Author Guidelines

Authors who wish to submit manuscripts to SCHEMA: Studies of Contemporary Approaches and Management are expected to carefully follow these guidelines. Manuscripts that do not comply with the journal's scope, formatting requirements, ethical standards, or submission procedures may be returned to the authors or declined during the initial editorial screening.

SCHEMA accepts manuscripts that provide original, relevant, and rigorous contributions to contemporary management, business, and organizational studies. All manuscripts must be submitted through the journal's online submission system.

• The manuscript must be original, unpublished, and not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
• The manuscript must fall within the Focus and Scope of SCHEMA.
• Manuscripts should be written in clear and academically appropriate English.
• Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the language, data, citations, references, ethical statements, and other information contained in the manuscript.
• The submitted manuscript should normally contain approximately 5,000–8,000 words, excluding references, tables, figures, and supplementary materials. Longer manuscripts may be considered when academically justified.
• The manuscript should be submitted in an editable Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx).
• Authors should ensure that all identifying information is removed from the manuscript file to support the journal's double-blind peer-review process.

SCHEMA welcomes the following types of scholarly manuscripts:

Unless otherwise specified in the official SCHEMA manuscript template, authors should prepare manuscripts using the following general format:

• Paper size: A4
• Font: Times New Roman
• Body text: 12 pt
• Line spacing: 1.15–1.5
• Alignment: Justified
• File format: Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx)
• Language: English

Where an official SCHEMA article template is provided, authors should use the template and follow its formatting instructions.

4.1 Title

The title should be concise, informative, specific, and accurately reflect the main focus of the study. Excessively long titles, unnecessary abbreviations, and overly general expressions should be avoided.

4.2 Author Information

Authors must enter complete author information into the OJS submission metadata, including full name, institutional affiliation, country, email address, and ORCID iD where available.

To preserve double-blind peer review, names, affiliations, acknowledgements, and other information that may reveal the authors' identities should not appear in the blinded manuscript submitted for review.

4.3 Abstract

The manuscript should contain an abstract of approximately 150–250 words. The abstract should concisely describe the research background or purpose, method, principal findings, and major implications or contribution of the study.

The abstract should be self-contained and should normally avoid citations, undefined abbreviations, tables, and figures.

4.4 Keywords

Authors should provide 3–6 keywords representing the central concepts, variables, methods, or context of the manuscript. Keywords should facilitate indexing and discoverability and should not merely repeat every word appearing in the title.

4.5 Introduction

The Introduction should establish the research context, explain the importance of the problem, critically engage with relevant literature, identify the theoretical or empirical gap, clarify the novelty or contribution of the study, and state the research objectives or questions. Hypotheses may be presented where appropriate.

4.6 Literature Review / Theoretical Background

Where relevant, the manuscript should present an appropriately developed theoretical or conceptual foundation. The literature review should critically synthesize relevant scholarship rather than merely provide a descriptive list of previous studies.

4.7 Research Method

The Method section should provide sufficient information to understand and, where appropriate, replicate the study. Authors should clearly explain the research design, setting or context, population and sample or participants, sampling technique, instruments or data sources, data collection procedures, measurement procedures, analytical techniques, and relevant ethical considerations.

4.8 Results

The Results section should present the findings clearly, systematically, and objectively. Tables and figures should be used only when they improve the clarity and efficiency of data presentation.

4.9 Discussion

The Discussion should interpret the findings in relation to the research objectives, theoretical framework, and relevant previous studies. Authors should explain the significance of the findings, identify consistencies or differences with earlier research, and articulate the theoretical, managerial, practical, or policy implications where applicable.

4.10 Conclusion

The Conclusion should directly address the research objectives and summarize the principal contribution of the study without merely repeating the Results section. Relevant theoretical or practical implications, study limitations, and recommendations for future research may also be provided.

4.11 Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements may recognize individuals or institutions that contributed to the research but do not meet the criteria for authorship. This information should be added only after the peer-review process when necessary to preserve author anonymity.

4.12 Funding Statement

Authors should disclose all sources of financial support for the research. If the study received no specific funding, authors may state that no specific financial support was received.

4.13 Conflict of Interest

Authors must disclose any financial, professional, institutional, personal, or other relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research or publication process. If no conflict exists, an appropriate declaration should be provided.

