Before You Submit

BEFORE YOU SUBMIT

Authors are considered our most important stakeholders by PM World Journal (PMWJ) editors and executives.  Without good content, the PMWJ would not have grown into one of the world’s most popular international publications in the project management field.  Unique and high-quality contents, and highly qualified and knowledgeable authors, are the key to the PMWJ’s success.  We therefore also want our authors to be as successful as possible.  The information below is offered to help authors avoid errors and other submission problems, as well as facilitate easier and faster reviews and acceptance of submitted manuscripts.

Please review the statements and questions below before submitting your work to us for publication. They are based on and consistent with How We Publish, General Author Guidelines and our other publication policies and processes.

For All Authors

1. 1. Have PMWJ’s publishing policies and author guidelines been read and understood, including What We Publish, How We Publish, Ethics and Fairness, General Author Guidelines and Use of AI?
   2. Has the type of work to be submitted been selected from those shown on What We Publish, and formatted using PMWJ standard format (per General Author Guidelines)?
   3. Have all authors, co-authors and corresponding author been identified, with bios and photos prepared to be submitted with the manuscript, including contact email address for corresponding author?
   4. Have permissions been obtained for any use of copyrighted material from other sources, including sources from the internet?
   5. Have English language spelling and grammar checks been conducted on your full manuscript, with errors or confusing statements corrected?
   6. Are uniformed font type and sizes used throughout? If in doubt, see General Author Guidelines.
   7. Is the title of the work properly descriptive of the contents, short (5-7 words), with subtitle, if needed?
   8. Is manuscript in single column format? No double column works are accepted.
   9. Is the manuscript organized and completed properly, including abstract, key words, introduction, body of work and conclusion, as outlined for different types of works as described in our General Author Guidelines?
   10. Are line separations no greater than 1.15 lines? Absolutely no 1.5 or double line spacing in manuscripts submitted to the PMWJ.
   11. Are all Figures, Illustrations, Exhibits and Graphics properly positioned near referenced text, sequentially numbered and with complete, succinct captions below the artwork?
   12. Are the page length and file size within the suggested limits for the type of manuscript to be submitted? (see What We Publish for size info) If not, please consider reducing sizes, types or number of figures and images; if necessary, consider breaking your manuscript into several parts for possible sequential publication in the PMWJ.
   13. Are citations included for all information, passages or data obtained from other sources identified properly, with those sources included in a List of References at the end of the manuscript?
   14. Is the list of References at the end of the manuscript complete and properly formatted, with live links (URLs) provided for as many as possible?
   15. If artificial intelligence (AI) or augmented intelligence tools have been used in the production or editing of the manuscript, is a disclaimer or declaration statement describing the author’s use of AI been included (normally at the end of the manuscript)? See our Use of AI Guidelines here.
   16. If appropriate, has a Declaration of Interest been included to disclose any personal or financial relationship with others who could inappropriately influence, benefit or be harmed by the manuscript’s publication? See our Ethics guidelines here.
   17. Are authors’ names, bios, photos, locations and contact email addresses included in or with the submittal, as appropriate and as required?
   18. Has a PMWJ Author Agreement that covers the publication of the manuscript been signed and returned to PMWJ’s managing Editor? (see General Author Guidelines)

For Authors of Research Papers for which a Peer Review is Requested

We offer peer reviews of research papers submitted by both academic researchers and professionals who want highly qualified feedback. Peer reviews are serious processes. Our peer reviewers all have PhD degrees from highly respected universities or have decades of experience with professional standards and publishing. Peer reviews are serious assessments of form, structure, language, contents, references and other aspects of academically qualified research works.  They can also provide useful feedback for graduate students or others new to the academic publishing process.

In addition to the questions for all authors shown above, the following questions are designed to help authors produce good papers that can pass the peer review process. The following points will be carefully checked during the peer review process.

1. 1. Title – does the title properly describe the contents of the paper? Is it kept short (5-10 words) with subtitle as needed?
   2. Authors – Are all authors and co-authors identified, with affiliations if appropriate? Is corresponding author identified, with email address provided?
   3. Abstract – Does the abstract fully and clearly summarize the research and findings? Are the topic and contents well bounded? That is, are the limits of the research, objectives and approach succinctly described?
   4. Key Words – fewer than 10?
   5. Introduction –Is the introduction short and useful? Is any pertinent background or context described? Has practicality and usefulness to practitioners been mentioned? Have you told readers what to expect or gain?
   6. Literature Review – Does the literature review seem complete? If not, the limitations must be explained, for example, it is often impossible to review all publications on a given topic. So carefully bound the literature review to the specific research questions and objectives.
   7. Research Objectives – Are the objectives few and clearly defined? Is the purpose of the research clearly stated?
   8. Key Questions – Are the questions to be answered by the research clearly stated, including any hypotheses to be tested, proven or disproven?
   9. Methodology – Is the approach and research methodology fully and accurately described?
   10. Results – Do the research results appear to be complete and based on both clearly stated objectives as well as the methodology utilized? Are useful and appropriate data, tables and charts provided?
   11. Discussion – Is the discussion clear and helpful to the paper?
   12. Conclusions – Are conclusions clearly stated, including significance, implications, impact or usefulness? Are objectives and/or hypotheses addressed? Is future research suggested, or actions recommended?
   13. Declarations – Are any acknowledgements, disclosures or disclaimers included, as appropriate or as may be needed? Should also include any Informed Consent that may be needed from research subjects or interviewees.
   14. Notes – Are notes included and, if so, properly formatted and informative?
   15. References – Do the references appear complete and properly formatted? Are all works or information by external sources properly cited and included in the references? Are all references cited in the work? (Note: this is a common error, so be careful to include all citations and references)

Note 1: Research papers focused on Literature Reviews should also contain most of the sections and information listed above.

Note 2: Some of the points and questions included under peer review may also apply to non-peer reviewed submittals, for example, declarations, notes, references, etc.

Note 3: All manuscripts submitted for publication in the PMWJ will be subject to potential plagiarism and AI contents checks using a publicly available service. So, save yourself some headaches; cite all other works properly and include them in the list of references and declare any use of AI in a statement at the end of your manuscript.

Note 4: Our publication process is not intended to be onerous.  Most of the questions and issues listed above should be standard protocols and common sense; they are just included here as reminders, just in case something might be forgotten or overlooked. If unsure, reread our General Author Guidelines or other policy pages under ABOUT.