Author Guidelines

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL SYSTEMS (IJFS)

AUTHOR GUIDELINES

Please ensure that you refer to these guidelines in preparing your manuscript before you send it to the International Journal of Financial Systems (IJFS) for the review process.

1. Before Submission

• The manuscript must be written in English and professionally proofread.
• All references cited in the text are mentioned in the reference list, and vice versa.
• If the manuscript is written by two or more authors, one of the authors must be assigned as the corresponding author.

2. Submission

The corresponding author must send the manuscript via Open Journal System.

3. Review Process

All submitted manuscripts will go through a double-blind review process. The details of the authors are made unknown to the reviewers, and vice versa. Hence, the corresponding author must provide the following files separately when submitting the manuscript:

• Title Page. This file must include the paper title, authors’ full names, authors’ affiliations, and authors’ email addresses.
• Blinded Manuscript. This file must include the main body of the manuscript (including the abstract, references, figures, tables, and any acknowledgments). Please do not include authors’ details.

4. Font, Spacing, and Length

• Font type. Use “Times New Roman”.
• Font size. Use a 12-point font for body text and a 10-point font for footnotes, notes to tables/figure, and results reported in tables.
• Spacing. Use double-line spacing for body text and reference list. Use single line spacing for footnotes and notes to tables/figures.
• Length of manuscript. Manuscript must be no longer than 40 pages.

5. Manuscript Structure

Introduction

• Clearly state your research questions/hypotheses.
• Clearly state how your research question is new or different from the existing literature.
• Provide well-articulated motivations for the research questions.
• Support your research questions with appropriate theory.
• Explain the approach or methods taken to address research questions.
• Provide the summary of the findings.
• Explain the contributions of the paper to the literature.

Literature Review

• Summarise the key features of the existing literature. 
• Identify the existing gap in the literature and how your study fills such a gap.
• Authors are encouraged to use the more recent literature (i.e., papers published in the last ten years).

Research Methods

• Recent methods or models as employed in the related, recent literature, are used.
• The use of such methods should be supported by references.
• Data, as well as how to get the data, should be properly described.

Results and Analysis

• Provide detailed discussions of your empirical results.
• Make an elaborated comparison of the results to the existing literature and identify the similarities and differences.
• Explain how the results relate to the theory.
• Consider conducting robustness checks, sensitivity analyses, or further/additional analyses.

Conclusion

• Provide concluding remarks outlining the key conclusions of the study.
• Explain the academic and/or practical implications of the results.
• Consider including the limitations of the study and suggestions for future research.

6. Other Technical Issues

Subdivisions of the Manuscript

• The manuscript should be written with a clear division and numbered sections.
• Sections should be numbered using this format: I, II, III, …
• Sub-sections should be numbered using this format: A (then A.I. A.II, A.III, …) B, C, …
• Abstract is not included in section numbering.
• Appropriate headings should be provided for all sections and sub-sections, where each heading must be on a separate line.

Abstract, Footnotes, and Others

• The abstract should be concise (with a maximum of 100 words) and summarising the key issues and findings addressed by the paper.
• Immediately after the abstract, keywords (up to five keywords) and JEL classification codes (up to four codes) have to be provided.
• Footnotes should be consecutively numbered throughout the paper using this format: 1, 2, …
• Models and mathematical formulas should be consecutively numbered throughout the paper using this format: (1), (2), …

Tables and Figures

• Authors should provide tables as editable text, not as images.
• Tables/figures must be provided on separate page(s) at the end of the document.
• Tables/figures must be consecutively numbered using the same order as their appearance in body text.
• It is necessary to use consistent styles to prepare tables throughout the paper.

Referencing Style

• The author has to use the American Psychological Association (APA) referencing style.
• As an example, references in body text should appear as follows: “Chiaramonte et al. (2021) investigate the …” and “Our empirical findings are consistent with prior studies (e.g., Acharya & Rian, 2016; Chiaramonte et al., 2021) …”
• The reference list should appear at the end of body text (i.e., after the conclusion section but before tables/figures).
• References should be double-spaced and listed in alphabetical order by the first author’s surname (last) name.
• Reference list should appear as follows:

Acharya, V. V., & Ryan, S. G. (2016). Banks’ financial reporting and financial system stability. Journal of Accounting Research, 54(2), 277-340.

Chiaramonte, L., Dreassi, A., Girardone, C., & Piserà, S. (2022). Do ESG strategies enhance bank stability during financial turmoil? Evidence from Europe. The European Journal of Finance, 28(12), 1173-1211.

Copyright

Authors will be asked to complete a Statement of Authorship  and a Copyright Transfer Form upon the acceptance of their manuscript. The corresponding author should be responsible for completing the forms and obtain the signatures of all authors.