Information For Authors

Interested in submitting to this journal? We recommend that you review the About the Journal page for the journal's section policies, as well as the Author Guidelines. Authors need to register with the journal prior to submitting or, if already registered, can simply log in and begin the five-step process. 

The current submission fees are $70. If you wish to pay using MasterCard, Visa, or American Express, please click here <to be determined>.   If you wish to pay by check, please make it payable to "Utah Valley University – Journal of Business Inquiry”. Submissions are not processed by the Editors until we have received both the manuscript and the submission fee.  There is no submission fee for a resubmitted revised paper.

Submission Guidelines

1. All manuscripts must be formatted with 1.5 line spacing and must not exceed 40 pages (50-page limit applies to double-spaced manuscripts). This limit includes reference lists, figures, and tables.
2. Manuscripts must use 12-point font.  Margins must be one inch top, bottom, and sides.  Please use Times New Roman. These font, margin, and line-spacing requirementsalso apply to reference lists and tables.
3. Headings should be I, II, III, etc. in bold; Subheadings should be A, B, C, etc. in italics; Next level should be A.1, A.2, B.1, B.2 etc. in italics; Next level should be A.1.1, A.1.2,B.1.1, B.1.2 etc. in italics.  All headings should be centered.
4. You must include the words "Not for Publication" at the beginning of any lengthy appendix. The 40-page limit can be exceeded by an appendix if it is clearly marked as such.
5. Please submit your complete manuscript electronically as a WORD document. The manuscript must have a title page and an abstract page on which the title of the paper must also be indicated. The title page of the manuscript should include each author's name and contact information. We also request that you indicate the institution name and/or grant numbers of any financial support you have received for your research. This title page should also personally acknowledge individuals who have provided comments to earlier drafts of your submission. The title page will be separated from the manuscript and will not be sent to the referees.
6. The abstract should be of 100 or fewer words. At the end of the abstract, include JEL classifications of the article and three to five keywords.
7. Authors should not be identified anywhere in the manuscript. This includes links to datasets or appendices that are posted on the individual Web pages of the author(s).
8. Remove all acknowledgements from the manuscript.
9. All data used in analysis must be clearly and precisely documented and must be made available to any researcher for purposes of replication. See Data Availability Policy.
10. Any requests for an exemption from the data availability policy must be made in the cover letter when the paper is first submitted.
11. A reference list is required. See Sample References for the correct format. Be sure to cite papers with names and titles as they appear in the published article.
12. If your paper is selected for publication, appendices longer than five pages will appear on our Web site.

JBI Publications Sample References

Journal Articles

A) Published Articles
Author’s last name, first name. Year. “Article Title.” Journal Title, Volume (Issue number if applicable): Page numbers.
Example: Acemoglu, Daron. 2002. “Technical Change, Inequality, and the Labor Market.” Journal of Economic Literature, 40(1): 7–72.
In the case of two authors, only the first author’s name is inverted and a comma must be placed before and after the first author’s first name or initials. Use “and” between the names of the two authors.
Example: Baker, George, Robert Gibbons, and Kevin J. Murphy. 2002. "Relational Contracts and the Theory of the Firm." Quarterly Journal of Economics, 117(1): 39–84.

B) Forthcoming Articles
Example: Bikhchandani, Sushil, and Joseph M. Ostroy. Forthcoming. “Ascending Price Vickery Auctions.” Games and Economic Behavior.

Books
A) One Author
Author’s last name, first name. Year. Title of Book. City of publication: Publisher.
Example: Friedman, Thomas L. 2005. The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

B) Two Authors
Example: Helpman, Elhanan, and Paul Krugman. 1985. Market Structure and Foreign Trade: Increasing Returns, Imperfect Competition, and the International Economy. Cambridge, MA:  MIT Press.

C) Chapter in a Book
Author’s last name, first name. Year. “Chapter or Article Title.” In Book Title, followed by ed. and editor’s (s’) name(s) if appropriate, and page number(s). City of publication: Publisher.
Example: Freeman, Richard B. 1993. “How Much Has Deunionization Contributed to the Rise in Male Earnings Equality?” In Uneven Tide: Rising Income Inequality in America, ed. Sheldon Danzinger and Peter Gottschalk, 133–63. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

D) Reprint or Modern Editions
When emphasizing the earlier date: Author’s last name, first name. Earlier printing date. Title. City of publication: Publisher, Later date.
Example 1: Rawls, John. 1971. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999.
When emphasizing the later date: Author’s last name, first name. Title. City of publication: Publisher, (Orig. pub. date).
Example 2: Rawls, John. 1999. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,  (Orig. pub. 1971).

