Journal Policies

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The journal provides its policies, which include detailed information about submission, editorial and publishing processes, as well as guidelines for authors and reviewers. All parties are informed of their rights and responsibilities to ensure a smooth and ethical publishing process. Visit the following subsections for more details on each policy (Effective from 01/01/2021):

1.Author Guidelines

Articles submitted to another journal should not be submitted to IJAFAME. By submitting his or her paper, the author declares on his or her honour that his or her paper is not being submitted or published elsewhere.

Articles must comply with international norms and standards for the publication of scientific articles. In this sense, the content of the article must reveal the following elements:

• The theoretical background. Why use such and such a theory?
• The epistemological approach used: why such or such an approach?
• The empirical studies justifying the relationships between the variables to validate the research hypotheses: Previous studies have found a positive or negative relationship or both between the variables to justify the hypotheses?
• The study sample (for empirical studies): Why is the sample set at a number X and why is a number Y excluded from the sample?
• The statistical method used: Why use such and such a statistical method (regression, structural equations, etc.)? Is this method in perfect agreement with the specifications of the field used?
• The presentation of results: the results should be presented according to international norms and standards allowing their easy comprehension by an informed reader (a scientist).
• Discussion of the study: The discussion should contextualize the results obtained. It is desirable to benchmark the different empirical studies mentioned by the author in his literature review and compare the results.
• For theoretical articles: the structure of the literature will allow to easily distinguish the different studies related to the subject of the article and to draw a solid theoretical conclusion that could lead to future theoretical studies?

Note: Few images and/or graphics to be included in the text and where they are expected. Appendices should not contain statistical tables (inserted in the text). Evaluators may request the data used to verify the reality of the results obtained.

For recommendations on text formatting, please refer to the Template.

In addition, the full text should be between 7 and 20 pages including bibliography and cover page. To submit an article longer than 20 pages, the agreement of the director of publication is mandatory. As for references, they must be included in the text except explanations or translations are to be included in the footnotes with a maximum of two per page.

All authors are invited to create their ORCID identifier ( https://orcid.org/) so that all their works are linked to a single international identifier.

 

2.Peer Review Process

International Journal of Accounting, Finance, Auditing, Management and Economics (IJAFAME) shall not accept or publish manuscripts in its journal without prior peer review. There shall be a review process of manuscripts by one or more independent referees who are conversant in the pertinent subject area.

Each submission is checked for suitability when received by the editorial office, and may be rejected without review if it is outside the scope of the journal, is obviously of insufficient quality, or is missing important sections.

Authors should strive for maximum clarity of expression, bearing in mind that the purpose of publication is the disclosure of technical knowledge and that an excessively complex or poorly written presentation can only obscure the significance of the work presented. Material which is not essential to the continuity of the text (e.g., proofs, derivations, or calculations) be placed in Appendices.

The journal invites external experts (not only Editorial Board members) to review each article that is considered suitable for consideration. The publication decision is made by the Editor-in-Chief after receiving at least two external reviewer reports with recommendations.

Authors are encouraged to suggest suitable reviewers, but the Editor-in-Chief and the editorial office reserves the right to select different reviewers. The reason for asking authors to suggest reviewers is that they are best placed to know who is an expert in the field. In addition, the suggested reviewers may be suitable for other articles on the same topic. Therefore, obtaining these names can help the editorial office to ensure that it is approaching suitable people to review all articles.

The journal uses double-blind peer review (neither the authors nor the reviewers know the identity of each other) to avoid bias.

The editor evaluates the recommendation of at least two reviewers and notifies the author of the manuscript status. The manuscript may be:

1. Accepted for publication with minor changes, with no re-review necessary
2. Accepted for publication after Major revision
3. Accepted for publication after substantial revision and additional review
4. Rejected in current form, but may be resubmitted.
5. Rejected with no resubmission

The comments of the anonymous reviewers will be forwarded to the authors, and when the authors are ready to submit their revised manuscript, read the comments of the editors and reviewers, and respond to them by telling what modifications they have made in their manuscript or why they have not made the suggested changes. Note that revisions must be completed and submitted within 1 week after the authors received the reviewers’ comments. Late manuscripts may be rejected.

The review process shall ensure that all authors have equal opportunity for publication of their papers. Acceptance and scheduling of publication of papers in these periodicals shall not be impeded by added criteria and procedures beyond those contained in the review process.

The editorial board is highly committed to the quick review process of the paper, but not with the sacrifice of the right judgment and quality of a paper. In this sense, the journal aims to make a first decision (after review) within 5-10 days, but cannot guarantee this. The evaluation process requires minimum 20 days (Without delay of first decision).

