Author Guidelines

1. Type of Manuscript

Management Analytics Letters (MAL) publishes Letters Articles only. The journal is designed to provide a rapid outlet for concise, rigorous, and original research that communicates important findings, methodological advances, empirical evidence, theoretical insights, or emerging issues in management analytics and related fields.

Letters should make a clear and substantive contribution while presenting the essential motivation, methodology, findings, and implications without the extensive literature reviews and lengthy theoretical development typically found in full-length research articles.

Word Limit

The text of an article must not exceed 3,500 words (including references, tables, figures, equations, etc.) Manuscripts exceeding the prescribed limit may be returned to the authors without review.

2. Submission Policy

Submission of a manuscript to Management Analytics Letters implies that:

  • The manuscript is original and has not been published previously, in whole or in substantial part.
  • The manuscript is not currently under consideration for publication elsewhere.
  • All authors have approved the manuscript and agreed to its submission.
  • All authors have approved the order in which their names appear in the manuscript.
  • The research complies with applicable ethical, legal, and institutional requirements.
  • All necessary permissions have been obtained for copyrighted material, datasets, instruments, figures, or other third-party materials included in the manuscript.
  • Any potential conflict of interest has been disclosed.
  • The manuscript conforms to the journal's author guidelines.

Simultaneous submission of the same manuscript to more than one journal is not permitted.

3. Manuscript Preparation

3.1 Language

Manuscripts must be written in clear and professional English. Authors are responsible for ensuring that the manuscript is grammatically correct, coherent, and understandable to an international academic readership.

Authors whose first language is not English are encouraged to have their manuscript carefully proofread or professionally edited before submission. Language editing, however, does not guarantee acceptance.

3.2 File Format

Manuscripts should preferably be submitted in Microsoft Word (.docx) format.

3.3 General Formatting

Authors should use the following formatting conventions:

  • Times New Roman, 12-point.
  • Double line spacing throughout the manuscript.
  • Standard page margins.
  • Continuous page numbering.
  • Clear and consistent heading levels.
  • Tables and figures should be numbered consecutively.
  • Abbreviations should be defined at their first occurrence and used consistently thereafter.

3.4 Conciseness

As a Letters journal, MAL places particular emphasis on concise communication. Authors should avoid unnecessary repetition, extensive descriptions of well-established theories or methods, and lengthy literature reviews.

The manuscript should enable readers to understand:

  • What the research question or problem is
  • Why the issue is important
  • What is new about the study
  • How the analysis was conducted
  • What the principal findings are
  • Whether the findings are robust
  • Why the findings matter

4. Structure of the Manuscript

The article should contain the following components:

4.1 Title Page

The title page should include:

  • A concise and informative title
  • Full names of all authors
  • Institutional affiliations
  • Institutional email addresses
  • ORCID identifiers, where available
  • Identification of the corresponding author
  • Any relevant acknowledgements or funding information

The title should be concise and should accurately reflect the central contribution of the manuscript. Avoid unnecessary abbreviations and overly broad titles.

For double-blind review, authors should ensure that identifying information is removed from the anonymized manuscript file.

4.2 Abstract

An unstructured abstract should provide a concise summary of the article and should normally not exceed 150 words.

The abstract should briefly communicate:

  • The research problem or objective
  • The methodological or analytical approach
  • The principal findings
  • The key contribution or implication

The abstract should be self-contained and should not contain citations, footnotes, or undefined abbreviations.

4.3 Keywords

Provide 3-5 keywords that accurately represent the main subject areas, concepts, methods, or applications addressed in the manuscript. Authors should avoid unnecessarily broad or repetitive keywords.

4.4 JEL Classification

Where applicable, manuscripts addressing economics, finance, accounting, or related areas should provide relevant Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classification codes.

Authors should normally provide 2-4 JEL codes, selected according to the principal subject matter of the manuscript.

4.5 Main Text

The organization of the main text may vary depending on the nature of the article. However, empirical and analytical manuscripts will generally include the following components:

  • Introduction
  • Literature Review and/or Theoretical Background
  • Methodology / Analytical Approach
  • Results, Robustness Checks, and Discussion
  • Conclusion, Implications, Limitations, and Future Research Directions

4.6 References

References should follow the APA 7th edition referencing style. All works cited in the manuscript must appear in the reference list, and all references listed must be cited in the manuscript. Authors are responsible for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of their references, including author names, publication year, article title, journal title, volume, issue, page range, and DOI where available.

