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Manuscript Submission

For manuscript submission, please read the following guidelines. Manuscripts can be submitted as an email attachment. Acknowledgement of manuscript submission will be sent to the author(s) within 48 hours. Author(s) should write and format their manuscript according to the following manuscript format.

Manuscript format. Download

Author Guidelines

Journal of Management Matters (JMM) is the official journal of the Faculty of Management Studies, Rajarata university of Sri Lanka. The primary purpose of JMM is to publish quality papers that make significant contributions to the body of knowledge in the fields of management and economics. JMM publishes original research articles, reviews, conceptual papers, case studies and other written scholarly communications that cover a wide array of disciplines including organizational management, accounting and economics, information systems, and tourism and hospitality.

All manuscripts for the JMM should be prepared with the guidelines provided herein. No manuscript will be considered for publication in the JMM that has been published elsewhere or under review elsewhere for publication. 

Unless otherwise stated, opinions and conclusions expressed in the papers in the JMM are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the editors, or the Faculty of Management Studies.

Types of papers

  • Research Paper
  • Viewpoint
  • Technical Paper
  • Conceptual Paper
  • Case Study
  • Literature Review
  • General Review
  • Data

Viewpoint. Covers any paper where content is dependent on the author’s opinion and interpretation. This includes journalistic and magazine-style pieces.

Technical paper. Describes and evaluates technical products, processes or services.

Conceptual paper. Focuses on developing hypotheses and is usually discursive. Covers philosophical discussions and comparative studies of other authors’ work and thinking.

Case study. Describes actual interventions or experiences within organizations. It can be subjective and doesn’t generally report on research. Also covers a description of a legal case or a hypothetical case study used as a teaching exercise.

Literature review. This category should only be used if the main purpose of the paper is to annotate and/or critique the literature in a particular field. It could be a selective bibliography providing advice on information sources, or the paper may aim to cover the main contributors to the development of a topic and explore their different views.

General review. Provides an overview or historical examination of some concept, technique or phenomenon. Papers are likely to be more descriptive or instructional (‘how to’ papers) than discursive.

Data: Explains a data set, either qualitative or quantitative, which is stored in Mendeley or similar databases with a separate Digital Object Identifier DOI that facilitate other researchers to re-analyze the data with different research objectives.

General Guidelines

All manuscripts should address research issues in a rigorous way using qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods. Each manuscript undergoes an editorial screening followed by a double-blind review at least by two reviewers. A submitted manuscript will be accepted only after the author/s adequately attend to all the revisions suggested during the reviewing process.

Submission procedure

Author (s) should prepare their manuscript using Microsoft word. However, if the author(s) wish to send their manuscript as a PDF file, such PDF file should be sent along with the word file. The journal uses the manuscript in word format for the reviewing purpose. Manuscripts should be submitted to the official email address of the journal: jmm@mgt.rjt.ac.lk.

Structure of the paper

The papers submitted to the JMM should be complied in the following manner: title page with author details; abstract; keywords; main text of the manuscript including the introduction, literature review, conceptual and theoretical development, research design including materials and methods, results and discussion, and conclusion; acknowledgement, appendixes (if available), and list of references.

Word limits

The word limits for each paper type should be as follows:

  • Research Paper (should be between 6000-7500 words)
  • Viewpoint (should be between 3000-5000 words)
  • Technical Paper (should be between 4000-6000 words)
  • Conceptual Paper (should be between 4000-6000 words)
  • Case Study (should be between 6000-7500 words)
  • Literature Review (should be between 5000-7000 words)
  • General Review (should be between 5000-7000 words)
  • Data (should be between 2000-4000 words)

Formatting guidelines

Template

Authors should use the “Microsoft Word Template” to prepare the papers. The template is available on the journal website for download. Once you download and open the template, replace each section with relevant text (i.e. Title, Author Names, Affiliation, Abstract, Main text, References). To format the paper, select the section you want to format and go the “Styles Pane” in the “Home” menu and click on the corresponding style (i.e., JMM_Title, JMM_Authorname, JMM_Heading1, etc.)

General Formatting Guidelines

Font and font size:

Use Times New Roman in size 12 with single line spacing

Column:

Single

Margins:

Should be at least 2.5 cm (1 inch)

Language:

Please write your text in English, American or British, but not a mixture of both.

Text:

Text should be justified, and the first line of paragraphs is indented. All acronyms spelled out first before the consequent use. The word ‘percent’ should be used instead of % and numbers 1-9 should be spelled out. Statistical terms should be in italics (e.g.: n, p, F, M). Use single quotes only inside double quotes. In a series, use a comma before the conjunction (e.g.: Smith, Jones, and Paddington). Use footnotes, not endnotes.

Subdivision – numbered sections:
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).

Headings:

Level 1Flush Left, Boldface, Title Case Heading, Text starts a new paragraph.
Level 2Flush Left, Italic, Title Case Heading, Text starts a new paragraph.
Level 3Flush Left, Title Case Heading, Text starts a new paragraph.
Level 4Indented, Title Case Heading Ending with a Period. Paragraph text continues, on the same line as the same paragraph.
Level 5Indented, Italic, Title Case Heading Ending with a Period. Paragraph text, continues on the same line as the same paragraph.

