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Business Information Review

Business Information Review


eISSN: 17416450 | ISSN: 02663821 | Current volume: 41 | Current issue: 1 Frequency: Quarterly

Read the Business Information Review blog!

Follow BIR on Twitter @BIR Journal

BIR Best Paper Prize!
Launched in 2012, this prize is awarded to the author of the best paper annually, and judged by the editors and editorial board. The prize winner receives £100 plus £100 worth of SAGE books, as well as social media promotion of their article. Please submit an article to Business Information Review for your opportunity to win the best author prize this year. The editors welcome submissions and their contact details are provided in the manuscript submission guidelines on this website.

Business Information Review is the only journal devoted entirely to the practice of business information provision. Its content is especially tailored to the needs of business information professionals - whether information managers, librarians, knowledge managers, researchers, analysts, consultants, print or electronic publishers. Its readers are to be found in the corporate sector, in government agencies and other public institutions, in private consultancy, and in universities and business schools.

This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Business Information Review is available on SAGE Journals Online.

Business Information Review is concerned with information provision and management within organizations.

To be successful organizations need to gain maximum value from exploiting relevant information and knowledge. BIR deals with information strategies and operational good practice across the range of activities required to deliver this information dividend. BIR also aims to highlight developments in the economic, social and technological landscapes that will impact the way organizations operate and which will affect their information needs.

BIR content is written by information professionals, content, technology and service suppliers, academics and researchers and leading thinkers from within and outside the information world.

BIR also provides insights into the factors that contribute to individual professional success.

Whilst many business information professionals and librarians are still involved with published information - its supply to the desktop, skills for users, research and analysis services - the range of professional activities has expanded. Responsibilities can range from knowledge management through information risk and security, and much more engagement with IT including the development and use of social media. BIR provides valuable insights across the full range of organizational information activities whilst retaining a keen interest in business information resources.

BIR's international readership and authorship covers the corporate sector, consultancies and law firms, publishers and information providers, government and other public institutions, academia and the third sector.

Co-Editors
Claire Laybats Freelance Consultant, UK
Luke Tredinnick London Metropolitan University, UK
Editorial Board
Lateef Ayinde Florida State University, USA
Stephanie Barnes Entelechy
Denise Carter  
Stephen Dale Consultant, UK
Hal Kirkwood University of Oxford, UK
Stephen Phillips SmartIM Ltd, UK
Arthur Weiss Consultant, UK
  • Abi/inform
  • Anbar Electronic Intelligence
  • Business Source Corporate
  • Corporate ResourceNET
  • Current Contents / Social and Behavioral Sciences
  • Inspec
  • Institute of Management International Database
  • Library Information Science Abstracts
  • OCLC Public Affairs Information Service
  • PAIS Bulletin
  • SciVal
  • Scopus
  • Business Information Review is hosted on ScholarOne™ Manuscripts, a web based online submission and peer review system Sage Track. Please read the Manuscript Submission guidelines below, and then simply visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/bir to login and submit your article online.

    IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is possible that you will have had an account created.

    This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics

    Please read the guidelines below. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.

    Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Business Information Review will be reviewed.

    There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.

    As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere. Please see our guidelines on prior publication and note that Business Information Review may accept submissions of papers that have been posted on pre-print servers; please alert the Editorial Office when submitting (contact details are at the end of these guidelines) and include the DOI for the preprint in the designated field in the manuscript submission system. Authors should not post an updated version of their paper on the preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in the journal. If the article is accepted for publication, the author may re-use their work according to the journal's author archiving policy.
    If your paper is accepted, you must include a link on your preprint to the final version of your paper.

    If you have any questions about publishing with Sage, please visit the Sage Journal Solutions Portal

    1. What do we publish?
      1.1 Aims & Scope
      1.2 Article types
      1.3 Writing your paper
    2. Editorial policies
      2.1 Peer review policy
      2.2 Authorship
      2.3 Acknowledgements
      2.4 Funding
      2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
      2.6 Research Data
    3. Publishing policies
      3.1 Publication ethics
      3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
      3.3 Open access and author archiving
    4. Preparing your manuscript
      4.1 Formatting
      4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
      4.3 Supplemental material
      4.4 Reference style
      4.5 English language editing services
    5. Submitting your manuscript
      5.1 ORCID
      5.2 Information required for completing your submission
      5.3 Permissions
    6. On acceptance and publication
      6.1 Sage Production
      6.2 Online First publication
      6.3 Access to your published article
      6.4 Promoting your article
    7. Further information

     

    1. What do we publish?

    1.1 Aims & Scope

    Before submitting your manuscript to Business Information Review, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.

