Submissions

Author Guidelines

Journal’s Aims and Scope

The BULLETIN OF ECONOMIC STUDIES (BEE) is a peer-reviewed, Open-Access journal that publishes original manuscripts primarily aimed at disseminating knowledge and promoting the transfer of research outputs from the fields of economics and business management. The journal publishes papers in both Spanish and English. It seeks to provide a forum for in-depth practical contributions with implications that are particularly (but not solely) relevant to an international professional audience in the economics and management arena.

In line with the strategic framework’s aim of the Deusto Business School and the Deusto Business Alumni to transfer knowledge and research results to various interest groups, BEE provides distinct value by making original research fully available to the professional community in the fields of business and economics.

The BEE mission, therefore, is to build bridges that promote relationships and dialogue between academia and practitioners, through publishing contributions that showcase the value of both approaches in the scope of management practice.

The three hallmarks of the BEE are:

• Contributions that are relevant to practitioners in the fields of economic analysis and business management.
• A transversal approach across different management areas.
• Dissemination of research results in both Spanish and English languages, mainly aimed at the Spanish-speaking practitioners’ community.

Submission Guidelines

Focus on transfer of knowledge created through original research

The BEE publishes articles containing original research that provide value to the professional community. This will take the form of practical implications and lessons learnt, which offer readers the opportunity to acquire new knowledge and engage in further reflection, as well as encourage them to put into practice the lessons and practical implications contained in articles. The BEE encourages original submissions aimed to transfer cutting-edge research from authors that have recently conducted studies published in top-ranked academic journals (preferably Q1&Q2 Scopus/WoS) or that are part of competitive research projects.

The submissions should be original manuscripts that describe practical research approaches to the current and future challenges in management and economics. These papers should be aimed at helping the professional community, by providing them with new ideas, good practices, lessons learnt, guidelines or recommendations that add value to their specific role in management and/or economics.

These submissions are therefore focused on the dissemination of new, practice-based research outputs, presented in a format and language ​​aimed at economics and business management practitioners. The BEE encourages using a style and language that is accessible to managers or practitioners from different areas of management and economics.

Manuscript Content List and Style

Submissions must have the following sections:

• Title (in English and Spanish): The title should raise a challenge, a reflection or a question that is relevant to the professional community.
• Abstract (max. 200 words in English and Spanish)
• Keywords (max. 4-5 keywords, in English and Spanish each)
• Introduction (max. 500 words): The introduction should outline the knowledge gap that the paper seeks to address. Questions such as: why is the topic currently relevant to economics and business management practice? Who is the paper aimed at (practitioners in a specific area, institutions, social agents, other types of organisations ...)? What will it do for the audience (needs, problems, or challenges to be met)? What are the key messages that the article aims to convey? What is the expected impact (strategies, actions, policies ...) on, and applications for, the practitioner audience? The introduction must therefore outline the relevance and originality of the manuscript and how it fills the existing gap in the literature, by arguing the need for this contribution and its practical impact on the relevant professional community.
• Research context (max. 500 words): Author(s) should briefly describe the academic research on which the manuscript is based, together with the research framework and publications on which the article is based. This section should provide an overview of the state of the art on the specific topic of research, covering the most important literature, as well as a brief description of the methods employed. The language style must be appropriate for economics and business management practitioners.
• Main Section (max. 3500 words): The main section can be structured into subsections where author(s) should formulate key arguments mainly looking to:
1. Present the main conclusions of the research, emphasising its implications and the practical lessons learnt, using language appropriate for the practitioner audience.
2. Show their applicability to the relevant practitioners, by making recommendations or providing methodologies for its implementation.
3. Reflect on its potential impact, giving guidelines on how to monitor that impact.
• Discussion (max. 500 words)
• References (using APA format)

Format of Submissions

Two documents should be submitted:

• Main Document: The manuscript should include the title of the paper, the keywords and the abstract (in English and Spanish), in addition to the article in full (containing the sections required) and all the tables and diagrams. The Main Document must NOT include any personal information identifying the authors. It is recommended that the length of the text be between 2,500 and 5,000 words (excluding references, tables, or graphics), written in English or Spanish.  All text should be 11-point Calibri font and one-and-a-half line spacing should be used, with no extra spaces between paragraphs. Highlighted text must be in italics rather than underlined. Headings (up to 3 levels) should be clearly marked and numbered. Also, if there are tables and diagrams included, these should be placed within the body of the paper near the text that refers to them. Tables and figures should be cited in the main text as Table 1,2,3...n and Figure 1,2,3…n, along with a short title. Complying with these format guidelines will make it easier for editors and reviewers to read and assess the manuscripts.
  
  Citations should follow the American Psychological Association (APA) style, 7th edition. For more information, please visit: http://www.apastyle.org.
  
  
• Title Page: In addition to the Main Document, the authors should send an independent Title Page that should include the following data: Paper title in English and Spanish, Authors’ names in full, email, affiliation, their ORCID or Research ID, and a short bio in English and Spanish of 150 words per author (including current position, relevant experience, main research area(s), and highest academic qualification). Additionally, if necessary, acknowledgements of any collaboration and assistance received for the preparation of the manuscript and statement of any conflict of interest concerning the material presented in the manuscript should be noted in the Title Page.

