Guidelines for Authors

Review process

Each completed draft is reviewed by the CBR’s editor and, if it is judged suitable for this publication, is then further evaluated by the entire CBR editorial board. All academic papers will further go through a double-blind peer review process with two or more independent referees in addition to the Editorial Board. Based on their recommendation, the editor then decides whether the paper should be accepted as is, revised or rejected.

General Purpose and Style

As an academic journal, the CBR adheres to high scholarly standards. As a publication for practitioners, the CBR emphasizes the practicality of ideas in the real world of business. In either case, however, the core message must convey biblical perspectives based on a proper interpretation of the Scripture with due regard for exegetical and hermeneutic principles.

The CBR covers a wide range of topics and is open to many approaches. For full-length articles, the contributors must indicate thorough research of existing academic literature on the subject matter, and offer a clear advance on the understanding of biblical integration. They will focus on any of the business disciplines, including such areas as leadership, ethics, organizational change, strategy, people management, marketing, economics, accounting and finance. Articles for the Living Cases, Insights and Book Reviews departments are typically shorter. These contributions should appeal to a broad audience and be written in a fluid, non-technical prose.

Copyright

Articles submitted to the journal should not have been published before in their current or substantially similar form, or be under consideration for publication with another journal. Authors submitting articles for publication warrant that the work is not an infringement of any existing copyright and will indemnify the publisher against any breach of such warranty. For ease of dissemination and to ensure proper policing of use, papers and contributions become the legal copyright of the publisher unless otherwise agreed. Authors continue to own the underlying ideas in the article.

Permissions

Prior to article submission, authors should clear permission to use any content that has not been created by them.

Manuscript requirements

Please prepare your manuscript using the following guidelines:

Length. Research-based: 5,000–7,000 words; Experience-based: 3,000–5,000 words

Title. A title of not more than eight words should be provided

Author. Include a page with the following information:

  • Full name of each author
  • Affiliation of each author at time research was completed
  • Contact information for first or corresponding author (address, e-mail, telephone)
  • Brief biography of each author
  • Abstract. Authors will provide an abstract of no more than 200 words.

The Abstract must state the paper’s:

  • Purpose
  • Design, methodology or approach
  • Results or findings
  • Conclusions and implications (research, practical, social, etc.)
  • Value/importance/originality
  • Article Classification. Categorize your paper on the Article Title page under one of the following CBR classifications:
  • Research Paper
    – Case Study (Living Cases)
    – Narrative (Insights)
    – Interview
    – Book Review

Figures.  All Figures (charts, diagrams, line drawings, web pages/screenshots, and photographic images) should be submitted in electronic form. They should be high quality, legible and numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals.

Tables. Tables should be typed and included in a separate file relative to the main body of the article. The position of each table should be clearly labeled in the body text of the article with corresponding labels being clearly shown in the separate file.

Fit. The article should be written for CBR with a view to its particular standards and purpose. Unrevised lectures, sermons, addresses and the like are not acceptable.

Currency. Since CBR is a journal, its articles should address matters of current importance. When the subject matter is one of the “perennial questions,” the author should do more than repeat what has been said already in places that are readily accessible to other scholars.

Christian perspective. The author may assume that his or her readers are generally familiar with, and sympathetic to, the Christian religion. The guiding principles of the CBR are steeped in the evangelical and Protestant doctrines; its editorial policy, however, is ecumenical.

Specific Formats

a. Submit final manuscript in electronic format using Word or WordPerfect.

b. Ensure the final manuscript follows The Chicago Manual of Style and the Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary for spelling and hyphenation. Follow American rather than British rules for spelling.

c. All text (including extracts within the text, footnotes, etc.) must be double-spaced and in 12-point Times Roman font.

d. Except as listed below, avoid all typographic embellishments, including bold, italics, underline, centering, type ornaments (dingbats), and words typed in all capitals.

e. Type one space after periods, colons, and semicolons.

f. Endnotes rather than parenthetical citations should be used; refer to the Chicago Manual for formatting guidelines. Use superscript for the endnote numbers in the text and for the endnote numbers themselves. In the text, no space should precede the endnote number. In the endnotes, no period or space should follow the endnote number.

g. Book, journal, magazine, or film titles should be italicized rather than underlined.

h. Left justify all text; do not full justify. Begin new paragraphs by typing a hard return and indent each paragraph .5 inch using a tab; do not use the space bar to indent. Do not insert extra space between paragraphs. Extracts should be indented from the left margin .5 inch using the indent command in your word processing program.

i. If the manuscript is divided into parts, type each heading in bold. If your manuscript is divided into subparts, type each subheading in italics. Do not number headings or subheadings. Type all headings and subheadings in upper and lower case; avoid all capitals, underlining, or other embellishments.

j. Consult the Chicago Manual for proper capitalization (for example, Bible and Scripture are capitalized, but biblical and scriptural are not).