Authors Guidelines

Asian Journal of Professional and Business Studies (AJPBS)

1. Overview

The Asian Journal of Professional and Business Studies (AJPBS) is a peer-reviewed, open-access academic journal published by Universiti Poly-Tech Malaysia (UPTM). The journal provides a platform for scholarly research and professional discourse in business, management, economics, accounting and finance, and related professional and interdisciplinary fields.

AJPBS is published biannually, in June and December.

Authors must ensure that manuscripts submitted to AJPBS comply with these Author Guidelines and the official AJPBS manuscript template.

2. Language

All manuscripts must be written in English using clear, concise, and academically appropriate language.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their manuscripts have been adequately proofread for grammar, spelling, clarity, and academic presentation before submission.

3. Article Types and Word Count

AJPBS accepts the following types of manuscripts:

  • Research Articles: Normally between 4,500 and 6,000 words, including references, tables, figures, and appendices. Research articles should report original empirical, analytical, or theoretical research.
  • Conceptual Papers: Normally between 3,000 and 5,000 words, including references. Conceptual papers should provide significant theoretical discussion, develop conceptual frameworks or models, or offer new perspectives relevant to the journal's scope.

Manuscripts should normally not exceed 25 pages, including references, tables, figures, and appendices.

4. Manuscript Format

Unless otherwise specified in the official AJPBS manuscript template, manuscripts should follow these requirements:

  • Paper size: A4
  • Font: Times New Roman
  • Font size: 12 point
  • Line spacing: Single
  • Margins: 1 inch on all sides
  • File format: Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx)
  • Referencing style: APA 7th Edition
  • Maximum length: 25 pages, including references, tables, figures, and appendices

Authors should use the latest official AJPBS manuscript template when preparing their manuscript.

5. Manuscript Structure

Manuscripts should generally be arranged in the following order.

a. Title and Author Information

Provide:

  • A concise and informative article title.
  • Full names of all authors.
  • Complete institutional affiliations, including faculty/department, institution, city, postcode, state/province where applicable, and country.
  • Identification of the corresponding author using an asterisk (*).
  • Email address of the corresponding author.

b. Abstract

Provide an abstract of approximately 150–250 words.

For research articles, the abstract should concisely present the:

  • Purpose or research objective;
  • Methodology;
  • Main findings;
  • Implications or contribution of the study.

The abstract should not normally contain citations, tables, figures, or undefined abbreviations.

c. Keywords

Provide 3–5 relevant keywords, separated by commas.

Keywords should accurately represent the main concepts and subject areas of the manuscript.

d. Main Text

Research articles should normally contain:

  1. Introduction
  2. Literature Review
  3. Conceptual/Theoretical Framework, where applicable
  4. Methodology
  5. Results/Findings
  6. Discussion
  7. Conclusion
  8. Implications and/or Recommendations, where applicable

The structure may be adjusted for conceptual or theoretical papers where appropriate.

e. Acknowledgements

Authors should acknowledge individuals, institutions, funding agencies, or organisations that contributed to the research but do not qualify for authorship.

Example:

This research was supported by [Funding Agency/Institution] under Grant No. [XXXXX].

If there are no acknowledgements, authors may state:

The authors have no acknowledgements to declare.

f. Author Contributions

AJPBS requires authors to provide an Author Contributions Statement based on the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) for manuscripts with multiple authors.

The contribution of each author should be identified using the applicable CRediT roles: Conceptualization, Data Curation, Formal Analysis, Funding Acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project Administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – Original Draft, and Writing – Review & Editing.

All listed authors must have made a meaningful contribution to the work, approved the final manuscript, and agreed to be accountable for their respective contributions.

Example:

Author Contributions: Conceptualization, A.A. and B.B.; Methodology, A.A.; Formal Analysis, B.B.; Investigation, A.A. and C.C.; Writing – Original Draft, A.A.; Writing – Review & Editing, B.B. and C.C.; Supervision, C.C. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

g. Conflict of Interest

Authors must disclose any financial, professional, institutional, or personal relationships that could potentially influence the research or its interpretation.

Where no conflict exists, authors should state:

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this article.

h. Ethics Statement

Research involving human participants, personal data, vulnerable groups, or other matters requiring ethical oversight must provide appropriate information regarding ethical approval.

Where applicable:

This study was approved by [Name of Ethics Committee/Institutional Review Board], Reference No. [XXXX].

Where formal ethical approval was not required, authors should provide an appropriate statement based on the nature of the research rather than automatically stating that ethics approval was unnecessary.

Authors are responsible for obtaining informed consent where required.

i. Data Availability Statement

Authors should provide a statement explaining the availability of data supporting the findings of the study.

Examples include:

The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

or

The data supporting this study are publicly available from [Repository Name] at [DOI/URL].

Where data cannot be made publicly available because of confidentiality, privacy, ethical, or legal restrictions, this should be stated.

j. Generative AI Use Declaration

Authors must disclose the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools where such tools have materially contributed to manuscript preparation.

AI tools must not be listed as authors.

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, citations, and content of their manuscript regardless of whether AI-assisted technologies were used.

Where applicable, authors should provide an appropriate AI-use statement.

k. References

AJPBS uses the APA 7th Edition referencing style.

Authors must ensure that:

  • Every in-text citation has a corresponding entry in the reference list.
  • Every reference listed has been cited in the manuscript.
  • Author names and publication years are consistent between citations and references.
  • References are complete and accurate.
  • DOIs should be provided where available, preferably in URL format.
  • URLs should be provided for appropriate online sources where a DOI is unavailable.

Authors are responsible for verifying the accuracy and authenticity of all references.

l. Tables and Figures

Tables and figures should:

  • Be inserted close to their first mention in the manuscript.
  • Be numbered sequentially (e.g., Table 1, Table 2, Figure 1, Figure 2).
  • Have clear and informative titles.
  • Include notes and sources where appropriate.
  • Be referred to in the main text.
  • Be of sufficient quality for publication.

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

6. Submission Process

All manuscripts should be submitted through the AJPBS Online Journal System (OJS).

Authors must register for an account or log in to the journal's submission system and complete all required submission steps.

During submission, authors should ensure that:

  • The correct journal section and category are selected.
  • The manuscript file is uploaded.
  • Article metadata are entered accurately.
  • All authors and their affiliations are entered correctly.
  • The abstract and keywords are entered into the system.
  • All submission requirements are acknowledged.
  • The copyright and privacy statements are acknowledged.

Authors should not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to another journal.

7. Peer Review

All manuscripts submitted to AJPBS undergo an initial editorial screening to assess their suitability for the journal's scope, compliance with the Author Guidelines, similarity requirements, and basic academic quality.

Manuscripts that meet the initial requirements will proceed to peer review.

Review Model: Double-Blind

AJPBS adopts a double-blind peer review process to promote impartiality, objectivity, and fairness in manuscript evaluation. Under this process:

  • Reviewers do not know the identity of the authors.
  • Authors do not know the identity of the reviewers.
  • The identities of both authors and reviewers are kept confidential throughout the peer-review process.
  • Manuscripts submitted for review must be appropriately anonymised.
  • Authors must remove names, affiliations, email addresses, acknowledgements, and other information that may reveal their identities from the manuscript intended for peer review.
  • Author names, affiliations, and other identifying information must be entered separately in the OJS submission metadata.
  • Reviewers are required to maintain the confidentiality of the manuscript and all information obtained during the review process.

Review and Revision

Manuscripts will be evaluated by qualified reviewers based on their academic quality, originality, methodological rigour, relevance, clarity, and contribution to the field.

Authors are expected to respond systematically to reviewers' and editors' comments and submit revised manuscripts within the period specified by the Editorial Office.

The final decision to accept, request revisions, or reject a manuscript rests with the Editorial Team based on the reviewers' recommendations and the journal's editorial standards.

Review Timeline

AJPBS is committed to ensuring a timely and efficient peer-review process. Reviewers are normally requested to complete their reviews within 14 days of accepting a review invitation.

Authors will be informed of editorial decisions as promptly as possible. Where revisions are required, authors should submit the revised manuscript within the timeframe specified by the Editorial Office.

The journal monitors review timelines to minimise unnecessary delays while maintaining the quality and integrity of the peer-review process.

