Submissions

Author Guidelines

Download the guidelines here: ECA Journal - Guidelines for authors in PDF

General features

Originality. ECA journal only considers original and unpublished papers that are not under process of evaluation in other journals. Notwithstanding this, the submission of collaborations corresponding to working documents (working papers) or drafts previously presented at congresses or conferences is accepted, with the following conditions:

1. they are substantially improved versions, an issue that will be explained in the comments to the editor;
2. the existence of the previous version is expressly mentioned in the title sheet (conferences where it was previously presented-published, or repository where it is available);
3. the congress or repository has not required the transfer of copyright;
4. If the article is accepted for publication, the original version (working document at the repository) will be replaced by the article published in the ECA Journal, with the indication of the corresponding citation.

Types of collaborations.  Different types of collaborations are considered for publication, detailed in the "About the journal" 

Language. Papers are accepted in Spanish, English and Portuguese. All contributions must have a title, abstract (if required by the section) and keywords in the original language and their translation into English. In the case of originals in English, metadata translated into Spanish is requested.

Fees or charges. Escritos Contables y de Administración journal does not charge authors any fees for sending and/or publishing articles.

Submissions modality. Collaborations with a publication request must be sent in electronic format through the OJS platform from the "Make a Submission" option. Authors must register with the journal before publishing or, if already registered, they can simply log in and begin the five-step submission process. Completing the submission of an original through the OJS portal requires 5 steps:

1. Start: accept the copyright statement; indicate the language and the section to which the work corresponds to; verify that the submission meets the requirements, and (if necessary) detail comments to the editor. Go to the next stage by clicking on “Save and continue”.
2. Upload the submission: click on “Upload file” and complete the three steps (1. Upload submission, 2. Metadata, and 3. Finish). Once all the files have been loaded, proceed to the next stage by clicking on "Save and continue".
3. Enter the metadata: title, subtitle, abstract, authors, keywords (all in the original and alternative chosen language) and support institutions (if any). To incorporate more than one author, click on "Add collaborator" and complete the requested information. For each of the authors of the article, the following must be entered: name/s and surname/s, email, affiliation and ORCID identifier (if you do not have an ORCID account, you can create it here). Go to the next stage by clicking on “Save and continue”.
4. Confirmation: if you are sure that you have completed and verified all the data, click on "Finish sending".
5. Next Steps: The system displays a banner confirming that the submission is complete and provides different options (Review this submission, Create a new submission, Return to desktop).

If you have any questions, contact the Editorial Committee of ECA journal by e-mail: escritos.adm@uns.edu.ar. 

Submission Guidelines

I. File format

The document must be submitted using the the following format:

1. Microsoft Word file on A4 size paper, margins according to “Normal” template (top and bottom 2.5 cm; right and left 2 cm), Calibri 12 font, spacing 1.5, no spacing between paragraphs, justified text, with consecutive numbering of all pages, paragraphs with 1.25 cm indentation (except the abstract).
2. Titles of sections and subsections with Arabic numerals (1. Introduction, 2. Background framework, 2.1. Theoretical reference; 2.2. Empirical evidence, etc.) without indentation, in bold, without underlining, in sentence type (initial capital letter and then lower case, no period).
3. Length: all collaborations must respect the length established in the policies of each section. Exceptionally, the Editorial Committee may authorize works that exceed the maximum length when it deems it appropriate.

a. Papers subject to peer review

• Title page and author data

Include here: title of the article, full name of the author (or authors). For each author, please include: institutional affiliation at two levels (for example, Department of Administration Sciences, Universidad Nacional del Sur), email address (preferably institutional), ORCID identifier (if you don not have an ORCID account you can create it here). 

Previous Version: Indicate if there was a prior presentation of the work as a working paper or conference proceeding and under what license, using the following statement: "A previous version of this work was presented at [conference/meeting] under a [license type] license."

Funding: If the work is part of a research project, this information should be indicated as a footnote to the title: "This work is a product of the research project titled '[project title]' conducted by [executing institution], directed by [director's name]. Funding: [funding institution], Duration: [dates of funding] (Code: [project code])."

If you wish, you can download the following file and fill it in with the details of your submission: Template – title page

IMPORTANT. All the data of the authors, in addition to being included in the Word file, must be correctly uploaded in the corresponding fields of the OJS platform when submitting online.