E) Editions Other Than the First
When an edition other than the first is used or cited, the number or description of the edition follows the title in the listing.
Example: Strunk, Willliam, Jr., and E. B. White. 2000. The Elements of Style. 4th ed. New
York: Allyn and Bacon.

F ) Multivolume Works
Multivolume works include works such as encyclopedias, multivolume works published over several years, and multivolume works published in a single year. Below are a few examples.
Example 1: Kohama, Hirohisa, ed. 2003. Asian Development Experience. Vol. 1, External Factors in Asian Development. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
Example 2: Kusuoka, Shigeo, and Akira Yamazaki, ed. 2006. Advances in Mathematical Economics. Vol. 8. New York: Springer.
Example 3: Mokyr, Joel, ed. 2003. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History. 5 Vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Unpublished Papers

A) Working Papers
Only papers appearing as part of an institutions’ working papers series should be classified as working papers. These should always include a specific working paper number as assigned by the institution.
Author’s last name, first name. Year. “Title.” Type of Working Paper (such as institution, working series title) and number.
Example 1: Ausubel, Lawrence M. 1997. “An Efficient Ascending-Bid Auction for Multiple Objects.” University of Maryland Faculty Working Paper 97–06.
Example 2: Heidhues, Paul, and Botond Koszegi. 2005. “The Impact of Consumer Loss Aversion on Pricing.” Centre for Economic Policy Research Discussion Paper 4849.

B) Lectures and Papers Presented at Meetings
Author’s last name, first name. Year. “Title.” Paper presented at followed by meeting name, place, and city where lecture/meeting took place.
Example 1: Romer, Christina D., and David H. Romer. 2006. “The Evolution of Economic Understanding and Postwar Stabilization Policy.” Paper presented at the Rethinking Stabilization Policy Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas Symposium, Jackson Hole, WY.
Example 2: Goldin, Claudia. 2006. “The Quiet Revolution That Transformed Women’s Employment, Education, and Family.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Allied Social Science Associations, Boston.

C) Papers on the Web
When a paper has not been published but can be found on the Web (such as the author’s Web site or the university Web site), use the following format: Author’s last name, first name. Year. Title. Web address. Please provide a URL that links to the full text of the article.
Example 1: Zeitzewitz, Eric. 2006. “How Widespread Was Late Trading in Mutual Funds.” http://facultygsb.stanford.edu/zitzewitz.
Example 2: Factiva. 2006. “Blogging and your Corporate Reputation: Part One - Listen to the Conversation.” www.factiva.com/collateral/download_brchr.asp?node=menuElem1506#white.
When a paper has not been published and does not appear on a Web site (such as the author’s Web site or university Web site), use the following format: Author’s last name, first name. Year. Title. Unpublished.
Example 3: Acemoglu, Daron, Pol Atras, and Elhanan Helpman. 2006. “Contracts and Technology Adoption.” Unpublished.

D) Theses and Dissertations
Author’s last name, first name. Year. Title. PhD diss. University.
Example: Nash, John. 1950. Non-Cooperative Games. PhD diss. Princeton University.

Web Sites

This is to reference research done on a Web site. If you are looking to reference a specific article, document, lecture, speech, etc., see the sample reference for those types of documents.

Web Site Name. Year accessed. Publisher/Company. URL (access date).
Example 1: Factiva. 2006. Dow Jones Reuters Business Interactive LLC. www.factiva.com (accessed June 5).
Example 2: Biography Resource Center. 2006. Thomas Gale. http://www.galegroup.com/BiographyRC/ (accessed September 25).

Newspapers, Online Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Reference Works

Because newspapers, online dictionaries, encyclopedias, and databases are continuously updated, they should be cited as a footnote in the text. It should NOT be included in the reference list. The note should always include an access date along with the URL. If possible, use the appropriate URL for the site entry rather than the general URL. If you are citing the definition for “nepotism” in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, use www.m-w.com/dictionary/nepotism rather than http://www.m-w.com/.

Magazine Articles

A) Authored Articles
Author’s last name, first name. Year. “Title.” Magazine. Month or date, page number(s).
Example: Belkin, Lisa. 2003. “The Opt-out Revolution.” New York Times Magazine. October
26, 23–32.

