Guide For Authors

Print ISSN: 2765-6934 / Online ISSN: 2765-7027

Consent Form 

Publishing Agreement Form

Reviewers Evaluation Form

Revise Form

Authors are encouraged to include tables and figures as part of the main file. All manuscripts must be accompanied by a letter which indicates briefly why the article is suitable for publication in the Asian Journal of Business Environment (AJBE) and attest that “The article has not been previously published and is not under review elsewhere.” All manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with the AJBE submission guidelines. Please read the detailed guidelines of manuscript preparation and submission at https://acoms.kisti.re.kr/journal/journalintro.do?journalSeq=J000172&introMenuId=0103.

1. Introduction

The Asian Journal of Business Environment (AJBE) is an open access and scholarly journal devoted to addressing pertinent and trending issues in Asian business environment. AJBE is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes quality research papers, including literature reviews and case studies.  AJBE aims to provide unique opportunity to scholars, researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to bring together applied, theoretical, conceptual, and empirical knowledge and research in business issues that are relevant and important to contemporary as well as future business environment in Asia.        

1.1. Submission

Authors are requested to submit the manuscript and associated files in MS Word format using AJBE Online Submission, https://acoms.kisti.re.kr/member/goLogin.do?journalSeq=J000172&msg=timeout, or email tripati@iiml.ac.in. Authors are encouraged to include tables and figures as part of the main file. All manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with the AJBE submission guidelines.  Submissions that do not follow these procedures will not be considered. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, takes place by e-mail. 

1.2. Submission Declaration

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published seminar, lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere including electronically in the same form, in English or in any other language. Each submission must contain the following “Submission Declaration Statement” signed by all of the co-authors: “The undersigned authors hereby certify that the manuscript is original work, that it has not been published previously, that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, and that it is not being simultaneously submitted elsewhere.  It is further certified that each of the undersigned has no actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest, whether financial, non-financial, personal, or other relationship interests, with any person, entity, or organization within three years of the beginning of the submitted work that could inappropriately influence or be perceived to influence the content of the manuscript.”

1.3. Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice

The journal is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and strives to take all possible measures against any publication malpractices. All authors submitting their work to the journal for publication as original articles attest that the submitted work represent the authors’ contributions and have not been copied or plagiarized in whole or in part from other works. The authors acknowledge that they have disclosed any and all actual, potential, and perceived conflicts of interest with their work or partial benefits associated with it. In the same manner, the journal is committed to objective and fair double-blind peer-review of the submitted works for publication and to prevention of any actual or potential conflict of interests between the editorial and review personnel and the reviewed material. Any departure from the above-defined rules should be reported directly to the Editors-in-Chief, who are unequivocally committed to providing swift resolutions to any such type of problems. Further to the above, the journal follows the highest standards of publication ethics and the Code of Conduct for Journal Editors. By joining and supporting the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the journal will help support the ethical imperative in promoting publication ethics and providing advice for editors and publishers.  

1.4. Plagiarism Policies and Ethical Guidelines

The Asian Journal of Business Environment (AJBE) uses the iThenticate software to detect instances of overlapping and similar texts in submitted manuscripts. You can be reassured that AJBE is committed to actively combating plagiarism and publishing original research. iThenticate is also available to authors and researchers who wish to check their papers before submission. iThenticate compares submitted documents to extensive data repositories to create a comprehensive Similarity Report, which highlights and provides links to any significant text matches, helping to ensure original and well-attributed documents are submitted. iThenticate for Researchers is a separate service to Cross Check. Per AJBE’s "Code of Ethics" authors are expected to adhere to the guidelines outlined in this section. 

1.5. Conflict of Interest

All authors are requested to disclose any actual, potential, and perceived conflict of interest, including any financial, non-financial, personal, or other relationship interests, with any person, entity, or organization within three years of the beginning of the submitted work that could inappropriately influence or be perceived to influence the content of their work. 

1.6. Copyright

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a "Journal Publishing Agreement Form" of the Publisher. Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a "Journal Publishing Agreement Form". After publication of the article, the copyright of the article transfers and belongs to the Author(s). This is an Open Access journal distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 

AJBE and the Publisher apply the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) to the works published. This license was developed to facilitate open access – namely, free immediate access to and unrestricted reuse of original works of all types. Under this license, authors agree to make articles legally available for reuse, without permission or fees, for virtually any purpose. Anyone may copy, distribute, or reuse these articles, as long as the author and the original source are properly cited.

2. The Preparation of Manuscripts (Main Document)

2.1. Language

The text of the article should be in English (American or British usage is accepted, but not a mixture of these). 