The detailed evaluation process is as follows:

A- Receipt of the article by the journal's secretariat;

B- Sending of the article by the secretariat to the director of the journal and to the scientific director of the journal for attribution of a secret code to the article (Structure: (Date of receipt (year/month/days) + (time of receipt). The process of the evaluation is anonymous (blind);

PRE-EVALUATION :a- Evaluation of plagiarism by two different softwares (the English-French translation is also checked); b- A member of the editorial board will conduct a first reading to assess the conformity of the text with the editorial policy of the journal. The journal is then assigned an evaluation article number.

C- Payment of fees: refundable in the event of rejection. These fees have been introduced to ensure that the author is not double-bidding with another journal.

D- Double blind (anonymous) external evaluation of the article: The external evaluation is entrusted to two members of the reading committee because of their expertise or by independent evaluators known for their international expertise in the field.

E- Supplementary evaluation: An evaluation carried out by an expert proposed by the article editors outside their university and who has never participated with them in a published research work. This evaluation is used in case of a positive and a negative evaluation of the article by both evaluators. If the authors are unable to propose an additional reviewer, the director of the journal in consultation with the members of the reading committee will appoint a third reviewer to decide. i.e: Only the director of the journal and the secretariat of the journal know all the referees so as not to influence the evaluation procedure.

F- Sending the results of the evaluations and any remarks to the director of the journal. The latter associates the remarks with the article and sends it to the secretariat, which in turn sends the remarks to the author(s) for correction.

G- The author (or authors), corrects the article;

H- Verification of the necessary corrections by the reading committee. If some remarks are not respected, the committee sends the article back to the evaluators for study. If the evaluators agree to publication, the article will proceed to the publication stage, if some modifications are necessary, the article is returned to the author for correction.

I- Publication of the article in the next issue and sending attestations to the author and reviewers.

J- Duration of evaluation: minimum 20 days maximum 1 year.

 

3.Authorship

Anyone identified as an author must have made a substantial intellectual contribution to the research and to the writing of the article. They must be willing to take a shared responsibility in the research and in the article and approve the final version to be published. Anyone who does not fulfil these criteria but has contributed to either the research or the writing of the article should be acknowledged and thanked in the “Acknowledgements” section at the end of the article.

Any changes to authorship either during the peer review process or after acceptance must be confirmed by all named authors, and a reason for any addition/removal provided to the Editor-in-Chief.

Similarly, the contribution of each named author should be indicated in a "List of Contributors" at the front of each article.

Information about article preparation and how to submit can be found in "Guidelines for Authors".

 

4.Authors' Warranties and Permissions

The authors warrant that they have secured the necessary written permission from the appropriate copyright owner or authorities for the reproduction in the manuscript and in the Journal of any text, illustration, or other material. they warrant that, apart from any such third party copyright material included in the manuscript, the manuscript is yours original work, and does not infringe the intellectual property rights of any other person or entity and cannot be construed as plagiarising any other published work. They further warrant that the manuscript is not currently under submission to, nor is under consideration by or has been accepted by any other journal or publication, nor has been previously assigned or licensed by you to any third party.

so, Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce anything (e.g. figure, table, text) that has been previously published or created by another person. On request from the Editorial Office or Publisher they should be able to supply evidence of such permission.

In addition, they warrant that the manuscript contains no statement that is abusive, defamatory, libelous, obscene, fraudulent, nor in any way infringes the rights of others, nor is in any other way unlawful or in violation of applicable laws.

They warrant that wherever possible and appropriate, any participant in any research or study who is mentioned in the manuscript has given consent to the inclusion of material pertaining to themselves, and that they acknowledge that they cannot be identified via the manuscript and that you will not identify them in any way.

they undertake that their will keep us and our partners indemnified in full against all loss, damages, injury, costs and expenses (including legal and other professional fees and expenses) awarded against or incurred or paid by us as a result of yours breach of the warranties given in this agreement.

If the manuscript was prepared jointly with other authors, you warrant that you have been authorized by all co-authors to sign this Agreement as agent on their behalf, and to agree on their behalf the order of names in the publication of the manuscript. You shall notify us in writing of the names of any such co-owners.

Non-compliance with any of the above conditions will be considered misconduct and dealt with accordingly. Equally, if authors are found guilty of infringing any of the above, the publisher reserves the right to take the necessary action.

