Manuscript Formatting Guidelines

Article formatting requirements

Short formatting check-list

As well as Russian- and English-language research articles, Economy of the Regions publishes reviews and editorials. By submitting the paper, the author warrants that the paper is an original work that has not been previously published in Russian or other languages. If the paper has already been published, the author must inform the Editorial Team about the previous publication and provide written consent of the copyright holder to republish the paper. If the manuscript was written by more than one author, filling the author contributions is needed.

  1. Mandatory Article Elements (Must be Included in the Manuscript File)

For Russian-Language Research Articles:

  • UDC index
  • JEL code
  • Russian metadata (title, abstract, keywords, acknowledgments)
  • English metadata (title, abstract, keywords, acknowledgments)
  • Text of the article in the IMRAD format (introduction, methods/model, results and discussion)
  • List of references in Cyrillic
  • List of references in Latin script

For English-Language Research Articles:

  • UDC index
  • JEL code
  • English metadata (title, abstract, keywords, acknowledgments)
  • Text of the article in the IMRAD format (introduction, methods / model, results and discussion)
  • List of references in Latin script

 

For Review Articles:

The same data should be submitted; however, the article structure may be different depending on the content and type of review.

  1. Manuscript Formatting

General Requirements. The length of the research article should be 17 – 23 typewritten pages (35 000 – 45 000 characters). The length of the review article should be 30 – 35 typewritten pages (60 000 – 70 000 characters). Before submitting the article, the author should check its spelling and formatting, taking one of the recent published papers as an example. Articles are accepted in *rtf or *docx formats. Page layout: 2.5 cm margins on all sides, single spacing, standard tab (1.27 cm), font Times New Roman 14 pt. Standard fonts and formatting should be used in both the text and its elements.

Article Structure. The article should be structured. Unstructured manuscripts are not accepted for consideration. For research articles, the IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion) format is preferred:

  • Introduction;
  • Theory;
  • Data and Methods;
  • Methods or Model;
  • Results;
  • Conclusions or Discussion and Implication.

While other types of structure can be used for review articles, the sections "Introduction", "Methods" and "Results" or "Conclusion" are required.

Information about the Authors. Before submitting the article, the author should make sure that the authors identity is hidden and the text does not contain information about the authors and/or any indirect references to them. This is necessary for blind peer review. The information about all authors should be sent in a separate file for the articles in Russian both in Russian and in English, for the articles in English only in English, like in the example:

Ivan I. Ivanov – Dr. Sci. (Econ.), Professor, Institute; Professor, University; Scopus Author ID: 00000000000; http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5612-3999 (0, Sovetskaya St.; 0, Lenina St., Moscow, Russian Federation, e-mail: ivanov@www.ru).

Piotr P. Petrov – Dr. Sci. (Geogr.), Professor, Institute; Scopus Author ID: 00000000000; http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5612-3999 (0, Lenina Ave., Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation, e-mail: petrov@www.ru).

Classification Codes. The available resources should be used for determining the classification code of the article:

UDC (https://teacode.com/online/udc/)

JEL (https://www.aeaweb.org/jel/guide/jel.php)

Title. The article title should include the main keywords, briefly describe the topic, research method and/or result, be concise (up to 20 words). It is not recommended to use a question mark, abbreviations, and common words.

Abstract. The abstract length should be 200-250 words. The abstract should include the following elements:

  • description of the context of the problem, the research gap, the reason for the author's interest in this particular topic;
  • purpose and goals of the research;
  • research methods, data, description of the sample, data selection criteria (as specific as possible);
  • results and conclusions (main part, approximately 40% of the abstract)
  • possible application of the results;
  • limitations/directions for future research.

Keywords. The minimum number of keywords is 6. They should be separated by commas, without a period at the end of the list. Keywords are words or phrases that help search engines determine the topic of an article and help the reader find it on the Internet.

English Metadata. The same requirements apply to the structure and content of English metadata as to Russian metadata (see above). When generating metadata, the author should not use machine translation tools as not to distort the meaning. A word-for-word translation of the metadata is not necessary, it should be clear and concise.

Acknowledgments. The section includes all sources of external funding influencing the results, as well as information on people who contributed to the study but was not an author.

