MANUSCRIPTS SUBMISSION

AUTHORS’ GUIDELINES

The submission of contributions to Azienda Pubblica takes place through the online platform of the Journal, accessible at the following link: http://ojs.maggiolieditore.it/index.php/ap/user/register

To submit a contribution, the corresponding authors must register on the aforementioned site and use their credentials both for the submission and for all subsequent activities (resubmission of the article following revisions, submission of new articles, assignment of revisions).

Evaluation procedure

The publication of contributions on the Azienda Pubblica takes place on the basis of the following procedure:

1. The contributions, in Italian or English, with an approximate length of 40,000 characters, must be uploaded to the online platform of the Journal in word format and anonymized. The submission of a contribution to the Journal commits the authors not to propose this contribution for other publications for the duration of the entire evaluation process. Contributions that do not comply with the following conditions will not be admitted to the referee: (i) the manuscripts submitted to Azienda Pubblica must not have already been published or are being evaluated in other journals or for other publications; (ii) manuscripts must comply with the standards of structure, abstracts, notes, tables, bibliographical references specified below; (iii) any reference that could allow direct or indirect recognition of the authors and consequently undermine a correct referencing process must be avoided.

2. The contributions are subjected to scrutiny by the editorial staff which, having ascertained their compliance with the purpose of the journal and the requisites required, sends them, together with the referee form, anonymously, to two referees.

3. Regardless of the decision of the referees, their comments are sent anonymously to the authors with the request, if necessary, to make the revisions indicated.

4. The new draft, accompanied by the letter from the authors in which the changes made in response to each of the referees' findings are described, is submitted to the same initial referees for a definitive judgment (or any request for further changes).

5. Once the final positive evaluation has been obtained from the referees, the article is accepted for publication.

Format of contributions

Authors

The authors must upload to the platform, in addition to the contribution to be submitted for review, an additional file in word format containing information on the authors. This supplementary file is composed as follows:

The first page must indicate:

• title of the contribution

• names and affiliations of the authors, with indication in the footnote of the author who takes care of the correspondence and his postal and e-mail address

• any thanks

The second page must contain a short biography of each author (maximum 5 lines). This biography must indicate, for each author, information relating to:

• Qualification

• Discipline

• Research areas

Main file

The main file must contain the text of the article and must be structured as follows:

• Title and abstract

• The first page must contain:

1. title (in Italian and English)

2. abstract in Italian, English and French (maximum 10 lines)

3. keywords in Italian, English and French (up to a maximum of three)

4. summary

• The second page must contain an "extended abstract" written in English and whose length must be between 400 and 600 words. The extended abstract must be structured in the following sections: title, purpose, methodology, findings, relevance and implications for research and policy / practice.

• On the third page, after repeating the title, the article begins.

Text structure

The text is divided into: Title of the contribution, Numbered titles of the Paragraphs (eg 1. Introduction). There is no provision for sub-paragraphs (e.g. 1.1, 1.2, etc.). On the other hand, unnumbered "subtitles" in italics are allowed. Initial summary is required.

Length

The contribution is approximately 40,000 characters (word count of words, including spaces, abstracts, tables and figures, bibliography, etc.). Contributions that deviate significantly from this standard will not be admitted to referee.

Formatting

Text: Arial 12

Margins: 3x3x3x3

Note

The notes are intended at the foot of the page and must be identified by a cardinal number.

The number of notes and their length must be reduced to a minimum to favor the slenderness of the text.

It is not recommended to use the notes for citations or bibliographic references, which should preferably be inserted in the text according to the author-date system.

It is the author's responsibility to adapt the layout of the notes to the standards of the journal.

Tables and figures

Figures and tables must be numbered, have a caption and be referenced in the text.

Figures and tables must be provided in one or more files other than the one containing the text.

Please note that the journal is in black and white: color figures will therefore not be accepted.

Style and form

A linear and flowing style is required. The text must of course have already been spell-checked.

Abstracts in English and French must be carefully prepared.

The use of the impersonal form is recommended.

Bibliographical references

The references included in the bibliography must be limited to those expressly cited in the text.

For citations in the text, the Journal uses the author-date system. More specifically:

• The citation in the text has the following form: (Rossi 1997).

• For contributions with two authors use the form (Rossi and Bianchi 1997), for contributions with more than two authors use the form (Rossi et al. 1997).

• If an expression is cited verbatim by another author or by other authors, the text must be written in quotation marks («») and the citation must include the page number, assuming the form (Rossi 1997: 347).

• For multiple citations by the same author and in the same year, a, b, c, etc. must be followed. per year, both in the citation in the text and in the bibliography.

In the bibliography, in accordance with the author-date system, the references must be reported in the following form:

Monographs

BRUNETTI G. (1979), Il controllo di gestione in condizioni ambientali perturbate, Milano: Franco Angeli

Volumi collettanei

BRUNS W.J., KAPLAN R.S. (a cura di) (1987), Accounting and management. Field study perspectives, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

[NB: it is generally preferable to quote the specific essay within a collective volume, rather than the entire volume]

Book chapters

KAPLAN R.S. (1985), "Accounting lag. The obsolescence of cost accounting systems", in CLARK K., LORENZE C. (a cura di), Technology and productivity. The uneasy alliance, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, pp. 195-226.

Articoli in riviste

MENEGUZZO M., DELLA PIANA B. (2002), "Knowledge management e Pubblica Amministrazione. Conciliare l'inconciliabile?", Azienda pubblica, 21(3), pp. 489-512.