4.14 Data Availability Statement

Where applicable, authors should state whether the data supporting the findings are publicly available, available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request, subject to ethical or legal restrictions, or otherwise unavailable.

4.15 References

All sources cited in the manuscript must appear in the reference list, and all references listed must be cited in the text. Authors are responsible for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of bibliographic information.

SCHEMA uses the American Psychological Association (APA), 7th Edition citation and reference style.

Authors are strongly encouraged to use reference management software such as Mendeley, Zotero, EndNote, or other reliable reference management applications to improve citation accuracy and consistency.

Where available, authors should include the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for journal articles and other scholarly sources.

References should prioritize relevant, credible, and up-to-date scholarly sources. Authors are encouraged to engage with recent international literature while also citing foundational studies when theoretically necessary.

• Tables and figures should be numbered consecutively according to their appearance in the manuscript.
• Each table and figure must have a clear and informative title or caption.
• Tables and figures must be referred to in the body of the manuscript.
• Figures should be of sufficient resolution to remain clear after publication.
• Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted tables, figures, images, instruments, or other materials when permission is required.
• Tables should preferably be editable rather than submitted solely as images.

Authors must conduct and report research in accordance with generally accepted standards of research integrity and publication ethics.

Research involving human participants should comply with applicable institutional, national, and disciplinary ethical standards. Where ethical approval is required, authors should provide information concerning the approving institution or ethics committee and approval reference where applicable.

Informed consent should be obtained where required, particularly when research involves identifiable participants, sensitive information, interviews, surveys, experimental interventions, or other procedures requiring participant consent.

Fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, duplicate publication, inappropriate image or data manipulation, citation manipulation, and other forms of research misconduct are unacceptable.

Submitted manuscripts must represent original scholarly work. SCHEMA may use similarity-detection software as part of its editorial screening and publication integrity procedures.

Similarity reports are evaluated contextually by the editorial team. Editorial decisions are not based solely on a numerical similarity percentage. Particular attention is given to unattributed copying, inappropriate paraphrasing, duplicate publication, excessive reuse of previously published material, and other forms of plagiarism or textual misconduct.

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial scholarly contributions to the conception or design of the study, acquisition or analysis of data, interpretation of findings, preparation or critical revision of the manuscript, and approval of the final version.

All listed authors must approve the submitted manuscript and agree to be accountable for their respective contributions. Individuals who contributed to the work but do not qualify for authorship may be acknowledged appropriately.

The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal and for ensuring that all authors have approved the submission and subsequent revisions.

Artificial intelligence tools and AI-assisted technologies cannot be listed as authors because they cannot assume responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, originality, or accountability required of scholarly authorship.

Authors remain fully responsible for all content submitted to SCHEMA, including text, analysis, interpretations, citations, references, tables, figures, and other materials produced or assisted by artificial intelligence technologies.

If generative AI or AI-assisted technologies have been used substantially in preparing the manuscript, authors should transparently disclose the nature and purpose of their use where appropriate. Authors must verify all AI-assisted outputs and must not use such technologies to fabricate references, manipulate research data, misrepresent findings, or compromise research integrity.

Manuscripts must be written in clear, coherent, and academically appropriate English. Authors whose manuscripts contain substantial grammatical, stylistic, or readability problems may be asked to undertake language revision before the manuscript proceeds to peer review or publication.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that professional language editing does not alter the scientific meaning, data, findings, or authorship of the manuscript.

All manuscripts must be submitted electronically through the SCHEMA Online Journal System (OJS). Authors should complete all required metadata accurately during submission.

The submission metadata should include:

• Full title of the manuscript
• Full names of all authors
• Institutional affiliations
• Country of affiliation
• Valid email addresses
• ORCID iD, where available
• Abstract
• Keywords
• Relevant funding or supporting information, where applicable

Manuscripts that pass the initial editorial screening will normally be evaluated through a double-blind peer-review process by at least two independent reviewers with expertise relevant to the manuscript.

Authors should respond carefully and systematically to all reviewer and editor comments. Revised manuscripts should normally be accompanied by a detailed response explaining the revisions made and, where appropriate, providing scholarly justification for recommendations that have not been adopted.

Before submitting a manuscript, authors should ensure that: