1. EDITORIAL POLICY
Management Letters / Cuadernos de Gestión is an international, multidisciplinary journal that seeks to be a medium for the dissemination of high quality academic research related to business management. The journal aims to attract quality publications that contribute to the theoretical development, critical understanding and policy formulation related to business management.
Articles published in Management Letters / Cuadernos de Gestión contribute significantly to the study of business problems; they include theoretical, methodological or empirical papers that cover a wide range of disciplines and perspectives. The journal aims to provide a forum for international discussion to advance business management and related areas.
Papers must be original, previously unpublished, and not be undergoing approval or publication in any other medium at the same time. The journal accepts manuscripts written in English and Spanish; however, papers that are finally accepted for publication must be written in English.
Management Letters/ Cuadernos de Gestión does not charge authors for the management, evaluation or publication of manuscripts.
2. PUBLICATION ETHICS
This journal uses a double-blind peer-review process. To ensure transparency in the publication process, a commitment to ethical behaviour is expected of all parties involved in the publication process: authors, editors and reviewers. The parties involved in the editorial process commit themselves to following the journal’s code of conduct and good practice standards:
Authors
Authors who submit manuscripts to Management Letters / Cuadernos de Gestión undertake the following commitments: (1) they ensure that the manuscripts they submit to the journal are unpublished and original; (2) they have not and will not publish the same research results in more than one journal; (3) the manuscript is not under consideration for publication in another journal either at the time of submission or during the review process; (4) they properly acknowledge the work done by others and cite such work; (5) authorship is limited to those who have made significant contributions to the manuscript. The person submitting the manuscript is responsible for ensuring that all authors of the text are listed in the manuscript and that they have approved the version submitted to the journal; and (6) if the submitted manuscript is part of any funded research, this funding will be indicated in the appropriate section.
Editors
The Management Letters / Cuadernos de Gestión editors have the following commitments: (1) they assume ultimate responsibility for decisions about the publication of evaluated manuscripts; although external evaluations play a key role in such decisions, the final decision about publication does not rest with them; (2) under no circumstances will members of the various Management Letters / Cuadernos de Gestión committees disclose information about a submitted manuscript to persons not directly involved in the editorial process; (3) none of the persons who have access to the materials presented in a submitted manuscript will use them for their own research unless they receive the express consent of the author(s); (4) they guarantee the transparency of the contributions and the evaluation and publication processes. As editors, they guarantee the objective dialogue and confidentiality of the parties involved in the editorial process.
Reviewers
Reviewers who collaborate with Management Letters / Cuadernos de Gestión will carry out their task according to the following ethical standards: (1) any reviewer who does not feel qualified must notify the journal's management before beginning the review process; (2) manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They will not be shared with anyone without the prior knowledge and permission of the journal’s editors; (3) reviewers will argue all their decisions and assertions so that the editors can make better decisions and the authors know how to improve the article; (4) they will declare conflicts of interest; and (5) they will write a methodical and rigorous review.
3. SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS
Prior to submitting a manuscript, authors must comply with all the guidelines and instructions regarding the submission of papers as stated in this document. Those papers that do not comply with the established rules may be returned to the authors without starting the evaluation process.
Original papers can be submitted in English or Spanish. Papers should be sent in Word format to the following e-mail address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Management Letters / Cuadernos de Gestión will send an acknowledgment of the manuscript to the contact address provided by the authors. Any comments or queries regarding papers should be sent to the editors by e-mail to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Management Letters / Cuadernos de Gestión recommends that authors whose native language is not English or Spanish and who wish to improve their language standard should contact a professional translation or editing service.
4. REVIEW PROCESS
Papers submitted to Management Letters / Cuadernos de Gestión will initially be evaluated by the journal’s editors. Only those papers that meet the scientific and editorial standards and conform to the journal’s objectives will be subject to the double-blind review process. In this case, the papers will be sent to at least two reviewers who are experts in the research topic. Management Letters / Cuadernos de Gestión follows a strict double-blind review process where the authors’ and reviewers’ identities are unknown. Based on the reviewers’ recommendations, the paper may be accepted, revised or rejected.
5. PRESENTATION RULES AND MANUSCRIPT STYLE
5.1. Document format
Only documents that follow the journal's formal instructions will be accepted. All texts, tables and figures must be submitted in Word format; tables and figures must also be numbered and inserted into the correct location in the text.
