BRDR Policies

INTRODUCTION

Business Review of Digital Revolution (BRDR) is a peer-reviewed refereed journal aiming at engaging academicians as well as practitioners. All papers will be subject to a minimum of double-blind refereeing. The BRDR will publish theoretical and empirical research papers spanning all the major research fields in business management Semi Annually. The journal will welcome robust evidence-based empirical studies and results-focused case studies that share research in product development and illuminate best practices. The BRDR aims to give an interdisciplinary view of business management with respect to digital revolution. BRDR is working under the Publisher Research Rise Limited. BRDR is committed to promoting excellence in research, and to advancing the frontiers of knowledge in digital era of business revolution and related fields. Scope of the journal is grounded on the digital revolution of business management.

Publisher & Affiliation

Publisher: Research Rise Limited

Affiliation: Research Rise Limited

Frequency: Semi Annual

Access and Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International License

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION OF RESEARCH ARTICLES

BRDR invites authors to submit original research articles, literature reviews, and conceptual papers relevant to contemporary business literature. Submissions must adhere to the journal's formatting guidelines and be submitted electronically through the journal's online submission system. Authors should ensure that their submissions comply with ethical standards and originality requirements. The submission process through OJS should be completed. However, following are the guidelines for authors.

Papers should be written in English and submitted in electronic form via the journal's submission system.
All submissions should follow the journal's formatting guidelines, including font size, margins, and citation style.
The paper should include a title, abstract, keywords, introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussion, and conclusion.
The paper should be original and not published elsewhere.
Authors should disclose any conflicts of interest or funding sources that could affect the integrity or objectivity of the research.
Papers should be thoroughly proofread and edited for clarity, coherence, and correctness.
The journal encourages interdisciplinary and empirical research, as well as theoretical or conceptual papers that contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the field of business management.
All authors should be listed on the paper and have contributed to the research in a significant way.
The journal may consider co-authorship of multiple authors under certain conditions.
The paper should include appropriate citations to other relevant research in the field.
Authors should adhere to ethical guidelines for research, including obtaining informed consent from human subjects and using appropriate research methods.
Papers should not include offensive or discriminatory language or content.
The paper should clearly state its objectives, research questions, and hypotheses (if any).
Authors should report their data and findings accurately and transparently and include relevant statistical analyses.
Papers should include implications or recommendations for practice or future research, where applicable.
The journal encourages the use of tables, graphs, and figures to illustrate data and findings.
Tables and figures should be numbered and labeled with clear and concise captions.
The paper should include a list of references cited in the text, and adhere to the journal's citation style guidelines.
Authors should ensure that their paper is not under review by another journal or publication while under review by this journal.
Papers should not be plagiarized or include previously published material without proper attribution.
The journal encourages authors to provide supplementary material (e.g., data, code, or appendices) to support their research.
Supplementary material should be clearly labeled and referenced in the main text.
Papers should be between 5,000 and 10,000 words, including references and appendices.
The paper should be submitted with a cover letter that includes a statement of originality and an explanation of the significance of the research.
The journal may use plagiarism detection software to screen submissions for originality.
The paper should follow the guidelines for figures, tables, and images.
The paper should include an acknowledgment section for anyone who has made a contribution to the research or manuscript.
The journal may ask authors to revise and resubmit their manuscript for further review or clarification.
Authors should ensure that their paper meets the ethical requirements for publication and abide by the ethical policies of the journal.
Authors should respond to reviewers' comments in a constructive and timely manner, and revise their manuscripts accordingly.

REVIEW PROCESS

All manuscripts submitted to the journal are subject to a rigorous and transparent peer review process, which involves at least two independent reviewers who are experts in the relevant field. The review process is double-blind, meaning that the reviewers do not know the identity of the authors, and the authors do not know the identity of the reviewers.

The review process is designed to ensure that all published articles meet high standards of quality, relevance, and originality. Reviewers are asked to provide constructive feedback and recommendations to authors, and to evaluate the manuscripts based on criteria such as scientific merit, research methodology, theoretical and empirical contributions, and clarity of writing.

The editorial team makes the final decision on whether to accept or reject a manuscript, taking into account the reviewers' comments and the authors' responses. We aim to provide authors with a timely and constructive review process, and to promote a culture of fairness, transparency, and academic integrity in all our editorial practices.