8. Open Access and Copyright

AJPBS is an open-access journal.

Authors retain copyright in their published articles.

Unless otherwise stated, articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence, which permits sharing and adaptation of the published work provided appropriate credit is given to the original authors and source.

9. Publication Ethics

The Asian Journal of Professional and Business Studies (AJPBS) is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics and research integrity. The journal follows applicable principles and guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in addressing publication ethics and research integrity matters.

AJPBS does not tolerate practices including:

  • Plagiarism;
  • Fabrication or falsification of data;
  • Duplicate or redundant publication;
  • Inappropriate authorship;
  • Citation manipulation;
  • Undisclosed conflicts of interest;
  • Unethical research practices; and
  • Misrepresentation of research findings.

Suspected cases of publication misconduct will be assessed and investigated by the Editorial Board in accordance with the journal's policies and applicable COPE guidance.

9.1 Similarity Checking and Plagiarism Screening

All manuscripts submitted to AJPBS are subject to similarity checking as part of the editorial screening process.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that all sources are appropriately acknowledged and cited and that submitted manuscripts are free from plagiarism, inappropriate text recycling, and unattributed material.

AJPBS normally requires manuscripts to have an overall similarity index below 30%. However, the similarity percentage alone will not be used to determine whether plagiarism has occurred. The Editorial Team will evaluate the nature, extent, and sources of matched content when assessing the similarity report.

Manuscripts containing unacceptable levels or patterns of similarity may be returned to the authors for revision or rejected. Cases involving suspected plagiarism or other publication misconduct may be handled in accordance with the journal's publication ethics policy and applicable COPE guidance.

9.2 Best Practices and Transparency Principles

The Asian Journal of Professional and Business Studies (AJPBS) is committed to maintaining transparency, integrity, and best practices in scholarly publishing. The journal's editorial and publishing practices are guided by recognised principles of publication ethics and transparency, including applicable guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

AJPBS is committed to transparency in areas including authorship and contributorship, peer review, editorial decision-making, conflicts of interest, research ethics, similarity checking, corrections and retractions, copyright and licensing, open access, publication fees, complaints and appeals, data availability, journal governance, and digital preservation.

Editorial decisions are based on the scholarly merit, originality, methodological quality, relevance, and contribution of submitted manuscripts and are made independently of authors' institutional, geographical, or personal backgrounds.

AJPBS periodically reviews its editorial policies and publishing practices to maintain appropriate standards of transparency, accountability, research integrity, and scholarly publishing.

AJPBS is also committed to recognised principles of transparency and best practice in scholarly publishing, which are reflected in the journal's policies on peer review, authorship, conflicts of interest, research ethics, similarity checking, corrections and retractions, open access, copyright, and editorial governance.

10. Withdrawal, Corrections and Retractions

Authors wishing to withdraw a manuscript must submit a formal request to the Editorial Office stating the reason for withdrawal.

Following publication, corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions may be issued when necessary to maintain the integrity of the scholarly record.

Retraction requests will be considered according to the seriousness and circumstances of the case.

11. Proofreading and Production

Following acceptance and completion of editorial requirements, proofs may be sent to the corresponding author for final checking.

Authors should check proofs carefully and return corrections within the specified period.

Proof-stage corrections should normally be limited to typographical, formatting, or production errors. Substantial changes to the content may require editorial approval.

12. Privacy Statement

Names, email addresses, affiliations, and other personal information entered into the journal system will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of the journal's editorial and publishing processes and will not be made available for unrelated purposes.

13. Metadata and Discoverability

AJPBS provides structured metadata for published articles, including article titles, author information, affiliations, abstracts, keywords, references, and other relevant publication information.

Metadata are used to facilitate indexing, discoverability, citation, and retrieval through scholarly search engines, databases, repositories, and indexing services.

14. Archiving and Long-Term Preservation

AJPBS is committed to the long-term preservation and accessibility of its published scholarly content.

Published articles and associated metadata are maintained through the journal's digital publishing infrastructure and institutional preservation arrangements.

AJPBS works with UPTM Library to support the long-term preservation of published content, including preservation through the institutional EPrints repository.