Is the Student Journal of Business and Economics Legitimate? An Honest Look at SJBE
This blog article discusses the rigorous peer review process of the Student Journal of Business and Economics (SJBE). Having read articles about the potential skepticism surrounding some high school journals, we want to assure you that we are distinct, aiming to be a prestigious journal where you can proudly publish your work.
Who reviews a paper?
Our team of reviewers comes from top universities such as New York University, Cornell University, and Johns Hopkins. Based on availability, each paper is assigned to one mentor for reading and evaluation. All reviewers hold degrees in management, business-related fields, or an MBA, providing them with the education to comprehend your paper and the expertise to critique and enhance it.
What criteria are evaluated?
One of the most frequent concerns we encounter when reviewing a paper is whether there is sufficient evidence and the distinction between correlation and causation.
Quality and Sufficiency of Evidence
In many of the papers we review, there is a lack of citations throughout. We consider the following three main questions:
- Does the paper provide adequate evidence for its major claims?
- Are the sources credible, relevant, and reasonably up-to-date?
- Are significant claims supported by citations?
Any claim made should be supported by proof through citation. This is a fundamental aspect of writing a research paper. You must substantiate any opinion or claim you make within your paper. Your paper should bolster its main arguments with credible and relevant evidence. We evaluate whether you have sufficient research to support your key claims, whether your sources are reliable and suitable for your topic, and whether you clearly link the evidence you cite to your argument. Strong papers do more than just include citations; they explain what the evidence demonstrates and why it is significant to the research question.
Reasoning & Argumentation
Does the paper differentiate between correlation and causation?
Another major issue we assess is that many papers often confuse correlation with causation. Just because your analysis suggests a connection to your hypothesis does not mean it is true. Your paper should clearly explain how you transition from the evidence you present to the conclusions you draw. Specifically, you should distinguish between correlation and causation. If two things are related, it does not necessarily mean that one caused the other. For instance, if you find that areas with more venture capital also experience faster economic growth, you cannot automatically conclude that venture capital caused the economic growth without considering other possible explanations. We look for papers that acknowledge these limitations, avoid unsupported causal claims, consider alternative explanations when appropriate, and make conclusions that are proportional to the evidence presented. In research, you must state within your paper that your data and findings suggest x, not lead to x. There is specific research terminology and a serious focus on wording when writing your research paper.
Can authors revise?
Each paper must be revised and edited according to the comments provided by our editorial team for it to be published, once you submit your paper for review and acceptance. We allow one review cycle per paper for publication, and if your paper is unsatisfactory, we cannot offer multiple rounds of revision to accept it into our journal.
What causes rejection?
Every paper submitted must undergo a review process, requiring revisions before it can be published with SJBE. We frequently encounter situations where a student fails to revise their paper, either due to time negligence, not responding to our edit requests, or not completing the edits, leading us to decline their publication. Therefore, please make sure to complete the edits requested by our editorial team and send the revised paper back to us!
See the work for yourself
The best way to judge a journal is to look at what it publishes. Every paper we have accepted is listed in our archive of published papers, where you can read each abstract and follow its original SJBE DOI to the permanent record. SJBE is also a registered serial publication with its own ISSN (3144-0363). When you are ready, our submission page lays out our formatting requirements, the review process, and our fees in full.