Submissions

Submission Preparation Checklist

• 
  

  
  

  Author Guidelines

  
  

  Author Guidelines and Submission Checklist

  
  

  Journal of Sustainable Institutional Management • e-ISSN 3085-8526

  
  

  Last updated: October 2026

  
  

  
  

  LanguagesPortuguese or English. Abstract in the language of the manuscript; English abstract required for Portuguese texts.

  StyleAPA Style, 7th edition: text, headings, tables, figures, citations and references.

  FeesNo submission, evaluation or publication fees (no APCs). The journal is free of charge for authors and readers.

  Peer reviewDouble-blind, with desk review (up to 30 days) and at least two external reviewers.

  Authors and fileUp to four authors. Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx), up to 2 MB, in the official template.

  LicenseCC BY 4.0. Authors retain copyright. Immediate open access.

  
  

  Before you submit, read the Publishing Ethics and Code of Conduct page. It sets out the journal’s editorial policies and code of conduct for authors, reviewers and editors, which complement these guidelines.

  Use the official submission template. Manuscripts must be prepared in the journal’s Word template. Download it, replace its content with your text and remove any author-identifying information.
  ⬇ Download the submission template (.docx)

  
  

  Tap a section to expand or collapse it.

  
  

  1Submission Preparation Checklist▾

  By submitting to the Journal of Sustainable Institutional Management (JSIM), the author(s) confirm compliance with all of the items below. Submissions that do not meet these requirements may be returned to the authors for correction before peer review.

  1. No fees and authors

  The journal charges no submission fees, evaluation fees or Article Processing Charges (APCs) at any stage (see Section 2). A maximum of four authors is allowed per article, ordered according to the contribution of each one to the text.

  2. Originality and exclusivity

  The manuscript is unpublished and is not under evaluation by any other publication. Papers published in the annals of scientific events may be submitted, provided that significant improvements (feedback) have been incorporated in relation to the version already published. A previous version in printed or electronic form (working paper, discussion text or similar) must be removed from circulation during the JSIM review process and, if the paper is accepted, published only in this journal. No part of the manuscript has been published in any periodical, book or scientific manuscript.

  3. Guidelines and APA Style (7th edition)

  The manuscript follows the style standards and bibliographic requirements in these Author Guidelines: the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition (see Sections 6 to 8). Every reference includes the complete DOI as a URL whenever one exists.

  4. Authors ordered by contribution

  The maximum number of authors per article is four, ordered according to the contribution of each one to the text.

  5. File format, size and template

  The submission file is in Microsoft Word format (.doc, .docx), does not exceed 2 MB and follows the official submission template.

  6. Language and proofreading

  The manuscript is written in Portuguese or English and is spelled correctly. Authors are responsible for providing the evaluation version already reviewed by professional proofreaders; the referees will not make corrections. After approval by the peers, the article will only be definitively approved for publication if the text correctly follows the norms and grammar of Portuguese or English.

  7. Abstract and keywords

  The abstract and keywords are included in the format required for the article type (Section 4), in the same language as the paper. Articles in Portuguese also include an English abstract and keywords.

  8. Anonymized manuscript

  The main file contains no author names, affiliations, acknowledgements, funding details or identifying metadata, and self-citations are masked (“Author, 2025”). Identifying information appears only on the separate title page (Section 5).

  9. Letter to the Editor (mandatory)

  A letter to the editor (one page maximum) explaining the scientific contribution of the article was uploaded as a Supplementary Document (see Section 11). If the work was published in the annals of a scientific event, the letter mentions it and lists the main improvements incorporated.

  10. Declarations

  The declarations on ethics, conflicts of interest, funding, data availability and use of generative AI are included, as applicable (see Sections 9 and 10).

  11. Similarity check

  The overall similarity index does not exceed 15% (20% for review articles), with less than 3% from any single source (Crossref Similarity Check / iThenticate).