Tables and Figures:

The table number (e.g., Table 1) should display in bold type alongside the table title and should be numbered in the order they appear in your article. Tables and figures should be included in the main text when each is mentioned for the first time.

Article structure

Title Page

Title
Author’s first and last names, in italics

Author/s’ affiliations
Corresponding author’s email address

Abstract
The abstract should be a single paragraph of no more than 250 words. Abstracts for research articles should include a concise summary of the study. We advise the author (s) to arrange the abstract as follows: First, briefly describe the research problem in a larger perspective and specify the objective of the study. Second, briefly describe the study’s methodologies; third, summarize the key findings of the research. Finally, state your major conclusions or interpretations. The abstract should be an objective description of the paper, containing no results that are not provided and verified in the main body, and it should not overstate the key conclusions.

Keywords

Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 5 keywords arranging in alphabetical order.

Introduction
The introduction should frame the study in a larger context and emphasize why it is important. It should state the aim and significant of the research. The current state of the research area should be comprehensively reviewed, and key research should be cited. Please stress contentious and diverse hypotheses where relevant. Finally, summarize the basic objective of the study and underline the major findings. Please make the introduction as simple as possible for readers outside your specialized field of study.

Literature Review

A literature review is a summary of previously published works on a certain topic. A whole scholarly document or a portion of a scholarly work, such as a book or an essay, might be referred to by the word. A competent literature evaluation can guarantee that a valid research topic was posed and that a proper theoretical framework and/or research technique was adopted. In other words, a literature review places the present work within the context of the relevant literature and provides perspective for the reader. In such cases, the review generally comes before the work’s methods and outcomes sections 

Methodology

The methods section should include sufficient information to allow others to reproduce and expand on the published results. Please keep in mind that publishing your work entails making all materials, data, and methods involved with the publication available to readers. New procedures and protocols should be presented in-depth, whereas well-established approaches can be stated concisely and cited correctly. Large datasets deposited in a publicly accessible database should be specified in research publications, together with the appropriate accession details.

Results
Results should be clear and concise. Discussion should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them.

Discussion

The author (s) should describe the findings and how they might be interpreted in light of prior research and the working hypothesis. The results and their consequences should be addressed in the broadest possible context. Future research directions may be emphasized as well

Conclusion
The main conclusion of the study should be presented along with recommendation/s and implication/s if applicable.

Acknowledgements

Author (s) can acknowledge any assistance given that was not covered by the author contribution. This may include administrative and technical assistance, as well as in-kind donations.

Appendices

Appendices should be properly numbered and reference to each appendix should be given in the main text.

Plagiarism

JMM does not tolerate any form of plagiarism including copying text, idea, salami slicing, manipulation of data or images, reuse of data or images without due acknowledgement, etc. JMM may run the submitted manuscripts against a plagiarism detection software (i.e., Turnitin or iThenticate), and if plagiarism is detected above the acceptable level (usefully above 15%), the paper will be immediately rejected.  We encourage the author (s) to check for plagiarism before the submission.

Data Availability

JMM encourage all authors to share the data that support the findings of the study. Author (s) can deposit the data in a publicly accessible repository (i.e., Mendeley, FigShare, etc) and provide a reference number (i.e., DOI) in the manuscript. However, if there are any restrictions on sharing the data and material related to the manuscript, the same should be disclosed at the submission stage.

References – (APA referencing style)

Citations must be consistent in author name(s) and publication date between the text and the bibliography at the end. Any reference in the text must be matched by a full entry in the end references. Entries in the references must be matched by entries in the text.  Citations must include all information necessary to enable the reader to locate the referenced publication. References should be in alphabetical order by the first author’s last name; by the first word of the publication or authoring organization if there is no author name. To minimize typing errors and repeated references, we recommend compiling the references with a bibliography software package such as EndNote, Reference Manager, or Zotero. Where available, include the DOI for all references.

Citations in text:

‘Author’s last name (20xx) found that…’

‘Recent studies (Last name year; last name, last name, and last name 20xx; last name, 19xx) …  

‘A study found that (last name & last name, 19xx)

Citations in references:

Journal:

Author, A.A., & Author, B.B. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number (issue number), page range. doi:xxxxxxxxxx

Author, A.A., Author, B.B., & Author, C.C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume

number, pp–pp. doi:xx.xxxxxxxxxx

Book Chapters:

Author, A.A., & Author, B.B. (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In A. Editor & B. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pages of chapter). Location: Publisher.

Author, A.A., & Author, B.B. (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In A. Editor & B. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pages of chapter). Location: Publisher. doi:xxxxxxxxxx

Books:

Author, A.A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Location:

Publisher.

Author, A.A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Subtitle [Adobe Digital Editions version]. Retrieved from http://www.xxxxxx

Conference Proceedings:

Author, A.B., Author, C.D., Author, E.F. (Year). Title of paper. Proceedings of the Name of the Conference, Location of Conference, Country, page range. doi:xxxxxxxxxx

Doctoral dissertation:

Author, A.M. (Year). Title of dissertation (Doctoral dissertation, University Name, Country). Retrieved from http://www.xxxxxxxxx/thesis/

Author, A.M. (Year). Title of dissertation (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from http://www.university/etd/

Electronic Sources:

Author, A. (year, month day). Title of article. Title of Newspaper/publisher. Retrieved from home page web address

 For more details about the APA referencing style, please visit:https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples