AUTHORS’ GUIDELINES – PUBLICATION NORMS

Aims & Scope

Suma de Negocios Journal is a Colombian publication of the Konrad Lorenz University Foundation. It is open to different disciplinary and methodological perspectives on marketing, business, administrative sciences and quantitative methods applied to these topics. The specific topics within the area of ​​administrative sciences are:

• Business administration, commercial systems, tourism, finance, banking, public safety and health at work.
• Economics
• Marketing
• Public accounting
• International trade

The journal is aimed at teachers, researchers and the general public interested in the areas of publication. The frequency of publication of the journal is continuous, in digital format, with two issues published in each volume. SUMNEG’s contents are freely accessible, its production and distribution is non-profit, it is financed by the Konrad Lorenz University Foundation and it uses editing formats such as PDF, EPUB and XML.

Mission

Suma de Negocios journal, a publication of the Business School of the Konrad Lorenz University Foundation, aims to publish in the national and Latin American academic sphere the different disciplinary and methodological perspectives on marketing, business, administrative sciences and quantitative methods applied to these topics.

Vision

To become national and Latin American leaders in the scientific academic field, so that its main axes (quality, transparency and knowledge management regarding the community), allow for positioning itself as one of the best Latin American journals in its category.

Suma de Negocios papers are published under a Creative Commons license (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivativeWorks 4.0 International), which allows the free dissemination of the work, without alterations to the final version, attributing credit to the original authors (by means of the corresponding citations) and does not have commercial purposes. This entails the free circulation of the work without adulteration and without economic benefits.

In addition, the journal has interoperability protocols and allows simultaneous publication in self-archiving systems and institutional repositories.

GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS

PUBLICATION RULES

1. Suma de Negocios publishes original papers of both theoretical and empirical nature, which can be of two types:

• Research paper. Document that presents, in detail, the original results of completed research projects. The structure generally used contains five important sections: introduction, methodology, results, discussion and conclusions. 

The methodology section should encompass various essential components to offer a thorough understanding of the study’s approach and execution. Below are the key aspects that should be included:

* Data. This section provides a detailed description of the nature and quality of the data utilized in the study, including their sources, collection methods, timing of acquisition, and any other pertinent aspects. Additionally, it outlines the process of participant or unit selection, along with the criteria for inclusion and exclusion, while also evaluating the validity and reliability of the data collection instruments.

* Type, Scope, and Design. Here, the type of research (qualitative, quantitative, or mixed) is defined and justified, alongside its scope (exploratory, descriptive, correlational, explanatory, predictive, etc.). Based on these parameters, the specific study design is elaborated upon, whether it be experimental, non-experimental, grounded theory, or others.

* Procedure. This section entails a comprehensive account of the specific steps undertaken during the research, encompassing data collection, precise study protocols, and any experimental manipulations performed. It serves as a crucial aspect facilitating the reproducibility of the study by other researchers.

* Data Analysis. The techniques employed for statistical or qualitative analysis are elucidated and justified, along with the software utilized for data analysis.

* Ethical Considerations. Key ethical aspects of the study are addressed, including obtaining informed consent, ensuring data confidentiality, managing conflicts of interest, and safeguarding participants’ privacy. Any ethical approvals obtained are disclosed, and measures taken to mitigate potential risks for participants are discussed. In cases involving secondary sources, explicit acknowledgment of their use is provided, along with access information to the repository where they can be accessed.

• Review paper. Document in which qualitative or quantitative systematic reviews are presented regarding a field of science or technology, in order to account for advances and development trends. It is characterized by presenting a careful bibliographic review with at least 50 references.

2. The works must be unpublished and not submitted to simultaneous consideration in other publications. 

3. The journal publishes papers in Spanish, English, French and Portuguese. 

4. In all cases, a summary in Spanish and English of a maximum of 250 words must be submitted, even when the paper is submitted in another language. Summaries and abstracts must be presented in a structured way with the sections explicitly This means that they must contain the following information: (i) Introduction / objective (a brief description of the origin and objective of the study, (ii) Methodology (a detailed description of the participants, instruments and procedure), (iii) Results (a description of the main findings) and (iv) Conclusions (a description of the implications of the study). 

5. or 6 keywords (Spanish and English) must be included related to the content of the paper, and 4 JEL descriptors https://www.aeaweb.org/econlit/jelCodes.php 

6. All original papers must have a maximum length of 6,500 words (including title, summary, abstract, references, figures, tables, index or table of contents, appendices and complementary materials). 

7. The first page of the document or title page (author note) will be sent separately from the rest of the manuscript and must contain:

• type of paper: Research paper or review paper
• Origin of the paper: indicate in a paragraph whether the paper is a research product, degree thesis, among others, and if it had financing or not.
• Financing: in case of having financing, indicate the name of the sponsoring or financing institution, modality, code, period, status of the project and of the product (partial or final), and other corresponding information.
• Conflict of interest declaration.
• The title in the original language of the text (in addition to Spanish and English).
• The full names of the authors, each with a footnote containing:
• Complete educational level.
• Institutional affiliation.
• Email address.
• Correspondence address (including city and country).
• Identity document or passport.
• Date of birth.
• Country of birth.
• Telephone or cell phone number of the contact author.
• ORCID Code (If autor does not have one, sign up at orcid.org)
• H5 value and source of the H5 value (Google Scholar, WoS, Scopus, POP-Publish or Perish).
• CvLAC profile link for each of the Colombian authors (you can register here to create it).

8. The submitted manuscript must be double spaced (except tables) and in Times New Roman 12. The margins will be 3 cm on each side and the page number must be placed on the upper right corner.
9. The main document should not include information about the authors, it will start with the title, followed by the summary and the abstract, the keywords and the JEL classification.
10. The title of the paper must have a maximum of 12 words, be self-explanatory and reflect the essence of the work.
11. The entire document must be written strictly following the APA 7th ed. regulations in Anglo-Saxon style. This includes everything including the writing style, citations, sections, subsections, tables, figures, and bibliographical references.
12. All tables and figures must be presented in the original editable format (Word, Excel, among others), have a title in the text and include their respective sources.
13. If copyrighted material is used, authors are responsible for obtaining written permission from the holders.
14. The footnotes will be, exclusively, of an explanatory or clarifying nature, they must not include bibliographical references.
15. In case of using equations, they must be numbered consecutively and between square brackets ([1], [2], [3]…). Mathematical symbols must be clear, legible and correspond to the equations.
16. The first time acronyms appear, their full meaning must be written followed by the acronym in parentheses; later only the acronyms. Example: World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO); then just WIPO. In case of including technical terms or acronyms, these must be defined at the time of their first citation.
17. The minimum number of references for research papers is 25 (30% from the last 2 years) and for review papers 50 references from the last 5 years (30% of which must correspond to the last 2 years).

 Editorial process and review of papers

Manuscripts must be submitted electronically through the ScholarOne Manuscripts platform at the address https://mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/sumneg, where the necessary information for submission can be found. The use of this resource allows monitoring the status of the manuscript through the web page. Once the paper is submitted, the author will receive a receipt notification.

Within a week the editorial team will review whether it meets the guidelines for authors, review the manuscript in Turnitin and decide if the paper can continue in the evaluation process.

If the paper passes this preliminary phase, the manuscript will be sent to two anonymous peers (nationals or foreigners and experts in the area). The evaluators will carry out a “double blind” review, where aspects such as originality, quality, contribution to the area of ​​knowledge, relevance of the topic, clarity of ideas, among others, are taken into account. Within a period of 45 days on average, the result of the evaluation of the paper will be reported (rejected, accepted, requires minor modifications or requires profound modifications).

Once the judgment regarding the acceptance of the work has been issued, the authors will have between 15 and 30 days to make the changes, depending on the requested adjustments. In case of profound modifications, the paper will be sent to the peers once again.

After the authors resubmit their paper with the requested changes, they must attach a letter where they provide a detailed response to each of the suggestions made by the evaluators. They may also document any changes made to the original manuscript.

In the event that the paper is approved, the author will assign the publication rights to Suma de Negocios journal, for which a copyright format will be sent, without which the publication process cannot proceed.

In each issue, the best paper of the edition will be selected by the members of the Editorial Committee, receiving a special mention in the edition.

