Editorial Instructions

Submission Guidelines for the Journal of Finance and Financial Law

Action Required for Submitting the Article

Authors can submit their articles either:

Ensure all required documents (full version, blind version, and author’s declaration) are included with your submission.

The editors of the Journal of Finance and Financial Law prioritize articles written in English, which are given preference during the publishing process.

Requirements for Submission

  1. Format:
    Articles must be submitted in electronic form, using MS Word, and adhere to the journal’s editorial requirements (APA 7th Style Bibliographic list - Instructions). Please refer to the article template: JOFFL Template
  2. Blind Review:
    Authors are encouraged to submit two versions of their manuscript:
    • A full version containing all author details.
    • A blind version that excludes any personal information to ensure anonymity during the review process.
  3. Declaration:
    Each Author is required to individually attach an Author's Declaration (available at: Author’s Declaration) to the submitted manuscript.
  4. Plagiarism Check:
    The Journal of Finance and Financial Law uses the Crossref Similarity Check anti-plagiarism system. For more details, visit Crossref Similarity Check.

General Text Recommendations

Text Volume

  • Abstract: Include an abstract in English, between 150–250 words, outlining the purpose, methodology, and research results.
  • Keywords: Provide 5–8 relevant keywords.
  • Main Text: The recommended length is between 22,000 and 40,000 characters (including spaces). This total should encompass the title, abstract, tables, graphs, and bibliography.

Text Layout

  1. Abstract: Clearly state the purpose of the article, methodology, and research results.
  2. Keywords: Include 5–8 relevant keywords.
  3. JEL Classification: Assign a classification code for the article, using the Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) system: JEL Codes.
  4. Introduction: Define the research issue, reference prior research, state the research problem, and justify the choice of topic.
  5. Main Content: Structure the content clearly with headings, emphasizing comparisons between your research findings and those of other authors.
  6. Discussion/Conclusion: Summarize findings, present conclusions, and provide recommendations for further research.
  7. Bibliography: Include a complete list of references formatted according to APA 7th Style.

Bibliographic Recommendations

  • Cite sources primarily from the Web of Science and Scopus databases. Each article should reference at least 10 sources from these databases, except for articles in legal sciences.
  • Verify that all cited articles in the bibliography include their DOI numbers. Use the following tool to check for DOIs: CrossRef Guest Query.

Editors’ Reservations

The editors reserve the right to:

  • Make necessary language corrections.
  • Reject articles that do not comply with the submission guidelines.

 

Note: Articles must not have been previously published or submitted for publication elsewhere.

 

Digital accessibility - alternative texts

Please include alternative descriptions for all illustrations in the journals

An alternative text is textual information about what you see in a graphic element that is relevant to the text or topic that the element illustrates. Alternative texts are read by a screen reader and allow people with blindness or vision impairment to see what is, for example, in a given graphic, photo or chart. Graphic elements without an alternative description will be read by the assistive software for visually impaired people as the word ‘graphic’, so they will not get any other information that this ‘graphic’ is supposed to convey.  

What should an alternative text look like?  

  • Above all, the description should be concise and succinct – try to describe the graphic as accurately as possible, doing so in the shortest possible way (the optimum length of an alternative text should not exceed 250 characters)
  • It should describe the meaning and content of the graphic element in question 
  • It should contain key information for the viewer (e.g. a repetition of the content written on the graphic, or in the case of photos, a description of the most important elements building the message: “Rector presenting the habilitation diploma to Dr Anna Kowalska”) 
  •  When creating alternative texts for charts and infographics, remember to include, in addition to the title, a summary and description of the trends resulting from the graphic. Often, due to the length and level of complexity of the data being described, it is worth including the chart description in the proper body of the text, below the graphic itself 
  • You do not need to use alternative descriptions for graphics that are purely decorative (in which case mark them as decorative by selecting the “Mark as decorative” option). Function of adding alternative description in Microsoft Word  
  • • To add alternative text for graphics/charts added into a Microsoft Word document, right-click on the object and select “Format image” -> “Accessibility” -> “Alternative text”; • or “Review” -> “Check accessibility “-> “Alternative text” 
  • For graphic elements that only have a decorative function in the document, also fill in the alternative text field – instead of the content in the “Alternative text” field, tick the “Mark as decorative” option. 

 Another possible solution could be to provide a complete set of descriptions for the entire notebook in an Excel table.