2.2. Word Count

While no maximum length for manuscripts is prescribed, authors are encouraged to write concisely and clearly.

2.3. Style of Presentation

1) Use A4 or Letter sheet size.
2) Margins should be 20mm for A4 size and one inch (25mm) for Letter size at the top, bottom, and sides of the page.
3) Font type should be 12-point Times Roman throughout the document.
4) Double-space all body text, including abstract, references, end notes and appendices.
5) Number all pages in your manuscript, starting with the Abstract page.
6) Manuscript text should be left-aligned. 

2.4. Use of Word Processing Software

It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the word processor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. Do not embed "graphically designed" equations or tables but prepare these using the word processor's facility. Do not import the figures into the text file but, instead, indicate their approximate locations directly in the electronic text and on the manuscript. To avoid unnecessary errors, authors are strongly advised to use the "spell-check" and "grammar-check" functions of your word processor.

3. The Presentation of Manuscripts

3.1. Article Structure

Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1. (then 1.1.1., 1.1.2., ...), 1.2., etc. (the abstract is not included in section numbering). Use this numbering also for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to "the text". Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line. 

3.1.1. Introduction
State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results. 

3.1.2 Literature Review
Provide an adequate background with detailed literature survey or a summary of the results of previous studies. 

3.1.3. Methodology
Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described. 

3.1.4. Results
Provide sufficient detail to allow the results to be meaningful and informative. 

3.1.5. Discussion
Explore significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature. 

3.1.6. Conclusions
Present main conclusions of the study. Conclusions section may be short and may stand alone. 

3.1.7. Appendices
Identify more than one appendix as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, Eq. (B.1) and so on. Similarly for tables and figures: Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc. 

3.1.8. No Footnotes, but Endnotes Acceptable
No footnotes are accepted due to technical problems of online publication. Please convert all footnotes to endnotes; otherwise, please incorporate all footnotes into the text. 

3.2. Tables, Figures and Artwork

3.2.1. Abbreviations
Define abbreviations that are not standard and esure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article. 

3.2.2. Mathematical Formulae
Present simple formulae in the line of normal text where possible. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line, (e.g., X p /Y m). Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Number consecutively any equation that has to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text). 

3.2.3. Other Symbols
Identify Greek letters and unusual symbols in the margin. Distinction should be made between capital and lower-case letters; between the letter O and zero; between the letter I, number one, and prime; between k and kappa. The numbers identifying mathematical expressions should be placed in parentheses. 

3.2.4. Table Footnotes
Indicate each footnote in a table with a superscript lowercase letter. 

3.2.5. Artwork
1) Make sure to use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
2) Save text in illustrations as "graphics" or enclose the font.
3) Only use the following fonts in illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times, Symbol.
4) Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
5) Provide captions to illustrations separately.
6) Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.
7) Submit each figure as a separate file.

Do not:
1) Supply embedded graphics in your word processor document;
2) Supply files that are optimized for screen use (like GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG);
3) Supply files that are too low in resolution;
4) Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content. 

3.2.6. Color Artwork

Make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF, EPS or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution. If you submit usable color figures together with your accepted article, the publisher will ensure that these figures will appear in color in the printed version. For color reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from the publisher after receipt of your accepted article. Please note: Because of technical complications, which can arise by converting color figures to "gray scale" (for the printed version, should you not opt for color in print), please submit, in addition, usable black and white versions of all the color illustrations. 

3.2.7. Figure Captions
Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions separately, not attached to the figure. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used. 

3.2.8. Tables
Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. Avoid vertical rules. Tables must be adjustable. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article. A paper in AJBE may include a maximum total of six (6) tables and figures and appendixes, if any. 

3.3. Citation and Reference Style Guides

Per AJBE’s "Citation and Reference Style Guides", authors are expected to adhere to the guidelines of APA (American Psychological Association). 

Text: Citations in the text should follow the referencing style used by the American Psychological Association. You are referred to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth (6th) or Seventh (7th) Edition. 

References List: references should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically, if necessary. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters 'a', 'b', 'c', etc., placed after the year of publication. 

Web References: At a minimum, the full URL and the date when the reference was last accessed should be given. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading, if desired, or can be included in the reference list. 

3.3.1. Citation in Text
Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list, they should follow the standard reference style of the journal. 

All citations in the text should refer to:
Single author: the author's name (without initials, unless there is ambiguity) and the year of publication;
Two authors: list the authors' last names with "and", in the text, or “&”, in parentheses, separating the two authors and the year of publication;
More than three up to five authors: at first citation, list all authors' last names with "and", in the text, or “&”, in parentheses, separating the last two authors and the year of publication; If more than six authors, list the first six authors followed by et al. and the year of publication. In subsequent citations use the first author followed by et al. 

Groups of references should be listed first alphabetically then chronologically. For example, Kim and Lee (2008) suggest ..., or Kim, Lee and Cormier (2009) find that ..., or Kim, Lee, Cormier and Youn (2007) have shown that ...' 

When citing a list of references in the text, list in alphabetical order and separate authors by semicolons; for example, several studies (Kim & Lee, 2008; Kim, Lee, & Cormier, 2009; Kim, Lee, Cormier, & Youn, 2007; Youn & Kim, 2003) support this conclusion.

To cite a direct quotation, cite the page number after the year, separated by a comma and a space. For example: "Smith argues that for something to happen it must be not only favorable and possible but also wanted and triggered” (2008, p. 38). 

3.3.2. List of References
References should be arranged first alphabetically and then chronologically, if necessary. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters "a", "b", "c", etc., placed after the year of publication. 

Reference to an article in journals:
Kim, P. J. (2009). A study on the risk management of Korean firms in Chinese market. Journal of Distribution Science, 7(2), 5-28.
Lee, J. W., &Cormier, J. F. (2010). Effects of consumers’ demographic profile on mobile commerce Adoption. Journal of Distribution Science, 8(1), 5-11.
Youn, M. K., Kim, Y. O., Lee, M. K., &Namkung, S. (2006). Domestic restrictions on the opening of retail stores. Journal of Distribution Science, 6(2), 121-160. 

Reference to a book:
Greenberg, P. (2001). CRM at the Speed of Light (5th ed.). Emeryville, CA: Lycos Press.
Youn, M. K., &Kim, Y. O. (2017). Principles of Distribution (2nd ed.). Seoul, Korea: Doonam Publishing. 

Reference to a thesis for doctorate (or master's thesis):
Kim, Y. M. (2001). Study on factors of introduction of supply chain management of Korean companies. Seoul, Korea: Doctoral dissertation, Jungang University. 

Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
Burton, R. R. (1982). Diagnosing bugs in a simple procedure skill. In D. H. Sleeman, &J. S. Brown (Eds.), Intelligent Tutoring Systems (pp.120-135). London, UK: Academic Press. 

For published conference proceedings:
Lee, J. W., &Kim, Y. E. (2007). Green distribution and its economic impact on the distribution industry. Proceedings of the Second International Conference of KODISA (pp.12-32). Seoul, Korea: KODISA. 

For magazine articles:
Youn, M. K. (2010, July). Distribution science in medical industry. Medical Distribution Today, 39(4), 86-93. 

For newspaper articles:
Kim, Y. E. (2011, January). New challenges and opportunities for traditional markets. Korea Distribution News, Section 3-4. 

For newspaper articles (non-authored):
Korea Distribution News (2011, January). Future of traditional markets. Korea Distribution News, Section 3-4. Seoul, Korea. 

For Internet resources:
Kim, D. H., &Youn, M. K. (2012, August 30). Distribution knowledge, research, and journal. Proceeding of 2012 Summer International Conference of KODISA (pp.73-78). Seoul, Korea. http://kodisa.org/ index.php?mid=Conferences &document_srl =8862.
China National Petroleum Corporation (2009, September 30). 2009 Annual Reports. Beijing, China: CNPC. http://www.cnpc.com.cn/resource/english/images1 /2009.pdf.

4. The Information of Title Page

4.1. Title

The title should be concise and informative with maximum of 12 words. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae, where possible. 

4.2. Author Names and Affiliations

Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g., a double name), please indicate this clearly. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and the e-mail address of each author. Note: This information should be provided on a separate sheet, and authors should not be identified anywhere else in the manuscript.

4.3. Corresponding Author

Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, as well as post-publication. Ensure that telephone number (with country and area code) is provided in addition to the e-mail address. 

4.4. Abstract

A concise and factual abstract is required. About 200 words in total are recommended. Please rewrite abstract to reach about 200 words in total for this purpose. The abstract should state briefly 1) the purpose of the research, 2) research design and methodology, 3) the principal results, and 4) major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential, they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself. 

4.5. Keywords

Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 5 keywords. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes. 

4.6. JEL Classification Code

Immediately after keywords, provide a maximum of 5 JEL Classification codes. These codes will be used for indexing purposes. 