Journal Peer Review Process: Review your article before submission

Papers will undergo a double-blind reviewing process, after an initial screening process by the editorial team. The BEE peer review process is described in detail in the section titled ‘Review Process’.

You should only submit original articles that have not been submitted to other journals at the same time. There are no costs associated with submissions or with publishing articles.

The journal may publish Special Issues under the guidance of a Guest Editor. In these cases, the manuscripts are subjected to review by the Guest Editor and an independent expert. In addition to the peer-review criteria mentioned above (such as originality, innovative character, rigorous, appropriate citations, and references and, mainly, emphasis on the practical contributions and implications), relevance to the specific topic covered by the Special Issue is particularly important, all of which will guide the peer review process.

The Editorial Team is likely to reject:

• Papers without a clear focus on the application of the research; or lacking subsections such as lessons learnt and practical contributions for practitioners, which are mandatory.
• Papers that are less than 2,500 words or over 5,000 words (excluding notes, references, tables, and graphics).
• Papers with missing sections (see the ‘Manuscript Content List and Style’ section).

The reviewers must assess the following aspects of the submission, see Reviewers form.

Online Submission Procedure

The Bulletin of Economic Studies welcomes submissions related to its scope and focus at any time of the year. We recommend that you review the ‘About the Journal’ page for the journal's section policies, as well as this document about guidelines for authors, specifically the section about submission guidelines, and the focus on transfer of knowledge created through original research.

Manuscripts should be submitted online via the Bulletin of Economic Studies online submission and review system at <https://bee.revistas.deusto.es/>

Data about all authors of a manuscript, and not only the submitter or corresponding author,  should be included in the Journal Site <https://bee.revistas.deusto.es/> prior to submitting. If already registered, author(s) can simply log in and begin the submission process. Failure to comply with this requirement may delay the initial assessment of the manuscript.

Manuscripts will be processed using the Open Journal Systems (OJS) software, which allows authors to track the progress of their manuscript.

In OJS, editorial correspondence related to a manuscript is reserved for the person who actually submits the manuscript. For articles written by several authors, the submitter will be the only co-author with access rights to the manuscript and related files. It is therefore important that the corresponding author, referred to as ‘Principal contact for editorial correspondence’ in OJS terminology, be the actual submitter of the manuscript in question. Otherwise, they will not be able to use the platform to send and receive messages, modify the metadata of the manuscript, and/or upload additional files to the system.

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check that their submission complies with all of the following items. Submissions that do not adhere to these guidelines may be returned to authors.

• The submitted manuscript has not previously been copyrighted or published in any form, including electronic, and is not currently under consideration for publication elsewhere.
• The length of the submitted manuscript is between 2,500 and 5,000 words, excluding notes, biography, references, captions, and diagrams.
• The submitted manuscript is written in Spanish or English in a neat style and includes an abstract of a maximum of 200 words and 4 to 5 keywords, both in English and Spanish.
• For citing and referencing, the APA Style has been used and NOT any other citation and referencing style.
• The URLs of the references have been provided, when available.
• The text is 1.5 spaces and uses an 11-point Calibri font; use italics instead of underlining.
• The headings (3 levels maximum) are numbered, as well as the tables and diagrams that must have a short title and be located in the place of the text that refers to them.
• The document does not include information that could compromise the integrity of the blind peer review.
• A 150-200 word biographical note in English and Spanish for each author(with full name, email address, affiliation, current position, relevant experience, research area or areas, major and highest academic qualifications) is provided on the title page (independent of the manuscript).

The Journal does not charge any fees for manuscript submission, processing, and publication.

The editorial staff uses TURNITIN software to verify the originality of manuscripts submitted to the BEE. The submitted manuscript shall not have been previously copyrighted or published in any form, including electronically, and must not be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. The submission and its eventual publication shall not be in violation of any codes of conduct, privacy and confidentiality agreements, laws, or any rights of any third parties. Authors are solely liable for the consequences that may arise from third parties’ complaints about the submitted material and its publication in the BEE. Authors shall sign a copyright transfer agreement (to the Publisher) after the acceptance but before the publication of their manuscripts.

Journal’s Creative Commons Licence

When authors submit a paper for reviewing and publishing, they retain their copyright, but they automatically agree to grant non-exclusive publishing rights to the BEE and agree that the paper will be published under a Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC 4.0, if the paper is accepted for publication. Authors are encouraged to read their rights carefully. We believe this approach ensures a fair arrangement for both parties. The licence granted allows the Journal to edit and typeset the paper, which will be included in a forthcoming issue and distributed in any online and offline medium that the journal deems necessary in order to promote the paper, the authors, and the Journal.

More information and correspondence

Additional updated information can be sought from the Journal’s editorial and management team. Editorial correspondence should be sent to the Co-Editors-in-Chief of the Journal (beejournal@deusto.es). Enquiries regarding the OJS platform of the BEE should be sent to the Deusto Journal Manager (Ladislas Bizimana, revistas.cientificas@deusto.es).

The mailing address is the following.

For the attention of:

BEE Journal Editorial Team
Deusto Business Alumni
Avenida de las Universidades, 24
48007 Bilbao
SPAIN