Purpose

The work is set up to introduce the review policies of ICECH.

Policies

1. General policies

Each submission is checked by the editors. If they think it might be suitable for the publication, they will send it to referees for double blind peer review. Once these reviewers have provided their feedback, the editors may decide to accept or decline the author’s manuscript or request minor or major revisions.

If authors need to revise their work, the revised paper will be considered by the same or another reviewers.

Papers presented in ICECH will be published after peer-review in a selected journal series. Authors are encouraged to follow strictly the publication ethics for scientific publishing.

2. Manuscript requirements

Before authors submit manuscripts, it’s important authors read and follow the guidelines below.

Format: Both extended abstract and full paper files should be provided in Microsoft Word format.

Length/ word count: Articles should be up to a maximum of 7,500 words in length. This includes all text, for example, the structured abstract, references, all text in tables, figures and appendices.

Title: A concisely worded title should be provided.

Author details: Please list the names of all contributing authors in the order in which you’d like them to be published. The information needs to be supplied including:

● Author email address (institutional preferred).

● Author name: We will reproduce it exactly, so any middle names and/or initials they want featured must be included.

● Author affiliation: the place (institution) at which the author conducted the research that they have reported / written about.

Structured abstract: All submissions must include a structured abstract, following the format outlined below.

These four sub-headings and their accompanying explanations must always be included:

● Purpose

● Design/methodology/approach

● Findings

● Originality

The following three sub-headings are optional and can be included, if applicable:

● Research limitations/implications

● Practical implications

● Social implications

The maximum length of your abstract should be 250 words in total, including keywords.

Keywords: Your submission should include up to 6 appropriate and short keywords that capture the principal topics of the paper. You need to use commas between keywords.

Article classification: During the submission process, you will be asked to select a type for your paper; the options are listed below. If you don’t see an exact match, please choose the best fit:

● Research Article

● Review Article

Research paper: Reports on any type of research undertaken by the author(s), including:

● The construction or testing of a model or framework

● Action research

● Testing of data, market research or surveys

● Empirical, scientific, or clinical research

● Papers with a practical focus

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.

Headings: Headings must be concise, with a clear indication of the required hierarchy.

The preferred format is for first level headings to be in capital and bold, and subsequent sub-headings to be in lowercase and bold.

Notes/endnotes: Notes or endnotes should only be used if necessary. They should be identified in the text by consecutive numbers enclosed in square brackets. These numbers should then be listed, and explained, at the end of the article.

Figures: All figures (charts, diagrams, line drawings, webpages/screenshots, and photographic images) should be submitted electronically. Both colour and black and white files are accepted.

There are a few other important points to note:

● All figures should be supplied at the highest resolution/quality possible with numbers and text clearly legible.

● Acceptable formats are .ai, .eps, .jpeg, .bmp, and .tif.

● Electronic figures created in other applications should be supplied in their original formats and should also be either copied and pasted into a blank MS Word document or submitted as a PDF file.

● All figures should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals and have clear captions.

● All photographs should be numbered as Plate 1, 2, 3, etc. and have clear captions.

Tables: Give each table a brief title. Ensure that any superscripts or asterisks are shown next to the relevant items and have explanations displayed as footnotes to the table, figure, or plate.

References: References should be prepared according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition). This means in text citations should follow the author date method whereby the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, for example, (Jones, 1998). The complete reference list should appear alphabetically by name at the end of the paper.

A sample of the most common entries in reference lists appears below:

Journal article

Abdullah, F., Ward, R., & Ahmed, E. (2016). Investigating the influence of the most commonly used external variables of TAM on students’ Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) and Perceived Usefulness (PU) of e-portfolios. Computers in human behavior, 63, 75-90.

Book edition

Hair Jr, J. F., Sarstedt, M., Ringle, C. M., & Gudergan, S. P. (2017). Advanced issues in partial least squares structural equation modeling. saGe publications.

Spelling and grammar: ICECH follows rules for UK grammar and spelling. Authors are advised to minimise the use of acronyms and localised expressions. Following writing practices in the social sciences, ICECH recommends the use of gender terminology that recognises social categories (women, men, girls, boys etc.). A uthors may also use gender neutral terminology where appropriate (e.g., they).

Copyright: All accepted articles must be filled in the copyright form in the ICECH system and then returned to us electronically.

Publication form:  All accepted articles must be filled in the publication form in the ICECH system and then returned to us electronically.

3. The criteria for assessing submission

All submissions will be assessed based on ten criteria, including:

• Does the manuscript contain new and significant information to justify publication?

• Does the Abstract clearly and accurately describe the content of the paper?

• Are the literature reviews adequate and reliable?

• Are the used methods appropriate?

• Are the interpretations and conclusions justified by the results?

• Is the paper properly length?

• Is the paper properly formatted?

• Is the paper in accordance with the citation rules of the conference?

• Is the academic language used suitable?

4. The reviewer’s decision

The reviewers will comment on submission, then they give the decision with three options:

● Reject

● Accept without revisions

● Revise or accept, with modification