B) Nonauthored Articles
Magazine. Year. “Title.” Month or date, page numbers.
Example: The Economist. 1991. “The Ins and Outs of Outsourcing.” August 31, 54–56.

Online Magazine Articles

Author’s last name, first name. Year. “Title.” Magazine, date. URL.
Example: Becker, Gary S. 1993. “The Evidence against Blacks Doesn’t Prove Bias.” Business Week, April 19. http://bwarchive.businessweek.com/index.jsp.

The Journal of Business Inquiry: Data Availability Policy

It is the policy of The Journal of Business Inquiry (JBI) to publish papers only if the data used in the analysis are clearly and precisely documented and are readily available to any researcher for purposes of replication. Authors of accepted papers that contain empirical work, simulations, or experimental work must provide to the Review, prior to publication, the data, programs, and other details of the computations sufficient to permit replication. These will be posted on the JBI Web site. The Editor should be notified at the time of submission if the data used in the paper are proprietary or if, for some other reason, the requirements above cannot be met.

As soon as possible after acceptance, authors are expected to send their data, programs, and sufficient details to permit replication, in electronic form, to the JBI office. Please send the files via e-mail to jbi@uvu.edu, indicating the manuscript number. Questions regarding any aspect of this policy should be forwarded to the Editor.

Our policies differ somewhat for econometric and simulation papers, and for experimental papers.

For econometric and simulation papers, the minimum requirement should include the data set(s) and programs used to run the final models, plus a description of how previous intermediate data sets and programs were employed to create the final data set(s). Authors are invited to submit these intermediate data files and programs as an option; if they are not provided, authors must fully cooperate with investigators seeking to conduct a replication who request them. The data files and programs can be provided in any format using any statistical package or software.  Authors must provide a Readme PDF file listing all included files and documenting the purpose and format of each file provided, as well as instructing a user on how replication can be conducted.

If a request for an exemption based on proprietary data is made, authors should inform the editors if the data can be accessed or obtained in some other way by independent researchers for purposes of replication. Authors are also asked to provide information on how the proprietary data can be obtained by others in their Readme PDF file. A copy of the programs used to create the final results is still required.

For experimental papers, we have a more detailed policy, including requirements for submitted papers as well as accepted papers. We normally expect authors of experimental articles to supply the following supplementary materials (any exceptions to this policy should be requested at the time of submission):

1. The original instructions. These should be summarized as part of the discussion of experimental design in the submitted manuscript, and also provided in full as an appendix at the time of submission. The instructions should be presented in a way that, together with the design summary, conveys the protocol clearly enough that the design could be replicated by a reasonably skilled experimentalist. For example, if different instructions were used for different sessions, the correspondence should be indicated.

2. Information about subject eligibility or selection, such as exclusions based on past participation in experiments, college major, etc. This should be summarized as part of the discussion of experimental design in the submitted manuscript.

3. Any computer programs, configuration files, or scripts used to run the experiment and/or to analyze the data. These should be summarized as appropriate in the submitted manuscript and provided in full as an appendix when the final version of a manuscript is sent in. (Data summaries, intermediate results, and advice about how to use the programs are welcome, but not required.)

4. The raw data from the experiment. These should be summarized as appropriate in the submitted manuscript and provided in full as an appendix when the final version of an accepted manuscript is sent in, with sufficient explanation to make it possible to use the submitted computer programs to replicate the data analysis.  Other information, such as applications to Institutional Review Boards, consent forms, or Web signup and disclosure forms, is not required or expected. If it desired to make this kind of information public, it should be posted on laboratory or authors' Web sites.  If the paper is accepted by the JBI, the appendices containing instructions, the computer programs, configuration files, or scripts used to run the experiment and/or analyze the data, and the raw data will normally be archived on the JBI Web site when the paper appears.

Instructions for Sending Data, Appendices, Additional Materials, Final Manuscripts, and Figures

Please label your files before e-mailing them to jbi@uvu.edu. Each file name should clearly indicate if the file is a “manuscript,” “data,” “appendix,” “figures,” or “additional materials.”  Each file should contain the manuscript number (which should also be included in the subject line of the e-mail).

• It is preferable to send each “group” of files (if there is more than one file for data, figures, additional materials, etc.) as a .zip file (for example, 20030002_data.zip or 20030002_addmaterials.zip).

• Please use underscores instead of spaces when creating file names.