Before Preparing a Submission

Authors should confirm that their manuscript falls within the aims and scope of the Eastern European Business and Economics Journal and represents an original scholarly contribution. Submission of a manuscript confirms that all authors have read and accepted these guidelines.

Aims and Scope

EEBEJ welcomes theoretically grounded, methodologically rigorous, and internationally relevant research in business, economics, management, finance, entrepreneurship, public administration, governance, technological transformation, and regional development.

Manuscript Types

Recommended Manuscript Length

Word limits normally exclude the abstract, keywords, references, tables, figures, appendices, and supplementary material. Longer manuscripts may be considered where the additional length is academically justified.

Accepted Languages

EEBEJ accepts manuscripts written in the following languages:

Manuscripts must be written in clear, grammatically correct, and academically appropriate language. Authors are responsible for the linguistic quality of their submission. The journal may request language revision before or after peer review where the text does not meet publication standards.

Manuscripts submitted in German or French must include the article title, abstract, and keywords in both the manuscript language and English.

Files Required for Submission

Title Page Requirements

The title page must be submitted separately and should contain:

• the complete and accurate title of the manuscript;
• the full name of each author in the intended publication order;
• the department, faculty, institution, city, and country of each author;
• the institutional email address of each author, where available;
• the ORCID identifier of each author, where available;
• clear identification of the corresponding author;
• the corresponding author’s active email address;
• a short biographical statement only if requested by the editors;
• funding and financial support information;
• a conflict-of-interest declaration;
• an author-contribution statement;
• a data-availability statement;
• an ethics and informed-consent statement where applicable;
• an acknowledgement section where applicable.

Manuscript Anonymization

The anonymous manuscript must not contain author names, affiliations, email addresses, biographies, acknowledgements, personal website links, or document metadata identifying the authors.

References to the authors’ previous work should be written in the third person and cited normally. Authors should not replace necessary citations with phrases such as “author reference removed” unless disclosure of the citation would clearly reveal identity and cannot be avoided.

General Formatting Requirements

Title, Abstract and Keywords

The abstract must not contain citations, unexplained abbreviations, tables, figures, equations, footnotes, or claims not supported in the manuscript.

Structure of an Original Research Article

Requirements for Review Articles

Review articles must provide more than a descriptive summary of previous publications. They should identify a meaningful research problem, apply a transparent method, critically evaluate the available evidence, and produce an original synthesis, conceptual framework, classification, or future research agenda.

• State the review objective and research questions clearly.
• Identify the databases, search terms, time period, and eligibility criteria.
• Explain the screening, selection, coding, and synthesis procedures.
• Use an appropriate reporting framework where applicable.
• Provide a transparent study-selection diagram for systematic reviews.
• Distinguish clearly between evidence, interpretation, and author opinion.
• Explain the review’s theoretical, methodological, policy, or practical contribution.

Methodological Transparency

The methods section must permit readers and reviewers to understand how the study was designed, conducted, and analysed. The information required will depend on the research design but should normally include:

• research philosophy, approach, and design where relevant;
• study context, population, sampling frame, and sampling method;
• sample size and a justification of its adequacy;
• participant inclusion and exclusion criteria;
• variable definitions and measurement procedures;
• development, adaptation, translation, and validation of instruments;
• reliability, validity, robustness, or credibility procedures;
• data collection period and process;
• statistical, econometric, qualitative, computational, or mixed-method analysis;
• software and relevant version numbers;
• treatment of missing data, outliers, assumptions, and sensitivity tests;
• ethical approval, informed consent, anonymity, and data-protection procedures.

Statistical and Econometric Reporting

Quantitative manuscripts should report statistical procedures transparently and avoid relying exclusively on statistical significance. Where relevant, authors should report effect sizes, confidence intervals, model diagnostics, robustness checks, fit indices, assumptions, and practical significance.

Variables, scales, transformations, models, estimators, control variables, interaction terms, lag structures, missing-data treatment, and sensitivity analyses should be described clearly. Exact probability values should be reported where appropriate rather than only stating that results were significant.

