Authors guidelines

Articles should be topical and original, should outline tasks (issues), describe key results of the author’s research and draw conclusions.
         Manuscripts are submitted via e-mail to: bijournal@hse.ru.
         The editors do not enter into discussions with the authors of rejected materials.
         The publication is free of charge.

Structure

Each paper has the following structure:
-  Title;
-  Authors and their affiliations;
-  Abstract;
-  Key words;
-  Introduction;
-  Main part (sections / paragraphs);
-  Conclusion;
-  References;
-  Detailed information about the authors.

The Introduction and Conclusion have no numbers, otherwise paragraphs should be numbered. It is acceptable to use sub-sections, with double numbers (the first figure – number of the main section, the second one – number of sub-section).

Different recommendations regarding structuring and content are applied for empirical and theoretical papers (see below).  

Title  

The title of the article should be informative and should disclose the contents of the paper.

Authors’ details  

Authors’ details presented on the title page of an article include:
-  full name of each author;
-  affiliation of each author at the time the research was completed (several affiliations are acceptable);
-  full postal address of each affiliation (incl. postcode / ZIP);
-  e-mail address of each author.

Authors’ details presented in the end of the article include:
-  full name of each author;
-  position, rank, academic degree of each author;
-  detailed affiliation of each author at the time the research was completed (several affiliations are acceptable);
-  full postal address of each affiliation (incl. postcode / ZIP);
-  e-mail address of each author;
-  ORCID of each author.

Abstract

The Abstract should be between 150 and 250 words. The Abstract should reflect the paper’s key content and research findings. It should be structured. Information contained in the title should not be duplicated in the Abstract. The Abstract should be informative (no general words), and its text should include key words of the paper. Authors should try to avoid unnecessary introductory phrases (e.g. “the author of the paper considers…”). Authors should use the language typical of research and technical documents to compile your abstract and avoid complex grammatical constructions.

Recommended structure of the Abstract:
-  Introduction (mandatory). Brief characteristic of topicality and value of the research field (1–2 sentences);
-  Identification of a gap in scientific knowledge that provides the reason for the study (mandatory). Described as lack (or small amount) of scientific research related with a particular problem.
-  Statement of the research objective (mandatory). The objective may be replaced by a hypothesis or research questions.
-  Description of methodology, methods and procedures applied in the paper (mandatory). In empirical articles, data sources and details of their processing are stated. In theoretical papers, it is possible to mention scientific schools or other bases of the developed theory. General scientific methods should not be mentioned.
- Main results (mandatory). The results obtained by the author characterizing the achievement of the objective or providing an answer to the formulated hypothesis. The results are presented briefly, very accurately and informatively. Emphasis is placed on the results that are the most significant and attractive for the reader and the scientific community – data of long-term value, important discoveries, conclusions, refuting existing theories, and practical, significant information. The results can be accompanied by recommendations, evaluations, and suggestions.
- Evaluation of the contribution of the research to science (optional). It is possible to combine such evaluation with description of the main results.

Key words

Recommended number of key words / words combinations are from 6 to 10 (separated by semicolons).

Introduction

The Introduction provides answers to the questions why the study was conducted, what is the research hypothesis.

Components of the Introduction:
-  Preamble (mandatory). Includes a general description of the relevance and significance of the problem. The volume may vary from 1–3 paragraphs to 1–2 pages, depending on the complexity of the study.
-  Brief description of the existing scientific results in the field of the study (mandatory). Mention the literature describing the theoretical foundations, concepts, and approaches on which the study is based. Justify the need for conducting the research by specifying a gap in scientific knowledge or its incompleteness.
-  Objective of the research (mandatory). The objective follows from the need to fill the gap in scientific knowledge described above. May be supplemented by hypothesis and research questions.

Main part

For empirical studies, it is recommended to follow the IMRAD structure, including the following sections: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion.

The “Methods” section contains a detailed description of the way the study was conducted. This section may include subsections such as “Materials,” “Participants,” “Procedures,” etc. It is possible to list the methods used (if they are known and common), or to describe the stages of the research. General scientific methods should not be mentioned, as well as methods that are not relevant to the study. Mention and description of materials (in particular, source data) should be given if the article is related with their analysis, or if the methods assume their presence. It is recommended to describe the structure of materials (data), their sources and selection principles. Description of participants depends on the methods (for example, when conducting surveys or using questionnaires). Participants are described by all criteria that are relevant for the study. Description of the procedures includes information about how the study was conducted using the aforementioned methods, materials and participants.

The “Results” section describes what was obtained during the study. It is recommended to present the results in the form of tables, charts, graphs, mathematical calculations. At the same time, this section should not provide explanations of the results and their interpretation (they are given below, in the “Discussion” section). It is necessary to check whether the methods mentioned above are reflected in this section (i.e. that the described results are obtained using the specified methods).

The “Discussion” section provides a discussion of the results. The results obtained are analyzed and interpreted in detail, the answers to the formulated hypotheses are given, a comparison with the results of other studies is made, and the research contribution to science and practice is assessed. It is desirable to describe limitations of the study (e.g., small sample size, short period of the study, etc.).

In theoretical articles, different structure can be applied. However, it is recommended that you use not less than three sections, with titles reflecting the scientific logic of the research. The basis of the theoretical study is a review of the literature on the relevant field. A attention should be focused on the logic and validity of the theoretical constructions. In theoretical articles there may be an empirical part if it is necessary to justify the proposed theoretical provisions. Such sections as the “Discussion” (discussion of results) and “Limitations of the study” may also be available.

Conclusion

The Conclusion includes a generalized list of the main results of the study (in accordance with the stated objectives, hypotheses and research questions), as well as an assessment of their significance for science. It is also desirable to indicate the author’s vision regarding further research in the respective field of knowledge. As a rule, the Conclusion does not exceed 10% of the total volume of the article.

References 

References should be presented in the Harvard style and carefully checked for completeness, accuracy and consistency.

It is recommended to include no less than 25 positions in the references list.

The elements of the references list are numbered according their mention (citation) in the text. Each of the references included in the reference list should be cited in the text, and vice versa. Citation is performed by the references’ numbers using brackets (e.g. [2], [4; 5], [7–10], [3; 5; 7–10]).

Design requirements

Format.Text files should be submitted in electronic form as a MS Word document (version 2003 or higher).

Length. Articles are usually between 25,000 and 30,000 characters (incl. spaces).

Font, spacing, margins.The text should be in Times New Roman 12 pt, 1.5 spaced, fit to the width, margins: left – 25 mm, all other – 15 mm. All the pages should have numbers.

Language. Papers may be submitted in English or Russian. The accepted papers are published both in English and Russian. 

Formulae.It is recommended to prepare formulae using the MS Equation tool.

Figures.Figures should be of high quality, legible and numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals. All figures (charts, diagrams, etc.) should be submitted in electronic form (photo images – in TIF or JPEG formats, minimum resolution 300 dpi). Appropriate references in the text are required.

Tables.Tables are created using MS Word or MS Excel software. The tables are to be numbered. References to the tables in the text are mandatory and must precede the tables’ layout.

Detailed information including aims and scope of the journal, examples of description of authors and their affiliations, information about graphical abstracts, requirements to formatting reference list, procedures of reviewing and publishing, as well as issues of publication ethics are available in the attached document entitled “Recommendations for authors.”

 Recommendations for authors