All papers should be submitted via the submission system to one (and only one) of the conference tracks. We welcome papers in all areas of IB. The submission deadline for competitive and interactive papers is 15 July 2026.

You will be expected to sign up as a reviewer, which is an important part of the paper submission process.

Please make sure you remove all information from the paper which might reveal your identity.

All papers must be prepared in Adobe PDF format.

Length

• Competitive papers must not exceed 10,000 words, including tables, figures and references, but excluding appendices.
• Interactive papers must not exceed 6,000 words, including tables, figures and references, but excluding appendices. 
• All papers should include an abstract of 200 words max.

Style

• Times New Roman, 12pt font size, except for the title on page 1;
• Spacing - double;
• Margins: 25 mm or 1 inch on all sides;
• No footnotes permitted. Endnotes should be kept to a minimum and placed before the bibliography;
• Tables, figures, appendices, etc., should be placed at the end of the document, after the bibliography;
• Include page numbers centred at the bottom of each page;
• Endnotes should be kept to a minimum and placed before the bibliography.

First page

• Title of the paper: centred in bold, font size 14, Times New Roman;
• Do NOT include the names of the authors on the “submitted for review” version. All author names should, however, be included in the final version following acceptance;
• Abstract.

Headings

• Main headings: centred, bold and capitalized
• Second-level headings: flush with the left margin, underlined
• Third-level headings: flush with the left margin, in italics

In-text citations

Citations in the text should be using the author’s last name and year of publication enclosed in parentheses: (Porter, 2000). If a particular page, section, or equation is cited, it should also be placed in the parentheses: (Porter, 2000, p. 112) or (Porter, 2000, Table 1). For multiple authors, use the full reference for up to two authors; for three or more, use the first author’s name followed by et al (no italics). A series of citations should be listed in date order and separated by semicolons: (Porter, 1980; Welch, 1981).

Tables

Please include tables after the main body of your paper and indicate their position in the text. Do not forget to include table title and source(s).

Bibliography

References are to be listed alphabetically, family name first, followed by the publication date in parentheses. Use authors’ initials, not their given names. The reference list should be typed in font size 10, Times New Roman, single-spaced. Limit the references to only those that have been cited in the body of the paper, including notes, tables, and figures. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the references. Please check them carefully. For all other style-related requests please refer to the JIBS style guide.

Competitive Papers

Each competitive session will have presentations of three or four papers. This provides every author with the opportunity to have a 15- to 20-minute presentation and 7- to 10-minute discussion about their paper. The session chair can decide if the discussion is supposed to take place directly after each presentation or jointly at the end of the session.

Please bring your presentation as a PowerPoint file to your session. Include a reasonable number of slides that communicate the key information about the paper. Readability and clear slide layout encourage active engagement.

Interactive Papers

Sessions with interactive papers will take place in a round-table discussion format. Instead of formal presentations, each author must prepare a one-page summary of their paper to distribute to all participants in the session. The purpose is to enable focused, constructive dialogue on early-stage research and to facilitate relevant and meaningful feedback from fellow academics and the session chair.

Authors will introduce their work within no more than 5 minutes and then engage in an open discussion with the other participants. The emphasis is on interaction, reflection, and exchange of ideas on further paper development, rather than slide-based presentations.

Session Chair Guidelines

The responsibilities of session chairs include introducing the presenters, presentation time management, and moderating the discussions. Questions and discussions take place after all presentations in the session.