Introduction. The introduction should outline the context of the problem and justify the need for research (research gap, a new phenomenon in the regional economy, a specific method of research and data interpretation). Then, the literature review on the topic should be presented. When describing the studies of other scientists, the author himself should formulates their main ideas, without repeating the text of the source verbatim (if possible). Otherwise, direct quotes (definitions, terms) should be put in quotation marks. At the end of the introduction, the author should formulate research questions and/or a hypothesis.

Methods. The methods should be described as concretely as possible. The section may include a description of data, methods of collecting, systemising and analysing information, a model, calculation formulas. It is necessary to describe only those methods that were actually applied in the research (you need to be sure that the exact method in question is used).

Results. The results should correspond to the research questions and goals. Illustrative material (tables, figures), calculations, models can be used. This section is the most important part of the article. It should indicate the scientific contribution of the paper to the research area and present completely new results that have not been previously published. It is advised to avoid borrowings (citations and quotations), even correctly formatted, in this part of the article.

Discussion, conclusion. The section(s) should include the author's conclusions based on the obtained results, interpretation of the results, description of the research limitations and directions for further research.

  1. Requirements for Materials in English

The translation from native languages should be made by professional translators or edited by proof-readers. Machine translations will be rejected. English-language papers should be written in accordance with the rules of punctuation, spelling and syntax.  Manuscripts that need to be substantially edited can be returned to the author.

  1. Tables

The article should contain not more than 8 tables. The table number should be aligned to the right and in italics; the table heading should be aligned to the centre and in bold. All tables should be numbered (consecutive numbering). The author should indicate the sources of the data given in the tables. All tables should be referenced in the text of the article.

  1. Figures

The paper should include not more than 8 figures. Figures should be duplicated in separate files in their original format (* jpeg, * jpg, * tiff, * xls), except for figures created in Microsoft Word. Since 2020, the Journal publishes coloured figures. All graphic objects should be visual and demonstrative (clear lines, readable text). Illustrations should be numbered and placed after they are first referred to in the text. The figure’s caption should be stated below the figure in italics. The figures should be created in a format that allows editing and configuration changes without further recourse to the author. The figures created by means of MS Word or Visio should be grouped together. The figures created by other means than MS Word should have *jpeg (*jpg), or *tiff extension, with a resolution not less than 72 dpi (screen resolution) and size of at least 1500×1500 (dots per inch), or 164 mm width and 300 dpi, the file size should be not less than 1 Mb. The author is responsible for the correct using of characters, formulas and figures. If the figure is not original the author’s obligation is to indicate the authorship. All figures, especially maps, should comply with the Russian law.

  1. Formulas. The numbers of formulas should be aligned to the right. The formulas should be editable and typed in MS Equation Editor or MathType. The automatic formula numbering and cross-references to the formulas or the reference list are unacceptable.
  2. Citation. All sources referred to by the author should be mentioned in the text of the article. When creating a list of references, the author should refer to works available to reviewers and readers. Self-citation (inclusion the authors' works in the list of references) is allowed (however, no more than 5% of all references). Whenever possible, original sources should be referenced.

Links to Internet sites, Internet sources (does not apply to articles of authorship, monographs, etc., posted on the Internet), legal documents (laws, regulations, acts, etc.), statistical collections, newspaper publications, study guides should be put in footnotes (not in the list of sources). It is accepted to refer to dissertations/theses if these texts are available to the reader. Unpublished sources should not be referenced. For all Internet sources, including in footnotes, the date of access should be indicated.

The journal uses the APA citation style (https://apastyle.apa.org/). In the text, after the in-text citation or paraphrasing of the source text, the author's surname is given in parentheses, followed by a comma and the year of publication of the work. For example:

Despite numerous insightful studies in this research field, the polycentric concept remains unclear both in theoretical and empirical ways while scant attention was paid to emerging economies (Krasnoselskaya, 2021).

