Guidelines for Authors

The Journal accepts research articles, case studies, commentaries, book/article reviews, perspectives, letters for publication.

Guidelines for Research Articles

1. Manuscripts should be 5000-7,000 words, typed in MS Word, with 1.5 line space, 12 font size, “Book Antiqua” font.

2. The manuscript should carry an abstract of about 150-200 words with not more than six keywords. Both the abstract and keywords are mandatory.

3. The tables and figures in the text should be centred with proper titles and figures and they are to be in JPEG/ PNG (300 dpi) format. Only black and white figures will be accepted for the printed version of the journal. Scattered images and tables are not accepted.  

4. Authors should take obligatory written permission from the concerned publishers for reproducing the Images/Figures/ Tables. Authors are expected to produce this written permission on the request of the Editor.

5. Proper citation should be given in the manuscript for Images/Figures and Tables reproduced from other sources.

6. Endnotes: All notes should be indicated by serial numbers in the text and the detailed references should be given as endnotes at the end of the document, following the corresponding numbers before the references. No footnote system is to be followed. Endnotes are optional.

7. References: The list of references should be placed after the endnotes. Only the works cited or referred to in the main text should be cited under the references. In-text citation and references should adhere to the seventh edition of APA.

8. Citations should mention the DOI numbers in the references wherever applicable.

9. British English spelling and grammar is to be used throughout the manuscript. Alternatively, authors can prepare the manuscript with American English, however mixing of both is not allowed.

10. Whenever a copyrighted material is used, contributors should accurately reproduce, and obtain permission from the copyright holders, and the same should be acknowledged in the article.

11. Every contribution should be accompanied by a declaration that the article is original and has not been published nor submitted elsewhere for publication.

12. All submitted articles will be double-blind peer-reviewed. Acceptance of articles is subject to recommendation by the review panel and subsequent acceptance by the Editor.

13. Every accepted article will be copy-edited. The Editorial Board reserves the right to make necessary revisions to the text in keeping with the journal style sheet and standard.

14. Every author will receive a complimentary copy of the journal issue.

15. Author contribution statement should be included at the end of the manuscript.

16. Authors should state any conflict of interest in the manuscript.

17. Funding information: authors may mention about the funding/grant received to carry out the research work.

18. Correspondence: One author should be designated as Corresponding Author and will be the principal contact for the editorial team for any publication related matters. Corresponding authors should get the consent from the co-authors for any matter related to publication.

19. Corresponding Authors are required to obtain the consent of all their co-authors prior to submitting a manuscript for publication.

20. Upon acceptance of the article, the copyright form should be submitted to the editorial office signed by all authors. If acceptable to all authors, the corresponding author may sign on their behalf.

21. It is mandatory for all the authors to provide the name of their affiliated institution, place and correspondence details including email.

22. If any change in authorship is necessary after a manuscript has been submitted, the Corresponding Author must email a copy of a signed letter to the Editor-in-Chief confirming that all of the original co-authors have been notified and have agreed to the change.

23. If the change involves the removal of a co-author’s name, the Corresponding Author must arrange for a signed consent letter from the co-author concerned and email the same to the Editor.

24. No changes in the author list will be permitted after a manuscript has been accepted.

25. All editorial correspondence should be addressed to: The Editor, Ushus Journal of Business Management, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore–560 029, Karnataka, India, Ph: 91-80-40129025/27; ushus@christuniversity.in; or journals@christuniversity.in http://journals.christuniversity.in

26. Acceptable Similarity and AI are 10% and less.

Guidelines for Book Reviews and Commentaries

1. Book reviews shall not exceed 1500 words, and should carry the following details in the order as below: Name of the author, title of the book reviewed, place of publication, name of the publisher, year of publication, number of pages in Roman and Arabic figures to include preliminary pages, and price, with binding specifications as to whether it is paperback or hardcover and ISBN. A critical assessment of the book is expected.

2. Commentaries shall be of an average length of 1500 words.

Guidelines for Case Studies

Teaching Case Study should:

• Describe the actions of a well-developed central character that is facing a management decision.
• Present a complex and compelling decision-making dilemma for students to analyse.
• Should be logically structured, with a discussion of important business contexts and issues.
• Should be written in the past tense, use an engaging case narrative style, and should not contain any language errors.

The Teaching Note (Both for Teaching case and Quick case) should:

• Include an appropriate synopsis describing the context of the case, the dilemma being faced, and the discipline the case is relevant for.
• Detail a set of teaching objectives for the stated target audience.
• Provide a section on research methods detailing the types of data used to develop the case.
• Include a 90-minute multi-media teaching plan, including suggested classroom facilitation questions and activities.
• Include a set of assignment questions that align with the teaching objectives, and relate to the dilemma being faced in the case.
• Use recent literature, theory, or research findings to analyse the case study and provide model answers to the assignment questions.
• Include a specific set of instructions as to how this case can be used in an online environment and the ways in which an educator might want to consider adapting the teaching plan to use it in this way.

Guidelines for Perspectives

Perspective should be between 1500-3000 words with no more than 5 tables or figures/images.

