Submissions

Author Guidelines

Journal Focus and Submissions

This journal does not impose an Article Processing Charge (APC) or any other submission fee on authors, and being Open Access, does not charge individuals or organisations to read its articles.

Construction Economics and Building invites authors to submit research articles that deal with any aspect of the economics and management of building and construction, quantity surveying, property management or construction and property management education.

Research articles should be theoretical or empirical in nature, well-grounded in the relevant literature and sound research, and present new knowledge and insights that advance the Discipline. The diverse readership of the journal necessitates that research articles address issues that have a wide appeal and significance to construction researchers and practitioners globally.

Construction Economics and Building considers all manuscripts on the strict condition that:

• the manuscript is your own original work, and does not duplicate previously published work, including your own.
• the manuscript is submitted only to Construction Economics and Building ; it is not under consideration or accepted for publication elsewhere.
• the manuscript contains no material that is abusive, defamatory, discriminatory, obscene, fraudulent or illegal.

Please note that Construction Economics and Building uses iThenticate™ software to screen manuscripts for unoriginal material. By submitting your manuscript to Construction Economics and Building you are agreeing to any necessary originality checks your manuscript may have to undergo during the peer-review and production processes.

Manuscript Preparation

Authors should follow the below described structuring and formatting requirements strictly in the preparation of manuscripts for submission to Construction Economics and Building. Manuscripts that do not conform to these guidelines will be returned to the author(s) for amendments or rejected by the editor outright.

Structuring

• Manuscripts should be written and arranged in a style that is succinct and easily followed. An informative title, a concise abstract and a well written introduction will help to achieve this. Simple language, short sentences and a good use of headings all help to communicate information more effectively. Figures and tables should be used to aid the clarity of the paper, not to pad it out.
• The word limit for research articles is 10,000 (including tables, figures, references and appendices). In very limited circumstances, submissions exceeding these word limits may be considered if the editor believes that the submission warrants a longer manuscript and any reduction is likely to affect the quality of it.
• Manuscripts should be compiled in the following order: title; abstract and keywords; main body; acknowledgements; references; and appendices (as appropriate).
• The title of the manuscript should not have more than twelve words.
• Abstracts of up to 250 words are required for all manuscripts submitted. Each manuscript should have up to 5 keywords, clearly written below the abstract.
• The abstract should put the research in context and include a statement of the purpose of the study, brief outline of how the research was carried out, the main findings, and the most important implication of the research.
• The manuscript must contain a critical review of literature or theory relevant to the study, demonstrating how the work reported in the manuscript builds on existing body of knowledge and thereby expanding it. Explicit citations must be provided to the underpinning theory or body of literature that forms the basis for the research.
• Manuscripts reporting on a research study must state the research method in such details that it can be replicated. When samples are used, the population should be defined; the method of selecting the sample and the response rate should be stated as should any attempt to establish if the sample or response is biased. All statistical or other quantitative analyses must be checked carefully for applicability and accuracy before submission.
• Conclusion should not be a mere summary of the work; instead, it should offer new insights drawing from the research reported in the manuscript.
• Any information that can identify the authors must not be included anywhere in the manuscript to ensure a fair blind review. Self-citations should be written as “anonymous” both in in-text citations and the list of reference and completed before publication.

Language

• Manuscripts are accepted in English only. Either Australian or American English spelling may be used as long as consistency is maintained throughout the manuscript. Non-discriminatory language has to be used throughout the manuscript. Sexist or racist terms must not be used. Third-person form should be followed.
• It is strongly recommended authors carefully check the manuscript before submission and ensure grammar, spelling and styles are correct. Non-English speaking authors may seek assistance from a competent English writer for such checks.

General Layout

• The manuscript should be prepared in A4 size with a margin of 2.5 cm (1 inch) all around, in portrait orientation and in single-column format with continuous line numbering.
• Landscape orientations may be applied only if necessary for presenting tables and figures effectively. However, section breaks should be introduced before and after changed page orientations.
• The manuscript should be numbered consecutively and the page numbering should appear on the top right of pages.

Headings

• Limit headings to three levels.
• The first level (for the title of the paper) should be font16 pt bold, left aligned, single-line spaced and have 0 pt before and 6 pt after for paragraph spacing.
• The second level (for subheadings) should be font 14 pt bold, left aligned, single-line spaced and have 18 pt before and 6 pt after for paragraph spacing.
• The third level heading should be font 12 pt bold, left aligned, single line spaced and have 18 pt before and 6 pt after for paragraph spacing.
• Capitalise only the first letter of the title and headings.
• Do not put a line space to separate a subheading from the preceding paragraph; instead, use the above line spacing correctly for separating different sections within the body.
• Do not number headings.

Standard Paragraphs

• The text should be single-line spaced; use 12 pt font; justified; and have paragraph spacing of 6 pt before and after.
• Do not indent the first line of any paragraph.
• Do not put a line space between a heading and a paragraph and between paragraphs; instead apply the above paragraph spacing correctly.
• Use past tense when discussing the literature and your findings whenever possible.
• Use a single (not a double) space after periods and other punctuations. Do not put a space in front of a question mark, or in front of any other closing quotation mark.
• End notes and foot notes should be avoided as much as possible. If essential, foot notes may be used in a limited manner.
• Employ italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses).