• Blind main document

In order to guarantee anonymity in the evaluation process, the text may not include any mention of the author or authors (including those made in footnotes) that would reveal their identity. The file must contain:

• Title with a maximum of 12 words (in two languages: original and its translation into English).
• Abstract of up to 150 words detailing objectives, methodology, results and conclusions (in two languages: original and its translation into English).
• Keywords: between three and five separated by lowercase commas (in two languages: original and its translation into English). We suggest to alternate the keywords with the terms included in the title and abstract, to increase the possibility of recovery by search engines.
• Classification code(s) according to the Journal of Economics Literature (JEL) plan with three digits separated by commas (eg: JEL: M30, M41). It can be found at https://www.aeaweb.org/jel/guide/jel.php.
• Development of the work containing at least: introduction, development, conclusions, references and annexes or appendices -if applicable.

If you wish, you can download the following file and fill it in with the details of your submission: Template – main document

IMPORTANT. All the previous metadata (title, abstract, keywords, etc.), in addition to being included in the blind Word file, must be correctly loaded in the corresponding fields of the OJS platform when submitting online.

b. Other collaborations (not subject to peer review)

They must contain the requirements mentioned in sections (i) and (ii) above, and include the title page and main document in a single file.

II. Expected content and writing recommendations of academic articles

a. General structure

• The article must be organized in sections and subsections, identified with Arabic numbers, according to the decimal system, starting with the number 1 for the introduction and the last number for the conclusions.
• The titles of the sections must account for their content (for example: 1. Introduction; 2. Theoretical framework; 2.1. Main definitions; 2.2. Literature review; 3. Methodology; 4. Results; 5. Conclusions; References; Appendices).
• Except for the introduction and conclusions, the name and content of the central sections of the manuscripts may vary depending on the type of collaboration (reviews, letters to the editor, summaries of postgraduate thesis, etc.).

It is desirable that the introduction: reveals the importance of the work by identifying the gap in the field of knowledge; states the objective(s) and formulates the research question form; explains the approach or methodology; briefly exposes the main contributions and contributions; and defines the structure of the article.

In the development of the work, the contribution of the author must be clear. While the structure of the body of the paper depends on the type of collaboration, it should usually include:

• a background framework that can be theoretical (concepts-theories) and/or empirical (previous literature),
• a methodological strategy (approach, data collection procedures, description of the sample and variables),
• main results,
• discussions (contrast between concepts and theories with findings),
• final considerations (it is not a mere summary of the results, it should indicate contributions to the academy and the field, limitations and future lines of research),
• references (including seminal studies and recent background [past five years]),
• annexes/appendices (if applicable).

In addition to the sections common to all types of articles, some papers require additional specific sections, such as:

• a case study description (before results in single or multiple case study articles), or
• a search protocol (in systematic reviews of the literature).

b. Academic Writing Recommendations

1. Respect throughout the work the coherence in the size of the paragraphs. Ideally, each paragraph should be made up of at least three sentences: connection to the preceding paragraph, central idea/argument, and link to the subsequent paragraph. Given that syntax, single-sentence paragraphs should not be included.
2. Verify the consistency or proper use of the tenses, for which it is advisable to conjugate the verbs in the present.
3. Avoid repetitions, using synonyms and/or demonstrative pronouns, except in the case of specific/fundamental terms of the study that need to be repeated.
4. Numbers from 1 to 9 are written in letters, from 10 onwards in figures. For submissions in English, use comma as thousands separator and point for decimals.

III. Particular aspects of the papers

Primary Data

• In the case of research work involving the collection of non-synthetic primary data, authors must have the corresponding files available to demonstrate and verify the authenticity of the data collection process (e.g., Google Form link, Excel file with response downloads, partial interview transcriptions, etc.). These documents may be requested by the editorial committee and will be reviewed privately, ensuring their confidentiality.

Tables y figures

• They must be inserted in the corresponding place in the text (not at the end) in an editable format (they must not be inserted as an image). If they were created in other software (eg. Microsoft Excel or Power Point), the corresponding source file must also be attached separately. Use the name Figure to refer to the graphics and/or illustrations.
• Tables and figures must be numbered in order of appearance.
• The title of the tables and figures must be descriptive of their content, be placed at the top and aligned to the left. The word table and the number of the table are both in bold followed by a period with the name of the title below (without a period). Example: Table 1. Empirical background on informality
• The source of information for the figures and tables is indicated at the bottom with left alignment, with these variants as appropriate:

                 Source: the authors/own elaboration.