  12. I undertake to act as a reviewer for the journal

  As a form of reciprocity with the academic community, the journal reinforces the commitment that authors of approved papers have to act as reviewers for manuscripts submitted to it. All authors and co-authors undertake to evaluate up to two (2) articles by other authors in the double-blind review system. To give visibility to this voluntary effort, reviewers may use the ReviewerCredits system and choose the options they wish in relation to open science.

  13. Truthfulness of the information

  I declare the truthfulness of the information provided in the submission, including authorship, affiliations, declarations and the data and sources presented.

  14. Responsibility

  The editor and any person or institution linked to the collegiate bodies are not responsible for the opinions, ideas, concepts and positions expressed in the texts, which are the sole responsibility of the author(s).

  Incomplete submissions (OJS). The submission system is periodically monitored to ensure the efficiency of the editorial workflow. For submissions that have been started but not completed:

  • Deadline for completion: authors have up to 30 days, counted from the date the submission was started in OJS, to complete the process and upload all required documents.
  • Automatic deletion: submissions that remain “incomplete” for more than 30 days are permanently removed from the database.
  • New submission: if a submission is removed because the period expired, authors must start a new submission from the beginning.

  
  

  2Fees▾

  The journal does not charge authors or readers. There are no submission fees, evaluation fees, Article Processing Charges (APCs) or publication fees at any stage. Editorial decisions are made exclusively on scientific merit.

  Submission and desk review

  FeeNo fee

  Double-blind peer review and revisions

  FeeNo fee

  Acceptance, copyediting and publication

  FeeNo fee

  • Open access: all articles are published under CC BY 4.0 and are free to read, download and reuse with attribution. Authors retain copyright.
  • Be wary of any request for payment made in the name of the journal and report it to the Editorial Office.

  
  

  3Expected Contributions▾

  The journal publishes interdisciplinary research on sustainability in institutional management. Four contribution types are accepted:

  Original article

  DescriptionOriginal theoretical or empirical study (quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods), with a clearly stated question, method and contribution.

  Suggested length*5,000 to 8,000 words

  Review

  DescriptionSystematic, scoping, integrative or critical review (state the protocol, for example PRISMA), with a clear synthesis and research agenda.

  Suggested length*6,000 to 9,000 words

  Perspective

  DescriptionArgued, evidence-informed viewpoint on a current issue, theory or debate. It takes a position and opens a discussion; it is not a literature summary.

  Suggested length*2,500 to 4,000 words

  Insights

  DescriptionShort, practice- and policy-oriented contribution (a case, experience, trend or lesson learned) with 3 to 5 key takeaways for institutions.

  Suggested length*1,500 to 3,000 words

  * Suggested lengths include notes and exclude the reference list. Longer manuscripts may be considered when justified in the Letter to the Editor.

  Fit with the journalSustainability and institutional management; governance, compliance and integrity; public and corporate institutions; ESG and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); public policy; innovation and organizational change.

  What reviewers look forRelevance to the scope, originality, theoretical grounding, methodological rigor (or argumentative strength for Perspective and Insights), clarity of contribution and practical or policy implications.

  
  

  4Manuscript Structure▾

  • Title: concise and informative (up to 15 words), in the language of the manuscript.
  • Abstract: structured (maximum 250 words: Purpose, Method/Approach, Findings, Contribution/Implications) for original articles and reviews; unstructured up to 150 words for Perspective and up to 100 words for Insights.
  • Keywords: 4 to 6, separated by commas, in lower case except for proper nouns.
  • Introduction: problem, research question, relevance and contribution, and structure of the article.
  • Theoretical framework and literature review.
  • Method: design, context, data sources, sampling, instruments and analytical procedure. State the AI tools used, if any (name, version, date).
  • Results and Discussion, organized with APA-style headings.
  • Conclusion: main findings, implications for practice and policy, limitations and future research.
  • Declarations (before the references): ethics, conflict of interest, funding, data availability, AI use and author contributions, if not placed on the title page.
  • References: in APA 7 format; every work cited must be listed and vice versa.

