Public Sector Accounting and Budgeting

Guide for Authors

Submitting your Manuscript

Submission checklist

Before completing the submission of your manuscript, we advise you to read our submission checklist:

One author has been designated as the corresponding author and their full contact details (email address, full postal address and phone numbers) have been provided.
All files have been uploaded, including keywords, figure captions and tables (including a title, description and footnotes) included.
Spelling and grammar checks have been carried out.
All references in the article text are cited in the reference list and vice versa.
Permission has been obtained for the use of any copyrighted material from other sources, including the Web.
All authors understand that they are responsible for payment of the article publishing charge (APC) if the manuscript is accepted. Payment of the APC may be covered by the corresponding author's institution, or the research funder.

Submit online

Our online submission system guides you through the process steps of entering your manuscript details and uploading your files.

Editable files (e.g., Word) are required to typeset your article for final publication. All correspondence, including notification of the editor's decision and requests for revision, is sent by email.

Manuscript Types

Authors can submit their manuscripts in forms of Original Research, Review Article, Case Study, Conceptual Paper, and Viewpoint.

Changes to Authorship

Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in author list and (b) written confirmation via email from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed. Only in exceptional circumstances will the Editor-in-Chief consider the addition, deletion or rearrangement of authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the Editor-in-Chief considers the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended.

Peer Review

Manuscripts submitted to the journal will be evaluated by double blind peer review based on the Key Evaluation Criteria mentioned in Peer Review Process section of the journal website. The normal review process takes long about a month or more.

Manuscript Style

Use the font “Times New Roman” with font size 12 for the entire article. Maximum 25 pages is required for publication. Use Microsoft Office Word 2013 and above. Poor English writing will be leaded to rejection of the manuscript.

All authors must prepare their manuscripts based on the following requirements otherwise their papers will be rejected at the initial stage.

Template Form

Writing and Formatting

File format

We ask you to provide editable source files for your entire submission (including figures, tables and text graphics). Some guidelines:

Save files in an editable format, using the extension .doc/.docx for Word files. A PDF is not an acceptable source file.
Lay out text in a single-column format.
Use spell-check and grammar-check functions to avoid errors.

Title page

You are required to include the following details in the title page information:

Article title. Article titles should be concise and informative. Please avoid abbreviations and formulae, where possible, unless they are established and widely understood, e.g., DNA).
Author names. Provide the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author. The order of authors should match the order in the submission system. Carefully check that all names are accurately spelled. If needed, you can add your name between parentheses in your own script after the English transliteration.
Affiliations. Add affiliation addresses, referring to where the work was carried out, below the author names. Indicate affiliations using a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the corresponding address. Ensure that you provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the email address of each author.
Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence for your article at all stages of the refereeing and publication process and also post-publication. This responsibility includes answering any future queries about your results, data, methodology and materials. It is important that the email address and contact details of your corresponding author are kept up to date during the submission and publication process.
Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in your article was carried out, or the author was visiting during that time, a "present address" (or "permanent address") can be indicated by a footnote to the author's name. The address where the author carried out the work must be retained as their main affiliation address.

Highlights

You can provide the highlights of the article when submitting the article.

Highlights are a short collection of bullet points that should capture the novel results of your research as well as any new methods used during your study. Highlights will help increase the discoverability of your article via search engines. Some guidelines:

Submit highlights as a separate editable file in the online submission system with the word "highlights" included in the file name.
Highlights should consist of 3 to 5 bullet points, each a maximum of 85 characters, including spaces.

Math formulae

Submit math equations as editable text, not as images.
Present simple formulae in line with normal text, where possible.
Use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms such as X/Y.
Present variables in italics.
Denote powers of e by exp.
Display equations separately from your text, numbering them consecutively in the order they are referred to within your text.

Tables

Tables must be submitted as editable text, not as images. Some guidelines:

Place tables next to the relevant text of your article.
Cite all tables in the manuscript text.
Number tables consecutively according to their appearance in the text.
Please provide captions along with the tables.
Place any table notes below the table body.
Avoid vertical rules and shading within table cells.

We recommend that you use tables sparingly, ensuring that any data presented in tables is not duplicating results described elsewhere in the article.