5.2. Preparation of the manuscript
The original manuscript should have a maximum length of 10,000 words, including tables and bibliographical references and excluding the authors’ identification page. Papers should be written in English or Spanish, double-spaced, with left and right margins of 2.5 cm and top and bottom margins of 3 cm. The font style and size should be Calibri 11.
Manuscripts must contain:
- The authors’ identification page with the paper’s title; each author’s full name, along with their affiliation and contact details (postal address, e-mail) and a brief biography of each author.
- Abstract of 200–250 words in English and Spanish.
- A minimum of 4 and a maximum of 6 keywords.
- Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) code (maximum 2).
- Clearly organised headings and subheadings in the main text.
- Correlatively numbered footnotes in Arabic numerals (1, 2...).
- Bibliographical references
5.3. Author identification page
The paper’s first page should contain the following information:
Title of the work: Concise and explanatory. It should be in English and Spanish. Abbreviations and formulas should be avoided whenever possible.
Authors and affiliation: Authors should list their full names in the order they wish them to appear in the paper. Under each author’s name, their full affiliation should be given, which should include the name of the university, centre or company to which the author belongs, faculty and/or department, full postal address, country and e-mail address.
All authors must include their ORCID registration number in the article metadata. If they do not have it, they must register on the corresponding website.
Corresponding author: The author who is responsible for all communications during the review, publication and post-publication process must be clearly indicated.
Biography: Each author should include a short biography that is between 80 and 100 words, describing any merits, research interests or recent activities related to the article’s subject.
To guarantee anonymity in the review process, with the exception of this first page, nothing that could identify the authors should be included in any other part of the work. Likewise, if there is any review or mention that could identify the authorship of the work, this must be modified until the final version of the work is published.
5.4. Main text
After the first page that identifies the authors, the title of the paper, an abstract of 200–250 words and a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 6 keywords, all in English and Spanish, should be provided. A maximum of two Journal of Economic Literature codes should also be included. Thisshould be followed by the main text of the paper, following the rules indicated below.
Abstract
The abstract should be concise and well structured. It should be written in English and Spanish (200– 250 words). The abstract should briefly state the research objective, the main results and conclusions. Bibliographical references and abbreviations should be avoided.
Keywords
Indicate a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 6 keywords, in English and Spanish, and avoid very general terms, plurals and multiple concepts (as far as possible avoid, for example, “and” or “of”). Abbreviations should be avoided, except in the case of abbreviations that are clearly established in the area of study. It is important to consider that these keywords will be used for indexing papers in international databases.
JEL Codes
Please indicate a maximum of 2 codes from the Journal of Economic Literature (JEL).
Titles and headings
The text should be clearly divided into structured sections, sub-sections and other minor divisions. Each section and sub-section heading should be on a separate line and not indented. The headings should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals that are followed by a full stop.
Please see the heading examples below, which also indicate the correct usage of capitals, bold text and italic text.
1. SECTION TITLE (CAPITALS AND BOLD)
1.1. Sub-section title (Initial capital and lower case; bold)
A. Title of lower order of sub-section (Initial capital and lower case)
Sub-paragraphs below paragraph A (italics)
Appendices
If there is more than one appendix, they must be identified correlatively with Arabic numerals and must follow the bibliographical references section. The formulas and equations in an appendix should be numbered separately from those in the main text using the following nomenclature (A1.1), (A1.2), .... in the following appendix the numbering should be (A2.1), (A2.2) and so on. Tables and figures are similarly numbered: Table A1.1; Figure A1.1, etc.
Mathematical equations
Formulas and equations should be done in Word’s equation editor, should be separated from the text and centred in the document. It is possible that simple equations can be integrated in-line with the text, but if this is the case, the forward slash should be used for fractions instead of a horizontal line, e.g. X/Y.
Equations outside the text should be identified by Arabic numerals to the right of the equation in brackets.
Footnotes
Footnotes should be used only if absolutely necessary and should be identified in the text by superscript Arabic numerals. Footnotes should not provide supplementary bibliographical citations but extend a reasoning or analysis that is not properly integrated into the text.
