Arab Journal of Management, Banking, and Financial Studies (AJMBFS) is a peer-reviewed, open access scientific journal published biannually by the Arab Academy for Management, Banking, and Financial Sciences, Yemen.  AJMBFS publishes empirical and theoretical research articles in the fields of management, banking, and financial sciences. 

Peer review process

• Initial assessment: AJMBFS staff will perform an initial assessment of the submitted manuscript against the journal instructions to authors and the editorial policies. If the submitted manuscript fulfills the journal's technical criteria, an academic editor will be assigned to handle the manuscript. If the manuscript needs correction, it will be sent back to the corresponding author for corrective actions. The corresponding author will receive a notification email. This step takes up to 6 working days.
• Editor’s assessment of submitted manuscript: The assigned academic editor will assess the manuscript before inviting potential reviewers. As a result, the manuscript will be sent for peer review or rejected. The corresponding author will receive a notification email. This step takes up to 6 working days.
• Type of peer review: AJMBFS applies a double-blind peer review so that neither reviewers nor authors will know each other’s identities.
• Editor assessment of the review report: The assigned reviewers will complete the review and submit the review report to the academic editor, who will assess the report. The editor will decide if the manuscript is accepted with no revision, accepted with minor revision, accepted with major revision, or rejected. The corresponding author is expected to receive the first decision on the manuscript within 6 weeks.
• Authors’ revision: AJMBFS gives a time frame for authors to revise their manuscript. Authors MUST submit the revision before the deadline or request an extension from the editor. The revision should include two files: one with track changes and another clean copy. Authors MUST also submit a cover letter that includes the authors’ response to each comment raised by the editor or reviewers.
• Editor assessment of revised manuscript: The editor will assess the revision, and, therefore, the manuscript will be accepted, rejected, or transferred to the reviewers for the second round of the review process.

Publication frequency

The online content will be updated throughout the year. Two printed issues will be published per year in June and December.

Open access policy

AJMBFS applies the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license to the published work. Thus, authors submitting to AJMBFS permit others to reuse, adapt, or distribute their articles as long as the original research is cited.

Content overview

AJMBFS publishes empirical and theoretical research articles in the fields of management, banking, and financial sciences. Originality, rigorous methodology, importance of the content, and adherence to ethical standards are essentially considered.

Editorial policies

Authorship and Acknowledgement

AJMBFS applies the authorship criteria that are recommended by ICMJE. An individual fulfills the authorship of a manuscript if he/she contributed to:

• the conception or design of the manuscript; or
• the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; and
• drafting the manuscript; or
• critically revising the manuscript; and
• the approval of the final submitted version.

AJMBFS publishes authors’ contributions as a part of the body text of the manuscript. If the individual who participated in the development of the manuscript does not fulfill the authorship criteria as mentioned above, he/she should be acknowledged. AJMBFS advises that authors ask for permission from individuals before the acknowledgment. Authors should also acknowledge the organization(s) that supported the work. 

 If the corresponding author requests any change in the authorship, AJMBFS will respond according to COPE guidelines. 

Funding

If the work received financial support, the funder MUST be acknowledged, and the funder’s roles should be described. Otherwise, authors MUST declare that the funder has played no role in the research and the manuscript development. 

Conflict of interest

“Conflict of interest (COI) exists when a participant in the publication process (author, peer reviewer, or editor) has a competing interest that could unduly influence (or be reasonably seen to do so) his or her responsibilities in the publication process (submission of manuscripts, peer review, editorial decisions, and communication between authors, reviewers, and editors),” as defined by WAME. Thus, AJMBFS manages the conflict of interest as follows:

• Authors MUST declare any potential COI or declare that there is no COI. The COI declaration statement MUST be added to the manuscript.
• The editor MUST declare any potential COI. If COI exists, the manuscript will be reassigned to another editor.
• The reviewer is asked to declare any potential COI. If COI exists, the review will be declined.

AJMBFS manages undisclosed conflicts of interest in a submitted manuscript or published article according to COPE guidelines.

Misconduct

Misconduct in publication includes a wide spectrum of unethical practices that threaten the integrity of research. AJMBFS uses plagiarism software for screening submitted manuscripts. AJMBFS deals with suspected cases of misconduct according to COPE guidelines.

Correction and retraction

 AJMBFS retracts or corrects published articles according to COPE guidelines for retraction.