Guidelines for Letters

Letters should be between 750-1000 words with no more than 2 tables or figures/images.

Guidelines for Review Papers

We accept seven review types: systematic literature reviews, bibliometric/science-mapping reviews, meta-analyses, hybrid reviews, framework-based reviews (TCCM, ADO), integrative reviews and conceptual/critical reviews. Each must use a transparent, replicable method and make a clear contribution. The journal will not accept unstructured narrative reviews, bibliometric papers that only report counts without interpretation, reviews that repeat a recent review without adding anything new, or thesis literature chapters submitted unchanged. Every review must include a title naming the review type, and a structured abstract of up to 250 words under five headings. It also needs four to six keywords and an introduction covering the novelty check and research questions. The remaining required parts are a full methodology with a PRISMA/SPAR4-SLR diagram, a synthesis organised by research question, a discussion, an integrative framework, a specific future research agenda, implications, limitations, a conclusion, declarations (CRediT, funding, conflicts, data, AI use), and APA 7th references with appendices. Reviews should fall within the journal's word limit (placeholder: 8,000–12,000 words including references). They should be submitted as an anonymised Word file in British English with a separate title page. PRISMA diagrams must follow the 2020 template with consistent counts. Network maps must be at least 300 dpi with legible labels and captions explaining clusters and thresholds. A summary table of included studies is required, and all tables and figures must be numbered and cited in the text.

Manuscript Components

Title 

• Title should be very specific. Uncommon acronyms and words like “First” and “Novel” are avoided.

Abstract

• Abstract should meet the word count dictated by the journal’s guidelines (typically 150-200 words maximum).
• Reference citations should be avoided.
• Abbreviations and acronyms, if any, are defined upon first usage.

Keywords

• 3-6 Keywords should be provided. 

Main Text

• Manuscript has been prepared with the appropriate document template, if required.

References

• References are complete, including titles, and adhere to correct journal style, with journal abbreviation according to APA 7th Edition, proper punctuation and arrangement, etc.

Graphics and Tables

• Figures and tables have captions. Figure insets, if any, are described in the caption. They should be mentioned in the text appropriately.
• Graphs ought to have clearly labeled axes, legends, and data points.
• Type fonts ought to be clear and legible.
• It is preferred that graphics are embedded wherever mentioned in manuscript text.

Supporting Information

• Supporting Information (SI) – for Publication or for Review Only, if any, are uploaded as separate files and not placed directly in the manuscript.

Permission to Re-Use Previously Published Material

• Written permission has been obtained for all content and graphics for which the authors or UJBM do not hold copyright.

Funder Reporting Requirement

• Authors are required to report funding sources and grant/award numbers.

Author contribution: Author contribution should be mentioned.

Conflict of Interest Disclosure

• A statement describing any financial conflicts of interest or lack thereof is published with each manuscript.
• During the submission process, the Corresponding Author must provide this statement on behalf of all authors of the manuscript.
• The statement should describe all potential sources of bias, including affiliations, funding sources, and financial or management relationships, that may constitute conflicts of interest.
• The statement will be published in the final article. If no conflict of interest in declared, the following statement will be published in the article: ”The authors declare no competing financial interest.”

 Statement of Human Rights

When reporting studies that involve human participants, authors should include a statement that the studies have been approved by the appropriate institutional and/or national research ethics committee and have been performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. “All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards”

Statement on the Welfare of Animals

The Welfare of animals used for research must be respected. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether the international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals have been followed, and that the studies have been approved by a research ethics committee at the institution or practice at which the studies were conducted (where such a committee exists). Ethical approval: This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

 

Ethical Guidelines for Authors

• Authors need to ensure that the research paper submitted is original and has not been published elsewhere under the same or different title.
• Authors need to ensure that all the authors are represented accurately and clear references are given to work done by others.
• Research submissions having more than one author need to provide the name and proper contact details of a designated corresponding author. The corresponding author will be responsible for all timely communications with the editor and publisher, both before and after publication, regarding the originality and other ethical concerns of the paper. The publisher and editor will hold such a designated corresponding author responsible for any misrepresentation of facts or misconduct found either before or after publication. All co-authors of a paper are expected to remain in good communication amongst themselves.
• The onus is on the authors to reveal the source of all data and third party material used. This includes any material used previously in both published and unpublished work by the authors themselves.
• Use of any third party material is to be done after obtaining the written permission from the respective copyright holders. The permission documents should be submitted along with the research work submitted for publication and, at any stage, the publisher or editor cannot be held responsible for the improper use of copyrighted material in the research work. The authors should cooperate, if any investigation is initiated by the editor or publisher, in case data used in a study is found to be false, insufficient, or misrepresented. Authors are expected to comply with the editor or publisher when source of data, proof of authorship or any such detail is requested.
• Any conflict of interest should be stated openly. If the research work submitted for publication will benefit a company, organization or service that any of the authors is a part of, then the work should be accompanied by a disclosure.
• When any ethical or technical issue is found with a published research work, the authors should be ready to provide corrigenda in a timely manner and cooperate with the editor and publisher in case of publication of an errata or retraction of the published research work.