Journal Policy

Journal Policies

Kerbala International Journal of Management and Economics (KIJME)
Compliant with the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (COPE · DOAJ · OASPA · WAME)

1. Open Access Policy

KIJME is a fully open access journal. All published content is immediately and permanently free to read, download, and use without requiring registration or payment.

This journal complies with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) definition of open access: any user may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles; crawl them for indexing; pass them as data to software; or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers.

No embargo period is applied. All articles are made available online immediately upon publication.

2. Copyright and Licensing

Copyright: Authors retain full copyright of their published work. By submitting to KIJME, authors grant the journal a non-exclusive licence to publish, reproduce, and distribute the article.

Licence: All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) licence. This allows users to:

  • Read, download, copy, and share the article freely
  • Adapt, remix, and build upon the material for non-commercial purposes
  • Include the article in text-mining or data-analysis research

Users must give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and source, provide a link to the licence, and indicate if changes were made. Commercial use of the published material is not permitted without explicit written permission from the author(s).

Copyright notice: The copyright notice “© [Year] [Author name(s)]” appears on all published articles. The licence terms apply to the published content only, not to the journal website as a whole.

3. Publication Policy

Scope: KIJME publishes peer-reviewed research in management, economics, accounting, finance, banking, and statistics, with a focus on empirical, theoretical, and applied contributions relevant to Iraq, the wider Middle East, and international contexts.

Language: All articles are published in English.

Frequency: The journal is published semi-annually (two issues per year). The editorial board is committed to maintaining this schedule. Any deviation due to exceptional circumstances will be communicated publicly.

ISSN: 2790-7910 (Online)  ·  2221-5794 (Print)

DOI prefix: 10.63540 (registered with CrossRef)

Referencing style: APA 7th Edition

4. Article Processing Charges (APC)

KIJME charges a modest article processing fee to cover editorial and publication costs:

  • National authors (Iraq): 150,000 IQD per article
  • International authors: $100 USD per article (this fee is equivalent to the fees in IQD) 

Fee waivers: Waivers and reductions are available upon request for authors from low-income countries or authors facing genuine financial hardship. Requests should be submitted to the editor at adesij@uokerbala.edu.iq before submission. Waiver decisions are made independently of editorial decisions and do not influence the peer review process.

No fee for withdrawal: Authors may withdraw a manuscript before acceptance without charge.

No charges are applied for submitting, revising, or reading articles. KIJME does not display advertising.

5. Peer Review Policy

Review model: KIJME operates a double-blind peer review process. The identities of both authors and reviewers are kept strictly confidential throughout the review process.

Reviewer requirement: Each submitted manuscript is assessed by a minimum of two independent external reviewers who have relevant subject-area expertise and no conflict of interest with the authors or their institutions.

Evaluation criteria: Reviewers assess manuscripts on the basis of: originality and novelty; methodological rigour; clarity of argumentation; relevance to the journal scope; and scholarly contribution to the field.

Possible decisions: Accept; Minor revisions; Major revisions; Reject. Authors receive written feedback from reviewers for all decisions.

Timeline: Initial editorial decisions (desk review) are communicated within 2 weeks of submission. Peer review decisions are typically communicated within 4–6 weeks of assignment to reviewers.

Editorial board endogeny: To maintain objectivity, the proportion of published articles in which at least one author is a member of the editorial board or a reviewer for the journal shall not exceed 25% in any single issue. Board member submissions are handled by a separate editor with no conflict of interest.

The peer review process at KIJME aligns with the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines for peer review.

6. Publication Ethics and Research Integrity

KIJME is committed to the highest standards of publication ethics. All parties — editors, authors, and reviewers — are expected to adhere to the COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines.

Authorship: All listed authors must have made a substantial contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported work. All must have approved the final version and agreed to be accountable for it. Disputes over authorship should be resolved before submission.

Plagiarism: All submissions are screened using plagiarism detection software. Manuscripts with a similarity index exceeding 20% (excluding references and quoted material) will be returned to authors or rejected.

AI-generated content: Authors must declare the use of any AI writing or language tools in the preparation of the manuscript. AI-generated text must not exceed 5% of the total manuscript. AI tools may not be listed as authors.

Conflicts of interest: Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any financial, institutional, or personal relationships that could inappropriately influence their work or judgment. Undisclosed conflicts of interest discovered after publication may result in retraction or correction.

Data availability: Authors are encouraged to make research data, code, and supporting materials openly available in a public repository. Where this is not possible, data should be available to the editor upon request.

Duplicate submission: Manuscripts must not be submitted simultaneously to another journal or have been published elsewhere. Redundant publication will result in immediate rejection or retraction.

7. Corrections and Retractions

KIJME will publish corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions promptly when a published article is found to contain significant errors or evidence of misconduct, in accordance with COPE guidelines.

Grounds for retraction include:

  • Unreliable findings due to fabrication, falsification, or honest error
  • Plagiarism or copyright infringement
  • Redundant or duplicate publication without disclosure
  • Undisclosed conflicts of interest that would have affected the editorial decision
  • Unethical research (e.g., breach of informed consent or research ethics)

Corrections and retractions will be clearly labelled, permanently linked to the original article, and assigned a DOI. Retracted articles will remain accessible but will be clearly marked as retracted in all formats including the PDF.

8. Archiving and Digital Preservation

KIJME is committed to the long-term preservation of all published content. In the event that the journal or its publisher ceases to operate, all content will remain permanently accessible through the following digital preservation services:

  • Portico — digital preservation archive for scholarly journals
  • PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN) — a LOCKSS-based dark archive for OJS journals

All published articles are also deposited with CrossRef and assigned permanent DOIs, ensuring persistent identification and linking.

9. Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions at KIJME are made solely on the basis of scholarly merit, regardless of the nationality, ethnicity, institutional affiliation, gender, or political beliefs of the authors. The university and faculty have no influence over editorial decisions. Authors and reviewers from any country or institution are welcome.

10. Complaints and Appeals

Appeals: Authors who wish to appeal a rejection decision must submit a written appeal to the Editor-in-Chief at adesij@uokerbala.edu.iq within 30 days of the decision, clearly stating the grounds for the appeal. Appeals based solely on disagreement with the reviewers’ opinions will not be considered.

Complaints: Complaints about the editorial process, reviewer conduct, or publication ethics may be submitted in writing to the Editor-in-Chief. If unresolved, complaints may be escalated to the University of Kerbala’s Faculty of Management and Economics or to COPE in the case of serious ethical concerns.

All complaints will be acknowledged within 5 working days and resolved within 30 working days where possible.

11. Post-Publication Discussions

KIJME welcomes scholarly engagement with published articles. Readers, researchers, and authors may submit letters, comments, or responses to published work to the editorial office. The editorial board reserves the right to select and publish such contributions at its discretion.

This policy was last updated in March 2026. KIJME reviews and updates its policies annually to ensure alignment with international best practice standards.