Overview

Middle East and North Africa Book Series aims to publish research on the following five core themes of vital importance to the region:

    1. Transforming the oil-based economy to a diverse knowledge-intensive economy based on innovation: learning from best practices, lessons from other nations as well as future policies in the region.
    2. Managing change and innovation in business: strategic innovation models, managing change, strategies for the future, international lessons.
    3. Building a sustainable environmental future: environmental audit; best practices in the region; policies for business and government; lessons from abroad.
    4. Human Resources for the knowledge economy: assessing current transformation practices; identifying best practice examples; building local competences in innovation and leadership.
    5. Evidence based policy and business development; capability building in policy making and in business, assessing business leadership in the region; creating the new generation of Middle Eastern business leaders.

ISSN: 2042-602X (Print)     2042-6038 (ebook)
We are very keen to feature country-specific case studies from all countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. We welcome contributions from all senior academics, professional leaders, students, etc. Please check our experts network directory and upload your details here. We are also happy to include your videos in our dedicated YouTube channel.

Location

4 Newark Street, Tower Hamlets, London, E1 2ES, United Kingdom

Country/Regions
Editorial Board

All members of our editorial committee are truly international in terms of their interests and range of specialisation. The validated academic background that they bring to bear on the quality of the review as well as their geographic areas of interest foster a uniquely different editorial experience.

WASD is very grateful for all our distinguished Editorial Advisory Board (EAB) and our Expert Reviewers which include distinguished international academic and professional experts in the different subject areas of the different journals. All our EAB members graciously offering their invaluable comments that have enriched the quality of the papers in all our publications and also for making available to us their valuable time and efforts. 

We continuously looking for nominations for distinguished academic and professional colleagues who will be interested to join the Editorial Advisory Board to support our journals. Please contact Janet Snow (janet.snow@wasd.org.uk) if you have any question and/or you need any help. Please click here to learn more about your duties as member of the EAB. 

We would like also to congratulate all our Authors for their extremely valuable contributions and we hope they continue to support the journal and encourage all their colleagues and friends to also consider the journal for their research outcome.

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Subject Coverage

WASD produces various book series and conference proceedings, to spread information all over the world, and to promote its aims and activities through various other partners. WASD book series are developed to provide an overview of Sustainable Development (SD) and why it is important and to provoke forward thinking on the development of a more coherent approach to solving global problems related to sustainability. In doing so, a holistic approach is used to critically examine the inter-relationship between the natural, the governmental, the economic and the social dimensions of our world and how science and technology can contribute to solutions. And although science, technology and SD are the main focus of our book series, there is no limit as to the articles/chapters that will be considered.

Many consider the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region as one of the most important emerging parts of the world economy in the 21st century. MENA is also strategically vital as it produces the majority of the world’s oil. However despite the region’s oil, most MENA countries score lower on Human Development Index (HDI) world ranking, with GDP, productivity and investment rates well below the global average. It is, therefore, becoming widely accepted that the dominant economic model of the region – based on the public sector, oil incomes and workers’ remittances –is not up to the challenges of modern globalisation and the needs of advanced knowledge-based societies.

Given the apparently contradictory needs of economic growth and environmental conservation, it comes as no surprise that knowledge management (KM), innovation and sustainable development (SD) have had such a powerful influence in contemporary discussions on the future of the region. The book series will act as a forum to provide senior academics and leading scholars, government and policy maker, business professional (individuals and societies) with the best available knowledge essential for achieving SD.

Guidelines for authors

Before submitting your chapter, please make sure you read and understand the full guidelines for submission below carefully before submitting your chapter to ensure successful submission of your chapter. This is a checklist to ensure you have followed the guidelines closely. Please note that we will return any chapter that do not follow these guidelines for the errors to be corrected before the chapter can be considered for suitability for our books:

All chapters submitted for possible publications in any WASD books are refereed through a double blind process. Please submit your chapter in the form of an MS Word file attached directly to the Managing Editor at Janet.Snow@wasd.org.uk. Submitted chapters should not have been previously published nor be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. (N. B. Conference papers may only be submitted if the paper was not originally copyrighted and if it has been completely re-written).

Types of Chapters The following types of chapters are sought:

  • Conceptual (laying out the landscape, defining needs, proposing approaches and solutions, etc.). Chapters are likely to be discursive and will cover philosophical discussions and comparative studies of others’ work and thinking.
  • Literature Review (papers cite any relevant literature). Main purpose of the chapter is to annotate and/or critique the literature in a particular subject area.
  • Review (industries, systems, methodologies, research, national differences, industrial differences, cultural differences, etc.). Chapters provide an overview or historical examination of some concept, technique or phenomena. Chapters are likely to be more descriptive or instructional (“how to” chapters) than discursive.
  • Case Studies (empirical work, industry cases, test cases, pilot studies, etc.) are particularly welcome. Case studies describe actual interventions or experiences within organizations. They may well be subjective and will not generally report on research. A description of a legal case or a hypothetical case study used as a teaching exercise would also fit into this category.
  • Research (report on any type of research undertaken by the author(s). The research may involve the construction or testing of a model or framework, action research, testing of data, market research or surveys, empirical, scientific or clinical research.
  • Viewpoint (where content is dependent on the author’s opinion and interpretation, also includes journalistic pieces)
  • Technical (describes and evaluates technical products, processes or services)

