Author Guidelines

The Journal of Business Management and Accounting (JBMA) welcomes high-quality scholarly contributions that advance knowledge in business management, leadership and accounting.

Consistent with the journal's evolving editorial direction and its association with the Management & Leadership Case Study Centre, Universiti Utara Malaysia, particular priority is given to case-based, context-rich and practice-relevant scholarship that connects rigorous academic inquiry with real organisational challenges.

Authors are strongly encouraged to review the journal's Aims and Scope before preparing and submitting a manuscript.

1. Manuscript Types

JBMA considers the following types of manuscripts.

1.1 Research Articles

Original empirical studies using quantitative, qualitative or mixed-method approaches.

Research articles should demonstrate:

• a clearly articulated research problem;
• strong engagement with relevant theory and literature;
• appropriate and rigorous methodology;
• robust analysis;
• clear theoretical and/or scholarly contribution; and
• meaningful implications for management, leadership, accounting, policy or practice.

Recommended length: 6,000–8,000 words.

1.2 Research Case Studies

Empirical research using a case-study methodology to investigate organisational, managerial, leadership, governance, accounting or related phenomena.

JBMA welcomes:

• single-case studies;
• embedded case studies;
• longitudinal case studies;
• process studies; and
• other rigorous case-based research designs.

A Research Case Study is an academic research article, rather than a teaching case. Authors should clearly explain:

• why the case was selected;
• the unit and boundaries of analysis;
• the research context;
• sources of evidence;
• data collection procedures;
• analytical procedures;
• triangulation or other measures used to establish research credibility; and
• how findings contribute beyond the individual case.

Rich description of an organisation alone is insufficient. The manuscript must make a clear theoretical or scholarly contribution.

Recommended length: 6,000–9,000 words.

1.3 Comparative and Multiple-Case Studies

JBMA particularly encourages studies comparing organisations, industries, sectors, institutional environments or countries.

Authors should explain:

• the rationale for case selection;
• the basis of comparison;
• within-case and cross-case analytical procedures;
• similarities and differences across cases; and
• how the comparative evidence contributes to theory, practice or policy.

Cross-country and internationally collaborative case research is particularly welcomed.

Recommended length: 6,000–9,000 words.

1.4 Teaching Cases

JBMA welcomes teaching cases based on real organisational situations and authentic managerial, leadership, governance, accounting or business challenges.

Teaching cases should be designed to stimulate analysis, discussion and decision-making in the classroom.

A strong teaching case should normally contain:

• a clearly established organisational context;
• identifiable actors or stakeholders;
• a meaningful managerial or organisational challenge;
• sufficient evidence and information for analysis;
• competing perspectives or possible courses of action; and
• a situation capable of generating substantive classroom discussion.

Teaching cases should be factual. Fictional cases are generally not considered.

Cases may be developed using primary data, secondary data or a combination of both. Authors must clearly identify the sources used to construct the case.

Recommended case length: 3,000–7,000 words, excluding references, exhibits and supplementary materials.

Teaching Note

Every Teaching Case must be accompanied by a separate Teaching Note.

The Teaching Note should include, where appropriate:

1. Case Synopsis
2. Target Audience and Relevant Courses
3. Learning Objectives
4. Theoretical or Conceptual Foundations
5. Research and Case Development Method
6. Discussion or Assignment Questions
7. Suggested Analysis and Responses
8. Teaching Strategy and Suggested Class Plan
9. Epilogue or Actual Outcome, where appropriate
10. References and Additional Teaching Resources

Learning objectives should be specific, measurable and aligned with the discussion questions and suggested analysis.

The Teaching Note will be handled separately from the teaching case and may be subject to restricted access for educators.

1.5 Conceptual and Theoretical Articles

JBMA considers conceptual papers that develop, extend, integrate or challenge existing theories or frameworks relevant to the journal's scope.

A conceptual article should offer more than a summary of existing literature. It should provide a clearly articulated new conceptual insight, theoretical proposition, framework, model or research agenda.

Recommended length: 6,000–8,000 words.

1.6 Review Articles

Systematic, critical, integrative and other rigorous forms of literature review may be considered where they provide a substantive contribution to the field.

Review articles should:

• address a clearly defined problem or question;
• justify the review methodology;
• explain the search, selection and analytical procedures where applicable;
• move beyond descriptive reporting of previous studies; and
• generate meaningful theoretical insights, synthesis or future research directions.

Bibliometric analysis alone is generally insufficient unless it is integrated with substantive intellectual analysis and produces a clear contribution to the understanding of the field.

Recommended length: 6,000–9,000 words.

2. Editorial Priority and Journal Fit

Acceptance is determined not simply by whether a manuscript addresses a topic associated with business, management or accounting.

Priority is given to manuscripts that:

• address significant contemporary organisational problems;
• demonstrate clear theoretical grounding;
• use appropriate and rigorous methodology;
• provide rich organisational, institutional or managerial context;
• generate insights that extend beyond a single organisation, sample or location;
• connect evidence meaningfully to theory and practice;
• demonstrate originality and scholarly contribution; and
• are relevant to a wider academic and professional audience.