Reports/record

OECD (1999), Principles of corporate governance, Parigi: OECD.

Unpublished reports / documents / records

ZITO A. (1994), "Epistemic communities in European policy-making", Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh.

ETHICAL GUIDELINES

Azienda Pubblica is committed to supporting the integrity of scientific research and adopts a system of ethical guidelines consistent with that promoted by major international journals.

In order not to damage the trust in the Journal, the professionalism of scientific authorship, as well as the entire scientific effort, authors must refrain from falsely disclosing the results of their research. Preserving the integrity of scientific research and its dissemination is possible thanks to the pursuit of certain rules of good conduct, which include:

• the manuscripts submitted to the Journal must not have been simultaneously subjected to evaluation in another journal;
• the submitted work must meet the originality requirements and must not have already been published in another form or language (partially or entirely), unless the new work represents an expansion of the previous one. In this regard, the authors must provide precise and transparent indications about the re-use of the material already published;
• a single study cannot be divided into several parts in order to produce multiple research outputs to be presented to multiple journals or to the Journal itself over time;
• the concomitant or delayed publication of research output referring to the same study is possible as long as certain conditions are met, as in the case of the translation of a manuscript or its presentation to different groups of readers;
• the research results must be presented clearly, transparently and without inappropriate creation, manipulation or falsification of data;
• no data, text or theory of others must be presented as the property of the author (plagiarism). In order to give appropriate and adequate recognition of the contributions of others, the latter must be mentioned when paraphrases are proposed, while the literal copies of other sources must be reported in quotation marks, verifying that the conditions for copyrighted materials are respected;
• the authors must ensure that they have the necessary authorizations for the use of software, questionnaires and web surveys (if necessary);
• the authors must avoid false statements about the subjects (individuals or groups of them, companies, etc.) or to propose a description of their behavior that could be considered a personal attack or accusation against the person;
• Authors are strongly recommended to ensure that the group of authors, the corresponding author and the order of authors are correctly presented at the time of submission. The addition and / or deletion of authors during the revision phases is generally not allowed, but in some cases it may be justified and appropriately motivated. Changes to the scientific authorship of the works are not, however, permitted after the publication of the manuscripts;
• at the request of the editors of the Journal or of the reviewers, the authors must be ready to send the relevant documentation or data in order to verify the validity of the results presented (for example, databases used, recordings, transcripts of interviews, etc. with the exception of sensitive information in the form of confidential or proprietary data.

In the event that an incorrect behavior is found that differs from the information provided here, the Editorial Committee may take the following decisions:

• if the manuscript is still under review, it can be rejected and returned to the author;
• if the article has already been printed and published online, depending on the nature and severity of the infringement, you can proceed with an erratum (correction to be included in the article) or with a withdrawal of the article, giving express reasons. In the event that the article is withdrawn, the article will remain on the platform, but it will be indicated as "withdrawn" and a justification will be given in a note to the same. In such cases, the author's institution may be informed.

Correction of errors

Authors are obliged to correct errors once a significant error or inaccuracy has been discovered in the article already published. Authors are asked to contact the journal and explain how the error impacted the article. Depending on the significance of the error, an erratum will be made or the article retracted.

Exclusion of reviewers

Authors may request the exclusion of certain people when submitting their manuscripts. Please note that the Journal may not take this into account.

Ethical standards

In order to ensure objectivity and transparency in the research, as well as to ensure compliance with recognized principles of ethical and professional conduct, the authors must provide information on any sources of funding, potential conflicts of interest (financial or non-financial) and informed consent if the research included personal participation.

This information should be reported in a supplementary file titled "Compliance with Ethical Standards"; authors should report the following statements (if applicable):

• Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest
• Informed consent of the people involved in the research.

In particular on conflicts of interest, authors must disclose all relationships or interests that could influence or prejudice the work. Although an author does not believe that there are conflicts, disclosure of relationships and interests allows for a more transparent review process and, therefore, an accurate and objective evaluation of the work. Awareness of actual or perceived conflicts of interest is a perspective to which readers are entitled and is not intended to imply that a financial relationship with an organization that sponsors research or compensation for consultancy work is inappropriate. Examples of potential conflicts of interest directly or indirectly related to research may include but are not limited to the following:

• research funding (indicate the funding entity and the identification details of the funding)
• remuneration received for speaking at symposiums
• financial support for participation in symposia
• financial support for training programs
• employment or consulting relationship
• support from a sponsor of the project
• position on the advisory committee or the board of directors or in other types of management relationships
• multiple affiliations
• financial relationships (for example shareholding or investment interests)
• intellectual property rights (for example patents, copyrights and royalties deriving from these rights)
• interests of spouses and / or children who may have financial interests in the work

In addition, non-financial interests that may be relevant to readers should also be disclosed. These may include, but are not limited to, personal relationships or conflicting interests directly or indirectly related to the research, professional interests or personal beliefs that may influence the research.

Examples of disclosure of conflicts of interest can be:

• Funding: “this study was funded by X (identification details of the funding obtained)”.
• Conflict of Interest: “Author A received research funding from Company A. Author B received an honorarium from Company X for exhibiting at a symposium / Author C owns shares in Company Y / L ' author D is a member of the Z committee ”.

In the event that there are no situations of conflict of interest, in the supplementary file it will be necessary to declare:

"Conflict of interest: the authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest".

Authors are invited to carefully read the information provided in this section. The corresponding author must be able to prepare and provide the above information during the review process or after publication. The Editorial Committee reserves the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with the aforementioned guidelines.