4.7. Acknowledgements

Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the title page and do not, therefore, include them on the main document (manuscripts) or otherwise. List those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proofreading the article, etc.). Provide/acknowldege detailed funding support (Grant) information if the authors recevied finanacial support for thier research and/or publication.

5. The Checklist of Submission

It is hoped that this list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to the journal's Editor for review. Please consult Guide for Authors for further details of any item. For email submissions, you should have prepared 3 files: 

File 1. The Title Page
Ensure that the following items are present:
- Full detail of authors
- One author designated as corresponding author:
• E-mail address
• Full postal address
• Telephone and fax numbers
- The title page must contain “Submission Declaration Statement” in its cover letter as follows:
“The undersigned authors hereby certify that the manuscript is original work, that it has not been published previously, that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, and that it is not being simultaneously submitted elsewhere.  It is further certified that each of the undersigned has no actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest, whether financial, non-financial, personal, or other relationship interests, with any person, entity, or organization within three years of the beginning of the submitted work that could inappropriately influence or be perceived to influence the content of the manuscript.”

Author identification: Every effort should be made to ensure that submission material outside of the title page file contains no clues as to author identity. Footnotes containing information pertaining to the identity of the author or institutional affiliation should be on separate pages. The complete title of the article and the name(s) of the author(s) should be typed only on the title page file to ensure anonymity in the review process. Subsequent pages should have no author names but may carry a short title at the top. Information in text, citations, references, or footnotes that would identify the author should be masked from the manuscript file. These may be reinserted in the final draft. In addition, the author's name should be removed from the document's Properties, which, in Microsoft Word, is found in the File menu. When submitting a revised version of a manuscript, please be sure to submit a blind version of your response letter detailing changes made to the manuscript, as this letter can be accessed by reviewers. 

File 2. The Main Document (Manuscript)
The text of the paper, including abstract, text, references and notes, tables, figure captions, and figures should be without the names of authors or any acknowledgements. Check that you have removed all author identification (names and affiliations) and any acknowledgements from the main document that you are going to submit. Please make sure that authors' names are not included in the document/file properties. 

Further considerations
1) All information about all figure captions and all tables (including title, description, footnotes) has been provided
2) Manuscript has been "spell checked" and "grammar checked"
3) References are in the correct format for this journal
4) All references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text and vice versa.

6. After Acceptance

6.1. Proofs

One set of page proofs (as PDF files) will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author (if we do not have an e-mail address then paper proofs will be sent by post), or a link will be provided in the e-mail so that authors can download the files themselves. The author(s) may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return them to the Publisher in an e-mail. Please list your corrections quoting line number. If, for any reason, this is not possible, then mark the corrections and any other comments (including replies to the Query Form) on a printout of your proof and return it by email. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables, and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. AJBE strives to get your article published quickly and accurately. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are sent back in one communication: please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility. Note that the Publisher may proceed with the publication of your article if no response is received. 

6.2. Offprints

The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail. For an extra charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication. The PDF file is a watermarked version of the published article and includes a cover sheet with the journal cover image and a disclaimer outlining the terms and conditions of use. 

Offprints Publishing Office
Korea Distribution Science Association
Address: Hanshin Officetel Suite 1030, 2463-4 Shinheung-dong Sujeong-gu, Seongnam-city, Gyeonggi-do, KOREA (461-720)
Tel: (+82 31) 740-7292 Fax: (+82 31) 740-7361
E-mail: kodisajournals@gmail.com
Beneficiary Account Number: 470-910003-56304
Beneficiary Name: Korea Distribution Science Association
Bank Name: KEB HANA BANK
SWIFT Code: KOEX KRSE
Bank Address (Head Office): 35 Euljiro, Jung-gu, Seoul, Korea. 

6.3. Article Processing and Submission Charges

There are no submission and processing charges for AJBE, whether the article is rejected, reviewed, or accepted. Please note that Editorial Board of AJBE will be very selective, accepting only the articles on the basis of scholarly merit, research significance, research integrity and compliance with the journal style guidelines (APA). 

6.4. Copyright to the Author(s)
After publication of an article, the Copyright of the article transfers to the Author(s). This is an Open Access journal distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. AJBE and the Publisher apply the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) to the works we publish. This license was developed to facilitate open access – namely, free immediate access to, and unrestricted reuse of, original works of all types. Under this license, authors agree to make articles legally available for reuse, without permission or fees, for virtually any purpose. Anyone may copy, distribute, or reuse these articles, as long as the author and the original source are properly cited.

Jounal Publishing Agreement Form.jpg