Consistent with JBMA's strategic direction, particular consideration will be given to research addressing:

• leadership, strategy and organisational transformation;
• digital transformation, artificial intelligence and innovation;
• sustainability, ESG and responsible management;
• governance, accountability and business ethics;
• accounting, organisational control and decision-making;
• entrepreneurship, SMEs and family businesses; and
• organisational crisis, resilience and transformation.

Studies from Southeast Asia and other emerging and transforming economies are particularly welcomed where the research uses its context to address questions of broader theoretical or managerial significance.

3. The JBMA Case Orientation

For case-based submissions, authors are encouraged to consider four fundamental elements:

Context

Is the organisational, institutional, industry or social setting sufficiently developed to understand the phenomenon?

Actors

Are the relevant decision-makers, organisations, stakeholders or groups clearly identified?

Strategic Challenge

Is there a meaningful managerial, leadership, governance, accounting or organisational issue being investigated?

Evidence

Is the analysis supported by credible and sufficiently rich evidence?

Together, these elements represent JBMA's CASE orientation: Context, Actors, Strategic Challenge and Evidence.

The CASE orientation should not be treated as a rigid manuscript structure. Rather, it provides a framework for developing rigorous and meaningful case-based scholarship.

Manuscript Preparation

4. Language

Manuscripts should be written in clear and professional academic English.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that the manuscript has been carefully proofread before submission. Manuscripts requiring substantial language correction may be returned to the authors before peer review.

5. Manuscript Format

Authors should use the latest JBMA Manuscript Template available on the journal website.

Unless otherwise specified in the template:

• manuscripts should be submitted in Microsoft Word format;
• pages should be numbered consecutively;
• tables and figures should be numbered and cited in the text;
• headings should follow a clear and consistent hierarchy; and
• abbreviations should be defined when first used.

Authors should avoid unnecessary formatting that may interfere with the journal's production process.

6. Title

The title should be:

• concise and informative;
• representative of the principal contribution;
• free from unnecessary technical wording; and
• sufficiently specific to facilitate discoverability.

For Research Case Studies and Teaching Cases, authors are encouraged to identify the organisational or decision context where appropriate.

7. Abstract

Research, conceptual and review manuscripts should include an abstract of approximately 200–250 words covering, where relevant:

• purpose;
• design/methodology/approach;
• principal findings or arguments;
• theoretical or practical implications; and
• originality/value.

Teaching Cases should provide a brief case synopsis and relevant metadata during submission. The main teaching case narrative need not follow the conventional research abstract format.

8. Keywords

Authors should provide four to six keywords that accurately represent the principal concepts, context and methodological approach of the manuscript.

Authors are encouraged to select terms that improve the discoverability of the article in scholarly databases.

9. Recommended Structure for Research Articles

The specific structure may vary according to methodology, but research manuscripts will normally include:

1. Introduction
2. Literature Review and/or Theoretical Background
3. Methodology
4. Findings/Results
5. Discussion
6. Theoretical Contribution
7. Practical and/or Policy Implications
8. Limitations and Future Research
9. Conclusion
10. References

Authors should avoid merely repeating findings in the Discussion section. The Discussion should explain what the findings mean, why they matter and how they extend, refine or challenge existing knowledge.

10. Recommended Structure for Research Case Studies

Research Case Studies should normally include:

1. Introduction and Research Problem
2. Theoretical Background
3. Case Context and Case Selection
4. Research Method
5. Sources of Evidence and Data Collection
6. Case Findings
7. Analysis and Discussion
8. Theoretical Contribution
9. Managerial and/or Policy Implications
10. Limitations
11. Conclusion
12. References

Authors should provide sufficient methodological information to demonstrate the credibility, transparency and rigour of the case-study design.

11. Tables, Figures and Exhibits

Tables, figures and exhibits should:

• be numbered consecutively;
• have clear and descriptive titles;
• be referred to in the manuscript;
• indicate the source where applicable; and
• be of sufficient resolution for publication.

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted material.

For Teaching Cases, exhibits should provide information that supports analysis rather than merely decorate the case narrative.

12. References

JBMA uses the American Psychological Association (APA), 7th edition referencing style.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that:

• every work cited in the manuscript appears in the reference list;
• every reference listed is cited in the manuscript;
• bibliographic information is complete and accurate;
• DOI information is provided where available; and
• references are relevant and appropriately current.

Citation manipulation, unnecessary citation of the journal, or requests to add irrelevant references for the purpose of increasing citations are not acceptable.

Ethical and Publication Requirements

13. Originality

Submission of a manuscript to JBMA indicates that:

• the work is original;
• it has not been published previously in substantially the same form;
• it is not simultaneously under consideration by another journal; and
• all authors have approved the submission.

JBMA screens submissions for textual similarity and other potential publication-integrity concerns.

As a general guideline, manuscripts should normally demonstrate an overall similarity index below 20%. However, similarity percentages are not interpreted mechanically. Editors will examine the nature, source and location of overlapping material when determining originality.

Manuscripts containing plagiarism, inappropriate duplication or substantial unattributed overlap will not be considered.

14. Research Ethics

Research involving human participants, confidential organisational information or other ethically sensitive data must comply with applicable institutional and disciplinary ethical standards.

Where required, authors should provide:

• ethics approval information;
• informed consent procedures;
• institutional permissions; and
• other relevant ethical declarations.

The editors may request supporting documentation.

15. Teaching Case Consent and Organisational Permission

Authors of Teaching Cases must clearly disclose whether the case was developed from:

• field research;
• interviews or other primary data;
• publicly available secondary information; or
• a combination of sources.

Where identifiable individuals, confidential information or non-public organisational data are used, authors must obtain appropriate permission or consent for publication.

The journal may request a signed Case Release/Consent Form before publication.

Cases based exclusively on publicly available information must provide complete and verifiable sources and must not contain unsupported statements about individuals or organisations.

Authors remain responsible for the accuracy and legality of all material included in the case.

16. Authorship

All listed authors must have made a meaningful contribution to the manuscript and must approve the final version.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that:

• all legitimate contributors are appropriately credited;
• no individual is included as an author without qualifying contribution;
• all authors approve the submission; and
• authorship disputes are resolved before submission.

JBMA encourages authors to provide ORCID iDs and may request a statement of author contributions using the CRediT contributor roles.

17. Conflict of Interest

Authors must disclose any financial, professional, institutional or personal relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research.

Where no conflict exists, authors should state:

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

18. Funding

All sources of research funding should be disclosed, including the funder's name and grant number where applicable.

Where no external funding was received, this should be stated.

19. Data Availability

Authors of empirical research are encouraged to include a Data Availability Statement explaining whether and under what conditions the underlying research data can be accessed.

Where data cannot be shared because of confidentiality, commercial sensitivity, ethical restrictions or other legitimate reasons, this should be stated clearly.

20. Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence

Generative AI tools cannot be listed as authors.

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity and appropriate attribution of all submitted content.

Where generative AI has been used substantively in the preparation of a manuscript—for example, in data analysis, coding, translation or generation of research-related material—the use should be transparently disclosed in accordance with the journal's AI policy.

Routine use of software for spelling, grammar or reference management does not normally require disclosure.

Generative AI should not be used to fabricate, manipulate or misrepresent data, citations, evidence or research findings.

Submission Process

21. Files to be Submitted

Depending on manuscript type, authors should prepare the following files:

For all manuscripts:

1. Title Page
2. Anonymous Main Manuscript
3. Cover Letter
4. Any supplementary files where applicable

For Teaching Cases:

1. Teaching Case manuscript
2. Separate Teaching Note
3. Case Release/Consent documentation where applicable

The anonymous manuscript must not contain author names, affiliations, acknowledgements or other information that directly identifies the authors.

22. Title Page

The Title Page should include:

• manuscript title;
• full names of all authors;
• institutional affiliations;
• corresponding author details;
• email addresses;
• ORCID iDs where available;
• acknowledgements;
• funding information;
• conflict-of-interest declaration; and
• author contribution statement where required.

23. Cover Letter

A submission should be accompanied by a concise Cover Letter explaining:

1. the principal contribution of the manuscript;
2. why the manuscript is suitable for JBMA;
3. how it aligns with the journal's aims and scope;
4. whether the manuscript represents case-based scholarship and, if so, its type;
5. confirmation that the manuscript is original and is not under consideration elsewhere; and
6. any information that the editors should know when assessing the submission.

Authors should not use the Cover Letter merely to reproduce the manuscript abstract.

Editorial Screening and Peer Review

24. Initial Editorial Screening

All submissions undergo initial editorial assessment before external peer review.

The editors will consider:

• alignment with JBMA's aims and scope;
• originality and significance;
• theoretical contribution;
• methodological credibility;
• quality of writing and presentation;
• relevance beyond the immediate research setting; and
• compliance with ethical and submission requirements.

Manuscripts may be declined without external review if they do not meet these criteria.

A manuscript's use of a case-study methodology or inclusion of a business-related topic does not automatically establish suitability for JBMA.

25. Peer Review

Manuscripts that pass the initial editorial screening will normally undergo double-blind peer review by at least two suitably qualified reviewers.

Final publication decisions remain the responsibility of the Editor.

Possible editorial decisions include:

• Accept;
• Minor Revision;
• Major Revision;
• Reject and Resubmit, where appropriate; or
• Reject.

A revised manuscript should be accompanied by a detailed Response to Reviewers explaining how each comment has been addressed.

Open Access and Publication Charges

26. Open Access

JBMA is an open-access journal. Published articles are freely available to readers in accordance with the journal's applicable open-access and copyright policies.

27. Article Processing Charges

JBMA currently does not charge submission, article processing or publication fees.