Tables
Ensure that each table has a title and that the source is indicated. Tables should be numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals in the title (e.g. Table 1), according to their appearance in the manuscript. They should be cited in the text as Table 1, Table 2, etc. Table footnotes should be placed below the body of the table and be identified with lower case superscripts. Tables should not appear in image or graphic format and should be inserted in the correct location in the text (not at the end of the text).
Figures
Ensure that each figure has a title and that the source is indicated. Provide separate titles for each figure. The title should be brief and include a description of the figure. Keep text to a minimum and explain all symbols and abbreviations.
All figures should be numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals in the title (e.g. Figure 1), according to their appearance in the manuscript. They should be cited in the text as Figure 1, Figure 2, etc. Figures should not be framed with a line and should be inserted into the text where they belong (not at the end of the text). If any abbreviations are necessary, they should be explained below the body of the figure in the following format: e.g. R: Return. Figures should be of adequate size, resolution and quality.
Figures created in Word, PowerPoint and Excel must be saved in their original format. Figures created in other applications must be imported as a Word document or copied from the original software and pasted into a Word document. Figures that cannot be integrated as a Word document can use the following formats: .pdf, .tiff, or .jpeg (.jpg).
It is essential that the submitted graphic documents have a good resolution and a size proportionate to the text.
5.5. Citations and bibliographical references
Citations and bibliographical references to other works should be made following the APA System 7th edition and should be carefully checked for completeness and consistency with the text. Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is included in the bibliographical references list (and vice versa). Bibliographical references should be listed alphabetically.
For additional information on how to cite, please consult the APA 7th edition reference style guide.
In-text citations
In-text citations indicate each of the works used in a document and document; the corresponding references should be located in the bibliographical references list.
For example:
- Citation in brackets: (Smith, 2003).
- Narrative quotation: Smith (2003).
Narrative quotations are incorporated into a text as part of a sentence, whereas parenthetical quotations may appear within or at the end of a sentence. When a parenthetical quotation is at the end of a sentence, place a full stop or other final punctuation mark after the closing parenthesis.
In parenthetical quotations with two authors, use an ampersand (&) between authors’ names. In narrative quotations, include the word “and”.
For example:
- Citation in brackets: (Williams & Hair, 2007).
- Narrative citation: Williams and Hair (2007).
Direct quotations of less than 40 words should be included in the body of the text in inverted commas. When quoting from another work, state the author, year and page number, either in parentheses or in narrative. Use “p.” for one page and “pp.” for multiple pages, separating the page range with an endash. If there is no page number (e.g. on a web page) this information is unnecessary.
Example direct quote: (Smith & Bollen, 2012, p.12).
When citing electronic resources, do not put the website address in the central text; and if the citation is from an institution’s website, use the institution as the author.
For example: “Repsol considers… (Repsol, 2011)”.
When citing multiple works, place the citations in alphabetical order and separate them with semicolons. In this way the citations and alphabetical reference list entries help to locate the works because they are listed in the same order in both places.
For example: (Martínez, 2014; Moroto, 2003; Smith, 1998).
In narrative citation of multiple works, they can be placed in any order.
For example: Smith (1998), Moroto (2003), and Johnson and Hair (2007).
Organise two or more works by the same authors by year of publication, placing undated citations first, followed by dated works in chronological order. Citations in press should appear last. The year–letter combination is used both in the in-text citation and in the bibliographical reference list entry.
For example: (Fernández, n.d., 2017a, 2017b, 2019).
If multiple sources are cited within the narrative of a sentence, they may appear in any order.
For a paper with one or two authors, include their surname in each citation. For a paper with three or more authors, only include the first author’s surname plus “et al.” in each citation.
For example: Citation in brackets (Bollen et al., 2010) or narrative quotation Bollen et al. (1992).
In the case of multiple references where the same surname is shared, but there are two or more different authors, include the first author’s initials in all citations in the text, even if the year of publication differs. Including initials helps to avoid confusion and helps readers locate the correct entry in the reference list.
For example: (G. Martínez, 2019; J. Martínez, 2018).
If a reference is a source that has been directly cited by another source, both should be cited in the text; however, only the work that was referred to directly should be included in the bibliographical references list.
Example narrative quote: Smith (1960, cited in Jones, 2009).
