Style Guide, Conflict of Interest, and Plagiarism Instructions for authors submitting papers for publication in the Journal of Financial Literacy and Wellbeing

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS & PUBLICATION PROCESS

The journal follows a double-anonymous review process for all papers to be considered for publication. Your manuscript must be original (i.e. not already published). Please see below for our conflict of interest and plagiarism policies.

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION:

Set the page size to 8.5x11” or A4 paper. All figures, tables, and text must be double-spaced in Microsoft Word/Excel. Your entire manuscript should not exceed 55 pages.

1. Cover page:

The first page of your manuscript must include your paper title, your name/email/address, professional affiliation, an abstract of 300 words or less, and a list of no more than 6 keywords. You may list acknowledgments at the foot of the first page. This cover page is to be submitted separately from the main body of the paper.

2. Manuscript Text:

Use 12 point font, Times Roman, throughout the Text, Tables, References, and Endnotes. Use Arial 10 font for Figures.

Double-space all text including references and endnotes (Tables may be single-spaced). Do not add extra blank lines between paragraphs. Also, do not use any automatic style or macros.

Margins: 1 inch on all sides; header and footer of 1 inch. Indent paragraphs ½ inch. Do not add extra blank lines between paragraphs.

3. Figures and Tables:

All Figures and Tables must be numbered consecutively, should be self-explanatory, and they must be positioned in separate Figures and Tables Word or Excel files at the end of the text, after the references. Do not intersperse the figures/tables with the text.

Titles and notes to Figures/Tables must be self-explanatory and sourced.

Non-technical terms are preferred; define technical terms if necessary in a note.

Figures and Tables must be easy to understand, with terms defined clearly.

All Figures and Tables must have sources (and you must include these sources in the paper’s bibliography using proper reference style.

Each figure and table must be mentioned in the text and its insertion point indicated with an italicized phrase.

Figures and Tables should indicate the year(s) of the data in either the title, or in a note, as appropriate.

We must be able to edit your figures to meet editorial specifications, so you must use Microsoft Excel or Word to create them.

For Figures please use Arial font, not smaller than 10 pt. 

Appendices: If there is technical material, feel free to put it in appendices or endnotes so the text flows smoothly. If you are submitting appendices which should be available online, please make a separate file with all such appendix material and label it clearly ( e.g. “online appendices”).

4. Footnotes:

Please use footnotes sparingly and only for key additional information. Please number footnotes consecutively using Arabic numbers. If possible, cite references in the text, and be sure all references (including Figure and Table Sources) are included in the bibliography.

When documenting an information source or referring the reader to additional sources, give author and year citation in the text in parentheses.

Place footnote numbers at the ends of sentences after the punctuation.

Do not indent footnote text. Numbering should be from 1 to N, sequentially.

Check that all references in footnotes appear in the bibliography.

5. Bibliography/References: Please use Chicago reference style for your references and bibliography.

6. Helpful Suggestions

Please spell-check the manuscript, figures, tables, and references.

Spell out numbers less than 10: one, two... nine, not 1, 2, ... 9. Use numerals for numbers 10 or larger. Exceptions to this rule:

• Numbers of years are always spelled, as in “two to three years.”
• Numbers beginning a sentence are always spelled out, as in “Fifteen different models were used…”

When a number is spelled out according to one of the rules above and is associated with another number, that second number is also spelled out in order to maintain a consistent appearance. For example, “Fifteen of the twenty-two plans…” instead of “Fifteen of the 22 plans…”

All items in the bibliography must be directly cited at some point in the text, tables, or figures, and vice versa.

To cite multiple authors use (Smith 2008; Jones 2005) but to cite the same author with multiple works use (Smith 2006, 2008).

When citing specific pages from an author’s work use (Smith 2008: 25).

