Author Guidelines

The Journal of Digital Business and Applied Intelligence (JDBAI) publishes original theoretical, empirical, and applied research within the fields of digital business and applied intelligence. Authors must ensure that their manuscripts comply with the journal’s focus and scope and follow the requirements below.

1. General Requirements

Manuscripts submitted to JDBAI must:

  1. Be original and not previously published, either in whole or in substantial part.
  2. Not be under review or consideration by another journal.
  3. Demonstrate a clear contribution to the study or practice of digital business or the application of intelligent and data-driven approaches to business problems.
  4. Be written in clear and academically appropriate English.
  5. Follow the official JDBAI article template.
  6. Be submitted in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx).
  7. Comply with the journal’s publication ethics and research integrity policies.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all listed authors have approved the manuscript and agreed to its submission.

2. Types of Manuscripts

JDBAI accepts the following types of manuscripts:

  • Original research articles;
  • Conceptual or theoretical articles;
  • Applied research and case studies;
  • Systematic literature reviews;
  • Bibliometric reviews; and
  • Methodological studies relevant to digital business and applied intelligence.

A review article must apply a transparent and systematic review method. A manuscript consisting only of a descriptive summary of previous studies will not be considered.

3. Manuscript Length

A manuscript should normally contain 4,000–8,000 words, including tables, figures, and references.

The editorial team may consider manuscripts outside this range when the length is justified by the research design or contribution.

4. Manuscript Structure

The manuscript should generally contain the following sections.

Title

The title must be specific, informative, and concise. It should preferably contain no more than 15 words and should avoid unexplained abbreviations.

Author Information

The following information must be entered completely in the OJS submission metadata:

  • Full name of each author;
  • Institutional affiliation;
  • Department or study program;
  • Country;
  • Email address;
  • ORCID ID, where available; and
  • Identification of the corresponding author.

For anonymous peer review, author names and affiliations must not appear in the manuscript file.

Abstract

The abstract must contain 150–250 words and briefly explain:

  • The research background or problem;
  • The objective of the study;
  • The method;
  • The principal findings;
  • The main conclusion or contribution.

The abstract must be written as one paragraph and must not contain citations, tables, figures, unexplained abbreviations, or mathematical equations.

Keywords

Provide three to five keywords that accurately represent the main concepts of the article. Keywords should be separated by semicolons and should not merely repeat words from the title.

Introduction

The introduction must present:

  • The research background and context;
  • The specific problem being investigated;
  • Relevant previous studies;
  • A clear research gap;
  • The research objective or research questions; and
  • The novelty and contribution of the study.

The introduction should develop a focused argument rather than provide only a broad description of the topic.

Literature Review and Hypothesis Development

Where applicable, this section should establish the theoretical foundation of the study, critically examine relevant previous research, and develop the research hypotheses or conceptual propositions.

The literature review may be integrated into the introduction when appropriate to the research design.

Research Method

The method section must provide sufficient information to allow readers to assess and, where possible, replicate the study. It should explain:

  • Research design;
  • Research setting or context;
  • Population and sample;
  • Sampling method;
  • Data sources;
  • Research instruments;
  • Variables or constructs;
  • Data collection procedures;
  • Data analysis techniques; and
  • Ethical approval, where applicable.

For qualitative studies, authors should explain participant selection, data collection, coding procedures, and measures used to establish research credibility.

For machine-learning or data-analytics studies, authors should clearly describe the dataset, preprocessing procedures, feature selection, model development, validation strategy, evaluation metrics, software, and relevant parameter settings.

Results

The results section must present the findings clearly and systematically. Tables and figures should be used only when they improve the presentation of the findings.

Authors should avoid repeating all numerical information from tables in the main text.

Discussion

The discussion must:

  • Interpret the principal findings;
  • Relate the findings to the research questions or hypotheses;
  • Compare the findings with relevant previous studies;
  • Explain similarities, differences, or unexpected results;
  • Describe theoretical or practical implications; and
  • Clarify the contribution of the study.

The discussion should not merely repeat the results.

Conclusion

The conclusion must directly address the research objective and summarize the principal contribution of the study. It should also present relevant implications, limitations, and recommendations for future research.

The conclusion should not introduce new results or references that have not been discussed previously.

Acknowledgements

Authors may acknowledge individuals or institutions that provided non-author contributions, research access, technical assistance, or other forms of support.

Funding

All sources of research funding must be disclosed. When the study received no external funding, authors should state:

This research received no external funding.

Conflict of Interest

Authors must disclose any financial, professional, or personal relationships that could influence the research. When no conflict exists, authors should state:

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data Availability

Authors should explain whether the data supporting the findings are publicly available, available upon reasonable request, restricted, or not available because of ethical or confidentiality considerations.

References

The reference list must include only works cited in the manuscript. Every source listed in the references must be cited in the text.

5. Citation and Reference Style

JDBAI uses the APA 7th edition author–date citation style.

Authors are strongly encouraged to use reference-management software such as Mendeley, Zotero, or EndNote to maintain consistency.

References should:

  • Primarily consist of peer-reviewed journal articles;
  • Be relevant to the research problem;
  • Include recent scholarly literature;
  • Include DOI information whenever available;
  • Avoid excessive reliance on textbooks, blogs, unpublished material, or non-academic websites; and
  • Avoid unnecessary self-citation.

A manuscript should generally contain at least 20 relevant references. At least 70% of the references should preferably consist of peer-reviewed publications from the preceding five years, except where foundational literature is necessary.

6. Tables and Figures

Tables and figures must:

  1. Be numbered consecutively according to their order of appearance.
  2. Be referred to explicitly in the manuscript.
  3. Have a clear and concise title or caption.
  4. Include the source beneath the table or figure when adapted from another work.
  5. Be presented in an editable format whenever possible.
  6. Be readable without unnecessary enlargement.
  7. Avoid presenting identical information in both table and figure form.

Images should have adequate resolution, preferably at least 300 dpi. Screenshots of tables, statistical outputs, or spreadsheet data should not be used.

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted figures, tables, photographs, or other materials.

7. Mathematical Equations and Technical Notation

Equations must be created using an editable equation tool and numbered consecutively when referred to in the text.

All variables, symbols, abbreviations, and technical terms must be defined when they first appear.

8. Research Ethics and Integrity

Authors must comply with accepted standards of academic integrity. The following practices are prohibited:

  • Plagiarism and self-plagiarism;
  • Fabrication or falsification of data;
  • Manipulation of research results;
  • Duplicate or redundant publication;
  • Simultaneous submission to another journal;
  • Inappropriate authorship attribution;
  • Undisclosed conflicts of interest; and
  • Use of copyrighted material without permission.

Research involving human participants, personal data, or sensitive information must comply with applicable ethical and legal requirements. Information regarding ethical approval and informed consent must be included when relevant.

The journal reserves the right to screen submissions using plagiarism-detection software and to reject or retract manuscripts that violate publication ethics.

9. Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools

Artificial intelligence or generative AI tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot assume responsibility for the content of a manuscript.

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, citations, confidentiality, and integrity of all submitted content. Any substantive use of generative AI in writing, data analysis, image generation, coding, or research procedures must be disclosed in the manuscript.

Routine spelling and grammar correction does not normally require disclosure. Authors must not upload confidential research data, personal information, reviewer comments, or unpublished manuscripts to external AI systems without appropriate authorization.

10. Anonymous Peer Review

JDBAI applies an anonymous peer-review process. Authors must remove identifying information from the manuscript before submission, including:

  • Author names;
  • Institutional affiliations;
  • Email addresses;
  • Acknowledgements that identify the authors;
  • Self-identifying statements; and
  • Personal information contained in the document properties.

Author information must be entered separately in the OJS metadata.

11. Online Submission

Manuscripts must be submitted through the JDBAI online submission system. The corresponding author must:

  1. Register or log in to the OJS platform.
  2. Start a new submission.
  3. Select the appropriate article section.
  4. Complete all required submission metadata.
  5. Enter all authors in the correct authorship order.
  6. Upload the anonymized manuscript.
  7. Upload supporting files where relevant.
  8. Confirm compliance with the submission checklist.
  9. Complete and submit the manuscript.

Submissions sent only by email will not be processed unless specifically requested by the editorial team.

12. Editorial Screening

Before peer review, every manuscript will be evaluated by the editorial team. A manuscript may be returned or rejected without external review when it:

  • Falls outside the journal’s focus and scope;
  • Does not follow the author guidelines or article template;
  • Has serious language or presentation problems;
  • Does not demonstrate a clear research contribution;
  • Uses an inappropriate or inadequately explained method;
  • Contains incomplete or unreliable analysis;
  • Has substantial similarity with previously published material; or
  • Violates publication ethics.

Compliance with formatting requirements does not guarantee acceptance.

13. Revision

Authors invited to revise their manuscripts must submit:

  • A revised manuscript;
  • A detailed response to each reviewer comment; and
  • A version showing the revisions when requested.

Authors should respond to reviewer comments professionally and explain clearly when a recommendation has not been followed.

14. Final Manuscript

After acceptance, authors may be requested to correct formatting, language, references, tables, figures, metadata, and other technical elements.

Authors must review the proof carefully. Only minor corrections are permitted during the proofreading stage. Substantial changes to the content or authorship are not normally allowed after acceptance.

Submission Preparation Checklist

  • The manuscript is original, has not been published previously, and is not under consideration by another journal.
  • The manuscript is relevant to the focus and scope of JDBAI.
  • The manuscript has been prepared using the official JDBAI article template.
  • The manuscript is written in clear academic English.
  • The manuscript file is submitted in Microsoft Word format.
  • All author-identifying information has been removed from the manuscript file.
  • Complete author names, affiliations, countries, email addresses, and ORCID IDs have been entered in the OJS metadata.
  • The abstract contains 150–250 words and is followed by three to five keywords.
  • Citations and references follow APA 7th edition.
  • All cited works appear in the reference list, and all listed references are cited in the manuscript.
  • All tables and figures have been numbered, captioned, and cited in the text.
  • Permission has been obtained for all copyrighted materials used in the manuscript.
  • Funding, conflicts of interest, ethical approval, and data availability have been disclosed where applicable.
  • The authors agree to comply with the journal’s publication ethics and peer-review process.