Example quote in brackets: (Smith, 1960, cited in Jones, 2009).
Bibliographical references
Bibliographical references should be listed alphabetically by author surname in a section after the articles main text and before the appendices. If more than one specific work by an author has been cited, these should be ordered chronologically (oldest first) and with letters (1993a, 1993b), if more than one work has been published in the same year.
The following are some of the rules used to compile the reference list:
Book
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Copyright Year). Title of the book (7th ed.). Editor. DOI or URL
Contribution to an edited book
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Copyright Year). Title of the book chapter. In A. A. Editor & B. B. Editor (Eds.), Title of the book (2nd ed., pp. #–#). Publisher. DOI or URL
Article
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the article. Name of the Periodical, volume(issue), #–#. https://doi.org/xxxx
6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Acknowledgements should be in a separate, numbered section at the end of the article and before the bibliographical references. Therefore, they should only be included in this location and not on the first page as a footnote referring to the title. This section should acknowledge the entities and projects that have financed the research. Likewise, people who have helped or collaborated during the research and who are not considered authors (e.g. reading the article, translation, proofreading, etc.) should also be cited here.
7. PERMISSIONS
Authors are responsible for obtaining the necessary permissions to reproduce any previously published illustrations, tables, charts, graphs or data.
8. ACCEPTANCE OF RULES AND COPYRIGHT
Articles submitted to the journal must be original, may not have been previously published in any language (except as part of a doctoral thesis or conference proceedings) and may not be under review in any other publication.
If they are derived from a thesis, working paper, final degree project and masters, authors must specify this in their letter to the editors.
Published articles remain the property of Management Letters / Cuadernos de Gestión, which manages the reproduction and copying rights. Any future reference to the article must include a reference to the Management Letters / Cuadernos de Gestión issue in which it was published.
Management Letters / Cuadernos de Gestión will publish, reproduce, distribute and transmit the articles in order to maximise the dissemination of the research.
Articles published in Management Letters / Cuadernos de Gestión may only be reproduced, in part or in whole, with the permission of the journal and with reference to their previous publication in Management Letters / Cuadernos de Gestión.
Authors of articles do not require permission from Management Letters / Cuadernos de Gestión to disseminate and distribute copies of the paper (in its published final version). Authors will not deposit the final version of their work in institutional repositories until the work has been published by Management Letters / Cuadernos de Gestión.
9. PROCESS AFTER ACCEPTANCE
Proofreading
After acceptance of a manuscript for publication, a PDF with the proofs is sent by e-mail to the corresponding author, which must be reviewed and returned by e-mail within 24 hours of receipt of the request.
Online First publication
Accepted final papers whose proofs have been corrected and which have not yet been assigned a volume and publication number will be published in advance in the Online First section.
These papers published in Online First are citable using the publication date in the online version and the digital object identifier (DOI) number that Management Letters / Cuadernos de Gestión (which is a “Crossref” member) assigns to all their content. This allows their use in digital networks, and the registration of metadata associated with the works in the DOI Foundation.
10. PLAGIARISM AND ORIGINALITY
Authors must properly cite the literature sources they use in their research articles. Plagiarism can manifest itself in a variety of ways, such as one author using another author’s article as if it were their own, intentional or unintentional copying, paraphrasing parts of an article without citation, attributing research findings made by others, etc.
All papers submitted to the journal will be analysed using anti-plagiarism software. Management Letters / Cuadernos de Gestión will review all papers to minimise the receipt and most importantly the publication of plagiarised papers.
11. CHANGES IN AUTHORS
Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of authors’ names in the original list of authors should only be made before the paper has been accepted and only if the editorial board authorises the change. To request this change, the corresponding author must send the following information to the journal's management: a) the reason for the change in authors and b) a written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors agreeing to the addition, deletion or reordering. In the case of addition or deletion of authors, the express confirmation of the author to be added or deleted is essential.
12. ARCHIVING POLICY
Management Letters / Cuadernos de Gestión uses digital preservation methods to ensure the intellectual content of electronic archival documents over long periods of time, maintaining their attributes such as integrity, authenticity, unalterability, originality, reliability and accessibility.
Management Letters / Cuadernos de Gestión uses the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archiving system among collaborating libraries, allowing them to create permanent archives of the journal for preservation and restoration purposes.