                 Source: adapted from Surname (20XX).

                 Source: Surname (20XX).

• The title, font and content of the tables and figures must be in Calibri font, size 10, with single spacing.
• Figures and tables must be referenced in the text indicating their number (eg. a nearby paragraph or sentence must refer to them). Avoid the use of "the following table", opt for "as observed in table 2". When the table or figure is mentioned in the text, it is written in lowercase (eg. table 1).

Equations

• They must be numbered in order of appearance. The equations are centered and the numbering of the equations must be indicated in the right margin, within parentheses. For example:

                                       αFund = Rfund – Rmarket       (Eq. 1)

• As far as possible, it is requested to write the equations in plain text with the same typography (Calibri size 10). For cases of quotients or complex expressions, the Microsoft Word equation editor (or similar) can be used.

Acronyms

• If initials or acronyms are used, they must be clarified between parentheses at the first mention in the text. Example: United Nations (UN).
• If the acronym is within a parenthetical citation, use square brackets. Example: (United Nations [UN], 2022).

Annexes or appendices

• If there is an annex or appendix, it must be located after the references. Appendix is complementary information prepared by the authors (eg: statistical tables, interview or questionnaire scripts, systematic review protocols). Annex is additional information not prepared by the authors, such as documentation downloaded from websites.
• If there are several appendices or annexes, they must appear as subsections ordered by the letters A, B, etc.
• The tables, figures and equations of the annexes or appendices must be numbered with the letter corresponding to the subsection, followed by consecutive Arabic numbers. For example: Table A.1. Research model, Table B.1. Study design, Table B.2. sample type, etc.

Explanatory notes

• They should be reduced to the minimum necessary and placed at the bottom of the page where the call is found, with the “Insert footnote” tool located in the References tab of the Microsoft Word processor.

Otther information

If the work is accepted for publication, during the style correction the authors will be asked to add information about:

• Declaration of conflicts of interest.
• Acknowledgments.
• Financing.
• Contribution of each author according to the Credit taxonomy (https://credit.niso.org/).

To learn more about the evaluation process, forms of plagiarism detection, copyright and open access policy, we invite you to read the information available in the drop-down menu About the journal.

IV. Citations and references

For citations and bibliographic references, the guidelines of the APA Standards (American Psychological Association) seventh edition must be respected. The main guidelines of such standards are transcribed below and Examples of the most common citations and references are shown. For more information and specific situations please consult: https://normas-apa.org

CITATIONS

In the writing of a scientific work or document, it should be made clear each time ideas or texts of others are used. APA style uses the author-date system for in-text citations.

Quotations can be narrative when the authors are the subject of the sentence and only the year is indicated in parentheses, or parenthetical when the generic idea is written and all the data in the citation remain in parentheses. Examples:

• narrative citation: Hernández-Sampieri and Torres (2018) indicate that there are three major approaches to research.
• parenthetical citation: There are three major approaches to research (Hernández-Sampieri and Torres, 2018).

In addition to these general criteria, the APA standards define different citation styles depending on the number of words, number of authors, etc.

• Direct or textual citations. If the citation has less than 40 words, the cited text is written between quotation marks without italics. If the citation exceeds that length, the text is written in a block, without quotation marks, on a separate line, with an indentation of 1.25 cm. In both cases, the author's last name, year and page number/s are entered in parentheses. The page must be indicated using the letter p. or pp. (if more than one).

Example of citations less than 40 words: "Private banks, mainly, are those that comply with good corporate governance practices" (Dutto et al., 2020, p. 30)

• Paraphrased citations. The author's surname and year of publication must be entered. It is recommended to provide the page number, although it is not mandatory as in direct citation.
• Paraphrased citations with multiple sources. All sources must be added, separated by semicolons. Sources should be sorted in ascending chronological order.

Example: (Pérez, 2007; Murcia et al., 2015; Aguirre and Arias, 2020)

• Citations with two authors. Whenever the work is cited, the names of the two authors are written. 

