Editorial Policies

Overview

The Journal of Business Research in Emerging Economies (JBREE) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity, editorial excellence, transparency, and ethical publishing practices. The journal follows internationally recognized publication ethics principles and adheres to the guidelines and recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), along with globally accepted scholarly publishing standards.

JBREE is dedicated to fostering a professional, inclusive, and intellectually rigorous scholarly environment for authors, reviewers, editors, readers, and academic institutions worldwide.

Professional Conduct and Respectful Communication

The journal promotes respectful, ethical, and professional communication throughout all stages of the publication process. Authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial staff are expected to interact with integrity, courtesy, and professionalism.

Harassment, discrimination, intimidation, abusive conduct, unethical influence, or inappropriate communication toward editorial staff, reviewers, authors, or affiliated institutions will not be tolerated. The journal reserves the right to suspend editorial consideration, reject submissions, or terminate professional engagement in cases involving misconduct or repeated violations of professional standards.

Authorship Policy

Authorship Principles

All listed authors must have made substantial scholarly contributions to the manuscript and must collectively accept responsibility for the integrity, originality, and accuracy of the work.

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have significantly contributed to one or more of the following:

  • Conceptualization or research design;
  • Data collection, analysis, or interpretation;
  • Development of theoretical or methodological frameworks;
  • Drafting or critically revising the manuscript;
  • Approval of the final version for publication;
  • Accountability for the integrity and accuracy of the research.

Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet authorship criteria should be acknowledged appropriately in the Acknowledgements section.

The journal strongly encourages ethical collaboration and fair recognition of all contributors involved in the research process.

Corresponding Author Responsibilities

The corresponding author acts on behalf of all co-authors and is responsible for:

  • Ensuring that all authors approve the submitted manuscript and author order;
  • Managing all communication with the journal during submission, peer review, and publication;
  • Confirming the originality and authenticity of the manuscript;
  • Ensuring that disclosures, declarations, and ethical approvals are accurately reported;
  • Coordinating responses to editorial and reviewer comments.

Changes to Authorship

Authors are advised to finalize authorship details, affiliations, and author order before submission.

Requests for adding, removing, or rearranging authors after submission must:

  • Include a valid justification;
  • Receive written approval from all co-authors;
  • Be approved by the Editor-in-Chief.

Changes to authorship after manuscript acceptance are generally not permitted except under exceptional circumstances.

Author Identification

Authors are strongly encouraged to register and submit using an ORCID identifier to ensure transparency, author recognition, and accurate scholarly attribution.

Disclosure and Competing Interests

All authors must disclose any financial, professional, institutional, or personal interests that could influence or reasonably appear to influence—the research, interpretation, or publication of the manuscript.

Disclosures may include:

  • Research funding and grants;
  • Employment or consultancy relationships;
  • Stock ownership or commercial interests;
  • Advisory board memberships;
  • Intellectual property interests;
  • Personal or professional relationships relevant to the study.

If no competing interests exist, authors should clearly state:

“The authors declare that they have no competing interests.”

Failure to disclose relevant conflicts of interest may result in manuscript rejection, publication correction, or retraction.

Funding Disclosure

Authors must clearly disclose all sources of funding associated with the research and manuscript preparation, including grant numbers where applicable.

If the study received no external funding, authors should state:

“No funding was received for this research.”

Data Transparency and Research Reproducibility

Authors are expected to maintain transparency in data collection, analysis, and reporting. Where appropriate, authors should make datasets, analytical procedures, instruments, software code, or supplementary materials available to support research reproducibility and scholarly verification.

The journal encourages responsible data sharing in accordance with disciplinary norms, institutional policies, ethical obligations, and legal requirements.

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

Authors submitting to JBREE must ensure that:

  • The manuscript is original and unpublished;
  • The manuscript is not under consideration elsewhere;
  • All sources are properly cited and acknowledged;
  • Data are presented honestly and accurately;
  • No fabrication, falsification, manipulation, or plagiarism has occurred;
  • Permissions are obtained for copyrighted material;
  • The study complies with applicable ethical standards and regulations.

The journal may use plagiarism-detection software to screen all submissions.

Unethical practices including plagiarism, duplicate publication, manipulated citations, fabricated data, “salami slicing,” ghost authorship, or falsified peer review information are considered serious violations of publication ethics.

Research Ethics and Human Participants

Research involving human participants, organizations, surveys, interviews, or sensitive data must comply with institutional and international ethical standards.

Authors must disclose:

  • Ethical approval obtained from relevant review boards or institutions;
  • Informed consent procedures where applicable;
  • Measures taken to ensure participant confidentiality and data protection.

Citation Ethics

Authors are responsible for ensuring that all citations are:

  • Accurate and relevant;
  • Properly verified;
  • Directly related to the manuscript content;
  • Ethically and appropriately used.