4.7 Tables

Tables should be numbered consecutively (Table 1, Table 2, etc.), have concise and informative titles above the tables, be referred to in the text, be understandable without requiring extensive reference to the main text, clearly identify units of measurement and statistical significance where applicable, and include explanatory notes below the table where necessary.

4.8 Figures

Figures should be numbered consecutively (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.), have clear and informative captions below the figure, be referred to in the text, be of sufficient resolution for publication, use readable labels, legends, symbols, and fonts, clearly identify the source where material is reproduced or adapted from another work. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted figures or other third-party material where required.

4.9 Equations

Mathematical equations should be clearly presented and numbered consecutively where they are referred to in the text. Equations should be prepared using an appropriate equation editor and should use consistent notation throughout the manuscript. All symbols and variables should be clearly defined when first introduced.

4.10 Supplementary Material

Additional material that is useful but not essential to understanding the article may be submitted as supplementary material. This may include:

  • Additional robustness/sensitivity tests
  • Extended statistical results
  • Additional tables or figures
  • Survey instruments
  • Technical details
  • Replication materials
  • Additional methodological information

Supplementary material may be made available alongside the published article at the discretion of the journal.

5. Research Transparency and Reproducibility

MAL encourages authors to promote transparency and reproducibility in research. Where appropriate, authors should provide sufficient information to enable other researchers to understand and, where feasible, reproduce the reported analysis.

Authors are encouraged to make relevant datasets, analytical code, research instruments, and replication materials publicly available through appropriate repositories, subject to ethical, legal, confidentiality, intellectual property, and data-protection requirements. Where data or code are publicly available, authors should provide the relevant repository information in the manuscript. Authors must not disclose confidential, proprietary, personally identifiable, or otherwise restricted information without appropriate authorization.

6. Ethical Standards

MAL is committed to maintaining high standards of research and publication integrity.

Authors are expected to comply with recognized standards of responsible scholarly publishing, including principles relating to authorship, originality, research integrity, conflicts of interest, plagiarism, duplicate publication, data integrity, and transparency.

The journal may use appropriate similarity-detection and research-integrity screening tools during the editorial and publication process.

6.1 Authorship Criteria

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial contributions to the research and who are able to take responsibility for the work.

All listed authors should have:

  • Made a substantial contribution to the conception, design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or other substantive aspects of the research
  • Contributed to drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content
  • Approved the final version of the manuscript
  • Agreed to be accountable for the integrity and accuracy of the work

Individuals who do not meet the criteria for authorship should not be listed as authors. Contributions that do not qualify for authorship may be recognized in the acknowledgements. All authors should approve the final author list and order of authorship before submission. Requests for changes to authorship after submission should be supported by a clear explanation and require the agreement of all affected authors.

6.2 Generative Artificial Intelligence

The journal permits responsible use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools, provided that their use does not compromise research integrity, originality, confidentiality, or transparency. AI tools cannot be listed as authors. Such tools cannot assume responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, originality, conflicts of interest, or copyright of a manuscript. This position is consistent with established publication-ethics guidance.

Authors remain fully responsible for:

  • The accuracy and integrity of the submitted manuscript
  • All claims, interpretations, analyses, and conclusions
  • The originality of the work
  • Verification of references and citations
  • Compliance with copyright requirements
  • Any content produced or assisted by an AI tool

If GenAI is used substantively in the preparation of a manuscript, for example, for generating or substantially revising text, producing analytical content, generating or modifying images, assisting with data analysis, coding, data processing, or other research activities, authors should disclose which tool was used, how it was used, and the relevant part of the research or manuscript affected.

6.3 Plagiarism and Duplicate Publication

Plagiarism, including the unattributed use of another person's ideas, text, data, figures, or other intellectual contributions, is unacceptable. Manuscripts must not contain substantial portions of previously published work by the authors or others without appropriate attribution and, where required, permission. Duplicate publication, redundant publication, and inappropriate fragmentation of research findings are not permitted.

6.4 Research Ethics and Human Participants

Research involving human participants, personal data, or other ethically sensitive information must comply with applicable institutional, national, and international ethical requirements.

