for potential publication or previously published elsewhere and the copyright will be retained by the authors. IGI Global open access journal publishing offers authors the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licensing arrangement. The copyright for the work remains solely with the author(s) of the article manuscript.

2. Enhanced manuscripts. IGI Global does not publish article manuscripts largely based on previously published works (i.e., published conference proceeding papers, etc.). While manuscripts may include intellectual property and can build upon the work in previously published manuscript, it cannot include verbatim content that is not original or has been previously published.

3. Acquiring permission for copyrighted images. Any permission from other publishers for the use of images that are previously published must be accompanied by written permission from the original publication/publisher in which the copyrighted image was published. Copyrighted images include any image (figure, table, graphic, etc.) appearing in any publication and/or any images that are associated with an organization in which permission is required [e.g., a screenshot of a page from a company’s website, a screenshot of a scene from a video game, etc.]. For specific instructions, please refer to the article manuscript submission guidelines: https://www.igi-global.com/publish/contributor-resources/before-you-write/#journals

Any copyrighted image must include indication in the caption of the original source of the image and that it is being used with permission of the copyright holder. Copyrighted image captions should appear as:

Figure 1.

[insert caption here]

(© [insert copyright year here], [insert copyright holder’s name here]. Used with permission.).

In the case of an Adapted Image that is loosely based on a copyrighted image, the image must be accompanied by a caption that indicates the original source. Adapted copyrighted image captions should appear as:

Figure 1.

[insert caption here]

(Adapted from [insert source of copyrighted image here]).

Adapted copyrighted images should be investigated by the author to ensure that the original source is adequately indicated as the original publisher requires.

Acquiring image permissions can take extended periods of time and the author should plan to begin permissions process upon submission of the article manuscript for assessment.

4. Permission fees. If the copyright holder of an image is requiring a one-time permission fee, IGI Global will agree to publish the figure, provided that the author pays the fee. However, IGI Global will not agree to publish any copyrighted image for which a permission fee is required for each subsequent publication of the image.

5. Trademark use. All trademark use within the article manuscript must be credited to its owner, or written permission to use the name must be granted.

Manuscript Submission:

All article manuscript submissions should be submitted through the eEditorial Discovery manuscript submission system: www.igi-global.com/submission/submit-manuscript/

Please ensure that you complete all steps of the article manuscript submission process and that all appropriate documents have been uploaded successfully.

If a submission is received without the document of the full article manuscript, the submission will not move forward until the document of the full article is received.

Style

Research Article manuscripts should include a thorough literature review and adequate reference citations to support the arguments and methodology of the research study (research article manuscripts should include approximately 25-30 references to assert a high level of rigor). All material that is paraphrased or quoted from another source must be substantiated with an in-text reference citation. Article manuscripts and references must strictly follow APA (American Psychological Association) style (The publisher may return article manuscripts for revision to format the article manuscript and references in APA style if formatting is not correctly applied. Note that excessive revisions will delay the production process, and ultimately, the release of the article.). References should relate only to the material that is cited within the content of the article manuscript and may not include any bibliographic references that do not associate directly with the content of the article manuscript. References should be in alphabetical order and not numbered in the text or in the reference list. Please do not include any abbreviations.

Consulting the most recent edition of the APA style manual is highly recommended for compiling article manuscript submissions. The APA style manual ‘frequently asked questions’ and ‘helpful tips’ may also be found at:www.apastyle.org/faqs.html and www.apastyle.org/previoustips.html

Manuscript Requirements:

Submission guidelines for journal article manuscripts can be found here.

All initial article manuscript submissions should follow the below requirements:

  1. Ethical Permission: Any article manuscript conducting research that requires permission from an ethical council, needs to have this permission before submitting to any IGI Global journal. For more information, please see the "Submission Conflicts" section of IGI Global's Editorial Policy.
  2. Length: The length of the submitted article manuscript should fall between 5,000-7,000 words.
  3. Abstract: An Abstract must be included in the article manuscript and should be between 100-150 words, precisely summarizing the mission and objective of the article manuscript.
  4. Keywords: Following the Abstract, a list of 5-10 keywords should be included in the article manuscript. These keywords should be common indexing terms. Keywords should appear in the article manuscript or be related to the main thrust of the article manuscript.

All final article manuscript submissions should follow the below requirements:

  1. General Formatting: Please format your article following APA 7th Edition guidelines.
  2. Abstract: An Abstract must be included in the article manuscript and should be between 100-150 words, precisely summarizing the mission and objective of the article manuscript.
  3. Keywords: Following the Abstract, a list of 5-10 keywords should be included in the article manuscript. These keywords should be common indexing terms. Keywords should appear in the article manuscript or be related to the main thrust of the article manuscript.
  4. Subhead Divisions: Formatting of the subhead divisions should be in APA 7th Edition.
  5. Images: Images must be submitted separately in .TIF format in the same numerical order as they appear in the manuscript. Figure Callouts should appear in the body of the manuscript. For specific instructions, please see https://www.igi-global.com/publish/contributor-resources/image-guide/
    1. Please note that images published by IGI Global are typically published in black and white; for the best quality, images should be submitted in a manner that would look clear in color as well as in black and white and gray scale. Note that the journal page dimensions are 5x8, and images shouldn’t exceed that width and height.
  6. Symbols and Letters: Symbols and letters must be consistent in their formatting throughout the manuscript (i.e., italics as seen in each equation for the common symbol “x”). Inconsistent use of symbols and letters can result in major revisions and can affect the quality of the article manuscript’s content.
  7. Endnotes: Endnotes will be placed at the end of the article manuscript following the list of references.
  8. Acknowledgment: A separate section can be added to acknowledge any individuals or entities that aided with the completion of the project.
    1. Competing Interest Statement: A competing interest statement needs to be included in the final version of the accepted manuscripts to adhere to indexing guidelines. For examples, please see here.
    2. Funding Agency Statement: A funding information statement needs to be included in the final version of accepted manuscripts to adhere to indexing guidelines. For examples, please see here.
  9. APA and IGI Global House Style: Please be advised that due to APA and IGI Global house style rules, changes in regard to, capitalization, the appearance of block quotes and bulleted and numbered lists, as well as the placement of images may be adjusted accordingly during the typesetting phase.

Book Review Guidelines:

Should you be submitting a review of a textbook or professional book for possible inclusion in an IGI Global journal, please adhere to the following guidelines:

  1. Book reviews must include:
    1. The title of the book
    2. Author of the book
    3. Publishing company
    4. Publication date
    5. Number of pages
    6. Cost (if listed)
    7. ISBN number
  2. Must not exceed 1,500 words.
  3. Reviews should summarize the book and indicate the highlights, strengths, and weaknesses of the book.
  4. Reviews should evaluate the organizational and managerial applications of the material discussed in the book relevant to the topic area of the journal to which you are submitting.
  5. Reviews should critique and constructively evaluate the authors’ work and not merely list the chapters’ contents.
  6. The writing style, accuracy, relevance, and the need for such a work in the discipline should be analyzed.
  7. Each book review submission must be accompanied by a short biography of the reviewer.

Not Accepted by IGI Global Journals

  1. LaTex: LaTex files are not accepted by IGI Global due to compatibility with IGI Global’s typesetting program. As an alternative, MathType must be used for all equation formatting.
  2. Metafiles: Metafiles for any mathematical symbols or letters are not accepted by IGI Global.
  3. Picture Equations: Picture equations are not accepted by IGI Global. If a document with picture equations is run through IGI Global's typesetting processes, the equations are lost. This causes a slow down in publication due to the time needed to locate the lost equations during that time.
  4. Footnotes: Footnotes are not accepted and will be converted to end notes.
  5. PDF Versions of the Article Manuscript: IGI Global's submission system does not accept uploads of a PDF version of the article manuscript. Since editing is locked for PDFs, the publication process cannot work with PDFs to format the articles into IGI Global's House Style.

Review Process

To ensure the high quality of published material, IGI Global journals utilize a double-anonymized peer review process by a group of experts to review submitted article manuscripts. Upon receipt of an article manuscript, reviewers are selected from the Editorial Review Board of the journal to which you are submitting. The selection is based upon the particular area of expertise of the reviewers matched to the subject matter of the submission. Article manuscripts undergo evaluations from Editorial Review Board members, followed by an Associate Editor. The final decision is made by the Editor-in-Chief upon his/her review of the article manuscript and reviews of the evaluations conducted by the Editorial Review Board Members and Associate Editor. Please note that the return of an article manuscript to the author(s) for revision does not guarantee acceptance of the article manuscript for publication. The final decision will be based upon the comments of the reviewers upon their second review of the revised article manuscript.

Competing Interests

Competing interests occur when the interpretation or presentation of data is influenced either consciously or unconsciously by the author's personal or financial relationships. It is important that authors declare all competing interests relevant to the work under consideration. These competing interests may include any relationships or roles, both financial and personal, that might interfere with the interpretation of the work to avoid the potential for bias. For more information, please see here.

Correspondence

An acknowledgment e-mail regarding the receipt of your article manuscript submission will be promptly sent from the eEditorial Discovery manuscript submission system. The review process will take approximately 12-16 weeks, and the corresponding author will be notified concerning the possibility of publication of the article manuscript as soon as the review process is completed. All correspondence will be directed to the corresponding author of multi-authored article manuscripts. The corresponding author is responsible for communicating with the article manuscript co-authors to obtain final materials.

Should your article manuscript be accepted for publication, it will be submitted to the publisher where it will be typeset. After typesetting, you will be sent a proof of your article manuscript to proofread. You will be required to return the proof within 5 days to the publisher.

ORCID iD

IGI Global is fully integrated with ORCID. When publishing an article, or conducting review activities for journals, we will collect your ORCID iD to verify your identity and tie the published work or journal manuscript review to your name. To ensure a streamlined and easy-to-use process, and to receive further recognition for your work, please authenticate and connect your ORCID iD to your IGI Global profile here.

All inquiries should be directed to the Editor-in-Chief of this journal.

Last Updated May 28, 2024