1. What do we publish?

1.1 Aims & Scope

Before submitting your manuscript to International Journal of Rural Management, please ensure
you have read the Aims & Scope [https://in.sagepub.com/en-in/sas/journal/international-journal-
rural-management#aims-and-scope]

1.2 Article types

There could be two to three sections in the journal:

 Research Articles

 Book Reviews

 Notes from the Field

The research article should ideally be of about 8,000 to 10,000 words. However, exceptions for
longer manuscripts may be allowed for certain submissions reporting qualitative research or
multiple method studies. Also, the Book Review and Notes from the Field should not be longer
than 3,000 words. An ideal article for this section should not include findings of any completed
research study. It is aimed to be an account by the researcher/development practitioner of any
important aspect of the field or community that excites him or her while being based in field. It
has to be least technical in exposition and should attempt to bring out an important but mostly
unreported aspect of field/fieldworker. A reflective account of self and the field should also be
acceptable for this section. An ideal submission for Book Review should be a review of any
important book relevant to the field of rural management. Book Review could either be
commissioned by the editors or accepted from willing contributors. The decision for Book Review
and Notes from the Field is not arrived at through a process of external blind review but by the
editors themselves. Book reviews must contain the name of the author and title/sub-title of the
book reviewed, place of publication and publisher, date of publication, number of pages and
price.

1.3 Writing your paper

The SAGE Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to
further resources.

1.3.1 Make your article discoverable

When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords
and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as
Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and
select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your
Article Online

2. Editorial policies

2.1 Peer review policy

International Journal of Rural Management adheres to a rigorous double-blind reviewing policy in

which the identity of both the reviewer and author are always concealed from both parties.

2.2 Authorship

All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors.
Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the
relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their
status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that
substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.

2.3 Acknowledgements

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an
Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person
who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.

Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate
anonymous peer review.=

2.3.1 Writing assistance

Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do
not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must
disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input –
and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. It is not necessary to disclose use of language
polishing services.

2.4 Funding

International Journal of Rural Management requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a
consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page
on the SAGE Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the
event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency
in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

International Journal of Rural Management encourages authors to include a declaration of any

conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the SAGE
Journal Author Gateway

3. Publishing Policies

3.1 Publication ethics

SAGE is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to
refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the
Publication Ethics page on the SAGE Author Gateway

3.1.1 Plagiarism

International Journal of Rural Management and SAGE take issues of copyright infringement,
plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the
rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published
articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted
articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is
found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission
or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we
reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum
(correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the
author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal
action.

3.1.2 Prior publication

 If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a SAGE
journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be
considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the SAGE Author Gateway or if in
doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.

3.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement

Before publication, SAGE requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s
Publishing Agreement. SAGE’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive
licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants SAGE
the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions
may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than
SAGE. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For
more information please visit the SAGE Author Gateway

3.3 Open access and author archiving

International Journal of Rural Management offers optional open access publishing via the SAGE
Choice programme. For more information please visit the SAGE Choice website. For information
on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit SAGE
Publishing Policies on our Journal Author Gateway.

4. Preparing your manuscript for submission

4.1 Formatting

The preferred format for your manuscript is Word. LaTeX files are also accepted. Word
and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our
Author Gateway.

The manuscript should be structured as follows:

 The cover page should carry the title of the article, the author(s)’ name(s), institutional
affiliation(s), address(es) (postal, email and web), and phone and fax numbers. In case
there are two or more authors, then corresponding author’s name and address details
must be clearly specified on the first page itself; all correspondence, including those of
the proof of the article would be sent to her/him.

 Each article should be accompanied by an abstract of 150–200 words.

 The main body of the text may be divided into sections with appropriate headings and
subheadings. Please note that the headings and subheadings should be typed on a
separate line. Do not number, indent or use bold or italic typeface for headings and
subheadings.

 The author identifying information should not appear on any other page of the
manuscript, except for the first (cover) page.

 Headings: Limit the levels of heading within an article to two, or at most three. Avoid
lengthy headings and do not number them. The printed style will distinguish their
weighting adequately without recourse to an explicit structure such as 1.1.1.
 Notes should be numbered serially and presented at the end of the article. Notes must
contain more than a mere reference.

 The language and spellings used should be British (UK), with ‘s’ variant, e.g.,
globalisation instead of globalization, labour instead of labor.

 Single quotes should be used throughout. Double quote marks are to be used within
single quotes. Spellings of words in quotations should not be changed. Quotations of 45
words or more should be separated from the text.