Where applicable, authors should state whether ethical approval was obtained and identify the approving institution or ethics committee. Where informed consent was required, the manuscript should indicate that appropriate consent was obtained.

6.5 Conflicts of Interest

Authors must disclose any financial, professional, personal, or other relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research or its interpretation. If no conflicts exist, authors should provide an appropriate declaration stating that there are no conflicts of interest to disclose.

6.6 Funding

All sources of financial support for the research should be disclosed. Authors should provide the name of the funding organization and, where applicable, the grant number. If the research received no specific funding, authors should state this explicitly.

7. Peer Review and Editorial Process

All submissions are subject to an initial editorial assessment to determine whether they:

  • Fall within the scope of MAL
  • Meet the journal's requirements for the Letters format
  • Satisfy basic standards of originality, quality, and methodological rigor
  • Comply with the journal's ethical and submission requirements

Manuscripts that do not meet these requirements may be rejected at the editorial screening stage without external review. Manuscripts that pass the initial assessment will normally undergo peer review. MAL uses double-anonymized peer-review arrangements.

8. Article Processing Charge (APC)

MAL does not charge a submission fee.

An APC of USD 500 is payable only after a manuscript has been formally accepted for publication.

The APC covers the costs associated with editorial processing, production, online publication, and open-access dissemination. Authors should not make any payment to individual editors, reviewers, or other persons in connection with the editorial or peer-review process.

9. Open Access

All articles published in MAL are immediately and permanently open access.

Published articles are freely available to readers without subscription or access charges.

Articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License, which permits users to share and adapt the published work provided that appropriate credit is given to the original authors and source.

10. Copyright and Licensing

Authors retain copyright in their published work, subject to the terms of the applicable publishing agreement. By publishing in MAL, authors grant the journal the necessary rights to publish, distribute, archive, and make the article publicly available under the CC BY 4.0 License.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that they have the necessary rights and permissions for all third-party material included in their manuscript. The CC BY 4.0 license permits reuse and adaptation of the published article provided appropriate attribution is given.

11. Digital Archiving and Preservation

MAL is committed to the long-term preservation and accessibility of its published scholarly record. Published articles will be digitally archived using appropriate preservation and repository mechanisms. The journal may deposit article metadata and/or full-text content with recognized digital preservation services, institutional repositories, indexing databases, and other appropriate scholarly archiving systems. The journal will make reasonable efforts to ensure continued access to published content in the event of changes to publishing platforms or technical infrastructure.

12. Data and Materials Availability

Authors are encouraged to include a Data Availability Statement where relevant.

The statement should indicate whether the data, code, research instruments, or other materials supporting the findings are:

  • Publicly available
  • Available upon reasonable request
  • Restricted due to ethical, confidentiality, proprietary, or legal considerations
  • Not applicable

Authors should not make data publicly available, where doing so would violate participant confidentiality, privacy, contractual obligations, intellectual property rights, or applicable law.

13. Corrections, Retractions, and Post-Publication Issues

The journal is committed to maintaining the integrity of the published scholarly record.

Where errors are identified after publication, the journal may publish a correction, expression of concern, retraction, or other appropriate editorial notice depending on the nature and seriousness of the issue. Authors are expected to notify the journal promptly if they discover a significant error or inaccuracy in their published article. The journal may investigate allegations concerning plagiarism, fabricated or falsified data, manipulated results, authorship disputes, duplicate publication, undisclosed conflicts of interest, or other forms of research or publication misconduct.

14. Submission Procedure

Manuscripts should be submitted through the journal's designated online submission system.

Authors should prepare the following files before beginning the submission process:

  • Title page
  • Anonymous manuscript file
  • Supplementary files, where applicable
  • Any required ethical, funding, conflict-of-interest, data-availability, or other declarations

The submitting author should ensure that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the final manuscript before submission.

15. Contact Information

For questions concerning manuscript suitability, submission, editorial policies, APCs, or other publication matters, please contact the Editorial Office:

editor.mal@aomspublisher.com

Authors are encouraged to consult these Author Guidelines before submission. Questions concerning the suitability of a proposed Letter may be directed to the Editorial Office before submission.

For detailed policies, please visit our editorial policies page.