jibs-writing-style
Writing in JIBS House Style (jibs-writing-style)
When to trigger
- The argument is settled and the manuscript needs a full prose pass
- Prose buries the phenomenon, the IB contribution, or the cross-level logic
- Terminology about countries/cultures is loose or risks essentializing
- You are over the inclusive word limit and must cut without losing the argument
Lead with the phenomenon, deliver the IB contribution
JIBS is phenomenon-driven. Open by anchoring the reader in a concrete cross-border problem, then state — early and explicitly — what the paper contributes to IB theory. The reader should know within the first page why this is an international-business question that no single-country study could answer. Mirror that contribution statement in the discussion (promised vs. delivered).
Respect the inclusive word budget
The JIBS article word count includes abstract, text, endnotes, and references; tables, figures, and online supplemental appendices can follow. Target ~10,000 words for a strong/broad contribution or ~7,000 for a narrower one; Research Notes should be 4,000-6,000 words including everything in the manuscript. Write tight: every method nuance not essential to the inference belongs in an online appendix. The abstract is capped at 200 words — use it to name the phenomenon, the design, the finding, and the IB contribution.