About the Journal

Focus and Scope

The Journal of Economic and Financial Studies (JEFS) publishes theoretical and applied papers across all specializations of economics and its applied areas including accounting, business, and finance. 

JEFS encourages authors to submit papers dealing with new empirical questions or revisit an old theoretical and empirical knowledge in innovative ways across various specialization of economics and finance. JEFS focuses on academic research those are more descriptive, sufficiently quantifiable, and normative than usual and aims to contribute in the academia by publishing stimulating and new knowledge. 

In the applied field of economics, JEFS is interested in papers dealing with research questions relating to business, accounting, and finance. Particularly in the accounting area, JEFS focuses on the economic application in explaining accounting phenomena such as accounting within the firm, accounting information and capital markets, accounting role in financial contracts, disclosure, and accounting standard, etc. In finance areas, JEFS covers interdisciplinary and newly developing fields of financial research including assets pricing, behavioral finance, carbon finance, corporate finance, financial economics, financial markets, financial institutions, Islamic finance, microfinance, market microstructure, law, and finance, etc. In business areas, JEFS is interested in papers dealing with theoretical and empirical research concerning economic decision, organizational behavior, strategy and organizational development.

In addition to research articles, JEFS also publishes papers dealing with local, regional and global economic policy issues, economic surveys, and reviews.

Peer Review Process

The Journal of Economic and Financial Studies (JEFS) is committed to publishing high-quality research works with significant policy implications and contribution to the literature. The decision about each manuscript follows following rigorous process:

The peer review process:

  1. A designated member of the editorial board makes an initial assessment of the quality and suitability of a submission regarding scope, originality, contribution and policy implication.
  2. The handling editor also checks for possible plagiarism at this stage to decide the next step in the decision process.
  3. JEFS adopts a desk rejection policy to save the time of our qualified reviewers and submitting authors and to best utilize the resource constraints.
  4. Manuscript not submitted by following JEFS guidelines on ‘structure of the manuscript’ is sent back to the authors.
  5. Once the designated internal editorial board member is satisfied with the suitability of a submission, at least two anonymous peer reviewers comments are invited.    
  6. The reviewers make  comments about following six categories:
    1. The originality of the paper.
    2. The value of the research question and research gap.
    3. The soundness of the conceptual, technical, and methodological framework.
    4. Insightful discussion in result and discussion section.
    5. The contribution and policy implications of the paper.
    6. Academic writing quality.
  7. Once the final comment of the reviewers is received, a decision is made about a submission within two weeks of submission.
  8. Revised submission with major revisions are send back to at least one of the reviewers to make a final judgment. However, the decision on revised submission with minor revisions are taken by the handling editor.

Publication Frequency

Frequency of publication: Bimonthly

Accepted articles are published online immediately, and are compiled on a bimonthly basis to create a complete issue.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

Duties of Editors:

Publication decisions

Generally, the Executive Editor is responsible for the final determination regarding any submission. The editor is guided by the editorial policies of the journal and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. The editor can also confer members of the Editorial Board or reviewers in making this decision.

Fair play

An editorial board member evaluates manuscript for its intellectual content without any regard to the nature and reputation of host institution of the authors. No regard is given to the race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

Confidentiality

The editors and any editorial member must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers/potential reviewers(if needed), other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate. This Journal adapted Open Journal System (OJS), a well-known system for scholarly open access journal that prevents unauthorized access to its unpublished contents. In the case of misconduct, JEFS may disclose material information to third parties (e.g., an institutional commission of inquiry or other editors).

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Editors should excuse themselves (i.e. should ask a co-editor, associate editor or other member of the editorial board instead to review and consider) from considering manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or (possibly) institutions connected to the papers. Editors should require all contributors to disclose relevant competing interests and publish corrections if competing interests are revealed after publication. If needed, other appropriate action should be taken, such as the publication of a retraction or expression of concern.

Involvement and cooperation in investigations

JEFS will respond to all allegations or suspicions of research or publication misconduct raised by readers, reviewers, or other editors. Cases of possible plagiarism or duplicate/redundant publication will be assessed by the journal. In other cases, JEFS may request an investigation by the institution or other appropriate bodies.

 

Duties of Reviewers

Contribution to editorial decisions

Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions. The editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper.

Promptness

Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.

Confidentiality

Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

Standards of objectivity

Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Criteria for judgment

Reviews should provide sufficient comments on six different categories: originality of the paper, the value of the research question and research gap, the soundness of the conceptual, technical, and methodological framework, insightful discussion in result and discussion section, the contribution and policy implications of the paper, academic writing quality.

Acknowledgment of sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement, observation, derivation, or argument that has been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

Disclosure and conflict of interest

Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

Reviewer misconduct

Editors will take reviewer misconduct seriously and pursue any allegation of breach of confidentiality, non-declaration of conflicts of interest (financial or non-financial), inappropriate use of confidential material, or delay of peer review for competitive advantage. Allegations of serious reviewer misconduct, such as plagiarism, will be taken to the institutional level.

 

Duties of Authors

Submission declaration

Submission to JEFS implies that the work is not under review or published in any other outlet (except in the form of an abstract, partial publication in case of the academic thesis, SSRN, Researchgate, or any conference sites).  JEFS verifies the originality using appropriate originality detection system.

Authorship of the paper

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors.

The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Structure of the paper

Authors should adhere to the format of the paper as suggested in the Authors’ guideline section. 

Originality and plagiarism

Authors should adhere to publication requirements that submitted work is original, is not plagiarized, and has not been published elsewhere. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable. If an author has used the work and/or words of others, the author should ensure that the original work is appropriately cited or quoted to accurately reflects individuals’ contributions to the work and its reporting.

Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication

An author should not, in general, publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

Reporting standards

Authors should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Data integrity

Data integrity in a key in scholarly publications. Authors show be ready to provide the raw data, relevant software codes in connection with a paper for editorial review. Authors should be prepared to provide public access to such data and should, in any event, be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.

Acknowledgment of sources

Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

Changes to authorship 

Authors are responsible for providing the correct list of authors and in appropriate order at the time of the original submission. Any change in author names must be done before the acceptance of the paper and should be supported by an appropriate explanation. All the authors should vouch for such changes. No changes shall be made after the paper is accepted and published.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or another substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of funding for the project should be disclosed.

Fundamental errors in published works

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

Revision of the submission

In preparing the revision of a paper (major / minor), authors should provide a detailed response to the editorial and referees comments.

 

Disclaimer

Neither the editors nor the Editorial Board is responsible for authors’ expressed opinions, views, and the contents of the published manuscripts in the journal. The originality, proofreading of manuscripts and errors are the sole responsibility of the individual authors.

All manuscripts submitted for review and publication in the journal go under double-blind reviews for authenticity, ethical issues, and useful contributions. Decisions of the reviewers are the only tool for publication in the journal and will be final.