 Use of italics and diacriticals should be minimized but consistent. For non-English and
uncommon words and phrases, use italics throughout the text. Meaning of non-English
words should be given in parenthesis just after the word when it is used for the first time.

 If a second passage from the same source is quoted close to the first and there is no
intervening quotation from a different source, ibid. (set in roman) may be used in the
second parenthetical reference (e.g., "ibid., 114"); ibid. alone may be used if the reference
is to the same page. Avoid overusing ibid.: for more than the occasional repeated
reference to the same source—as in an extended discussion of a work of fiction—only a
parenthetical page number is necessary.

 Please pay attention to consistency in the hyphenation of words. Do not alternate, for
example, between ‘psycho-social’ and ‘psychosocial’, ‘decision making’ and ‘decision-
making’. (A distinction is, however, often made between noun and attributive adjective:
for example: ‘the middle class’ but ‘middle-class ethics’.)

 Use capitals sparingly and double-check the logical application of any distinctions you
wish to make between specific and general use.

 Abbreviations are spelled out at first occurrence. Very common ones (US, GDP, BBC)
need not be spelled out.

 Spell out numbers from one to nine, 10 and above to remain in figures. However, for exact
measurements use only figures (3 km; 9 per cent). Use 'per cent' in text and '%' in tables
and figures. Use thousands and millions, not lakhs and crores.

 Use ‘per cent’ instead of % in the text. In tables, graphs, etc., % can be used.

 Give specific dates in the form 22 November 1980. Decades should be referred to as ‘20th
century’, ‘the 1990s’.

 Number ranges should be truncated, for example, 2017–18.

 Tables and figures should be indicated by number separately ('Table 1'), not by placement
('Table below'). Present each table and figure on a separate sheet of paper, gathering
them together at the end of the article.

 Book reviews: Should contain name of author and book reviewed, place of publication
and publisher, year of publication, number of pages, price and ISBN. Book reviewers must
also provide their affiliation and designation and complete mailing address. Please use
the following style:

Stephen R. Covey, Principle-Centred Leadership. London: Simon and Schuster

Ltd, 1992, 326 pp., US$ 29.95, ISBN: 978-0684858418.
 4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics

For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format,
please visit SAGE’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines

 Figures, including maps, graphs and drawings, should not be larger than page size. They
should be numbered and arranged as per their references in the text. All photographs and
scanned images should have a resolution of minimum 300 dpi and 1,500 pixels and their
format should be TIFF or JPEG. Please obtain permission to reproduce any figures or
photographs that are not your own copyright. Similarly, permission may be required for
quotations beyond the limits of ‘fair dealing’.

 Please present each figure and table on a separate sheet of paper gathering them together
at the end of the article. Distinguish between figures (diagrams) and tables (statistical
material) and number them in separate sequences, i.e., ‘Figure 8’, and ‘Table 8.’ Please
provide tables and figures in editable format.

 Please use short and crisp titles and headings in tables and figures. The units of
measurement should be stated and the sources should be cited at the foot of the table.
Notes relating to the table should be placed after the source. Lay out parallel tables in
similar ways using similar wording, and check any totals or averages.

 Include a mention of each figure or table in the text itself (for example ‘as shown in Figure
2’), as well as indicating in the margin where the figure or table should go (‘Fig. 2 near
here’). Ensure that all words, proper nouns, place names, etc., in the tables and figures
are spelt in exactly the same way as they are in the text.

Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these
illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested
colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from SAGE
after receipt of your accepted article.

4.3 Supplementary material

This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos,
images etc) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to
our guidelines on submitting supplementary files

4.4 Reference style

At the end of the article, a consolidated alphabetical list of all books, articles, essays and
dissertations referred to (including any cited in the tables, figures, graphs and maps)
should be provided. International Journal of Rural Management adheres to the Chicago
Manual of Style, 16th edition reference style.

In-text citations: References should be embedded in the text in the anthropological style.
Citations should be first alphabetical and then chronological, for example, (Ahmed 1987,
1990; Sarkar 1987; Wignaraja 1960).

Here are a few examples of in-text citations:

 One work by one author: (Sarkar 1987, 145) or ‘as mentioned by Sarkar (1987, 228–30)’.

 One work by two authors: (Grazer and Fishman 2015, 12); (Armstrong and Malacinski
1989; Pickett and White 1985).

 One work by three authors: (Keng, Lin, and Orazem 2017, 9–10).
 One work by more than three authors: (Bay et al. 2017, 465) [Only the name of the first
author is used, followed by et al. (and others). Note that et al. is not italicised in text
citations].

 Groups or organizations or universities: (BSI 1985); (ISO 1997).

 Works with same authors and year: (Fogel 2004b, 218); (Fogel 2004a, 45–46).

 Authors with same surname: Include the initials in all the in-text citations even if the year
of publication differs, e.g., (C. Doershuk 2010) and (J. Doershuk 2009).

 Works with no identified author or anonymous author: (True and Sincere

Declaration 1610); (Stanze in lode della donna brutta 1547) or (Stanze 1547) [Short form of
the title and year].

 Two or more works by the same author: (Wong 1999, 328; 2000, 475).

 Forthcoming works: (Faraday, forthcoming).

 Reprint editions and modern editions (more than one date): (Maitland [1898] 1998).

 Direct quotations:

As Edward Tufte points out, ‘A graphical element may carry data information and
also perform a design function usually left to non-data-ink’ (2001, 139).

or

As Edward Tufte (2001, 139) points out, ‘A graphical element may carry data
information and also perform a design function usually left to non-data-ink.’

References: We follow the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition in the formatting of the
reference details. The brief style of referencing for some common types of references is
as follows:

 Book (One author):

Shields, David. The Thing about Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead. New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 2008.

Martin du Gard, Roger. Lieutenant-Colonel de Maumort. Translated by Luc Brébion and

Timothy Crouse. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000.

 Book (Two or more authors [or Editors]):

Jacobs, Sue-Ellen, Wesley Thomas, and Sabine Lang, eds. Two-Spirit People: Native
American Gender Identity, Sexuality, and Spirituality. Urbana: University of Illinois Press,
1997.

Levitt, Steven D., and Stephen J. Dubner. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the
Hidden Side of Everything. New York: William Morrow, 2005.

 Edited book:

Meredith, George. The Letters of George Meredith. Edited by C. L. Cline. 3 vols. Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1970.

 Editions other than the first:

 Strunk, William, Jr., and E. B. White. The Elements of Style. 4th ed. New York: Allyn and
Bacon, 2000.

 Book chapter:

Phibbs, Brendan. "Herrlisheim: Diary of a Battle." In The Other Side of Time: A Combat
Surgeon in World War II, 117--63. Boston: Little, Brown, 1987.

Samples, John. "The Origins of Modern Campaign Finance Law." Chap. 7 in The Fallacy of
Campaign Finance Reform. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006.

Thoreau, Henry David. “Walking.” In The Making of the American Essay, edited by John
D’Agata, 167–95. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 2016.

 Books in other languages:

Lele, R. K. Marathi Vruttapatrancha Itihaas (A History of the Marathi Press). Pune:

Continental Prakashan, 1964.

 Journal article:

Olson, Hope A. "Codes, Costs, and Critiques: The Organization of Information in Library
Quarterly, 1931–2004." Library Quarterly 76, no. 1 (2006): 19–35. doi:10.1086/504343.

Menjívar, Cecilia. "Liminal Legality: Salvadoran and Guatemalan Immigrants' Lives in the
United States." American Journal of Sociology 111, no. 4 (2006): 999--1037.
doi:10.1086/499509.

 News or magazine article

Manjoo, Farhad. “Snap Makes a Bet on the Cultural Supremacy of the Camera.” New York
Times, March 8, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/technology/snap-makes-a-bet-
on-the-cu...

Pegoraro, Rob. “Apple’s iPhone Is Sleek, Smart and Simple.” Washington Post, July 5,
2007. LexisNexis Academic.

[Note: Please provide a URL if the page numbers of the article are not available.]

 Works with same authors, same year:

Two or more works by the same author in the same year must be differentiated by
the addition of a, b, and so forth (regardless of whether they were authored, edited,
compiled, or translated), and are listed alphabetically by title. Text citations consist
of author and year plus letter.

Fogel, Robert William. The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700–2100: Europe,
America, and the Third World. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004a.

———. “Technophysio Evolution and the Measurement of Economic Growth.” Journal of

Evolutionary Economics 14, no. 2 (2004b): 217–21. doi:10.1007/s00191-004-0188-x.

 Organization as author

University of Chicago Press. The Chicago Manual of Style. 16th ed. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 2010. World Health Organization. WHO Editorial Style Manual. Geneva:
World Health Organization, 1993.

 Anonymous or unknown author:

 Stanze in lode della donna brutta. Florence, 1547.

Anonymous. Stanze in lode della donna brutta. Florence, 1547.