  
  

  5Template, Title Page and Anonymization▾

  Download and use the official submission template (Word). It sets: A4, 12-point serif font (for example Times New Roman), double spacing, 2.54 cm margins, page numbers, and no author-identifying information. Because the journal uses double-blind review, submit two files:

  1. Anonymized manuscript (main file)Title, abstract, keywords, full text, tables, figures and references. No names, affiliations, acknowledgements, funding information or identifying metadata (check File > Info > Inspect Document in Word). Mask self-citations and links to personal repositories.

  2. Title page (Supplementary File)Title; full names, affiliations, institutional e-mail and ORCID iD of every author, ranked according to level of involvement and contribution; corresponding author; author contributions (CRediT); acknowledgements; funding; conflict of interest statement.

  
  

  6APA Style Essentials (7th Edition)▾

  • Headings: up to five levels, as in APA 7 (Level 1 centered, bold, title case; Level 2 flush left, bold; Level 3 flush left, bold italic). Do not number headings.
  • In-text citations: author–date format. One or two authors: (Silva, 2024) and (Silva & Costa, 2024); three or more: (Silva et al., 2024). Direct quotations require page numbers (p. 12). Quotations of 40 words or more go in a block quote without quotation marks.
  • Reference list: alphabetical, hanging indent, double-spaced. Provide the DOI as a URL (https://doi.org/…) whenever available. List up to 20 authors; for more, give the first 19, an ellipsis and the last author.
  • Journal article: Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the article in sentence case. Title of the Journal in Title Case, volume(issue), pages. https://doi.org/xxxx
  • Book: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the book in sentence case (ed.). Publisher.
  • Chapter in an edited book: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the chapter. In E. Editor (Ed.), Title of the book (pp. xx–xx). Publisher.
  • Non-English sources: keep the original title and add an English translation in square brackets, for example Inteligência competitiva [Competitive intelligence].
  • Language and numbers: use bias-free, precise language (APA Chapter 5). Spell out numbers below 10, except in statistics, measurements and percentages. Report currencies with their code (USD, BRL).
  • Abbreviations: define abbreviations at first use (for example, business intelligence [BI]); avoid footnotes except for brief explanatory notes.

  Reference managers help, but you remain responsible. We recommend using a reference manager such as Zotero (free and open source), Mendeley, EndNote or JabRef to build the reference list and the in-text citations automatically in APA 7th edition. In Zotero, choose the style “American Psychological Association 7th edition” and add items by DOI, ISBN or URL (or with the browser connector), so that titles, authors, volume, issue, pages and the complete DOI are imported from the source.

  • Always review the generated references: automatic imports often bring wrong capitalization (APA uses sentence case for article and book titles), missing or truncated authors, and incomplete data.
  • Present every DOI as a full URL (https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx) and check that it opens the correct article. Missing DOIs can be looked up on Crossref (search.crossref.org).
  • Never rely on AI-generated references; import them from the original source and verify each one.
  • Keep a copy of the file with the reference manager’s fields active for the revision stage, and make sure the reference list in the submitted file is in final APA format.

  
  

  7Reports, Market Data, Software and AI Tools▾

  Cite company, market and institutional sources, datasets, software and AI tools following APA 7. Prefer primary, citable sources.