Figures, images and artwork

Figures, images, artwork, diagrams and other graphical media must be supplied with the manuscript. All images must have a caption. A caption should consist of a brief title (not displayed on the figure itself) and a description of the image. We advise you to keep the amount of text in any image to a minimum, though any symbols and abbreviations used should be explained. If you submit usable color figures with your accepted article, we will ensure that they appear in color online. Please ensure that color images are accessible to all, including those with impaired color vision.

Generative AI and Figures, images and artwork

Please read our policy on the use of generative AI and AI-assisted tools in figures, images and artwork, which states:

We do not permit the use of Generative AI or AI-assisted tools to create or alter images in submitted manuscripts.
The only exception is if the use of AI or AI-assisted tools is part of the research design or methods. If this is the case, such use must be described in a reproducible manner in the methods section, including the name of the model or tool, version and extension numbers, and manufacturer.
The use of generative AI or AI-assisted tools in the production of artwork such as for graphical abstracts is not permitted. The use of generative AI in the production of cover art may in some cases be allowed, if the author obtains prior permission from the journal editor and publisher, can demonstrate that all necessary rights have been cleared for the use of the relevant material, and ensures that there is correct content attribution.

Supplementary material

We encourage the use of supplementary materials such as applications, images and sound clips to enhance research. Some guidelines:

Cite all supplementary files in the manuscript text.
Submit supplementary materials at the same time as your article. Be aware that all supplementary materials provided will appear online in the exact same file type as received. These files will not be formatted or typeset by the production team.
Include a concise, descriptive caption for each supplementary file describing its content.
Provide updated files if at any stage of the publication process you wish to make changes to submitted supplementary materials.
Do not make annotations or corrections to a previous version of a supplementary file.
Switch off the option to track changes in Microsoft Office files. If tracked changes are left on, they will appear in your published version.

Data statement & linking

To foster transparency, you are encouraged to state the availability of any data at submission.

Ensuring data is available may be a requirement of your funding body or institution. If your data is unavailable to access or unsuitable to post, you can state the reason why (e.g., your research data includes sensitive or confidential information such as patient data) during the submission process.

Linking to the data underlying your work increases your exposure and may lead to new collaborations. It also provides readers with a better understanding of the described research.

Article structure

Article sections

Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Number subsections 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ...), then 1.2, etc.
Use the numbering format when cross-referencing within your article. Do not just refer to "the text."
You may give subsections a brief heading. Headings should appear on a separate line.
Do not include the article abstract within section numbering.

Introduction

The introduction should clearly state the objectives of your work. We recommend that you provide an adequate background to your work but avoid writing a detailed literature overview or summary of your results.

Material and methods

The materials and methods section should provide sufficient details about your materials and methods to allow your work to be reproduced by an independent researcher. Some guidelines:

If the method you used has already been published, provide a summary and reference the originally published method.
If you are quoting directly from a previously published method, use quotation marks and cite the source.
Describe any modifications that you have made to existing methods.

Theory and calculation

The theory section should lay the foundation for further work by extending the background you provided in the introduction to your article. The calculation section should represent a practical development from a theoretical basis.

Results

Results should be clear and concise. We advise you to read the sections in this guide on supplying tables, artwork, supplementary material and sharing research data.

Discussion

The discussion section should explore the significance of your results but not repeat them. You may combine your results and discussion sections into one section, if appropriate. We recommend that you avoid the use of extensive citations and discussion of published literature in the discussion section.

Conclusion

The conclusion section should present the main conclusions of your study. You may have a stand-alone conclusions section or include your conclusions in a subsection of your discussion or results and discussion section.

Abbreviations

Before submission we recommend that you review your use of abbreviations throughout your article to ensure that it is consistent.

Footnotes

We advise you to use footnotes sparingly. If you include footnotes in your article, ensure that they are numbered consecutively. You may use system features that automatically build footnotes into text.

Acknowledgements

Include any individuals who provided you with help during your research, such as help with language, writing or proof reading, in the acknowledgements section. Acknowledgements should be placed in a separate section which appears directly before the reference list. Do not include acknowledgements on your title page, as a footnote to your title, or anywhere else in your article other than in the separate acknowledgements section.

Funding sources

Authors must disclose any funding sources who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article. The role of sponsors, if any, should be declared in relation to the study design, collection, analysis and interpretation of data, writing of the report and decision to submit the article for publication. If funding sources had no such involvement this should be stated in your submission.