 Forthcoming work:

Author, Margaret M. "Article Title." Journal Name 98 (forthcoming).

Note: If an article is published by a journal electronically ahead of the official

publication date, use the posted publication date. In such cases, information about
pagination may not yet be available.

Black, Steven. "Changing Epidemiology of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease: A

Complicated Story." Clinical Infectious Diseases 47. Published electronically July
14, 2008. doi:10.1086/590002.

 Reprint editions and modern editions:

Bernhardt, Peter. The Rose's Kiss: A Natural History of Flowers. Chicago:

University of Chicago Press, 2002. First published 1999 by Island Press.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Nature. 1836. Facsimile of the first edition, with an introduction by
Jaroslav Pelikan. Boston: Beacon, 1985.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 1925. Reprinted with preface
and notes by Matthew J. Bruccoli. New York: Collier Books, 1992. Page references are to
the 1992 edition.

National Reconnaissance Office. The KH-4B Camera System. Washington, DC: National
Photographic Interpretation Center, 1967. Now declassified and also available
online, http://www.fas.org/irp/imint/docs/kh-4_camera_system.htm

Schweitzer, Albert. J. S. Bach. Translated by Ernest Newman. 2 vols. 1911. Reprint, New
York: Dover, 1966.

 Editor or Translator in addition to author:

Adorno, Theodor W., and Walter Benjamin. The Complete Correspondence, 1928--1940.
Edited by Henri Lonitz. Translated by Nicholas Walker. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1999.

Bonnefoy, Yves. New and Selected Poems. Edited by John Naughton and Anthony Rudolf.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.

Feydeau, Georges. Four Farces by Georges Feydeau. Translated by Norman R. Shapiro.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970.

Menchú, Rigoberta. Crossing Borders. Translated and edited by Ann Wright. New
York: Verso, 1999.

 Theses and Dissertations:

Rutz, Cynthia Lillian. “King Lear and Its Folktale Analogues.” PhD diss., University of
Chicago, 2013.

 Unpublished Manuscripts:

Cotter, Cory. "The Weakest Link: The Argument for On-Wrist Band Welding." Unpublished
manuscript, last modified December 3, 2008. Microsoft Word file.
 Lectures, papers presented at meetings, and the like:

Teplin, Linda A., Gary M. McClelland, Karen M. Abram, and Jason J. Washburn. "Early
Violent Death in Delinquent Youth: A Prospective Longitudinal Study." Paper presented at
the Annual Meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, La Jolla, CA, March 2005.

 Working papers:

Dyer, Lee, and Jeff Ericksen. "Complexity-Based Agile Enterprises: Putting Self-
Organizing Emergence to Work." CAHRS Working Paper 08-01, School of Industrial and
Labor Relations, Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies, Cornell University,
Ithaca, NY, 1980. http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cahrswp/473

 Website content

Yale University. “About Yale: Yale Facts.” Accessed May 1,

2017. https://www.yale.edu/about-yale/yale-facts

[Note: Please do not place a period at the end of an online reference.]

4.5 English language editing services

Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript
formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using SAGE Language
Services. Visit SAGE Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.

5. Submitting your manuscript

International Journal of Rural Management is hosted on SAGE Track, a web based online
submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts.
Visit https://peerreview.sagepub.com/ijrm to login and submit your article online.

5.1 Information required for completing your submission

You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the
submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match
what appears on your manuscript. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required
statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting
guidelines where relevant).

5.2 Permissions

Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for
reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published
elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review,
please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the SAGE Author Gateway

6. On acceptance and publication

6.1 SAGE Production

Your SAGE Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the
production process. Proofs will be sent by PDF to the corresponding author and should be
returned promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author
information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that
Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate. Please note that if there are any
changes to the author list at this stage all authors will be required to complete and sign a form
authorising the change.

6.2 Online First publication

Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future
issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces
the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the SAGE Journals help pagefor more
details, including how to cite Online First articles.

6.3 Access to your published article

SAGE provides authors with online access to their final article.

6.4 Promoting your article

Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is
as widely read and cited as possible. The SAGE Author Gateway has numerous resources to
help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and
advice. In addition, SAGE is partnered with Kudos, a free service that allows authors to explain,
enrich, share, and measure the impact of their article. Find out how to maximise your article’s
impact with Kudos.

7. Further information

Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript

submission process should be sent to the International Journal of Rural Management editorial
office as follows:

E-mail: indranil@irma.ac.in

Contact number: +91-9913866061