  Company or institutional report

  Reference list formatOrganization. (Year). Title of report (Report No. x). Publisher. URL

  In-text citation(Organization, Year)

  Market research report

  Reference list formatAuthor or Organization. (Year). Title of report. Publisher. URL

  In-text citation(Organization, Year)

  Statistical data from an agency

  Reference list formatAgency. (Year). Title of dataset or table [Data set]. URL

  In-text citation(Agency, Year)

  Dataset

  Reference list formatAuthor, A. A. (Year). Title of dataset (Version x) [Data set]. Publisher. https://doi.org/xxxx

  In-text citation(Author, Year)

  Software

  Reference list formatAuthor, A. A. (Year). Title of software (Version x.x) [Computer software]. Publisher. URL

  In-text citation(Author, Year)

  Generative AI tool

  Reference list formatOpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

  In-text citation(OpenAI, 2023)

  Web page or news article

  Reference list formatAuthor. (Year, Month Day). Title of the page. Site Name. URL

  In-text citation(Author, Year)

  Data from paid or proprietary databases must state the database, the extraction date and any access restrictions. When the content produced by an AI tool is discussed or reproduced, include the prompt and the relevant part of the output in the text or in an appendix.

  
  

  8Tables and Figures▾

  • Number tables and figures consecutively (Table 1, Figure 1). Place each with a short title and, where needed, a note, as indicated in the template.
  • Tables must be editable (not images), without vertical lines, in APA table format. Mention each one in the text.
  • Figures must be at least 300 dpi (JPG, PNG or vector) and legible in grayscale. Add alternative text for accessibility.
  • Always give the source of data, with year, below tables and figures reproduced or adapted from other works, and obtain written permission when required.

  
  

  9Ethics and Declarations▾

  These requirements follow the journal’s Publishing Ethics and Code of Conduct page.

  • Author contributions (CRediT): describe each author’s contribution using the Contributor Roles Taxonomy.
  • Conflict of interest: disclose any conflict at submission, or state “No conflict of interest exists.” The disclosure is published in the final article.
  • Funding: name funders and grant numbers, or state that there was none.
  • Ethics approval and consent: studies with human participants (interviews, surveys, company data) must state the approving committee (or the legal basis for exemption) and the consent obtained, in line with applicable law, including data protection law (LGPD, GDPR and others).
  • Data availability: include a Data Availability Statement. The journal encourages the FAIR principles.
  • Preprints: depositing a preprint on a recognized platform is not prior publication. Give the details at submission and link the preprint to the published version.
  • Misconduct: plagiarism, data fabrication, duplicate submission and authorship manipulation are handled under COPE guidelines.

  
  

  10Use of Generative AI▾

  AI tools cannot be listed as authors and cannot act as reviewers or decision-issuing editors. Authors remain fully responsible for the content of the manuscript, including checking every reference and quotation produced or suggested by an AI tool (fabricated references are common).

  Disclosure required when generative AI was used for anything beyond basic grammar, spelling or punctuation checks. State the tool, its version, its purpose and the extent of human oversight, in the Materials and Methods or in the Declarations section.

  
  

  11Letter to the Editor (Mandatory)▾

  Together with the article, send a letter to the editor (maximum one page) as a Supplementary Document, explaining:

  • the scientific contribution of the article, with proper justification of how it contributes;
  • its fit with the scope of the journal;
  • if the work was published in the annals of a scientific event, the fact and the main improvements incorporated into it;
  • any request for exception (length, language).

  
  

  12Review Process and After Acceptance▾

  1. Desk reviewEditorial check of scope, template, anonymization and similarity, in up to 30 days.

  2. Double-blind reviewAt least two independent external reviewers, with about three weeks per review. A third reviewer may be invited if reviewers disagree.

  3. DecisionAccept, revise or reject. Decisions are based only on scientific merit.

  4. After acceptanceCopyediting, galley proofs and publication at no cost to the authors.

  • Authors review the galley proofs within the deadline set by the Editorial Office; only corrections of errors are accepted at this stage.
  • Articles are published under CC BY 4.0, with a DOI. Authors retain copyright.
  • Corrections and retractions follow the journal’s Editorial Policies. Retracted articles remain in the published record, marked as retracted.

  
  

  Questions? Contact the Editorial Office through the journal’s contact page. Read the Publishing Ethics and Code of Conduct. Website: alumnijournals.org/Journals