Research Journal Guidelines for Authors
Ethical Guidelines
View Editorial Policies for more details.
Author Guidelines
We welcome your contributions to the IJLCM. To ensure a smooth review and publication process, kindly adhere to the following guidelines:
- Formatting and Length:
- Manuscripts should be typed with one-half spacing on A4-size paper.
- The recommended length for papers is approximately 5-20 pages. There is no word limit.
- Language:
- All papers should be written in English.
- Originality:
- Submitted papers must be original works based on authentic research results.
- The submitted work must not have been published in any other media and should not be planned for future publication elsewhere.
- Abstract and Keywords:
- Include a concise abstract of 150-250 words.
- Provide a set of keywords (at least 3-5) that best describe your submission.
- Author Information:
- Include the full name(s) of the author(s) along with their respective institutions and complete addresses.
- File Format:
- Submit your manuscript in OpenOffice or Microsoft Word document format.
- Citations:
- Use body notes for bibliographical references, including the full name(s) of the author(s) and the publication year.
- Bibliography:
- All articles should include a bibliography adhering to the latest APA (American Psychological Association) style (7th edition).
- For detailed citation guidelines, please refer to: http://www.apastyle.org.
We appreciate your commitment to these guidelines, as they contribute to maintaining the quality and consistency of our journal’s content. Your valuable contributions to the International Journal for Leadership and Communication Management play a vital role in advancing knowledge in the fields of leadership and communication management.
Article Structure
Title Page
- Title: Concise and informative; avoid abbreviations and formulas.
- Author Names and Affiliations: Clearly list authors’ given and family names; provide accurate spellings. Affiliation addresses and email addresses below names, using superscript letters for affiliations.
- Corresponding Author: Clearly indicate the corresponding author responsible for all correspondence, including post-publication. Include an up-to-date email address.
Abstract
- Concise and factual.
- State research purpose, principal results, and significant conclusions.
- No referencing preferred; if needed, cite authors and years.
- Avoid non-standard abbreviations; define if essential.
Keywords
- Include 3-5 relevant words/phrases.
Introduction
- State research objectives.
- Provide sufficient background, avoiding exhaustive literature reviews.
Literature Review
- Summarize and explain current knowledge on a specific topic.
- Analyze previous studies, and identify gaps, limitations, and areas for further research.
- Show an understanding of the subject’s context and the relevance of your research.
Methods
- Detail for result interpretation and replication.
- Summarize published methods, reference them, and elaborate on modifications.
Results and Discussion
- A clear description of study outcomes.
- Explain statistical analyses; use visual representations (tables, graphs) with text explanations.
- Discuss the results’ significance; avoid repetition.
- The combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate.
- Limit citations and literature discussion.
Conclusion
- Briefly present the main study conclusions.
- Stand-alone or part of Discussion or Results and Discussion.
REFERENCES
- Follow APA style (American Psychological Association, 7th Edition) guidelines.
- Utilize tools like Mendeley for citation management.
- Arrange references alphabetically.
- Include at least 15 sources, focusing on the past ten years.
Article Submission Checklist
As part of the submission process, authors are required to confirm their submission’s adherence to the following items. Submissions that do not comply with these guidelines may be returned to the authors.
- The submission is not previously published or under consideration by another journal.
- The submission file is in OpenOffice or Microsoft Word document format.
- References include URLs where applicable.
- The text is single-spaced, employs a 12-point font, uses italics (except for URLs), and places illustrations, figures, and tables within the text at relevant points, not at the end.
- The text follows the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author and Ethical Guidelines.
- To ensure anonymous peer review, steps have been taken to prevent authors’ and reviewers’ identities from being known:
- Authors have removed their names from the text, using “Author” and year in references and footnotes.
- Document properties do not reveal authors’ identities to editors and reviewers who upload documents for review.
Adhering to these checklist items contributes to a smooth submission process and ensures the integrity of blind peer review for the journal.
Copyright Notice and Regulations
By submitting their work to this journal, authors agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain the copyright to their work while granting the journal the right of first publication.
- Authors have the option to engage in additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal’s published version of the work. This might include posting it in institutional repositories or publishing it in a book, with proper acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are encouraged to post their work online, in institutional repositories or on their personal websites before and during submission. This practice can facilitate productive exchanges and lead to earlier and increased citations of the published work. (Refer to “The Effect of Open Access” for more details.)