The journal prohibits:

  • Excessive self-citation;
  • Citation manipulation;
  • Inclusion of irrelevant references;
  • Use of fabricated or AI-generated non-existent citations.

Authors should prioritize credible, peer-reviewed, and scholarly sources whenever possible.

Peer Review Integrity

JBREE operates a rigorous peer-review process to ensure scholarly quality, originality, and academic contribution.

The journal may use:

  • Double-blind peer review;
  • Independent expert reviewers;
  • Editorial screening for quality and scope alignment.

Authors may suggest potential reviewers; however, the final selection of reviewers remains solely at the discretion of the editorial team.

Confidentiality

All manuscripts submitted to the journal are treated as confidential documents. Editors, reviewers, and editorial staff must not disclose, discuss, or misuse unpublished manuscript content outside the peer-review and editorial process.

Preprint Policy

JBREE supports responsible scholarly communication and permits authors to share preprints of their manuscripts on recognized preprint servers or institutional repositories before formal publication.

Authors must disclose preprint details, including DOI or repository links, at the time of submission.

Posting a manuscript as a preprint does not constitute prior publication and will not affect editorial consideration.

Corrections, Retractions, and Editorial Expressions

The journal is committed to preserving the integrity of the scholarly record.

Where necessary, the journal may publish:

  • Corrections;
  • Retractions;
  • Editorial expressions of concern;
  • Clarifications or updates.

Retractions may occur in cases involving major errors, misconduct, plagiarism, fabricated data, or unethical publication practices. Retraction notices will remain permanently linked to the published article to ensure transparency.

Appeals and Complaints

Authors may appeal editorial decisions or raise concerns regarding editorial procedures, publication ethics, or peer-review conduct.

Appeals must:

  • Be submitted formally to the editorial office;
  • Include clear justification and supporting evidence;
  • Maintain professional and respectful communication.

The editorial team will review all appeals objectively and independently. Final decisions of the Editor-in-Chief are considered binding.

Predatory Publishing Awareness

Authors are encouraged to use credible, ethical, and recognized scholarly sources in their research. The journal discourages citation of predatory or deceptive publications that fail to meet accepted scholarly publishing standards.

JBREE supports responsible academic publishing practices aligned with internationally recognized scholarly ethics organizations and indexing standards.

Commitment to Research Integrity

The Journal of Business Research in Emerging Economies is committed to advancing trustworthy, impactful, and ethically grounded scholarly research that contributes to academic excellence, policy development, and sustainable business transformation in emerging economies worldwide.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

The Journal of Business Research in Emerging Economies (JBREE) recognizes the growing influence of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in academic research, scholarly communication, data analysis, and manuscript preparation. The journal supports the responsible, transparent, and ethical use of AI tools while maintaining the fundamental principles of human accountability, research integrity, originality, and scholarly responsibility.

JBREE continuously monitors developments in AI technologies and may revise this policy as academic standards, legal frameworks, and ethical expectations evolve.

AI Authorship Policy

Artificial intelligence tools, including Large Language Models (LLMs) such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and similar generative systems, cannot be listed as authors or co-authors of manuscripts submitted to the journal.

Authorship requires:

  • Intellectual accountability;
  • Responsibility for research integrity;
  • Ability to approve the final manuscript;
  • Ethical accountability for the accuracy and originality of the work.

Since AI systems cannot assume these responsibilities, only human contributors may qualify for authorship.

Disclosure of AI Use

Authors must transparently disclose the use of AI tools when they have been substantially used in:

  • Content generation;
  • Literature synthesis;
  • Data interpretation;
  • Methodological support;
  • Coding assistance;
  • Analytical procedures;
  • Figure or image generation.

Such disclosures should appear in an appropriate section of the manuscript, including:

  • Methods;
  • Acknowledgements;
  • Declaration statements;
  • Supplementary materials where applicable.

Example disclosure statement:

“The authors used AI-assisted tools for language refinement and editorial support. All intellectual content, interpretations, analysis, and final manuscript approval remain the responsibility of the authors.”

Minor AI-assisted language editing for grammar, spelling, readability, or formatting does not necessarily require formal disclosure, provided the intellectual content remains entirely human-generated.

Human Accountability

Authors remain fully responsible for:

  • Accuracy of all statements;
  • Validity of data and interpretations;
  • Citation integrity;
  • Ethical compliance;
  • Originality of the manuscript;
  • Prevention of plagiarism or fabricated information.

The use of AI does not exempt authors from scholarly accountability.

AI-Generated Content and Citations

Authors must carefully verify all AI-assisted outputs prior to submission.

The journal strictly prohibits:

  • Fabricated or hallucinated citations;
  • Non-existent references;
  • AI-generated misinformation;
  • Unverified factual claims;
  • Manipulated or misleading data.

Any manuscript found to contain fabricated AI-generated content may be rejected or retracted in accordance with the journal’s ethics policies.

Generative AI Images and Visual Content

The journal generally does not permit the use of AI-generated images, figures, illustrations, or visual materials unless:

  • Their use is scientifically justified;
  • Proper disclosure is provided;
  • Copyright and ethical requirements are satisfied;
  • Editorial approval is granted.

Where AI-generated visuals are exceptionally permitted, authors must clearly label them as AI-generated and explain the tools and methods used.

This policy applies to:

  • Illustrations;
  • Infographics;
  • Conceptual artwork;
  • AI-generated photographs;
  • Visual simulations;
  • Synthetic image generation.

The journal reserves the right to request original files, source materials, or methodological details for verification purposes.

AI Use in Peer Review

Peer reviewers must maintain strict confidentiality regarding all submitted manuscripts.

Reviewers are prohibited from uploading manuscripts, datasets, or unpublished materials into generative AI systems or external AI platforms that may compromise confidentiality, intellectual property, or data security.

If reviewers use AI-assisted tools in a limited and responsible manner during the review process, such use must be disclosed confidentially to the editorial office.

Peer reviewers remain fully accountable for the quality, accuracy, objectivity, and integrity of their evaluations.

Ethics and Human Research

Research involving human participants, organizations, interviews, surveys, or identifiable data must comply with internationally recognized ethical standards and institutional regulations.

Authors must ensure that:

  • Participation was voluntary;
  • Appropriate informed consent was obtained;
  • Privacy and confidentiality were protected;
  • Ethical approval was obtained where required.

Informed Consent

For studies involving human participants, authors must confirm that informed consent was obtained before data collection.

The manuscript should clearly indicate:

  • The consent process;
  • Ethical safeguards;
  • Participant confidentiality measures;
  • Approval from relevant ethics committees or institutional review boards where applicable.

Example statement:

“Informed consent was obtained from all participants involved in the study.”

If ethical approval was not required, authors should provide a justified explanation.

Privacy and Confidentiality

Authors must protect participants’ privacy and ensure that personal or identifiable information is not disclosed without explicit permission.

Sensitive data involving individuals, organizations, or institutions should be anonymized where appropriate.

Research Ethics Approval

Studies involving human participants, institutional data, or sensitive organizational information should include an ethics approval statement where applicable.

Example:

“This study was approved by the Institutional Research Ethics Committee of [Institution Name].”

Where ethics approval was exempted or not required, this should be clearly stated.

Data Availability and Transparency

JBREE supports transparency, reproducibility, and responsible research practices.

Authors are encouraged to provide a Data Availability Statement indicating whether data are:

  • Publicly available;
  • Available upon request;
  • Restricted due to confidentiality or ethical reasons;
  • Included within the manuscript or supplementary materials.

Example statement:

“The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.”

Digital Integrity and Research Accuracy

Authors must ensure that all visual materials, tables, charts, datasets, and analytical outputs accurately represent the original findings.

Manipulation of figures, selective data presentation, deceptive enhancement, or misleading visual representation is prohibited.

The journal may request original data or supporting documentation during peer review or post-publication investigations.

Peer Review Policy

All submissions to JBREE undergo editorial evaluation and peer review to ensure scholarly quality, originality, methodological rigor, and relevance to the journal’s scope.

The journal primarily operates under a double-blind peer review model in which:

  • Reviewer identities remain confidential;
  • Author identities remain concealed from reviewers where possible.

Each manuscript is typically reviewed by at least two independent experts.

Editorial decisions are based on:

  • Academic merit;
  • Methodological quality;
  • Originality;
  • Ethical compliance;
  • Relevance and contribution to the field.

The editorial team retains full authority over acceptance, revision, or rejection decisions.

Reviewer Responsibilities

Peer reviewers are expected to:

  • Maintain confidentiality;
  • Provide objective and constructive evaluations;
  • Declare conflicts of interest;
  • Avoid personal criticism;
  • Refrain from coercive citation practices;
  • Evaluate manuscripts professionally and ethically.

Reviewers must immediately report suspected plagiarism, unethical conduct, manipulated data, or publication misconduct to the editorial office.

Special Issues and Thematic Collections

Special issues and thematic collections published by JBREE are subject to the same editorial standards, peer-review procedures, ethical requirements, and publication policies as regular submissions.

Guest editors must comply fully with the journal’s ethical and editorial policies.

Integrity and Ethical Conduct

JBREE expects all participants in the publication process including authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial staff to uphold the principles of:

  • Honesty;
  • Transparency;
  • Accountability;
  • Fairness;
  • Academic professionalism;
  • Ethical scholarly conduct.

The journal reserves the right to reject, retract, investigate, or take corrective action against submissions or publications involving unethical practices, research misconduct, or serious violations of publication ethics.

Commitment to Responsible Scholarship

The Journal of Business Research in Emerging Economies is committed to promoting credible, ethical, innovative, and socially responsible research that advances scholarly understanding and practical solutions for businesses, institutions, policymakers, and societies across emerging economies worldwide.