International Journal of Human Resource Development: Practice, Policy and Research

Open Access Statement

The journal is an Open Access journal that allows a free unlimited access to all its contents without any restrictions upon publication to all users.

Instructions for Authors

We adopt Your Paper Your Way (YPYW). YPYW is an easier submission process, focusing on the quality of the manuscript the initial stages of submission and only requiring elements needed for eventual production at the revision stage. When papers are rejected, this easier submission process saves authors time and effort and in addition, may help them achieve faster publication speeds. However when papers are accepted, authors are asked to adopt the APA style. While we adopt YPYW, authors nonetheless may find the following helpful:

• Articles must include an abstract of no more than 200 words (not included in the word count). The abstract must be written in plain English and written in a way that is understandable to academic and non-academic readers alike.
• Footnotes and endnotes are discouraged and should only be used to provide additional explanatory information when deemed necessary.
• Author details: names, organisation address, and emails should be includes in a separate word document accompanying the submitted article. This should also include a short biographical statement to include author current job title or role (or one previous title), and type of articles (e.g. conceptual paper, research).
• Manuscripts will use a sans serif font e.g. Arial, font size 11.
• Margins should be set as ‘normal’ for A4 paper – (2.54 cm top, bottom, right, left margins).
• Title and main headings should be sentence case in bold e.g. The University as a learning organisation? A case study of the Middle East University.
• Sub-headings should be sentence case in italics: Flattening the Organisational Structure.
• A lower level of sub-sub headings should be used sparingly.
• In text citations and references should use Quotations of less than 20 words should be put in the text with single quotation marks. Quotes of more than 20 words should be indented and delineated by a space at top and bottom, but without quotation marks.
• Where figures/tables are reproductions/non-original content permissions must be granted from the copyright holder before final publication.
• Caption headings for tables should be placed above the table, and should be labelled sequentially e.g. Table 1, Table 2 etc. Tables should be in word format and placed in the text where first cited.
• Caption headings for figures, should be placed below the figure, and labelled sequentially e.g. Fig. 1; Fig. 2 etc. Figures should be placed in text where first cited.
• Check all references – accuracy, format, before submission.
• For re-submissions following initial review, please supply a marked copy and clean copy of your manuscript and a point by point response to the reviewer/editor comments
• Manuscripts should be submitted in MS word format via: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ijhrdppr.

Peer review process

The editor-in-charge distributes the article to two reviewers anonymizing the identity of the author(s). The two reviewers submit their comments independently to the editor-in-charge, who makes the final decision i.e. accept, revise and resubmit, or reject.

Editorial Policy

Copyright Statement
The International Journal of HRD Practice, Policy & Research is a publication of the European Association of People Management (EAPM), the University Forum for Human Resource Development (UFHRD) and the World Federation of People Management Associations (WFPMA). It is published under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial (CC-BY-NC) License. This permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
Copyright on any research article published by the IJHRDPPR is retained by the author(s). Authors grant EAPM, UFHRD and WFPMA a license to publish the article and identify itself as the original publisher. Authors also grant any third party the right to use the article freely as long as its integrity is maintained and its original authors, citation details and publisher are identified.

Publishing Ethics Statement
The Journal’s Editorial Board is fully committed to ethical publication practice. The Journal supports and endorses the Committee Of Publication Ethics guidelines on ethical publishing.

Originality and Copyright
As referenced above the Journal publishes content under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial (CC-BY-NC) License. This permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. IJHRDPPR requires that all authors sign a Journal Article Record form in accordance with the Creative Commons Licence (CC-BY-NC). If elements of a contribution have been previously published in another publication, the author is required to acknowledge the earlier work and indicate how the subsequent work differs and builds upon the research and conclusions contained in the previous work.

Plagiarism
Plagiarism is considered bad practice and unethical. This could include:

• Verbatim copying of more than 10% (or a significant passage or section of text) of another person’s work without acknowledgement, references or the use of quotation marks.
• Improper paraphrasing of another person’s work is where more than one sentence within a paragraph or section of text has been changed or sentences have been rearranged without appropriate attribution. Significant improper paraphrasing (more than 10% of a work) without appropriate attribution is treated as seriously as verbatim copying.
• Re-use of elements of another person’s work, for example a figure, table or paragraph without acknowledgement, references or the use of quotation marks. It is incumbent on the author to obtain the necessary permission to reuse elements of another person’s work from the copyright holde
• Exceptions may be made where an original piece of work received limited or very different circulation. The original work must be fully and correctly attributed and permission from the appropriate copyright holder obtained.

Coercive Citation
During the peer review process, authors be may directed by reviewers to papers which further develop and improve the author’s ideas. However, the Journal will not practice ‘coercive citation’ (i.e. where a reference is included as a condition of acceptance).

Defamation/libel
The Journal regards inaccurate, unsubstantiated or emotive statements which are made about organizations or people in a submitted paper as bad practice and unethical. The Journal reserves the right to request changes to the text from the author or to reject the paper prior to publication. The Journal recommends all authors of case studies to inform the subject (person or organization) and to seek permission. If the Journal considers that the study could be potentially libellous, we will require written proof of consent before placing the paper into the production process.

Fabricated data
Fabricated data is bad practice and unethical. Should the Journal discover or suspect fabricated data in any submission it will require resolution of the issue before proceeding with publication. (See also Disputes / Grievance Procedures).

Conflicts of Interest
A conflict of interest may not invalidate a manuscript or a decision, but it should be declared so that suitable action can be taken. Authors are required to declare any conflict of interest when they submit their manuscript. This allows the Editors and reviewers to make an informed judgement of the work. The conflict should also be published with the article so that readers can also make informed judgements of the reporting.
Reviewers are required to declare a conflict of interest when they are asked to review an article – the Editor can then judge whether they are suitable to review the article or not.

Dispute and Grievances

• The following Grievance Procedure outlines the process for addressing grievances by authors whose articles or other submissions are rejected for publication.
• The grievance must be submitted in writing to the Editor in Chief of the journal within fourteen days following a submission being rejected for publication.
• The grievance will be acknowledged with 10 days of receipt and aimed to be resolved within 30 days.
• The grievance will be considered by the Editor-in-Chief and two members of the Editorial Board and a consensus decision reached.
• The decision will be in writing and will be final.