Example: (Aguirre and Arias, 2020)

• Citations of three or more authors.They are always cited (including the first time) using the word et al. (in round type) after the name of the first author, except that this generates ambiguity in which case the number of surnames necessary to distinguish the works is added. In the case of works with 3 authors, all 3 are cited.

Examples:    (Blanco et al., 2019).

               (Simaro, Tonelli, and Tesoro, 2012)

(Simaro, Tonelli, and Carús-Ribalaygua, 2012)     

• Citations from different works by the same author. They are organized by year of publication, placing press citations at the end. To cite works by the same author with the same publication date, add the suffixes a, b, c, etc., after the year (the suffixes are also assigned in the reference list).

Example: (Rodríguez, 2007a) o Rodríguez (2007b)

• Citations with a corporate author. The full name and acronym are indicated on the first appearance. In later citations only the acronym is mentioned.

Examples.

Parenthetical citation, first time: (World Health Organization [WHO], 2016). Subsequent citations: (WHO, 2016)

Narrative citation, first time: World Health Organization (WHO, 2016). Subsequent citations: WHO (2016)

Likewise, for compatibility between APA standards and the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), both for citations and references, the ECA Journal requires:

• use “and”” as a connector instead of the ampersand &;
• In the case of authors with a double Surname, add a hyphen between them. Example: (Fernández-González, 2010).

REFERENCES 

All the works cited in the main text or in the notes must be included at the end of the work, organized in alphabetical order by surname of the authors in the section titled “References”. Each source cited in the document must appear in the reference list. Works that have not been cited in the text should not be included in the reference list.

The reference list must have a hanging indent of 1.27 cm. The references of the most used types of sources are described below. If you need to reference another class of sources, consult in: https://normas-apa.org/.

• Journal 

Surname, A., Surname, B. and Surname, C. (year). Article Title. Journal, Volume(journal number), start page number - end page number. https://doi.org/xx.xxxxxxxxxx o URL.

If the journal is printed, omit the DOI or URL.

Example

Paunov, C. (2012). The global crisis and firms’ investments in innovation. Research policy, 41(1), 24-35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2011.07.007

Mandviwalla, M., & Flanagan, R. (2021). Small business digital transformation in the context of the pandemic. European Journal of Information Systems, 30(4), 359-375. https://doi.org/10.1080/0960085X.2021.1891004

• Book

Surname, N. and Surname, N. (Ed/Eds.) (year). Book title. Editorial. DOI o URL.

If the book is printed omit the DOI or URL. If the book has no publisher/s, omit the data (Ed./Eds.) before the year. If the book has an edition or volume number, enter them in parentheses, after the title.

Examples

Cahill, M. and Fitzpatrick, T. (2001), Environmental issues and social welfare, Blackwell.

Bhattacharyya, J., Dash, M. K., Hewege, C., Balaji, M. S., and Lim, W. M. (2021). Social and sustainability marketing: A casebook for reaching your socially responsible consumers through marketing science. CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003188186

• Book chapter

Surname, A. and Surname, B. (year). Chapter title. In N. Surname y B. Surname (Eds.), Book title (pp. xx-xx). Editorial. http://www.url.com

If the book chapter is printed omit the DOI or URL. If the book has no publisher/s, omit the data (Ed./Eds.) before the year.

Example

Schreier, M. (2013). Qualitative content analysis. In U. Flick (Ed.), The SAGE handbook of qualitative data analysis (170-183). Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446282243.n12.

• Web report

Surname, N. N. (year). Report title: Report subtitle (Report No. xxx). URL.

Example

European Commission (2020), COVID-19: the impact on undeclared work and key challenge. https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=1299&furtherNews=yes&newsId=9702

• Seminars, congresses, symposiums or conferences

Surname, C. and Surname, D. (day, month and year). Presentation title [description]. Name of the event. City, Country.

Describe the presentation in square brackets after the title. The description is flexible, for example: [Conference Session], [Paper Presentation], [Keynote Address], etc.

Example

Pedroni, F., Briozzo, A.; Pesce, G. (23 to 26 September 2021). Impact of COVID-19 crisis on informality in Argentina: a qualitative approach [conference paper]. 7th International Conference on the Shadow Economy, Tax Behaviour and Institutions (evento virtual). London, United Kingdom.

• Theses or dissertations

Surname, N. (year). Thesis title [PhD/Master's thesis, Name of the institution that granted the title].  http://www.url.com

If the thesis is not published, [PhD/Master's thesis not published] is detailed and the URL is omitted.