- This work is simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. This allows others to share the work while acknowledging the authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Privacy Statement
Privacy Statement
The names and email addresses submitted through this journal site will be utilized solely for the intended purposes of this journal. They will not be disclosed to any other party or used for any other purpose beyond the scope of this journal’s operations. Your privacy is a priority, and we ensure that your personal information remains confidential and secure.
Privacy Statement for Journals and Publications
Authorship Policies
Authorship
The corresponding (submitting) author is responsible for engaging with the International Journal for Leadership and Communication Management (IJLCM) and facilitating communication among co-authors. Before submitting, the corresponding author ensures that the list of authors is comprehensive, the order is mutually agreed upon, and all authors are informed of the manuscript’s submission.
Change of Authorship
IJLCM’s authorship policy strictly prohibits adding or removing names once an article has been submitted and reviewed. However, in exceptional circumstances, the Chief Editor may consider a change in authorship. In such cases, the corresponding author must address the following:
For Adding New Author(s):
a. Explain the rationale behind adding new author(s).
b. Elaborate on the article’s relevance and background to the newly suggested author(s).
c. Specify the contributions of these new authors to the research intended for publication in IJLCM.
d. Provide insights into why their names were omitted during the initial article submission.
Furthermore, all authors’ letters indicating their non-objection to adding names must be provided.
For Removal of Author(s):
Explain the reasons for removing the author(s) initially included. Similarly, include a letter of consent from all authors indicating their non-objection to the removal.
Author’s Affiliation
The author’s primary affiliation should correspond to the institution where the majority of their work was conducted. If an author has relocated to another institution subsequently, their current address may also be included.
Co-Authorship
- Each co-author of the papers should have contributed significantly to the work and collectively shared responsibility for the outcomes.
- Distribution of authorship and credit should align with each party’s contributions.
- Authors must take credit only for work they have genuinely undertaken or contributed to.
- Other contributions should be acknowledged in the manuscript’s Acknowledgements or an endnote.
- Students should typically be listed as principal co-authors for multi-authored publications from their dissertations or theses.
- Authors utilizing data from other researchers must explicitly acknowledge the original researchers’ contributions.
Corresponding Author Responsibilities
The Corresponding Author, submitting a manuscript to IJLCM, should have shared a draft with all co-authors, received their agreement for submission and publication, and ensured their concurrence.
By upholding these principles, we maintain the integrity and accountability of authorship, fostering a fair and transparent publication process.
Conflicts of Interest
Authors engaging with the International Journal for Leadership and Communication Management (IJLCM) are urged to steer clear of conflicts of interest or any appearances thereof throughout the research process. A conflict of interest encompasses any information known to a participant in the publication process that, if disclosed later, might give rise to a sense of deception or misdirection for a reasonable reader (or cause Authors, Reviewers, or Editors to be defensive). Conflicts of interest possess the potential to impact the judgment of Authors, Reviewers, and Editors. Often, possible conflicts are not immediately evident to others; they can span personal, commercial, political, academic, or financial domains. Financial interests may include factors such as employment, research funding (received or pending), ownership of stocks, patents, remuneration for speaking engagements or travel, consultancy arrangements, non-financial assistance, or any form of fiduciary association with an entity. The perception of a conflict of interest is nearly as impactful as an actual one, as both undermine trust. Queries regarding potential conflicts of interest can be directed to the Editor-in-Chief.
Upon manuscript submission to the International Journal for Leadership and Communication Management (IJLCM), the Corresponding Author has the opportunity to suggest up to three potential Reviewers for consideration. The recommended reviewers must not be listed as Co-Authors on the manuscript and should not have had prior exposure to the manuscript’s content. However, these suggestions do not constitute binding obligations for the editors.
Authors are urged to diligently avoid any potential conflict of interest, or even its semblance, when selecting Editors and Reviewers. Such conflicts of interest extend beyond the Corresponding Author to encompass all Co-Authors associated with the manuscript.
Examples of potential conflicts of interest encompass:
a. One of the Authors shares the same institutional affiliation as the nominated Editor or Reviewer;
b. One of the Authors previously served on the Journal’s Editorial Board; or
c. One of the Authors and the specified Editor or Reviewer presently share co-authorship on another manuscript.