Tables, Figures and Illustrations

• Number tables and figures consecutively in the order in which they appear.
• Provide a clear, informative title for every table and figure.
• Refer to every table and figure explicitly in the manuscript text.
• Define all abbreviations, symbols, measures, and statistical indicators in notes.
• Indicate the source beneath reproduced or adapted material.
• Do not present identical information in both a table and a figure.
• Use editable tables rather than screenshots or images of tables.
• Submit figures at sufficient resolution and ensure all labels remain readable.
• Avoid decorative visual elements that do not contribute to interpretation.
• Obtain written permission for copyrighted material where required.

Equations, Symbols and Abbreviations

Equations should be created using an editable equation tool and numbered consecutively where referenced in the text. Authors should define all variables, symbols, indices, and units immediately after their first use.

Avoid unnecessary abbreviations. Spell out each abbreviation at first appearance in the abstract and again at first appearance in the main text. Standard measurement units should be used consistently.

References and Citations

EEBEJ uses the APA 7th edition author–date referencing system. Authors are responsible for the completeness and accuracy of all citations and references.

• Every in-text citation must have a corresponding reference-list entry.
• Every reference-list entry must be cited in the manuscript.
• References should be arranged alphabetically by the first author’s surname.
• DOIs should be included as active links in the format https://doi.org/…
• URLs should be included for online sources where no DOI is available.
• Authors should prioritize relevant peer-reviewed and current scholarship.
• Unnecessary self-citation and citation manipulation are prohibited.
• Retracted, unreliable, or unverifiable sources should not be used to support substantive claims.

APA 7 Reference Examples

Authorship and Contributions

Authorship should be limited to individuals who made a substantial scholarly contribution to the conception, design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, drafting, or critical revision of the manuscript; approved the final version; and accept responsibility for the work.

Individuals who provided administrative assistance, language editing, funding acquisition without scholarly contribution, technical support, or general supervision should normally be acknowledged rather than listed as authors.

Authors are encouraged to describe their contributions using relevant CRediT roles, including conceptualization, methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, data curation, writing, visualization, supervision, project administration, and funding acquisition.

Changes to Authorship

Requests to add, remove, or reorder authors after submission must be explained in writing and approved by all listed and affected authors. Authorship changes are not normally permitted after acceptance except in exceptional and fully documented circumstances. The journal may investigate or reject unexplained authorship changes.

Research Ethics and Informed Consent

Research involving human participants, personal information, organizations, confidential records, or potentially sensitive data must comply with applicable ethical, legal, and institutional requirements.

• Identify the approving ethics committee or institutional review body.
• Provide the approval number and date where available.
• Explain how informed consent was obtained or why a waiver was granted.
• Protect participant privacy, confidentiality, and anonymity.
• Avoid publishing identifiable information without explicit permission.
• Explain ethical safeguards for vulnerable populations or sensitive research contexts.

Artificial Intelligence Use and Disclosure

Artificial intelligence systems, language models, chatbots, and automated tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot take responsibility for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and accountability of scholarly work.

Authors remain fully responsible for every part of the submitted manuscript, including text, citations, analysis, code, data interpretation, images, translations, and conclusions produced or modified with the assistance of AI.

Substantive use of generative AI or automated tools must be disclosed in a separate statement identifying the tool, version where known, purpose of use, and the parts of the research or manuscript affected.

AI-generated references, fabricated sources, manipulated evidence, undisclosed synthetic data, misleading images, and the use of AI to conceal plagiarism or authorship misconduct are strictly prohibited.

Originality and Textual Overlap

Manuscripts may be screened using similarity-detection tools. Similarity reports are interpreted by editors and are not evaluated solely by a numerical percentage. Legitimate quotations, references, standard methodological language, and properly attributed material may produce similarity without constituting plagiarism.

Plagiarism, disguised copying, inappropriate paraphrasing, duplicate publication, redundant publication, unauthorized translation, data fabrication, data falsification, image manipulation, and citation manipulation may result in rejection, retraction, notification of institutions, or other appropriate editorial action.