 

5.Author Appeals

If an author considers that a decision of Rejection was incorrectly made, they may appeal the decision. To appeal a decision the author must email the Editor-in-Chief or the Associate Editors, giving reasons why they think the decision was wrong. The appeal will be considered by a member of the Editorial Board who was not involved in the original decision (nominated jointly by the Editor-in-Chief and the Publisher). There is only one chance to appeal, so it is very important that authors clearly explain the justification for making an appeal.

 

6.Supplemental Information

The journal can accept supplementary files that support the submitted article (e.g. audio, movie, or text files: for example a survey questionnaire which is described in the article). Supplemental information should be provided with the submission. It will not be formally reviewed but will be considered to determine whether it is required by the article. Please note that authors take fully responsibility for the content of any supplemental information, and a disclaimer on the supplemental information must clearly state that they have not been formally reviewed.

 

7.Data Sharing and Archiving

IJAFAME journal encourage all researchers to archive and share their data. Several grant funders now require this, and we believe that it benefits research by enabling other researchers to reuse and reinterpret data for the benefit of all. We encourage all authors to make their data available in suitable repositories (for example FigShare or other similar repository) where the item will be safely archived and given a unique reference number (DOI or similar), so that it can be cited in the authors’ articles.

IJAFAME journal deposit the published articles in LOCKSS and CLOCKSS

 

8.Repository policy

Articles submitted to another journal should not be submitted to IJAFAME. By submitting his or her paper, the author declares on his or her honor that his or her paper is not being submitted or published elsewhere.

Authors can share their Accepted version anywhere at any time without restriction.

Authors can share their articles anywhere at any time without restriction.

 

9.Author Self-Archiving Policy

This journal permits and encourages authors to post items submitted to the journal on personal websites or institutional repositories both prior to and after publication, while providing bibliographic details that credit, if applicable, its publication in this journal.

 

10.Conflict of Interest

A Conflict of Interest is defined as a situation where personal relationships (e.g. friend, colleague or family), business relationships (e.g. working in a competing company), or financial influences (e.g. funding) will affect the judgement of any person during the publication of the journal.

Authors are required to declare (within the article and to the Editor-in-Chief) any Conflict of Interest (COI) that may have affected their research (e.g. funding) or decision to submit to the journal.

Reviewers are required to declare if they have any Conflict of Interest (COI) that may affect their judgement of any article they review. The COI may not prevent them reviewing the article, but must be declared to the Editor-in-Chief as soon as it is known.

Editors are excluded from any publishing decision in which they may have a Conflict of Interest (COI). For example, if an article by a colleague of the Editor-in-Chief is submitted to the journal, the peer review and all editorial decisions will managed by another editor.

 

11.Plagiarism and Copyright

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their works are unique, and that they fully acknowledge the source of any content which is not entirely the authors’ own. The journal will check articles for plagiarism (i.e. reproducing any content without attribution and permission) using Urkund Delivred by National Center for Scientific and Technical Research (CNRST) and considers the inclusion of plagiarised content to be misconduct by the authors.

If an author receives an acceptance notice, and it is later discovered that their article contains plagiarism, the acceptance is automatically revoked, along with the publication. The author responsible for the plagiarism is blacklisted, and the scientific community is informed via the "Retraction Watch" website.

In cases of uncertainty, the journal will use plagiarism detection software, as mentioned above, both before publication and after the article's final acceptance. If there is suspicion or a reviewer reports potential plagiarism, the journal may also employ the software during the review process.

As far as copyright is concerned, the authors retain copyright in their articlest without restriction, but grant IJAFAME journal the right of the first publication.

 

12.Open Access and license

Open Access allows for unrestricted sharing of scholarly information and helps to promote knowledge throughout the world, which is why this journal is published in Open Acess.

As far as copyright is concerned, the authors retain copyright in their articlest without restriction, but grant IJAFAME journal the right of the first publication.

All articles published in this journal are licenced under a creative commons attribution-noncommercial-noderivatives 4.0

 

13.Editorial Independence and Responsibilities

The editors have a right to select which articles to consider for publication and which to accept and/or reject without influence from the Publisher or other external bodies.

Editors of scientific journals have responsibilities toward the authors who provide the content of the journals, the peer reviewers who comment on the suitability of manuscripts for publication, the journal’s readers and the scientific community, the owners/publishers of the journals, and the public as a whole. so, the journal editors have a duty to treat all submissions confidentially, and to ensure that judgements are made free of bias, and in a timely manner. Decisions on which articles to be published are the responsibility of the editors who also have a responsibility to ensure the good quality of the manuscripts.

The appointment of the Editorial Board is the duty of the Editor-in-Chief and associate editors.