7. Copyright and Publication Issues:

Prior to publication you are responsible for obtaining permission releases for extensive quotations of copyright-protected material in your paper. You must provide to us the signed copyright permission form. The publisher of a work, not its author, is the usual owner of the copyright. Most government publications and the data contained therein are in the public domain.

Citations which usually require you to obtain copyright permission are as follows:

• Prose: over 250 words from a scholarly article, 500 words from a scholarly book.
• Reproductions or adaptations of tables, illustrations, photographs, line drawings, charts, trademarks.
• Quotations from unpublished work (dissertations, academic papers, material from unpublished collections).
• Any trade or commercial publication.
• Paraphrases of the development of another author's argument, even for the purposes of illustration.

Plagiarism Policy for Authors Submitting Papers to JFLW

The Journal of Financial Literacy and Wellbeing is strongly opposed to plagiarism, and the journal will not knowingly accept any paper deemed to be plagiarized.

Plagiarism refers to an author seeking to pass off someone else's work as his or her own. Self plagiarism occurs when an author reuses substantial parts of his/her own published work without providing appropriate references. Plagiarism is deemed to have occurred when large chunks of text, several figures or tables, or other verbatim sections have been cut-and-pasted without attribution and permission. The editors reserve the right to check any paper for plagiarism, if they deem it worthy. If a case of plagiarism comes to light after a paper is published in JFLW, the journal will conduct a preliminary investigation. If plagiarism is confirmed by the Senior Editors, the journal will contact the author's employer and funding agencies to report the event. A determination of plagiarism will lead the JFLW to make a note online regarding the plagiarism, and to mark each page of the PDF as such.

Depending on the extent of the plagiarism, the paper may also be formally retracted at the Senior Editors’ determination.

9. Conflict of Interest Policy for Authors Submitting Papers to JFLW

The JFLW is committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among academics, policymakers, and business professionals. We take seriously our reputation for scholarly integrity and seek to avoid the possibility of conflicts of interest. Accordingly, authors of papers submitted for possible publication in the Journal of Financial Literacy and Wellbeing are responsible for reporting to the Senior Editors for evaluation any real or apparent financial conflict of interest that might affect their work product. A financial conflict of interest occurs when an individual's private and scholarly interests diverge in such a way that a reasonable person might question whether the author’s professional actions or decisions are shaped by considerations of personal financial gain in such a way as to undermine the integrity of his/her research findings. 

- If relevant, authors of papers accepted for publication should provide a note to the Editor indicating any real or apparent conflict of interest that might affect their work products. A conflict of interest may exist if:

- An author has a significant investment or interest, or holds (or has held in the past two years) an official position, including a consulting position, in a firm or organization related to the work product.

- A significant relationship exists with the entity if a person is a director, trustee, officer, or employee of, partner/member in, or has (or has had in the past two years) a material financial interest in, the entity in question which is featured in the work product.

- An entity is a corporation, partnership, unincorporated association, or any similar group.

- Determination of a material financial interest is a matter of personal judgment but, at a minimum, would be required for an aggregate interest for the person and for all entities or individuals having material relationships with the person of more than: 1 percent of any class of the outstanding securities of a firm or corporation, or 10 percent interest in a partnership or association, or 5 percent of the total direct and beneficial assets or income of the person.

- A significant relationship exists as to an individual featured in the work product if that individual is in the immediate family of the author (where immediate family includes parents, siblings, spouse and offspring).

This list is not exhaustive and, when in doubt, any potential conflict of interest should be reported to the Editor for evaluation.

Author affiliations

Author affiliations should represent the institution(s) at which the research presented was conducted and/or supported and/or approved. For non-research content, any affiliations should represent the institution(s) with which each author is currently affiliated. 

For more information, please see our author affiliation policy and author affiliation FAQs.

All authors listed on any papers submitted to this journal must be in agreement that the authors listed would all be considered authors according to disciplinary norms, and that no authors who would reasonably be considered an author have been excluded. For further details on this journal’s authorship policy, please see this journal's publishing ethics policies.