Example

Martínez Ribón, J. G. T. (2011). Methodology proposal for the implementation of the Lean philosophy (lean construction) in construction projects [Master's Thesis, National University of Colombia]. http://bdigital.unal.edu.co/10578/

• Websites
• Websites with static content

Surname, A., Surname, B., and Surname, C. (day, month and year). Website article title. Website name. https://url.com 

Example

Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura. (1 de octubre de 2018). Nuevos datos revelan que en el mundo uno de cada tres adolescentes sufre acoso escolar. https://es.unesco.org/news/nuevos-datos-revelan-que-mundo-cada-tres-adolescentes-sufre-acoso-escolar 

• Websites with frequent updates

In cases of web pages that have constant data updates, and there is no archived version, the recovery date must be added.

Surname, A., Surname, B., and Surname, C. (day, month and year). Website article title. Website name. Retrieved on day, month and year https://url.com 

Example

World Bank (2021). Argentina Overview. World Bank. Retrieved on July 20, 2021. https://www.bancomundial.org/es/country/argentina/overview

• Special format within a website

Surname, A. (day, month and year). File title [Excel file]. Website name. https://url.com 

Example

Guerrero, A. (2010). Mexican Air Force Day [Image]. Flickr. https://flic.kr/p/7C7HBy 

• Technical resolutions and quality standards

Organization that made the standard. (year). Standard title (standard number). https://www.url.com

Example

International Standards Organization. (2010). Social responsibility guide (ISO 26000). https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/store/sp/PUB100258_sp.pdf 

Citing National Legal Sources 

The APA Standards do not include specific guidelines for citing and referring to laws, treaties, or court decisions. This is because APA Legal Reference Examples come from The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, which is an authoritative source for legal citations and the primary style guide used by legal scholars and other professionals in the field.

A hybrid of APA style and Bluebook style is proposed, adapted to fit well into an APA style article and provide the unique information that will allow readers to find the referenced legal document.

• Political Constitution

Official name of the Constitution [abbreviation]. Specific article cited. Date of promulgation (Country).

Example

Political Constitution of Colombia [Const.]. Art. 6. July 7, 1991 (Colombia).

To cite: (Const., 1991, art. 6)

• Codes

Official title of the Code [abbreviation]. Number and year of the law to which it corresponds. Cited article(s). Date of promulgation (country).

Example

Criminal Procedure Code [CPP]. Law 906 of 2004. Arts. 15 to 20. August 31, 2004 (Colombia).

To cite: (CPP, 2004, art. 18)

• Laws that are not codes and decrees with the force of law

Number and year of the law or decree. Affair. Enactment date. Number in the Official Gazette (country).

To avoid confusion (for example, between provincial or national entities) the issuing body can be added after the year. It is not imperative, but the URL can also be indicated if the access was online.

Examples

Law 19550 of 1972. General Law of Companies. April 25, 1972. Official Bulletin No. 22409 (Argentina). https://servicios.infoleg.gob.ar/infolegInternet/anexos/texact.htm. 

To cite: (Law 19550, 1972, art. 2).

Decree 301 of 2021 [National Executive Power]. Competitiveness Law, Decree No. 380/2001, modification. May 8, 2021. Official Gazette No. 34651 (Argentina).

• Decrees / ordinances / agreements / resolutions

Number and year of the decree / ordinance / agreement / resolution [Entity that promulgated it and country]. Affair. Date of promulgation of the act. Entity that promulgated it.

Examples

Resolution 6577 of 2008 [Ministry of National Education, Argentina]. By which the parameters and procedures for setting the registration fee are established. September 29, 2008.

General Resolution 4290 of 2018 [Federal Administration of Public Revenues (AFIP), Argentina]. Billing regime and issuance of vouchers, tax procedure. August 3, 2018. Official Gazette No. 33925.

In the first citation: (General Resolution 4290 of the Federal Administration of Public Revenues [AFIP], 2018). In subsequent cites: (General Resolution 4290, AFIP, 2018).

• Jurisprudence

Court pronouncing the sentence. Room or section (if applicable). Judgment or process number.

Example

Supreme Court of Justice. Civil Cassation Room. Process 23471, M.P. Jose Maria Esguerra; March 21, 1977.