The editor, who is at the same time the publisher of the journal, is responsible for ensuring that the journal meets international standards for technology, archiving, data protection and ethical policies.

 

14.Disclaimers

Facts and opinions in articles published on IJAFAME Journal are solely the personal statements of respective authors. Authors are responsible for all contents in their article(s) including accuracy of the facts, statements, citing resources, and so on. IJAFAME Journal and editors disclaim any liability of violations of other parties’ rights, or any damage incurred as a consequence to use or apply any of the contents of IJAFAME Journal. Material submitted to IJAFAME must be original and not published or submitted for publication elsewhere. Authors submitting a contribution IJAFAME Journal who have related material under consideration or in press elsewhere should upload a clearly marked copy at the time of submission and draw the editor's attention to it in their cover letter. If a part of a contribution that an author wishes to submit to IJAFAME Journal has appeared or will appear elsewhere, the author must specify the details in the cover letter. Consideration by the IJAFAME Journal is possible if the main result, conclusion, or implications are not apparent from the other work, or if there are other factors, for example if the other work is published in a language other than English or Frensh. Author is responsible to get permission from previous publisher or copyright holder if an author is re-using any part of paper (i.e. figure or figures) published elsewhere, or that is copyrighted. The editors consider all material in good faith that their journals have full permission to publish every part of the submitted material including illustrations.

IJAFAME Journal shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to, or arising out of the use of the content.

 

15.Correction and Retraction policies

A- Corrections to published work

Honest errors are a part of science and publishing and require publication of a correction when they are detected. Authors and readers are encouraged to inform the publisher and Editor-in-Chief if they notice anything that should be corrected. Corrections are made at the journal’s discretion.

As Publishers, we have a duty to maintain the integrity of the scientific record. For this reason, minor corrections that do not affect the scientific understanding of the paper (for example formatting or typographical errors or preference of wording) may be rejected if submitted post-publication in order to prevent discrepancies downstream.

The correction procedure depends on the publication stage of the article, but in all circumstances a correction notice is published as soon as possible:

A-1- In press: not published but delivred in authors

The manuscript in press version is considered the version of record, and not an opportunity to make changes prior to print publication. IJAFAME will consider replacing this version with an updated version which corrects the error and notes the changes that have been made and the date(s) on which the changes were made (in a correction notice at the end of the article). Previous electronic versions prominently note that there are more recent versions of the article.

A-2- Publication in an issue

If the manuscript has already appeared in an issue, a correction notice will be included in the front of the article. so, a correction notice will be published online (PDF) and linked to the article. We will add a correction notice at the end to say what has been changed since it was first published and publish an erratum or addendum.

Correction notices are indexed and linked to the original records in databases.

B- Retractions

Retractions are considered by journal editors in cases of evidence of unreliable data or findings, plagiarism, duplicate publication, and unethical research. We may consider an expression of concern notice if an article is under investigation. All retraction notices explain why the article was retracted. The retraction procedure depends on the publication stage of the article:

B-1- In press: not published but delivred in authors

A new version of the article will be sended to authors containing just the metadata, with a retraction note replacing the original text.

B-2- Publication in an issue

A replacement version of the article will be posted containing just the metadata, with a retraction note replacing the original text. The PDF will be replaced with a version watermarked with “Retracted” but the original text will remain accessible.

In rare cases, we may have to remove the original content for legal reasons. In such cases we will leave the metadata (title and authors) and replace the text with a note saying the article has been removed for legal reasons. A retraction notice will also be published online.

Retraction notices are indexed and linked to the original records in databases.

C- Definitions:

C-1- Erratum

An error introduced by the publisher that affects the integrity of the version of record, the reputation of the authors, or the reputation of journal, is termed as Erratum.

An Erratum is a statement by the authors of the original paper that briefly describes any correction(s) resulting from errors or omissions. Any effects on the conclusions of the paper should be noted. The corrected article is not removed from the online journal, but notice of erratum is given. The Erratum is made freely available to all readers and is linked to the corrected article

C-2- Addendum

An addendum is a notification of an addition of information to an article. Addenda are published when the editors decide that the addendum is crucial to the reader’s understanding of a significant part of the published contribution. Addenda include Editorial Expression of Concern, which is an editorial statement alerting our readership to serious concerns with the published paper. Editorial Expression of Concern are typically updated with another amendment once further information is available.

Addenda do not contradict the original publication, but if the author inadvertently omitted significant information available at the time, this material can be published as an addendum. Addenda may be peer reviewed, according to journal policy, and are normally subject to oversight by the editors of the journal. Addenda relating to the article content are published only rarely and only when the journal editors decide that an addendum is crucial to the reader’s understanding of a significant part of the published article. All addenda are linked to the original article to which they relate.