Numbred and Bulleted Lists

• Lists should be kept to a minimum.
• Lists should be single-line spaced; use 12 pt font; justified; and have paragraph spacing of 6 pt before and after.
• Lists should be set to left indent by 0.6 cm and hanging by 0.6 cm.
• The first word of each item of a numbered or bulleted list is to be capitalised unless the list is part of a sentence.
• Numbers vs bullets — a numbered list should be used if a definite number is mentioned or it is an exhaustive list. Bullets are preferable if the number of points is incidental, or the list is not exhaustive.

Abbreviations and Contractions

• Use abbreviations sparingly. If abbreviations are going to be used, write the name of the organisation or the phrase in full the first time it is referenced, followed by the abbreviation in brackets. Subsequent references in the same manuscript can use the abbreviation.
• The first letter in the words of an abbreviated phrase or name should be capital and do not use periods in abbreviations. E.g.: New South Wales (NSW)
• Use periods with most contractions, particularly where the word is cut part-way through, such as Rev. as in Reverend, Feb. as in February, Ed. as in Editor, etc. However, do not use periods when the last letter of the abbreviation is the same as the last letter of the full word, such as Dr as in Doctor, Mr as in Mister, St as in Street, Ave as in Avenue, etc.

Quotations

• Use "double quotation marks” for short quotes within a paragraph. “Use ‘single quote marks’ for quotations within short quotations.”
• Use ellipses (…) for breaks within quotations and do not italicise quotations.
• Long quotations of more than three lines should be indented at both right and left margins, set to have a line spacing of exactly 12 pt and appear independently without quotation marks.

Numbers and Measurements

• Measurements should be given in metric units. If other units are used, the metric equivalent should be given in parenthesis.
• For simplicity, it is better to use abbreviations for units of measurement as it is faster to read and saves space. The abbreviation should appear with a space between it and the number (e.g. 8 metres becomes 8 m).
• With units of measurement, the number, even if it is below 10, should always appear as a numeral (e.g. eight should be written as 8).
• Most units of measurement are written in lowercase, except for units named after a person (Newton – N; Joule – J; Pascal – Pa) and there is no plural or no full stop placed immediately after the abbreviation for a unit of measurement.
• Spell out other numbers if they can be written in one or two words. Do not begin a sentence with a numeral.
• Except at the beginning of a sentence, always use numerals: with technical units of measurement and symbols (6 kg, $50, 6%); in addresses (2876 14th Avenue); in dates (1 April 2014); in decimal fractions (8.32); and in page references (page 7370).
• For large numbers, a combination of numerals and words may be used (e.g. 4.5 million).
• Express related numbers in the same style. E.g.: only 5 of the 250 participants; exactly 7 vehicles and 123 passengers; from 1 billion to 1.2 billion.
• Commas or single spaces should be placed between the third and fourth digits from the right, the sixth and the seventh, and so on (e.g. 1,250; 23,560; 7,654,320 or 1 000; 23 560; 7 654 320) except for page and line numbers (on page 1016), addresses (at 1436 Broadway) and four-digit year number (in 2013).
• Dates should be expressed by day, month and year (1 July 2010) though this must be written as First of July at the beginning of sentences. Use 1920s not 1920’s, 1959-60 not 1959-1960 and 10-26 Feb. not 10 Feb.-26 Feb.

Figures and Tables

Tables should not be misused for producing lists of text, as an option for reducing word count. Tables should only be used when it is necessary to show relationships between different pieces of information on to a subject matter.

All figures and tables must be embedded in the manuscript near the first reference to the corresponding figure or table. Figures and tables must be clearly labelled as Figure or Table 1, Figure or Table 2, etc., at the bottom for figures and at the top for tables, left justified, numbered in sequence, and must be referenced within the text of the article. Alternatively the term 'Exhibit' may be used to cover both figures and tables.

Construction Economics and Building encourages authors to use coloured figures and tables to improve presentation. However, excessive use of colours must be avoided as in any academic presentation. Text within figures and tables must be legible and consistent size throughout the manuscript. Text size within tables and figures should be ≥ 8 pt and ≤ 11 pt.

It is the responsibility of the author/s to obtain permission for the use of any illustrations, tables or artwork for which they do not hold copyright.

Referencing

Construction Economics and Building adopts the Harvard referencing style and manuscripts should be prepared following this style. The web link below provides detailed explanations with examples to the Harvard referencing. Authors are suggested to refer to this resource for correctly referencing others’ work in their manuscript.

Harvard referencing system: https://library.aru.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm

If online sources are cited, their hyperlinks should be provided within the references as per the Harvard system.

A list of references for the manuscript should be produced with text of single-line spaced, 10-point Garamond font, justified, hanging by 0.6 cm and without paragraph spacing.

Complaints Procedure

Authors who wish to submit a complaint related to the peer review process or other editorial decisions should contact the Journal Manager, Associate Professor Graham Brewer, at graham.brewer@newcastle.edu.au as a first point of contact. Issues which cannot be resolved satisfactorily by the Journal Manager may be escalated to the Editorial Advisory Board or to the Publisher, UTS ePress by contacting utsepress@uts.edu.au.

For further information, please see the COPE Code of Conduct for Journal Editors and Publishers.