Authors are advised against nominating individuals they know have already read and provided input on the manuscript or a prior version thereof, as such knowledge would inherently contravene the principles of the double-blind review process.
Plagiarism Statement and Policy
The International Journal for Leadership and Communication Management (IJLCM) adheres to a zero-tolerance policy regarding plagiarism. It thus establishes a comprehensive set of actions (penalties) to be taken when plagiarism is identified within an article submitted for publication in the journal.
Policy
Manuscripts must be original, unpublished, and not simultaneously submitted elsewhere for publication. Any content directly quoted from another source must be clearly distinguished from the present original text through (1) appropriate indentation, (2) the use of quotation marks, and (3) proper identification of the source.
Any text or graphic material exceeding the limits of fair use (defined as more than two or three sentences or their equivalent) or any graphical content reproduced from another source necessitates permission from the copyright holder and, if applicable, the original author(s). The source must also be correctly identified, including previous publications.
All submitted manuscripts undergo a similarity check. In the event of plagiarism, the Chief Editor responsible for reviewing the paper will determine appropriate actions based on the extent of plagiarism detected, guided by the following criteria:
Level of Similarity
IJLCM adopts a zero-tolerance stance towards plagiarism. We utilize various software to assess the similarity index, and the Editor subsequently evaluates the case of potential plagiarism (the similarity report is provided to the author). The Editorial Board follows these procedures:
- Similarity Index above 40%: Article Rejected (due to inadequate citation and/or paraphrasing, leading to outright rejection of the article, and no resubmission will be accepted).
- Similarity Index (10-30%): Sent back to the author for improvement (correct citations for all instances of similarity and enhanced paraphrasing, even when citations are provided, are necessary).
- Similarity Index less than 10%: Accepted, or citation enhancement may be required (proper citations must be included for all externally sourced content).
For cases 2 and 3: Authors should meticulously revise the article, ensuring accurate citations and effective paraphrasing of external content. The resubmitted article should include a statement demonstrating a lack of plagiarism and a similarity index of less than 10%.
Additional Information
Authors hold complete accountability for their submissions’ content, affirming the manuscript’s originality prior to submission and recognizing the guidelines outlined in this plagiarism policy. In the event of a subsequent occurrence of severe plagiarism involving the same author(s), the Editorial Board will determine suitable measures. Such actions might bar the author(s) from submitting future articles.
This policy extends to instances where authors reproduce content from their prior publications. Should an author incorporate previously published text or figures, they must appropriately attribute and reference the corresponding paragraphs or figures from the previous work. Acknowledgement of the prior publication is anticipated when a review paper or tutorial incorporates previously published material.
In cases where an author uses previously published material to elucidate new results, the prior publication must be identified, and differences between the current and previous publications must be noted. Obtaining permission from the copyright holder is imperative for republishing. Suppose a manuscript submitted to IJLCM demonstrates substantial overlap with a simultaneously submitted manuscript to another journal. In that case, specific measures will be taken, whether identified during or after the review process. In that case, the Editor of the other journal will be notified, treating the case as severe plagiarism. Significant overlap refers to using identical or nearly identical figures and text for half or more of the paper. For self-plagiarism involving less than half of the article but over one-tenth, the case will be categorized as intermediate plagiarism. Self-plagiarism confined to the methods section will be considered minor plagiarism.
Should an author employ previously presented material to enhance the presentation of new outcomes, the prior publication should be identified, and distinctions from the current publication should be highlighted. Republishing permission must be obtained from the copyright holder. If a manuscript initially published in conference proceedings is subsequently submitted to IJLCM for publication, whether in identical or expanded form, the authors must acknowledge the conference proceedings and obtain republishing consent. The Editorial Team retains the authority to reject the publication of such a paper. However, authors can still include content from an unpublished presentation, including visual aids, in a future journal publication. For articles initially published in a language other than English, authors must provide the original publication’s title, date, and journal and obtain copyright clearance.
Publishing System
The utilization of Open Journal Systems (OJS 3.4) is employed by this journal. This open-source journal management and publishing software has been developed, maintained, and made available by the Public Knowledge Project under the GNU General Public License.
Abstracting and Indexing
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