It should be made clear that the submission of a paper does not obligate the editorial team to undertake its publication.

Editorial ethics (see complete section here)

The Suma de Negocios (SUMNEG) journal will not publish work undertaken without the necessary permissions or whose data has been illegally collected. The opinions expressed in the papers are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not compromise the opinion and scientific policy of the journal. The authors will be in charge of obtaining the reproduction rights of any material that has been set forth in their work

The authors should list all the organizations that funded their research in the “Funding” section of the manuscript, including any necessary grant numbers. In addition, any financial or personal relationship the authors have with other people or organizations that could give rise to a conflict of interest in relation to the manuscript that is submitted for publication must be described.

Only those people who have contributed intellectually to the development of the work should appear in the list of authors. To appear as an author, the following requirements must be met:

1. Have participated in the conception and design, in the acquisition of data, and in the analysis and interpretation of the information that has resulted in the paper in question.
2. To have collaborated in the drafting of the text and in its possible revisions.
3. Have approved the version sent to the journal.

Suma de Negocios safeguards the rights to intellectual property and good scientific and editorial practices. For this reason, strict compliance with citation standards is reviewed through different strategies to ensure the originality of the manuscripts.

It is emphasized that the manuscript must not have been previously published (partially or totally). Please offer transparency in the reuse of material to avoid text recycling or “self-plagiarism”. It is not appropriate for the same study to be divided into several parts to increase the number of submitted manuscripts and submit them to one or more journals over time.

Additionally, the data used for the elaboration of the manuscript must be real and not fabricated or manipulated to support its conclusions.

No data, text or theory elaborated by other authors should be presented as their own. To do this, citations must strictly follow the APA style. Authors are invited to preferably use paraphrasing and not quotes.

SUMNEG’s editorial team uses Turnitin to check for matches with other sources. The report must not exceed 8% similarities, excluding citations and references. If the percentage is higher, the paper will be rejected in the first phase.

Suma de Negocios papers will be published under a Creative Commons license (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivativeWorks 4.0 International) which allows the free dissemination of the work, without alterations to the final version, attributing credit to the original authors (by means of the corresponding citations) and does not have commercial purposes.

Suma de Negocios adheres to the code of conduct and the guidelines to improve editorial practices proposed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), including its provisions on plagiarism. The COPE code can be consulted at the following link http://publicationethics.org/files/Code_of_conduct_for_journal_editors_Mar11.pdf

Complaints and appeals policy

Suma de Negocios journal will attend and resolve arguments or appeals related to non-compliance with any of the practices described in the editorial process involving authors, reviewers and the editorial team.

When the appeals refer to:

• If a document is not published, the arguments will be thoroughly evaluated without this implying a publication commitment.
• High matches with other sources, the journal will support the result of the Turnitin report. If this is not enough, it will resort to the opinion of an external evaluator.
• The results of the peer review, the author’s arguments will be analyzed and, if necessary, a new reviewer will be asked to define the result.
• The conduct of the members of the editorial team of the journal will be attended by the members of the Editorial Committee.

For any of the cases described, or even if there are complaints from readers, the interested party must send a letter to the editor of the journal to sumadnegocios@konradlorenz.edu.co. The communication must state the matter duly motivated and justified. Once the letter and each of the elements that justify the complaint or request have been reviewed, the Editor will respond and resolve it.

Finally, no request for inclusion or withdrawal of authors will be considered after acceptance of the manuscript.

Journal Policy on Ethical Oversight

If in checking the originality of the work, the members of the editorial team suspect that it does not respect the legal requirements in relation to the manuscript, author’s rights and copyright, or plagiarism, they must inform the author(s). They reserve the right to contact the institutions of the authors that have incurred in this practice.

The authors must explicitly declare, any information regarding potential conflicts of interest that may affect the results or their interpretations.

Post-publication discussions and corrections

Suma de Negocios does not accept modifications in the papers after the printed publication. In the process of producing the paper, the authors are asked twice to review the version of the document with changes.

In case of serious errors or omissions that affect the paper in a material way, but do not invalidate the results, it is possible to request the publication of a correction note linked to the digital version of the paper.