Duration of Review and Publication

In order to meet growing requirement by authors for an efficient review and publication, the journal has taken appropriate measures to speed up the process yet without compromising on the quality of publication. First step is desk review whereby a paper is screened by the chief editor himself and/or assigned to editorial board. This normally takes 15-20 days after submission of the paper in order to check similarity score, appropriateness of the study with journal scope and objectives. Email is sent to the corresponding author regarding decision of this initial screening usually within a month. After a paper goes through initial screening successfully, the paper undergoes review process by the peers, in second step, by which it is sent to two reviewers who are experienced academics in the area of research the paper focuses on. These reviewers make comments on originality, contribution, appropriateness of flow of discussion and references cited in the study. After this step, review reports are sent to all authors of the paper with a letter of acceptance conditioned to fulfilment of revisions in due time or rejection/excuse. This step usually takes another 30-45 days. The third step is about sending revised copy to the copy editors who look at proofreading and editing of the paper and their report is sent to the corresponding author as well. Authors are requested to submit the proofread and edited copy of the paper within 1-3 weeks after which paper is sent for production. Print copy is sent to corresponding author on request after publication. The journal has introduced early online production system by which the advance copy of paper is published and available online before the hard copy publication.

EDITORIAL ROLE IN THE REVIEW PROCESS AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST POLICY

In order to maintain rigor and independence of review process, the papers are sent to well established scholars in the relevant field. The reviewers are different from the editorial board members. The role of editorial board members is to recommend the potential reviewers for the papers and manage the review process assigned by the managing editor. In order to avoid conflict of interest, when papers are received from any of the editorial members, the chief editor assigns such paper to alternate editorial member to manage the review and publication process in order to maintain independence and neutrality.

PUBLISHING POLICY

Research Rise Limited is the publisher of BRDR and assumes responsibility of all processes and activities necessary for print and online publishing of the content copy sent by the editorial board. Research Rise Limited affirms to NO INTERVENTION policy in the editorial process and activities thereof.

EDITORIAL POLICY

Job Description (Terms of Reference) of the Editor in Chief
Aside from providing prestige, the role of the journal’s editorial board is to advise and support the editor. Functions may include:

To serve as Patron of the journal’s editorial board contributing to journal’s vision, mission and scope.
To review the journal’s various policies to make those at par with international standards.
To conduct necessary editorial training for the editorial members to enable them carry out their editorial tasks.
To guide the editorial board in achieving higher indexing and abstracting at various national and international agencies.
To facilitate managing editor in attracting editorial members in line with the journal’s vision, mission and scope.
To provide necessary guidelines to managing editor in carrying out its responsibilities.

Job Description of the Editorial Board
Aside from providing prestige, the role of the editorial board is to advise and support the editor. Functions may include:

Identifying new topics for commissioning special issues and advising on direction for the journal—giving feedback on past issues and making suggestions for both subject matter and potential authors.
Provide content by writing articles and occasional editorials reviews
Approaching potential contributors
Help to identify and suggest reviewers with expertise in the relevant area of a research paper and/or provide second opinions on papers (i.e. where there is a conflict between reviewers)
To ensure the implementation of ethical guidelines envisaged by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
To identify and resolve conflict of interest using journal’s policy thereof.
Identify appropriate conferences for editors to attend
Endorse the journal to authors, readers and subscribers and encourage colleagues to submit their best work.
To handle complaints/grievances by authors, reviewers or any other external and internal party.

COPE’S CODES OF CONDUCT AND BEST PRACTICE GUIDELINES FOR ACADEMIC PUBLISHING

COPE’s Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing
COPE’s Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors
COPE’s Short Guide to Ethical Editing for New Editors
COPE’s Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers
COPE’s Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers

ETHICAL GUIDELINES

The BRDR follows ethical guidelines by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Both the publisher and the editorial board of BRDR affirm to comply with and ensure ethical considerations in submission, review, conflict of interest, disclosure and publication process as underlined by COPE declaration on publication ethics and conflict of interest.

In addition, the BRDR also follows ethical guidelines suggested by Higher Education Commission Pakistan (HEC) which are considered as necessary benchmark for quality assurance of journals in the category of social and behavioral sciences. The links of COPE’s ethical guidelines and HEC’s ethical guidelines are mentioned below for the information of editorial, reviewers and authors.

