Author Guidelines

Scope and Audience 

The International Journal of Indigenous Business (IJIB) is a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to advancing Indigenous business research and practice. Adopting a strengths-based approach, the journal aims to empower Indigenous communities and highlight their contributions across various facets of the Indigenous Business Discipline. 

IJIB prioritises Indigenous-led research, recognising its critical role in providing relevant and vital insights. All articles must have an Indigenous person as the first author. 

We welcome contributions from academics, students, practitioners, Indigenous business leaders, and the broader Indigenous community. Manuscripts should clearly address topics pertinent to Indigenous business, ensuring accessibility to a broad readership and fostering a deeper, more inclusive understanding of business practices that embrace Indigenous ways of knowing and being. 

IJIB is published once per year, and submissions are tied to either a symposium or Indigenous business conference. Please note that book or literature reviews are not accepted.  

Publishing Ethics 

IJIB considers manuscripts on the following conditions:  

• The manuscript is your own original work and does not duplicate any other previously published work, including your own previously published work. 
• The manuscript has only been submitted to this journal; it is not under consideration or peer review or accepted for publication or in press or published elsewhere. 
• All listed authors know of and agree to the manuscript being submitted to the journal. 
• The manuscript contains nothing that is abusive, defamatory, fraudulent, illegal, libellous or obscene.   

During manuscript submission, authors are required to: 

1. Ensure the paper has their positionality clearly defined, so it is clear that an Indigenous person is the first author. 
2. Disclose the nature of any competing and/or relevant financial interest. The statement should describe all potential sources of bias, including affiliations, funding sources, and financial or management relationships, that may constitute conflicts of interest. 
3. Provide contact information for all co-authors. The submitting author is responsible for informing all co-authors of the submission. New affiliations of co-authors during the peer review process can be given as a footnote. Author deletion requires a confirming letter to the editors from the author being removed. Note: Affiliation changes are not permitted after acceptance. 

By submitting your paper to IJIB, you are agreeing to any necessary originality checks your paper may undergo during the peer review and production processes. This may include anti-plagiarism or a critical intelligence detection software, to ensure the manuscript is the author(s) own and original work. 

IJIB complies with the guidelines and best practices set forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) on matters of research errors, authorship complaints, multiple or concurrent (simultaneous) submission, plagiarism complaints, research results misappropriation, reviewer bias, and undisclosed conflicts of interest. 

The Review Process 

Manuscripts are reviewed through a double-blind peer review process by at least two qualified referees. Authors may receive anonymised reviewer feedback and may be asked to revise their manuscript before final publication. Editorial feedback may also be provided to support minor improvements.

Although feedback will usually be provided to authors, the editors reserve the right to reject a manuscript for publication without providing a rationale for the decision. Final decisions regarding acceptance of a manuscript will be made by the editors. 

DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS TO CONTRIBUTORS 

Corresponding Author 

The IJIB uses a contributor agreement that allows for just one author (the corresponding author) to sign on behalf of all authors. Please identify the corresponding author when submitting your manuscript for review. 

The corresponding author will be responsible for: 

• ensuring that all authors are identified on the contributor agreement, and notifying IJIB of any changes to authorship 
• securing written permission (via letter or email) from each co-author to sign the contributor agreement on the co-author's behalf 
• completing the copyright or licence to publish forms on behalf of all co-authors 

The corresponding author will be the sole author indemnifying the publisher and the editors against an article that infringes the copyright of another or is otherwise in violation of any other warranty listed in the agreement. 

Authorship 

All persons who have a reasonable claim to authorship must be named in the manuscript as co-authors. The corresponding author must be authorised by all co-authors to act as an agent on their behalf in all matters pertaining to publication of the manuscript. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility. 

Authorship credit should be based on: 

• substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data 
• drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content 
• final approval of the version to be published. 

Authors should meet all conditions. Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship. 

Manuscript Language and Length

Manuscripts can be submitted in the author's traditional language, but an accompanying English translation is required for accessibility. The editors require that all authors be attentive to language and terminology and ask that the authors be clear in ensuring terms used are contextually appropriate and consistently used. We recommend consideration of the issues of language raised in AIATSIS's Guidelines for Ethical Publishing. 

The word count is 5000–8000 words for articles. Contributions must be typed, double-line spaced, using 12-point Aptos font or similar. Number all pages. For further guidance on style, refer to APA Style guide. 

Abstract: All articles must include an abstract of 250 words or less, which provides a brief overview of the aims, method, major findings, and learning outcomes, without any citations. 

Headings: The first and all major words in headings are capitalised (title case). Do not use more than three heading levels. 

Citations: Use seventh edition APA in-text citation style. Guidance available here. 

General editing points:

• Avoid language that can be seen as discriminating against people on account of disability, race or gender. 
• Uncommon abbreviations and acronyms should be explained. Full stops should not be used in abbreviations or acronyms (e.g., NSW). 
• Do not use quotation marks to introduce a technical or key term. Instead, italicise the term. 
• Use double quotation marks, not single. Single quotation marks are used “only for ‘quotes’ within quotes”. 
• Double quotation marks are also used to introduce a word or phrase used as an ironic comment, as slang, or as an invented or coined expression. Use quotation marks the first time the word or phrase is used; do not use them again. 
• Long quotations of 40 words or more are to be block indented without quotation marks. 
• Quotations are not italicised. 
• Do not italicise names or words from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages. In accordance with AIATSIS and the Australian Government Style Manual, these are Australian languages, not foreign languages. Foreign words are italicised. 
• References to ‘Traditional Owners’, ‘Custodians’, ‘Elders’, ‘Country’, etc. are capitalised. Cultural practices such as Acknowledgement of Country and Welcome to Country are capitalised.  
• Use footnotes rather than endnotes and keep to a minimum, as they are only to provide necessary additional information. 
• Keep Tables and Figures to a reasonable minimum and avoid repeating tabulated data in a graphic. 