 

16.Misconduct

The journal follow the recommendations and policies of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), DOAJ, OASPA and WAME regarding ethical policies and dealing with misconduct. Misconduct includes falsifying data, plagiarising others' works, and breach of confidentiality. Each case will be considered by the publisher and Editor-in-Chief, and in all cases the author (or reviewer) will be contacted directly. However, the publisher reserves the right to speak directly to the author's or reviewer's institution or other appropriate organization if severe misconduct is suspected.

Note that if misconduct is suspected during the review process the manuscript will be held until any concerns have been resolved. If misconduct is confirmed during the review process the manuscript will be immediately rejected. If misconduct is proved after publication, then the article will be retracted.

 

17.Reviewer Roles and Responsibilities

The quality of the research generally depends on the quality of the evaluation. With this in mind, peer review is the principal mechanism by which the quality of research is judged. Funding is generally awarded on the basis of peer review. The majority of journals submit manuscripts to at least two reviewers and, in some cases, more than three when a statistician is required to review the calculations.

1- Reviewer responsibilities toward authors

• Providing written, unbiased, constructive feedback in a timely manner on the scholarly merits and the scientific value of the work, together with the documented basis for the reviewer’s opinion
• Indicating whether the writing is clear, concise, and relevant and rating the work’s composition, scientific accuracy, originality, and interest to the journal’s readers
• Avoiding personal comments or criticism
• Maintaining the confidentiality of the review process: not sharing, discussing with third parties, or disclosing information from the reviewed paper

2- Reviewer responsibilities toward editors

• Notifying the editor immediately if unable to review in a timely manner and, if able, providing the names of alternative reviewers
• Alerting the editor about any potential personal, financial or perceived conflict of interest and declining to review when a conflict exists (see section "conflict of interest")
• Complying with the editor’s written instructions on the journal’s expectations for the scope, content, and quality of the review
• Use the journal's evaluation sheet
• Providing a thoughtful, fair, constructive, and informative critique of the submitted work, which may include supplementary material provided to the journal by the author
• Determining scientific merit, originality, and scope of the work; indicating ways to improve it; and, if requested, recommending acceptance or rejection using whatever rating scale the editor deems most useful
• Refraining from direct author contact

3- Reviewer responsibilities toward readers

• Ensuring that the methods and analysis are adequately detailed to allow the reader to judge the scientific merit of the study design and be able to replicate the study
• Ensuring that the article cites all relevant work by other scientists

 

18.Fees and Charges

o support the costs associated with manuscript processing, including editorial and secretarial handling, plagiarism screening, website maintenance, data storage, acquisition and maintenance of journal management systems, and indexing in various scholarly databases, the journal applies an Article Processing Charge (APC) for accepted manuscripts.

• Standard processing: 1050 MAD (105€) per accepted article.
• Priority editorial handling: 1500 MAD (150€) per accepted article.

Important Note

The priority editorial handling option refers only to the administrative and editorial processing time. It does not influence the peer-review process, editorial decision, or acceptance outcome.

Payment Methode - Paypal

Payments are made via PayPal upon request. Please note that all PayPal transaction fees are fully borne by the author.

WHY PUBLICATION FEES ?

There are three forms of funding for a journal so that it can remain sustainable:

• With the help of a university research laboratory. Limit: the journal will depend on an institution and research orientations are sometimes limited to members of the research structure.
• With the help of grants from international institutions such as the European Union, the United Nations, the World Bank, etc... this type of funding is difficult to obtain for emerging countries.
• With the help of own resources paid by the authors. Several types may be noted:
• Journals dependent on major editors or publishers (international companies sometimes listed on stock markets): Elsevier, Clarivate Analytics, Wiley, Emerald Group Publishing, etc. The articles are not open source and are sold for users. If the author decides that his or her article should be public in open access, he or she has to bear a charge of up to $6,000.
• Independent journals managed by a restricted group but which carry out a rigorous evaluation of scientific articles. The payment of fees does not lead to the automatic publication of the article (in the case of our journal). The articles are open source and are offered to the public free of charge.
• Predatory journals managed by a restricted group but once the payment is made, the article is automatically published.

So, in order to have the articles published in Open Acces, we decided on a symbolic publication fee (compared to international journals). This is not the cost of putting the article online, but rather the cost of transferring the license in Open Access so that the article is readable and cited by others.

 

19.Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.