Typescript Preparation All authors must provide the following information:

  • Full name; position; department; institution; full postal address including email and approximately 50 words biographical notes per author, maximum 100.
  • Title as short as possible.
  • References to successful applications within industry are a must. Chapters may be updates of other material previously written but must be original to the author and, once accepted for publication, cannot appear in any other periodical.
  • Chapters must be double-spaced and emailed to the Editor-in-Chief (wasd@sussex.ac.uk) in A4 size Word format, not PDF format.
  • Chapters should be submitted with a word count of 3000-5000 (excluding figures), with double-spaced typing and focus on proven strategies and key management implications.
  • Figures in the final accepted manuscript may be included in the electronic text file and also provided as separate files.
  • All chapters must be written in UK English. If English is not your first language, please ask an English-speaking colleague to proofread your chapter.

Abstracts Abstract approximately 100 words, maximum 150. Write concisely and clearly. The abstract should reflect only what appears in the original chapter. To produce a structured abstract, please complete the following fields about the chapter using this template. There are four fields which are obligatory (Purpose, Design, Findings and Value); the other two (Research limitations/implications and Practical implications) may be omitted if they are not applicable to your chapter.

  • Purpose: What are the reason(s) for writing the chapter or the aims of the research?
  • Design/methodology/approach: How are the objectives achieved? Include the main method(s) used for the research. What is the approach to the topic and what is the theoretical or subject scope of the chapter?
  • Findings: What was found in the course of the work? This will refer to analysis, discussion, or results.
  • What is original/value of the chapter: What is new in the chapter? State the value of the chapter and to whom.
  • Research limitations/implications (if applicable): If research is reported on in the chapter this section must be completed and should include suggestions for future research and any identified limitations in the research process. How can the findings of this research be applicable to other country (ies) in the region? What implications for achieving SD in the country and the region as a whole.
  • Practical implications (if applicable): What outcomes and implications for practice, applications and consequences are identified? Not all chapters will have practical implications but most will. What changes to practice should be made as a result of this research/chapter?

Keywords

  • Supply approximately 6-10 words or phrases which will be used for tagging the chapter in the publisher’s database.
  • Researchers will be more likely to retrieve the chapter when conducting a keyword search of our database if the chapter is suitably tagged.
  • Pick keywords that reflect the specificity of the chapter. Avoid overarching terms like “Management” unless the chapter discusses the topic with such a wide focus. Use the most common term for a concept. Do not make up new terms for an old concept.
  • Try to think broadly: if the chapter discusses performance appraisal in an electronics factory it may be worthwhile supplying the industry as a keyword. If an activity/research takes place in a particular country then supply the country’s name as a keyword.

Style

  • Chapters must get to the point early and succinctly and not sound like an advertorial for a country or a company.
  • Blatantly promotional material will not be published.
  • Keep paragraphs short and sentences short and uncomplicated.
  • Authors must write in the active voice and, where possible, avoid technical jargon.
  • Acronyms should be translated in full into English. Bear in mind that many of the readers do not have English as their first language.
  • It should not be assumed that the reader is familiar with specific national institutions or corporations.
  • Authors are encouraged to approach their chosen topic with an international perspective.
  • Countries and groupings of countries should be referred to by their full title (for example, ‘China’, ‘Europe’ and ‘America’ are all ambiguous).
  • Special attention should be paid to identifying units of currency by nationality.

References

  • Use the Harvard (name and date) short reference system for citations in the text with a detailed alphabetical list at the end of the chapter. For example ‘Hamel (2000) suggests …’ or ‘Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) found that …’ or ‘A study of economic change (Nelson and Winter, 1982) has shown that …’
  • Footnotes should be avoided, but any short, succinct notes making a specific point, may be placed in number order following the alphabetical list of references.
  • References should be made only to works that are published, accepted for publication (not merely ‘submitted’), or available through libraries or institutions. Any other source should be qualified by a note regarding availability.
  • Full reference should include all authors’ names and initials, date of publication, title of paper, title of publication (italics), volume and issue number (of a journal), publisher and form (books, conference proceedings), page numbers.

Figures

  • All illustrations, whether diagrams or photographs, are referred to as Figures.
  • They should be black and white, not colour, and numbered sequentially.
  • Please place them at the end of the chapter, rather than interspersed in text.
  • Originals of line diagrams will be reduced and used directly, so please prepare them to the highest possible standards.
  • Bear in mind that lettering may be reduced in size by a factor of 2 or 3, and that fine lines may disappear. Electronic copies of the figures are also required.