    1.2 Article Types

    Business Information Review publishes the following kinds of content:

    Research articles: we publish research articles of relevance to business information professionals (whether a librarian, information or knowledge manager, intermediary, publisher or information provider). These are generally 3000 – 5000 words long.

    Professional articles: we publish professional articles that address topics that are relevant to the aims of the journal from the perspective of professional practitioners. These may be case studies of particular projects or initiatives, discussion pieces dealing with debates or controversies, frameworks for professional practices based on professional experience, or articles that update out readership of changing contexts of practice. Professional articles are generally between 3000 – 5000 words in length.

    Opinion articles: we publish opinion pieces that address matters of current controversy or debate in the information and knowledge management profession, particularly with reference to commercial contexts. Opinion articles are generally 1000 – 2000 words in length but may be shorter or longer by agreement.

    Out-of-the-Box articles: Out-of-the-box articles address changing information technologies, and take a forward-looking perspective on their potential impact on the information profession. They are in one sense opinion pieces, but informed by emerging technological trends in the information profession. Out-of-the-Box articles are intended to be on the cutting edge of technological adoption, and should both explain an emerging technology for a lay audience and also show its practical relevance for the information and knowledge management profession.

    Initiatives articles: Initiatives articles address changing contexts of professional practice (excluding technological developments which fall under Out-of-the-Box articles above). They are in one sense opinion pieces, but informed by emerging high-level trends in the development of the information and knowledge management professions. Initiatives articles are intended to be on the cutting edge of professional development, and should both explain and emerging trend or resource for a lay audience, and show its practical relevance for information and knowledge management practitioners.

    1.3 Writing your paper

    The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.

    1.3.1 Make your article discoverable

    When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.

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    2. Editorial policies

    2.1 Peer review policy

    A proposal for an article is all that is necessary in the first instance, outlining the proposed structure and argument of the contribution, and including an estimate of its length. Completed articles may be submitted for consideration, but the editors may require changes before agreeing to publish. All proposals and articles are reviewed by the Editors.  Some articles and proposals may be reviewed by editorial advisory board members or by other relevant experts if appropriate.

    2.2 Authorship

    All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.

    Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.

    2.3 Acknowledgements

    All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.

    Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.

    2.3.1 Third party submissions

    Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:

    •    Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input 
    •    Identify any entities that paid for this assistance 
    •    Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.

    Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.

    2.4 Funding

    Business Information Review requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading.  Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

    2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

    Business Information Review encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.

    2.5 Research Data

    The journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.

    Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:

    • share your research data in a relevant public data repository
    • include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, we encourage you to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared.
    • cite this data in your research 

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    3. Publishing Policies

    3.1 Publication ethics

    Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.

    3.1.1 Plagiarism

    Business Information Review and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

    3.1.2 Prior publication

    If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.

    3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement

    Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway.

    3.3 Open access and author archiving

    Business Information Review offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.

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    4. Preparing your manuscript for submission

    4.1 Formatting

    The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.

    4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics

    For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines. 

    Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.

    4.3 Supplemental material

    The journal does not currently accept supplementary files.

    4.4 Reference style

    Business Information Review adheres to the Sage Harvard reference style. View the Sage Harvard guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

    If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Harvard EndNote output file.

    4.5 English language editing services

    Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.

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    5. Submitting your manuscript

    Business Information Review is hosted on ScholarOne™ Manuscripts, a web based online submission and peer review system Sage Track. Please read the Manuscript Submission guidelines below, and then simply visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/bir to login and submit your article online.

    IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is possible that you will have had an account created.

    5.1 ORCID

    As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized. 
    We encourage all authors and co-authors to link their ORCIDs to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. We collect ORCID IDs during the manuscript submission process and your ORCID ID then becomes part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID ID is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.
    If you do not already have an ORCID ID please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.

    5.2 Information required for completing your submission

    You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

    5.3 Permissions

    Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.

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    6. On acceptance and publication

    6.1 Sage Production

    Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be sent by PDF to the corresponding author via our editing portal Sage Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly.  Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate. 

    6.2 Online First publication

    Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.

    6.3 Access to your published article

    Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

    6.4 Promoting your article

    Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.

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    7. Further information

    Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Business Information Review editorial office as follows:

    Claire Laybats and Luke Tredinnick
    Email: businessinformationreviewj@gmail.com

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