REQUIREMENTS FOR FORMATTING AND THE PROCEDURE FOR SUBMITTING ARTICLE ELEMENTS

 

1. Technical requirements. The article must be submitted in Microsoft Word text editor format. Article language: Ukrainian, English. Page format – A4, margins – top – 2 cm, left and right – 2 cm each, bottom – 2 cm. The entire text of the article: font size – 10, font type – Times New Roman, line spacing – 1. Paragraph indentation – 0.5 cm. Text alignment – justified, page numbering is not used. Bold and italics, templates and styles, hyperlinks and automation elements are not allowed.
Article design template.

 

2. Stylistic consistency

  • It is necessary to follow the rule of minimal changes in font and stylistic formatting of the page in order to avoid layout heterogeneity and maintain a unified journal style.
  • Ending a page with one or more empty lines is not allowed, except for the beginning of a paragraph and the end of the article.
    Starting a page with an incomplete line is not allowed (hyphenation in the last line is prohibited).
  • Illustrations must be prepared and scaled in such a way that the size of letters in the illustrations does not exceed the size of letters in the main text of the article; illustrations must also be placed strictly within the printable area of the page in portrait orientation.
  • Underlining in headings, captions, and labels is not allowed.
  • The use of footnotes and manual word hyphenation is not allowed.
  • In any list of items formatted as a list, a dash is used for each item.
  • The unit of measurement for numerical values is written with a fixed space after the number (example: 5 mm, 100%).
  • Variables in formulas and their indices appearing in the text should be formatted as follows: Latin – italics; Ukrainian – regular; Greek – regular and entered from the keyboard or symbols from the “Insert” menu; inserting them as an Equation object is recommended only if the variable has a double or larger index.
  • Functions appearing in the text, such as sin, cos, tg, ln, lg, min, max, const, etc., as well as Arabic and Roman numerals, should be in regular style.
  • Letter spacing expansion or compression within a line is not allowed.

3. Article length – from 5 to 20 pages (from 11,000 characters with spaces, excluding abstracts, summaries, and references).

4. Metadata.

  • In the upper left corner of the page, the following should be printed:
    – UDC number. UDC index (instructions),
    – JEL Classification (instructions),
    FOR EACH AUTHOR:
    – Author’s name and surname, academic degree, academic title, place of work,
    – E-mail,
    – Author’s ORCID identifier.
    – ROR identifier of the author’s place of work (if available).
  • Article title.
  • Short abstract (750–820 characters with spaces) and keywords in Ukrainian and English.
  • Keywords – 7–9 words.
  • Text. It must include the following structured elements:
    – problem statement and its connection with important scientific and practical tasks;
    – analysis of recent publications on the problem;
    – identification of previously unresolved parts of the general problem;
    – formulation of research objectives (task setting);
    – materials and methods;
    – presentation of main results and their justification;
    – conclusions and prospects for further research.
  • Illustrations must be original drawings or photographs, placed in appropriate parts of the article text (after the first mention) and have consecutive numbering (Fig. 1, Fig. 2,…). Arabic numbering should be used. The caption is placed below the figure. All graphical components of a figure created using the built-in Microsoft Word graphic editor must be grouped using the “Group” function. Font in figure captions – Times New Roman. Font size in figure captions – no more than 10 pt. Line spacing in figure captions – single.
  • Tables are placed in appropriate parts of the article text (after the first mention) and must have consecutive numbering (Table 1, Table 2,…). If there is only one table in the text, numbering is not required. The table is framed with lines of equal thickness (0.75 pt). The table caption is placed above the table. Table alignment – centered. Font in tables – Times New Roman. Font size in table text – 9 pt. Line spacing in table text – single. Each table and illustration must include a source below. For example: (Source: Own elaboration).
  • Formulas are created using the formula editor built into Microsoft Word (e.g., Equation 3), with continuous numbering on the right margin. Arabic numbering should be used ((1), (2)…). The formula is placed in a table with two columns and one row. The first column contains the formula, the second contains the numbering. Formula alignment – centered, numbering alignment – right-aligned. Only formulas referenced in the article text are numbered. The explanation of variables in a formula is formatted as a list, each variable on a new line. Before the first variable, the word “where” is written and followed by a tab. A dash is placed between the variable and its explanation.
  • Abstract in English – from 1800 to 3000 characters. The abstract is a brief description of the article and may be published independently, separate from the main text; therefore, it must be understandable without referring to the article itself. The abstract is prepared for international abstracting databases and analytical systems and serves as the main source of information in information systems and databases indexing the journal, as well as in search engines. It should consist of a brief repetition of the article structure, including introduction, purpose and objectives, methods, results, and conclusion.
  • References. References are formatted in English according to the APA 7th standard. Detailed instructions: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
    The recommended number of sources for a review article is from 15 to 50, and for an analytical article – from 10 to 20. Each citation must be accompanied by a reference to the original source.

 

Best Practices

 

Recommended Structure of a Scientific Article:

  • Introduction (problem statement, relevance, connection with important scientific and practical tasks, literature review)
  • Aim and objectives
  • Research methodology
  • Presentation of main results and their justification
  • Conclusions and prospects for further research
  • References

Introduction

The introduction is the foundation of a scientific article and simultaneously performs several tasks: it explains why the topic is important, outlines the current state of research, identifies the novelty of the work, and formulates its objectives. Simply claiming relevance and novelty is insufficient — they must be demonstrated. The tool for such justification is a critical analysis of at least 15–20 scientific publications from the last 3–5 years published in international peer-reviewed journals. Preference should be given to sources indexed in Scopus and Web of Science from leading publishers — Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, Taylor & Francis, IEEE, MDPI, SAGE Publications. The introduction should convincingly demonstrate that the international scientific community is actively researching the addressed topic. It is mandatory to analyze what has already been studied and which questions remain unsolved. It is precisely the identified gaps that form the basis for substantiating scientific novelty — the new work is presented as a response to these unresolved problems. The introduction concludes with a clear formulation of the aim and objectives of the research. They should not merely be declared but should logically follow from the literature review and be aimed at filling the identified gaps.

Research Methodology

This section describes the general algorithm for solving the problem without reference to specific numerical data. The reader should clearly understand: what the initial material was, how the complex problem was divided into stages, what operations were performed, and how the final result was obtained. In essence, the methodology reflects the research design — a coherent and logically consistent system of decisions regarding what was studied, how, and under what conditions. It includes the selection of the object, formulation of hypotheses, choice of methods, procedures for data collection and analysis, and approaches to result validation. Transparency and internal consistency of these elements ensure scientific reliability and reproducibility. Any other researcher should be able to reproduce the study relying solely on the methodology, without referring to other parts of the article. Only then can the results be considered scientifically valid.

Presentation of Main Results and Their Justification

This section presents only the factual data obtained during the research. Each result must be described in sufficient detail so that the reader understands how it was obtained and how it relates to the research questions posed at the beginning. The order of presentation should follow the logic of the methodology section. Tables, graphs, and diagrams are important tools for presenting data. They should complement the text rather than repeat it. Each visual element must have a clear title and explanation sufficient for independent understanding without referring to the main text.
All graphical materials should be numbered or labeled with letters. Units of measurement, accuracy limits, and possible errors must be indicated. In statistical processing, mean values, standard deviations, significance levels, and other key reliability indicators should be provided. When presenting empirical research results — surveys, interviews, experiments — quantitative characteristics of samples and possible differences between groups that may influence conclusions must be specified. If part of the material requires separate presentation — additional calculations, alternative analyses — they should be placed in appendices or made available online to ensure transparency.
Next, the obtained results should be compared with publications from leading international journals — primarily from the last 3–5 years. It is important to show where the research aligns with existing approaches and where it differs, and which contradictions or gaps it resolves. Such comparative analysis strengthens the argument for novelty. An open discussion of study limitations is also necessary — sample size, measurement accuracy, representativeness of data, modeling assumptions, etc. Acknowledging limitations does not weaken the work; on the contrary, it increases trust from the scientific community.
The final part formulates practical recommendations and the applied significance of the results — for specialists, management structures, or future research. The section concludes by outlining prospects for further study: which questions remain open and which new methods or approaches should be applied. This provides a natural transition to the conclusions and stimulates further scientific inquiry.

Conclusions and Prospects for Further Research

The conclusions section summarizes the results of each research objective following the “objective – result” principle. The text must be concise and comprehensive, without repeating discussion and without introducing new data. You should begin with a brief list of key findings for each objective. For example, if the objective was to establish a relationship between indicators, the conclusions must clearly state whether this relationship was confirmed and what constitutes the novelty of the obtained result. The same approach is used for each subsequent objective with comparison to the initial hypotheses. After presenting the specific results, their significance is outlined. For applied studies — how the conclusions can be implemented in practice: in production, management, or analytics. For theoretical studies — which conceptual approaches were developed or reconsidered. The section ends with prospects for further research: which aspects were not addressed, which new tasks emerged, and which methods should be used in the future. This emphasizes the purposeful nature of the author’s scientific activity and opens the path for subsequent publications.

References

The list of sources should be balanced: the core should consist of recent publications from international peer-reviewed journals from the last 3–5 years reflecting the current state of the field. Classical works older than 5 years should be cited only when their ideas or methods have no more recent equivalents. Sources should be diverse. In addition to scientific articles, official statistical and administrative data from government registries are valuable. Works by early-career researchers published in reputable peer-reviewed outlets also deserve citation. Unreviewed preprints and questionable internet resources should be avoided. Conference proceedings are generally not considered full scientific works — their limited volume does not allow for complete analysis, methodology, and verification of results, and peer review is often formal. They should be cited only in exceptional cases when the information is unique and unavailable elsewhere. Excessive citation of conference abstracts reduces the academic weight of the article.

Number of Sources

A sufficient number of sources is an important component of academic integrity. The recommendations below apply to articles of approximately 4,000 words and are based on practices of leading publishers. Applied research. For narrowly specialized topics, 15–20 sources may be sufficient; however, for most technical and interdisciplinary works, the optimal range is 25–40. Sources should be predominantly recent and come from journals indexed in Scopus or Web of Science.

In review articles, the minimum number of sources is 30, but in practice it typically ranges from 30 to 75 depending on the topic. Sources should be relevant, up-to-date, and authoritative.