If several works by this author published in the same year are mentioned in the list of references, the letter numbering should be introduced (after the year).
If it is necessary to refer to several works in one reference, the works should be separated by semicolons:
This line of thought concerning the results achieved could be broadened to cover low-, middle-, and high-centrality public services, similar to foreign studies (Rauhut & Komornicki, 2015; Milbert et. al, 2013).
At the same time, listing more than 4 authors in one in-text citation is undesirable, since it complicates perception (in this case, the author should use the “et.al” structure).
If the cited work does not have the author, the link should be provided as follows:
Advances in these technologies have created conditions for the development of integrated production systems (Integration Mechanisms ..., 2019).

References in Chinese are formatted similarly. If the Chinese source is published in Chinese or in English, then in the English-language article, references should be spelt in pinyin (Latin script), in the Russian-language article - in Cyrillic (in the Palladium system). The translation of materials provided in Chinese must be done by a professional translator. Examples:

Hu et al. (2023) examined the regional emission and GDP changes caused by implementing a carbon tax on the existing EPT basis.

Existing research mainly focuses on the macro effects of environmental protection tax and macro analysis of pollution (Ren et al., 2024), with less in-depth exploration of the differences between regions and their reasons.

  1. List of References in Latin Script

The list of references in Latin script should be formatted according to the APA standard (https://apastyle.apa.org/).

Journal Articles:

Author, N. N. (year of publication). Article title. Journal title, volume (issue), pages. DOI:

Examples:

Sanchiz, M., Chevalier, A. & Amadieu, F. (2017). How do older and young adults start searching for information? Impact of age, domain knowledge and problem complexity on the different steps of information searching. Computers in Human Behavior, 72, 67–78. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.02.038

Akberdina, V. V. & Romanova, O. A. (2021). Regional Industrial Development: Review of Approaches to Regulation and Determining of Priorities. Ekonomika regiona [Economy of region], 17(3), 714-736. (In Russ.) (For works written in a language other than English)

Books:

Author, N. N. (year of publication). Book title. (Edition). Place of publication: publisher, total number of pages.

Examples:  

Monasturny, E. A. (2006). Innovatsionnyy klaster [Innovative cluster]. Moscow: Nauka, 267. (In Russ.) (For works written in a language other than English)

Duncan, G. J. & Brooks-Gunn, J. (Eds.). (1997). Consequences of growing up poor. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation, 350.

Book chapter:

Author, N. N. & Author, A. A. (year of publication). Chapter title. In: A. A. Editor, B. B. Editor (Eds.), Book Title (Chapter Pages). Place of publication, publisher.

Example:

Cuban, L. (1991). Curriculum stability and change. In: P. W. Jackson (Ed.), Handbook of research on curriculum (pp. 216-247). NY: Macmillan.

Electronic sources:

Author, A. A. & Author, B. B. (year of publication). Article title. Title of Online Periodical, volume number (issue number if available). Retrieved from: http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/ (Date of access: dd.mm.yyyy)

Example:

Kagermann, H., Wahlster, W. & Helbig, J. (2018).  Recommendations for implementing the strategic initiative INDUSTRIE 4.0. Final report of the INDUSTRIE 4.0 working group.  National Academy of Science and Engineering. Frankfurt: ACATECH. Retrieved from: https://en.acatech.de/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2018/03/Final_report__Industrie_4.0_accessible.pdf (Date of access: 18.04.2021). 

  1. References in Chinese

In the reference list, the Chinese references should be transliterated in pinyin (Latin script), and should contain the translation in English in square brackets. At the end of the reference the language of the publication should be indicated if it is not English (in Chinese).

Examples:

Jinping X. (2013). Fayang ding dingzi jingshen, yi zhang haode lantu yi gan daodi (2013 nian 2 yue 28 ri) [To uphold the “driving in nails” mindset, to follow the blueprint to the end (February 28, 2013)]. In Xi Jinping tan zhiguo lizheng [Xi Jinping: The Governance of China]. Beijing: Waiwen chubanshe [Foreign Languages Press], 2014, 399–400. (In Chinese)

Zhang X. (2022). Xi Jinping jingji sixiang de shidai beijing, hexin zhuzhi he fengfu neihan [Historical background, core purpose and rich connotation of Xi Jinping’s economic thought]. Jingjixue dongtai [Economic Perspectives], 10, 3–7. (In Chinese)

If these formatting requirements are not met, the manuscript can be returned to the author for revision.