Author Guidelines

1. Journal Overview

Accounting, Business, Governance & Sustainability (ABGS) is an international, peer-reviewed journal publishing high-quality research at the intersection of business, accounting, finance, corporate governance, sustainability (ESG), and emerging technologies. The journal prioritizes theoretically grounded, methodologically rigorous, and policy-relevant contributions with global relevance, with particular attention to emerging and transitional economies.

2. Types of Manuscripts Accepted

• Original Research Articles (empirical or analytical)
• Review Articles (systematic, bibliometric, or narrative)
• Conceptual Papers (theory development or integration)
• Methodological Papers
• Policy and Practice Analyses
• Short Research Notes (by invitation or editorial decision)

3. Manuscript Length

(Word count includes references but excludes tables and figures.)

4. Manuscript Structure

All manuscripts should be prepared in clear academic English and follow this structure:

1. Title Page (submitted separately for double-blind review)
2. Abstract (200–250 words)
3. Keywords (5–10 keywords)
4. Introduction
5. Literature Review and Theoretical Framework
6. Methodology / Research Design (if applicable)
7. Results / Findings
8. Discussion
9. Conclusion and Implications
10. Limitations and Future Research
11. References
12. Appendices (if applicable)

5. Abstract and Keywords

• Abstracts must clearly state the purpose, methodology, key findings, and contributions.
• Keywords should be specific, internationally searchable, and aligned with Scopus indexing standards.

6. Formatting and Style

• File format: Microsoft Word (.docx)
• Font: Times New Roman, 12-point
• Spacing: Double-spaced
• Margins: 1 inch (2.54 cm)
• Page numbers: Bottom center
• Headings: Numbered (1., 1.1., 1.1.1)

7. Referencing Style

ABGS follows the APA (7th edition) referencing style. In-text citations must be accurate and consistent. All references must be complete and include DOIs where available. Authors are encouraged to cite recent, high-quality international literature.

8. Ethical Standards and Research Integrity

ABGS adheres to the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Authors must ensure originality, proper citation, ethical approval where applicable, and transparency in data collection and analysis. All submissions are screened using plagiarism detection software.

9. Data Availability and Replicability

• Provide data availability statements where applicable
• Share datasets and code subject to confidentiality constraints
• Ensure methodological transparency to support replicability

10. Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Authors must disclose any use of AI tools beyond language editing. Acceptable uses include language polishing and grammar improvement. Unacceptable uses include generating original research ideas, data, or analysis without author oversight. A brief AI Use Statement must be included where relevant.

11. Conflict of Interest and Funding Disclosure

Authors must declare any potential conflicts of interest and all sources of funding. If none exist, authors should state: “The authors declare no conflict of interest.”

12. Peer Review Process

• Double-blind peer review
• At least two independent reviewers per manuscript
• Evaluation based on originality, rigor, clarity, and relevance

13. Submission Declaration

Submission implies that the manuscript is original, not under consideration elsewhere, approved by all authors, and compliant with ethical and publishing standards.

14. Copyright and Licensing

ABGS operates under an open-access model and publishes all articles under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) License, allowing unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

15. Declarations and Ethical Statements

All submissions must include a Declarations section placed after the references. Authors should provide clear and complete statements, where applicable, under the following headings.

1. Funding

Authors must disclose all sources of financial support for the research and/or publication of the article. If the study did not receive external funding, authors should state this explicitly.

Example:
This research received no external funding.

If an article processing charge (APC) was waived or covered by a publisher, institution, or sponsor, this may also be disclosed.

Example:
The article processing charge (APC) was waived by the publisher.

2. Conflict of Interest

Authors must declare any financial, professional, institutional, or personal relationships that could be perceived as influencing the research, interpretation, or publication of the manuscript. If no conflict exists, authors should state this clearly.

Example:
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

or

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

3. Ethics Approval

For studies involving human participants, interviews, surveys, experiments, or other forms of primary data collection, authors must indicate whether ethical approval was obtained from an appropriate ethics committee or institutional review board.

Example:
Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the host institution’s research ethics committee prior to conducting the interviews.

If ethics approval was not required, authors should explain this where appropriate.

4. Consent to Participate

For research involving human participants, authors must confirm that informed consent was obtained prior to participation.

Example:
All participants provided informed consent prior to participation in the study.

5. Consent for Publication

Where relevant, authors must state that participants were informed that anonymized findings may be published for academic purposes, and that consent for such publication was obtained.

Example:
Participants were informed that the results of the study would be used for academic research and publication purposes, and consent for publication of anonymized findings was obtained.

6. Data Availability

Authors must include a statement describing the availability of the data supporting the findings of the study. Where data cannot be shared publicly due to confidentiality, legal, ethical, or institutional restrictions, this should be clearly stated.

Example:
Interview data are not publicly available due to confidentiality agreements but anonymized information may be available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

7. Authors’ Contributions

Authors must specify the contribution of each author to the manuscript. Contributions may include conceptualization, methodology, data collection, formal analysis, writing, review, and editing. For single-authored papers, the author should state the areas to which they contributed.

Example (single author):
The author contributed to conceptualization, methodology, data collection, formal analysis, writing – original draft, and writing – review and editing.

Example (multiple authors):
Author A: Conceptualization, methodology, writing – original draft. Author B: Data collection, formal analysis, writing – review and editing.

8. Clinical Trial Number

Where applicable, authors must provide the relevant clinical trial registration number. If not applicable, this should be stated.

Example:
Clinical trial number: Not applicable.

9. Use of Artificial Intelligence

Authors must disclose any use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools during manuscript preparation. Acceptable uses include language editing, grammar correction, and clarity improvement under full human oversight. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and final content of the manuscript.

AI tools must not be used to generate research data, manipulate results, conduct analysis without author oversight, or produce scientific conclusions as a substitute for scholarly judgment.

Example:
The authors declare that generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools were used only to assist with language editing and clarity of expression during the preparation of the manuscript. The authors reviewed and edited all AI-assisted outputs and take full responsibility for the content, interpretation, and conclusions of the manuscript. No AI tools were used to generate, manipulate, or analyse the research data, nor to produce the study’s scientific results.

Formatting Requirement

The Declarations section should appear in the manuscript after the References section and should include only the headings relevant to the study. Where a declaration does not apply, authors should write “Not applicable.”