HEC’s Ethical Guidelines for Journals

ORIGINALITY AND PLAGIARISM POLICY

Business Review of Digital Revolution (BRDR) is committed to advance original work of scholarship and strictly NO tolerance for plagiarism. It is the author(s) responsibility to ascertain that s/he has submitted an entirely original work, giving due credit, by virtue of proper citations, to the works and/or words of others where they are used. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is not acceptable. Material quoted verbatim from the author(s) previously published work or other sources must be placed in quotation marks. In line with the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan policy and in conformity with the international publishing standard for academic writing, the submitted manuscript found to have a similarity index of more than 20% will either be rejected or left at the discretion of the editor for purposes of a conditional acceptance. Authors can submit manuscript previously published in abstracted form, e.g. in the proceedings of an annual meeting, or in a periodical with limited circulation and availability e.g. reports by government agencies or university departments. In case the research paper is part of the research thesis, the author shall make explicit statement to the managing editor at the time of submission that the work is from a research thesis along with other details. However, the thesis shall not be formally published in book form by any academic publisher. In case that the paper has been published in the full paper proceedings of a conference or other meeting, the similarity of paper submitted for journal publication with its previous version must not be more than 40%. The author will be required to mention such case to the managing editor during the submission process.

FUNDING: BRDR (itself) & HEC

BRDR receives support from Research Rise Limited and engages with HEC guidelines where relevant.

PUBLISHING FEE POLICY

In order to maintain academic independence of BRDR, the editorial board has decided to charge NO FEE for submission and publication of articles (No Article Processing Charges). The journal is independently and voluntarily managed by the editorial board whose members are academic staff from renowned institutions.

PRIVACY STATEMENT

BRDR is committed to protecting the privacy of its users and contributors. Any personal information provided to us by users, such as names, email addresses, affiliations, and other contact details, will be kept confidential and used only for the purposes of managing the journal and communicating with authors, reviewers, and other stakeholders.

BRDR will not share personal information with any third parties except as required by law or necessary to carry out the journal's functions, such as communicating with reviewers or editors. We may also use aggregated or anonymised data for research or statistical purposes.

BRDR use appropriate security measures to protect personal information from unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. BRDR will store personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected or as required by law.

Users and contributors have the right to access and correct their personal information and to request that it be deleted. To do so, please get in touch with the BRDR's editorial office.

By using BRDR, users and contributors’ consent to the collection, use, and storage of their personal information as described in this privacy policy. BRDR may update this policy from time to time, and any changes will be posted on the journal's website.

AUTHOR AGREEMENT FORM

For publishing in BRDR, authors are required to sign an agreement form in OJS system upon submission, affirming that the manuscript is original, has not been previously published, and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. The agreement also outlines copyright policies and author responsibilities.

DEADLINES AND TIMELINES

Paper Submission Deadline: BRDR accept manuscript submission anytime in the whole year.

Review of Articles: After acceptance of manuscript at editor desk, BRDR peer review typically takes 2-3 months from the date of submission.

Acceptance of Articles: Authors will be notified of acceptance/rejection within 2-3 months of submission.

Publication of Articles: Accepted articles are published in the next available issue following acceptance. BRDR publishes issues in June and December every year.

STEPS INVOLVED IN PUBLICATIONS

The steps involved from the date of receipt of a research article to its publication in BRDR encompass a structured workflow aimed at ensuring thorough evaluation, rigorous peer review, and timely dissemination of high-quality scholarly content. Upon receipt of a manuscript, the following steps are typically followed.

Initial Screening: Upon submission, the manuscript undergoes an initial screening process to ensure compliance with the journal's submission guidelines and formatting requirements. This step may involve a review of the manuscript's structure, language, and adherence to ethical standards.
Editorial Assessment: The editor-in-chief or handling editor assesses the suitability of the manuscript for peer review based on its relevance to the journal's scope, originality, and overall quality. Manuscripts that meet the journal's criteria proceed to the peer review stage.
Peer Review: The manuscript is assigned to external experts in the field for peer review. The peer review process is typically double-blind, ensuring anonymity for both authors and reviewers. Reviewers evaluate the manuscript's scientific validity, methodology, significance, originality, and clarity and provide constructive feedback to the authors.
Editorial Decision: Based on the feedback from reviewers, the handling editor makes an editorial decision regarding the manuscript. This decision may include acceptance, minor revisions, major revisions, or rejection. Authors are promptly notified of the decision and, if revisions are required, provided with detailed instructions for addressing reviewer comments.
Revision and Resubmission: If revisions are requested, authors revise the manuscript in accordance with reviewer feedback and submit the revised version along with a response letter detailing the changes made. The revised manuscript undergoes further evaluation by the handling editor and reviewers.
Final Acceptance: Upon satisfactory completion of the revision process, the manuscript is accepted for publication. Authors are informed of the final acceptance decision and provided with instructions for preparing the manuscript for publication, including formatting requirements and copyright transfer agreements.
Copyediting and Proofreading: The accepted manuscript undergoes copyediting and proofreading to ensure clarity, accuracy, and adherence to journal style guidelines. Any necessary corrections or clarifications are communicated to the authors for approval.
Typesetting and Layout: The formatted manuscript is typeset and prepared for publication, including the layout of text, figures, tables, and supplementary materials. The final proofs are reviewed by the authors for accuracy before publication.
Online Publication: The finalized manuscript is published online on the journal's website as part of the next available issue.
Indexing and Archiving: The published article is indexed in academic databases and repositories, ensuring its visibility and accessibility to researchers worldwide. Additionally, the article is archived for long-term preservation and future reference.

DISCLOSURE AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST

To publish in BRDR, all authors are required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest that may influence the interpretation of their research findings or recommendations. Conflicts of interest include financial interests, affiliations, or personal relationships that could bias the work.

CONTRIBUTION AND CONSENTS OF EACH AUTHOR

To publish in BRDR, all authors must have made substantial contributions to the research presented in the manuscript and agree to be listed as authors. Authors are responsible for obtaining consent from all individuals named in the manuscript, including co-authors and participants.

CORRECTION AND RETRACTION OF RESEARCH ARTICLES

In cases of errors or misconduct, BRDR follows established protocols for issuing corrections or retractions. Corrections are published promptly to rectify errors, while retractions are reserved for serious ethical violations or irreproducible findings.

FINANCIAL MODEL

In order to meet its financial needs to run the journal smoothly, BRDR has relied to frame its unique business model which is based on volunteer admin staff and editorial board. Admin staff may also comprise of PhD scholars who render their services without any fixed salary.

COMPLAINT PROCEDURES

In order to ensure customer centricity, implementation of ethical guidelines and ensure transparency of editorial and publishing process, the editorial board of BRDR, Research Rise Limited have taken appropriate measures. In order to ensure that complaints and grievances by authors, reviewers, editorial or any external and internal body are resolved in a transparent manner, two members of the editorial board are nominated to be part of Complaint/Grievances Committee who can be contacted for any complaints or concerns related to submission, review, conflict of interest and publication process. This committee is responsible to acknowledge all such complaints by email and setup the hearing and resolve of the issue within 30-45 days of receipt of the complaint.

Dr. Hisham Bin Mohammad
School of Economics, Finance & Banking (SEFB), Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Malaysia
mhisham@uum.edu.my

Dr. Qasim Ali Nisar
Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure Management, Taylor’s University, Malaysia
qasim.nisar@taylors.edu.my

OPEN ACCESS AND COPYRIGHT POLICY

This work is licensed & copyrighted under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International License.

The editorial board of BRDR shares common vision with Research Rise Limited in providing unrestricted access to knowledge and education for all and thereby follows OPEN ACCESS POLICY to showcase its content. BRDR follows open access copyright and licensing policy on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Research Rise Limited and BRDR adhere to Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International License. The authors submitting and publishing in BRDR agree to the copyright policy under creative common license 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International License). Under this license, the authors published in BRDR retain the copyright including publishing rights of their scholarly work and agree to let others remix, tweak, and build upon their work non-commercially. All other authors using the content of BRDR are required to cite author(s) and publisher in their work. Articles of BRDR can be read and shared for non-commercial purposes under the following conditions:

BY: Attribution must be given to the original source (Attribution)
NC: Works may not be used for commercial purposes (Non-commercial)

Research Rise Limited and BRDR use the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 to protect the author’s work from misuse.

ARCHIVING POLICY

Research Rise Limited and BRDR is a ‘green’ publisher, as we allow self-archiving of accepted and published papers through open access policy before and after the publication of a paper in BRDR. Authors retain the copyright of their scholarly work and can archive pre-print and post-print or publisher’s version/PDF to personal or institutional repositories or libraries anytime without requiring permission from the journal or publisher.

Authors of published articles in BRDR are entitled to deposit their accepted manuscript or the version of record (published papers) in institutional and/or centrally organized repositories and can make this publicly available immediately upon acceptance and publication, provided that the journal and Research Rise Limited are attributed as the original place of publication and that correct citation details are given.

Upon acceptance of paper by the journal, the authors acknowledge while making their article publicly available that the article has been accepted for publication as follows:

This article has been accepted for publication in Business Review of Digital Revolution (BRDR). Published by Research Rise Limited.

Authors can also make their published article publicly available immediately after publication without requiring any permission to different repositories, libraries or personal websites provided that they also deposit the URL of their published article, in addition to the PDF version by correctly citing the journal name and Research Rise Limited as publisher along with other citation details.

Repository Policy

Business Review of Digital Revolution (BRDR)

Purpose

This policy defines the rights and responsibilities of authors regarding the deposit and sharing of their published and unpublished manuscripts in institutional, disciplinary, or public repositories. It ensures compliance with BRDR’s open access principles, enhancing the visibility and accessibility of published research.

Version Permitted for Deposit

Authors may deposit the following versions of their manuscripts:

Pre-print (Submitted Version): Authors may archive the version submitted for peer review in any repository at any time. A statement must clarify that this version has not undergone peer review or editorial processing.
Post-print (Accepted Version): The peer-reviewed, accepted version (prior to publisher formatting) may be archived immediately after acceptance in institutional or subject repositories.
Publisher’s Version (Version of Record): The final published version (formatted PDF) may be archived in repositories after publication, provided that proper citation and a link to the official publication on the BRDR website are included.

Embargo Period

No embargo period applies. Articles published in BRDR may be deposited immediately upon publication.

Licensing and Attribution

All deposited versions must include:

A complete citation of the published article in Business Review of Digital Revolution (BRDR).
A direct link to the article’s official version at https://brdr.org.
The following license notice: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).

Institutional and Disciplinary Repositories

Authors are encouraged to deposit their articles in institutional repositories of their universities or research organizations, disciplinary repositories such as SSRN, ResearchGate, or Academia.edu, and national or international open access repositories that align with BRDR’s open access policy.

Commercial Use

Articles published under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license may not be used for commercial purposes. Any redistribution, reproduction, or adaptation for profit or commercial gain requires explicit permission from the publisher.

Publisher Contact

For questions related to archiving or permissions, please contact:
Editorial Office, Business Review of Digital Revolution (BRDR)
Email: send@researchrise.org
Website: researchrise.org

CONTACT US

Editor-in-Chief:
Dr. Waseem Ul Hameed
Institute of Business Management and Administrative Sciences (IBMAS), The Islamia University of Bahawalpur (IUB), Pakistan
waseemulhameed@iub.edu.pk

Managing Editor:
Prof. Dr. Kayhan Tajeddini
Institute for International Strategy, Tokyo International University, Japan
ktajeddi@tiu.ac.jp

Editor:
Dr. Owais Shafique
Institute of Business Management and Administrative Sciences (IBMAS), the Islamia University of Bahawalpur (IUB), Pakistan
owais.shafique@iub.edu.pk

Associate Editors:
Dr. Ali Ahsan — Torrens University Australia (ali.ahsan@torrens.edu.au)
Dr. Hisham Bin Mohammad — School of Economics, Finance & Banking (SEFB), Universiti Utara Malaysia (mhisham@uum.edu.my)
Dr. Qasim Ali Nisar — Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure Management, Taylor’s University (qasim.nisar@taylors.edu.my)

National:
Prof. Dr. Hafiz Zafar Ahmad — Hailey College of Commerce, Lahore, Pakistan (Zafar.hcc@pu.edu.pk)
Associate Prof. Dr. Syed Muhammad Javed Iqbal — IBMAS, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur (javed.iqbal@iub.edu.pk)

CEO / Publisher:
Dr. Waseem Ul Hameed — CEO, Research Rise Limited

Editor-BRDR:
Dr. Owais Shafique — Editor-Business Review of Digital Revolution (BRDR) (owais.shafique@iub.edu.pk)

Editorial Office:
send@researchrise.org

Business Review of Digital Revolution (BRDR)