List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance to funder's requirements:

It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions on the program or type of grants, scholarships and awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding.

If no funding has been provided for the research, it is recommended to include the following sentence:

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Appendices

We ask you to use the following format for appendices:

Identify individual appendices within your article using the format: A, B, etc.
Give separate numbering to formulae and equations within appendices using formats such as Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc. and in subsequent appendices, Eq. (B.1), Eq. (B. 2) etc. In a similar way, give separate numbering to tables and figures using formats such as Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.

References

References within text

Any references cited within your article should also be present in your reference list and vice versa. Some guidelines:

References cited in your abstract must be given in full.
We recommend that you do not include unpublished results and personal communications in your reference list, though you may mention them in the text of your article.
Any unpublished results and personal communications included in your reference list must follow the standard reference style of the journal. In substitution of the publication date add "unpublished results" or "personal communication."
References cited as "in press" imply that the item has been accepted for publication.

Linking to cited sources will increase the discoverability of your research.

Before submission, check that all data provided in your reference list are correct, including any references which have been copied. Providing correct reference data allows us to link to abstracting and indexing services such as Scopus, Crossref and PubMed. Any incorrect surnames, journal or book titles, publication years or pagination within your references may prevent link creation.

We encourage the use of Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) as reference links as they provide a permanent link to the electronic article referenced.

The reference list should be arranged alphabetically and then chronologically. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters 'a', 'b', 'c', etc., placed after the year of publication.

Examples:

Reference to a journal publication:

Van der Geer, J., Handgraaf T., & Lupton, R. A. (2020). The art of writing a scientific article. Journal of Scientific Communications, 163, 51–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sc.2020.00372.

Reference to a journal publication with an article number:

Van der Geer, J., Handgraaf, T., & Lupton, R. A. (2022). The art of writing a scientific article. Heliyon, 19, Article e00205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e00205.

Reference to a book:

Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B. (2000). The elements of style (4th ed.). Longman (Chapter 4).

Reference to a chapter in a book:

Mettam, G. R., & Adams, L. B. (2020). How to prepare an electronic version of your article. In B. S. Jones, & R. Z. Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the electronic age (pp. 281–304). E-Publishing Inc.

Reference to a website:

Powertech Systems. (2022). Lithium-ion vs lead-acid cost analysis. Retrieved from http://www.powertechsystems.eu/home/tech-corner/lithium-ion-vs-lead-acid-cost-analysis/. Accessed January 6, 2022.

Reference to a dataset:

Oguro, M., Imahiro, S., Saito, S., & Nakashizuka, T. (2015). Mortality data for Japanese oak wilt disease and surrounding forest compositions [dataset]. Mendeley Data, v1. https://doi.org/10.17632/xwj98nb39r.1.

Reference to a conference paper or poster presentation:

Engle, E.K., Cash, T.F., & Jarry, J.L. (2019, November). The Body Image Behaviours Inventory-3: Development and validation of the Body Image Compulsive Actions and Body Image Avoidance Scales. Poster session presentation at the meeting of the Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies, New York, NY.

Reference to software:

Coon, E., Berndt, M., Jan, A., Svyatsky, D., Atchley, A., Kikinzon, E., Harp, D., Manzini, G., Shelef, E., Lipnikov, K., Garimella, R., Xu, C., Moulton, D., Karra, S., Painter, S., Jafarov, E., & Molins, S. (2020, March 25). Advanced Terrestrial Simulator (ATS) v0.88 (Version 0.88) [computer software]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3727209.

Web references

When listing web references, as a minimum you should provide the full URL and the date when the reference was last accessed. Additional information (e.g. DOI, author names, dates or reference to a source publication) should also be provided, if known.

You can list web references separately under a new heading directly after your reference list or include them in your reference list.

Preprint references

We ask you to mark preprints clearly. You should include the word "preprint" or the name of the preprint server as part of your reference and provide the preprint DOI.

Where a preprint has subsequently become available as a peer-reviewed publication, use the formal publication as your reference.

If there are preprints that are central to your work or that cover crucial developments in the topic, but they are not yet formally published, you may reference the preprint.

Publication fee

Submission fee: Free of charge

Article publishing charge (APC):

9.500.000 IRR (Iraninan author)