Translated Works

  • Difficulties often arise in translating acronyms, so it is best to spell out an acronym in English (for example, IIRP – French personal income tax).
  • Similarly, labels and suffixes need careful attention where the letters refer to words which have been translated.
  • The names of mathematical functions may change in translation – check against an English or American mathematical reference text.

Units of Measurement Please follow the International System for units of measurement in your chapter. Imperial units will be converted, except where conversion would affect the meaning of a statement, or imply a greater or lesser degree of accuracy. Submission Preparation Checklist (All items required)

  • The submission has not been previously published in English nor is it before another journal/book for consideration; or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor.
  • The text meets the formatting requirements outlined above.
  • The submission file is in Microsoft Word document file format.
Indexing

All our publications are listed and indexed in various international Indexing and Ranking platforms such as ScopusThomson Reuters Emerging Sources Citation IndexINSPECReadCube DiscoverABI/Inform (ProQuest)Cabell’s Directory of Publishing OpportunitiesBritish LibraryCrossref; Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) and the Norwegian Centre for Research Data (NSD).

Our publications are also included in the various Databases and Ebooks managed by ProQuest: ProQuest Central, Central Essentials, Central Student, One Academic; ProQuest Research Library Prep; ProQuest Premium Collection (Business, Social Science, Health Research); Thomson Reuters Conference Proceedings Citation Index (CPCI). All our publications are either published in-house or in partnerships with international publishers such as Emerald PublishingRoutledge/Greenleaf Publishing and others.

 

All our editorial committees are truly international in terms of their interests and range of specialization. The validated academic background that they bring to bear on the quality of the review as well as their geographic areas of interest foster a uniquely different editorial experience. WASD is very grateful for all our distinguished International Advisory Boards (IABs) which include distinguished international academic and professional experts in the different subject areas of the different journals. All our IABs members graciously offering their invaluable comments that have enriched the quality of the papers in all our publications and also for making available to us their valuable time and efforts.

Ethics

WASD undertakes all its publishing activities very seriously adhering to the top quality standards, procedures and ethics. WASD always with integrity, honesty and transparency with all our stakeholders including our authors. WASD is fully committed to all the research and publishing guidelines and flowcharts included in the CODE OF CONDUCT AND BEST PRACTICE GUIDELINES FOR JOURNAL EDITORS of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and our Founding Editor-in-Chief (Prof. Allam Ahmed) is a member of COPE. All submission should follow our Publishing Ethics Policy before submitting any manuscripts to our Journals/Books.

All our publications are either published in-house or in partnerships with international publishers and therefore, WASD is also fulling committed to various publishing ethics procedures and guidelines set-up by all our publishing partners: Emerald Publishing Research and Publishing Ethics; Palgrave Macmillan Ethics Policy; Routledge Taylor and Francis (including Greenleaf Publishing) Editorial Policies; Inderscience Publishers Ethical Guidelines for Authors; and Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) of the United Nations System Standards and Procedures.

WASD will always:

  • Act and adhere fully to all the guidelines and standards set by the  Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and all our leading publishing partners when dealing with all ethical matters and aspects of publishing.
  • Ensure all publications are processed through a minimum of double-blind peer review process (sometimes we use up to five blind reviewers).
  • Ensure all published papers are available FREE of charge (without passwords) to all people across the world particularly those in poor developing countries.
  • Assign DOIs to all accepted papers and chapters.

All authors should consider the following notes very carefully before making their submission.

  • Ensure you read and understand the various aspects of our publishing ethics policy and guidelines carefully in terms of authorship, research integrity and follow all aspects of our research conducts.
  • Ensure you follow the highest standards of research rigour and integrity.
  • Make sure your read and understand the above various research and publishing ethics polices and guidelines provided by our various publishing partners particularly the CODE OF CONDUCT AND BEST PRACTICE GUIDELINES of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
  • Submitted papers should not have been previously published nor be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. (N. B. Conference papers may only be submitted if the paper was not originally copyrighted and if it has been completely re-written).
  • All papers submitted for publication in WASD journals are refereed through a double blind process.
  • All submitted articles/chapters should not include libellous, defamatory or unlawful statements.
  • Obtain all necessary approval/permission for any third-party material included in your submission.
  • Proof of consent has been obtained for any named individuals or organisations.
  • All submissions must be original, fully referenced and that all authors are represented accurately. Ensure authorship has been agreed prior to submission and no one has been ‘gifted’ authorship or denied credit as an author (ghost authorship).

(2016) From Oil to Knowledge - Transforming the United Arab Emirates into a Knowledge-Based Economy

(2007) Science, Technology and Sustainability in the Middle East and North Africa

(2010) The Prospects for Sustainable Energy Innovation within Oil-Rich Gulf Cooperation Council: The Case of Renewable Energy in Saudi Arabia

(2014) Best Practices of Business Incubators in Developed and Developing Countries: The Roadmap for Arab countries

(2008) Managing Science and Technology for a Sustainable Future

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