Author Guidelines
Guidelines for authors
1. Basic rules
Submission to this journal proceeds totally online.
Authors are welcome to send their manuscripts in English.
Use the template provided for proper page and text layout.
Compliance with the Author Guidelines will greatly speed up the time of publication. If the manuscript significantly differs from the Author Guidelines, it will not be published.
2. Facilities
In order to support the authors in preparing their manuscript:
- one provides a Word file with the preset styles (which can be activated as shown in the figure) and a Template Word that can be used for proper editing settings;
- one recommends the use of programs such as Endnote, Procite, Refworks, Zotero, Mendeley for the automatic management of References.
3. Article organization
The paper must contain the following elements in order:
- Title.
- Abstract (in English, about 300 words, max 1000 characters, spaces included) according to the scheme shown in the file (purpose, design/methodology/approach, findings, practical and social implication, originality of the study).
- Keywords (a minimum of three and a maximum of six).
- Text article.
- References.
References must be placed at the end of the text. They should be listed in alphabetical order and, for authors with multiple references, ordered chronologically. References must be formatted according to the APA style. The inclusion of the DOI (digital object identifier) is required. It goes at the end of your reference, no period at the end. DOI must always be presented as a hyperlink in this format: https://doi.org/xxxxxx
The paper must not exceed a total of 22 pages.
Information related to the paragraphs attribution and "Acknowledgments" can be added only after the acceptance of the paper. They must be placed before the references.
4. File format
The file must be uploaded to the Journal's website in .doc or .docx format. Other formats must be agreed with the Managing Editor.
5. Page format and Margins
In drafting the manuscript, consider an A4 page (cm 21x29.7) with the following margins:
- Higher: 5.05
- Lower: 5.05
- Right: 4.15
- Left: 4.15
6. Font or text style settings
Title ARIAL, 12pt, CAPS, bold, centered alignment
Arial subtitle, 12pt, italic, bold, justified alignment
Sub-subtitle: Arial, 12pt, italic, regula, justified alignment
Body of the Text: Arial, 12pt, regular, justified alignment
Footnotes: Arial, 10pt, regular, justified alignment
Abstract: Arial, 10pt, regular, justified alignment
References: Arial, 10pt, regular, justified alignment
Captions: Arial, 8pt, italics, justified alignment
Source: Arial, 8pt, italics, justified alignment
Table text: Arial, 8pt, regular, justified alignment
7. Other indications of characters or styles of the text
The body of the text must be justified, and set with "Return" 0, "First line" and "Return" 0.5.
All styles must have a single line spacing.
Always enter the automatic hyphenation of the text.
Never leave a white line between one paragraph and another.
In the article the underlined must not be used.
Bold must not be used in the body of the text.
The numerical values (percentages, averages, significance,) with decimal values must be inserted with the initial zero followed by the point and not the comma (Ex .: p. = 0.08; average 0.45 or 0.98%). A value like 0,5 will be considered incorrect.
Footnotes should be used only for comments, in-depth analysis, further reflections and not for simple bibliographical references.
To insert references to tables and / or figures in the text, it is a good idea to use only the label and caption number (Ex .: as shown in Tab.1)
The white spaces at the beginning of the page and double space between words must be absolutely checked and eliminated.
Attention to widows, that is when only lines remain at the end of a page, and to orphan lines, that is when only lines remain at the beginning of a new page. To keep this aspect under control in Word you can follow the following path: "View Paragraph tab" -> "Distribution of the text" -> Insert the check on "Check isolated lines". This setting is valid for all text characters.
Quotations of definitions or parts of other works and the verbatim of the interviews must be placed in high quotation marks "" and in this case the underlined style may be used for the text (Ex .: Lagerfield said: "we must ...").
Italics should be used in the articles for uncommon English words and words in Latin.
8. Numbering of titles, captions, sources and number of pages
The first level subtitles or paragraph titles must be numbered progressively. The first level numbering will be identified with a single number (Ex: 1., 2., etc.) and will have a "Return" 0, "Protruding" and "Return" of 0.5
Second level subtitles or sub-titles of paragraphs must be numbered progressively. Second level numbering will be identified with two numbers (Ex: 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, etc.) and will have "Return" 0, "Protruding" and " Return to "0.5
Any subsequent subtitles must be numbered progressively and will be identified with an increasing number of characters depending on the level (Ex: 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3, etc.). These must be set with "Return" 0 "Protruding" and "Re-enter" 0.5
The captions must have a progressive numbering, but distinct for figures and tables. Ex: Tab.1; Tab.2 or Fig.1; Fig.2.
The captions must be set with "Return" of 0.
The source in the data or image tables must be set with "Return" of 0.
The footnotes must have a justified alignment and a progressive numbering. Ex: 1; 2; 3; etc.
The pages must be numbered progressively, with the number in the center, Font Arial, 10pt.
9. Submission Preparation Checklist
As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items (submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines):
- The submission has not been previously published, nor proposed to another journal (or an explanation is provided to the editor in the comments).
- The submission file is in Microsoft Word format.
- The text respects the stylistic and bibliographic requirements summarized in the Author Guidelines, which appear in the information page of the journal.
- Authors making a submission to a peer-reviewed section of the journal should follow the instructions on How to Ensure a Blind Review (Please check Amount although it is NOT VALID for the submission of articles intended for the "Observatory on Small Business " section).
- NB: any changes made in the manuscript - throughout the peer review process - in relation to authors' name, authors' order, authors' affiliation, title, abstract, keywords and references must be filled in by the corresponding author in the relevant fields on the platform.
10. How to Ensure a Blind Review
The main body of the paper should not include any identifying information, such as the authors' names or affiliations.
Do not include acknowledgments.
Remove any identifying information, including author names, from file names and ensure document properties are also anonymized.
11. Plagiarism
Submit someone else's work or part of text as your own or submit your own already published work represent plagiarism and unethical conduct contrary to our policies.
To avoid plagiarism, the manuscript you submit to Piccola Impresa/Small Business should be original, based on your own research, conveyed in your own words and must clearly state appropriate attribution about another person's work when used in the text.
Before submitting your paper, we would recommend you check that your manuscript does not contain any form of plagiarism, self-plagiarism or text recycling. The editorial board has access to plagiarism detection services as well as our reviewers. Manuscripts that do not comply with these guidelines will be immediately rejected.
If a short version of the paper has been published in conference proceedings or other publication that has been assigned an ISSN or ISBN, then we would expect the manuscript to be widely developed before submission to Piccola Impresa/Small Business. Specifically, authors are expected to change title and abstract and develop the final version of the manuscript by at least 50%. You will also need to inform the editor – using the cover letter – of the existing conference paper or other publication and provide the details of the previous publication.
