Authors' Guidelines
Submission
AFJ welcomes original manuscripts in Bulgarian or English that fall within the journal's aims and scope.
Manuscripts should be submitted electronically to the Editorial Office in accordance with the submission instructions published below.
Manuscripts should be submitted in an editable Microsoft Word format and prepared according to the journal's Article Template.
E-mail: afj@uzf.bg
Originality
By submitting a manuscript, authors confirm that:
- the manuscript is original;
- it has not been published previously;
- it is not under consideration by another journal;
- it will not be submitted elsewhere while under consideration by JIF;
- all authors have approved the submitted version and agree to its submission.
Submitted manuscripts may be screened for plagiarism, duplicate publication, text recycling and other forms of inappropriate text reuse.
Manuscript Length and Format
Manuscripts should normally contain between 18,000 and 54,000 characters including spaces, including the abstract and references, and must comply with the Article Template.
Manuscript Structure
Research articles should normally include the following sections:
- Introduction
- Literature Review
- Materials and Methods
- Results
- Discussion
- Conclusion
The structure may be adapted where justified by the nature of the research.
The Article Template provides detailed guidance concerning the expected content of each section.
Title, Abstract and Keywords
The manuscript should include:
- a clear and concise title;
- author name(s);
- institutional affiliation(s);
- e-mail address(es);
- an Bulgarian/English-language abstract of no more than 200 words;
- 3-5 keywords;
- up to three JEL classification codes, where applicable.
The abstract should be self-contained and should briefly communicate the purpose or research question, relevant theoretical or research context, methodology and data where appropriate, principal findings, and main conclusions or implications. It should not contain citations, footnotes, tables, figures or undefined abbreviations.
References
References must follow APA Style, 7th edition.
References should be arranged alphabetically. Where a DOI is available, it should be included.
The detailed reference requirements and examples are provided in the Article Template.
Research Integrity and Ethical Requirements
Authors are responsible for the originality, accuracy and integrity of their work.
Authors must properly acknowledge sources, comply with authorship requirements, disclose relevant conflicts of interest and provide information concerning funding and data availability where applicable.
The journal follows the principles and guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Peer Review
Research manuscripts that pass the initial editorial assessment are normally sent to at least two independent reviewers.
AFJ operates a double-anonymous peer review process. Reviews should normally be completed within 14 days, with an overall target of approximately four weeks for the editorial and peer-review process.
Funding
Authors must disclose all sources of financial support for the research or publication and provide a Funding Statement in the manuscript.
Data Availability
Authors should provide a Data Availability Statement describing how the data supporting the research can be accessed, subject to applicable legal, ethical and confidentiality restrictions.
Conflict of Interest
Authors must disclose any actual, potential or perceived conflict of interest.
Use of Generative AI
Authors must disclose any use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the preparation of the manuscript. Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies must not be listed as authors or co-authors. Authors remain fully responsible for the content, originality, accuracy and integrity of their work.