Manuscript Submission

At least three (3) separate files need to be submitted online, the article, an anonymised article and the title page. 

Article document: The article document must include the complete article. A list of figure captions should follow the tables in the article document. Captions must include sources and permissions for copyright material. 

Anonymised article document: The article document without any identifiable author details but include the title, abstract, body of the article, tables if any, figure captions if any, and references. 

How to Anonymise Your Article for Peer Review: Before submitting your article, ensure that all identifying information is removed to maintain anonymity during peer review. This includes:

• Replacing author names in the text with “Author”.
• Removing personal information from the file properties:

• • In Microsoft Word (Windows): Go to File > Info > Check for Issues > Inspect Document, remove all personal data, then save.

  • In Microsoft Word (Mac): Go to Tools > Protect Document > select Remove personal information on save, then save the file.

  • In PDF files: Go to File > Properties, delete any names in the author field, click OK, and save.

Title page: The title page is for the editors and not shared with the reviewers, and must state: 

• The title of the document, up to six keywords, and suggested running head of no more than 50 characters. 
• The name, affiliation, full address (including postcode), telephone number, and email address of the corresponding author. 
• The name and affiliations (including postcode) of all authors. 
• A short (50–100 word) biographical note of each author. 
• Any acknowledgements, financial support, or competing interest statements that may identify the authors. 
• This manuscript is an original work that has not been submitted to nor published anywhere else.

Tables and Figures 

Both Tables and Figures should be titled with a short and concise description, numbered separately but consecutively (Table 1, … ; Figure 1, … ), and referenced in the text. Tables should be clear, concise, and able to stand alone, with footnotes included to clarify entries. In multi-part Figures, each part should be labelled (Figure 1a, Figure 1b, …). 

A list of figure captions should follow the tables in the manuscript. 

Figures, graphs, illustrations and photographs (but not Tables) should be prepared to the correct size and each one supplied as an individual file. Include placement instructions in the article document, such as "[Insert fig 1 here]".  

Images and Artwork

Prior to submitting any images or artwork, authors must test all separate files (figures, graphs, illustrations, etc.) to ensure fonts are embedded and images are clear. Lines and fonts should reproduce cleanly with no distortion, jagged lines, or fuzzy edges, as such faults cannot be corrected by the publisher. 

Acknowledgements 

Acknowledge individuals or organisations who provided advice or non-financial support. If there are no acknowledgements, include the heading “Acknowledgements” followed by the text “None”. 

Financial Support 

Provide details of the sources of financial and in-kind support for all authors, including grant numbers. Grants held by different authors should be identified as belonging to individual authors by the author's initials. Where no specific funding has been provided for research, please provide the following statement: “This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.” 

Conflicts of Interest 

Authors must disclose potentially conflicting interests. Non-financial interests that could be relevant in this context should also be disclosed. If no relevant interests exist, this should be stated. This requirement applies to all authors of a paper. If there are no conflicts of interest, include the heading “Conflicts of Interest” followed by the text “None”. 

References 

Use seventh edition APA style for all references and ensure all references are complete and accurate on submission. Include all and only those references cited in the paper. Do not cite papers in preparation. Papers may be cited as ‘in press’ where they have been accepted for publication. Papers will be declined for publication if they have references that are found to be incomplete or inaccurate. References should be selective, appropriate, and easily accessible. 

For general publication categories the format should follow the examples here. Pay particular attention to capitalisation, punctuation and spacing. Submissions that do not conform to these referencing guidelines will be returned to authors for correction. 

Professional Editing Services 

The editors recommend that authors have their manuscripts checked by an English language native speaker before submission; this will ensure that submissions are judged at peer review exclusively on academic merit. 

Permissions 

The corresponding author is responsible for providing copies of permission for lengthy quotations or reprinted or adapted tables or figures. It is the responsibility of the author to check with the publisher or copyright owner regarding specific requirements for permission to adapt or quote from copyrighted material. Appropriate acknowledgement must be given in your manuscript. 

Manuscript Submission 

IJIB accepts submissions only through the journal’s Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform, which also manages the peer review and editorial workflow. Step-by-step instructions are available during the submission process. Authors can track the progress of their submissions by logging into the journal website via the register/login link. 

There are no submission fees or page charges. 

Double-Blind Review 

IJIB employs a double-blind peer review process to ensure impartiality and fairness. This means that both the authors and reviewers remain anonymous to each other throughout the review process. Authors are responsible for removing any identifying information from their manuscripts and associated files prior to submission. 

The standard review period is 2–3 weeks. 

Accepted Manuscripts 

Minor amendments may be made by editorial staff following review to ensure that reasonable standards of content, presentation and readability are maintained. There are no Article Process Charges (APCs) and all articles are assigned a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) number.

Open Access Policies 

IJIB is published Open Access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.  Authors retain copyright of their work, with first publication rights granted to The University of Queensland. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post any version of their manuscript to personal or institutional websites, in repositories and similar, prior to and after publication (while providing the bibliographic details of that publication).