Preprints, Theses and Conference Papers

The existence of a legitimate preprint does not automatically prevent consideration, but authors must disclose the preprint and provide its link at submission. If the manuscript is accepted, the preprint record should link to the published version.

Manuscripts developed from a thesis, dissertation, working paper, or conference presentation may be considered where the journal submission provides a substantial, original, and appropriately disclosed scholarly contribution.

Supplementary Materials

Supplementary files may include datasets, questionnaires, interview protocols, detailed methods, additional tables, robustness analyses, appendices, code, audio-visual material, and other resources supporting the article. Supplementary materials must be clearly named, referenced in the manuscript, ethically suitable for publication, and free of confidential or identifying information.

Cover Letter

The cover letter should be concise and should include:

• the complete manuscript title;
• the manuscript type;
• a brief explanation of originality and principal contribution;
• an explanation of relevance to EEBEJ’s scope and readership;
• confirmation that the manuscript is original and not under review elsewhere;
• confirmation that all authors approved the submission;
• disclosure of preprints, related manuscripts, or overlapping publications;
• any information requiring confidential editorial consideration.

How to Submit a Manuscript

Recommended File Names

Peer-Review Process

Submissions first undergo an administrative and editorial assessment. Manuscripts that fall outside the journal’s scope, do not meet basic academic standards, contain serious ethical or methodological problems, or are insufficiently prepared may be declined without external review.

Manuscripts considered suitable are normally evaluated through double-blind peer review by at least two independent reviewers. Reviewers assess originality, theoretical contribution, methodological quality, analysis, clarity, ethical compliance, and relevance to the journal.

Reviewer recommendations are advisory. The final decision is made by the Editor-in-Chief or a delegated responsible editor based on the manuscript, reviewer reports, author responses, and the journal’s editorial standards.

Possible Editorial Decisions

Revised Manuscripts

Authors invited to revise must submit:

• a clean revised manuscript;
• a version showing or highlighting all changes;
• a detailed point-by-point response to every reviewer and editor comment;
• an explanation supported by evidence where a requested change has not been made.

Revision does not guarantee acceptance. Revised manuscripts may be returned to the original reviewers, assessed by additional reviewers, or evaluated directly by the responsible editor.

Proofs and Author Corrections

The corresponding author may receive a proof for final verification before publication. Proof corrections should be limited to typographical errors, formatting problems, factual inaccuracies introduced during production, and essential minor clarifications.

Substantial rewriting, new analysis, changes to authorship, or major additions are not normally permitted at the proof stage. Authors are responsible for returning corrections within the deadline specified by the editorial office.

Completely Fee-Free Publication

EEBEJ does not charge authors for submission, editorial screening, peer review, processing, acceptance, publication, pages, figures, corrections, archiving, or open-access availability.

No editor, reviewer, representative, intermediary, or third party is authorized to request payment in connection with publication in EEBEJ.

Open Access and CC BY 4.0

All published articles are made freely available immediately upon publication without subscription, payment, registration, or embargo.

Authors retain copyright and grant EEBEJ the non-exclusive right of first publication. Unless otherwise stated, articles are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.

Creative Commons CC BY 4.0

Manuscript Withdrawal

A withdrawal request must be submitted by the corresponding author with a clear explanation and confirmation from all co-authors. The manuscript remains active until the editorial office confirms withdrawal in writing. Submitting the manuscript elsewhere before receiving confirmation may constitute simultaneous submission.

Appeals and Complaints

Authors may appeal an editorial decision where they believe that a significant factual, procedural, or ethical error affected the evaluation. Appeals must provide a clear scholarly justification and respond directly to the relevant editorial or reviewer comments.

Disagreement with the outcome alone is not sufficient grounds for an appeal. The journal may decline repeated, unsupported, abusive, or inappropriate correspondence.

Submission Checklist

Ready to Submit?

Ensure that all required files, declarations, author information, and ethical documentation are complete before sending your manuscript.