Focus and Scope

The Journal of Biblical Integration in Business serves as a refereed forum for discussing faith-learning-life links in business. The Journal is a broad-based, double-blind peer review forum that aims to publish manuscripts that add to the body of knowledge. Such manuscripts will be:

  • Scholarly in design, tone, and depth, reflecting accurately the literature in the business discipline concerned. 
  • Directly related to biblical presuppositions, passages and perspectives throughout the paper.  

The JBIB is open to many topics and approaches. The field of biblical integration in business is relatively young and much work remains, both in theory development and theory testing.

The aim of the editorial team is to support scholarship and professional growth among Christian business academics and any others who see the Bible as important and relevant to business thinking and practice. Editors see themselves as being in partnership with the authors, and take joy in working with them to develop high-quality manuscripts. The spiritual and professional calling of faith-business integration is enhanced to the degree that we are inventive creators and effective carriers of ideas.

The Journal of Biblical Integration in Business is listed in Cabell’s Directory of Publishing Opportunities in Management and is indexed by EBSCOhost Business Source International, the Christian Periodicals Index and Google Scholar.

Peer Review Process

Each article is sent to 3 reviewers. It usually takes 7 weeks to complete the initial review process. There are no article processing charges for submission or publication.

Questions Asked By the Reviewers

While every article is different in terms of the content it addresses and the issues it discusses, the following list contains questions that reviewers ask as they read and prepare feedback for authors.

  • Introduction.
    • Is there a clear statement of the paper’s thesis, with a solid motivation behind it?
    • Is the thesis clearly integrated? Are biblical perspectives a major part of the paper? 
    • Is the thesis interesting to the JBIB community? 
    • Does the thesis extend the discussions in the JBIB and related literature on faith integration?  How? 
    • What will a reader learn from this article that he or she could not have known before?
    • After reading the introduction, did you find yourself motivated to read further?
    • To what degree does the statement of purpose in the introduction correspond with that is actually delivered in the paper as a whole?
  • Theory and Grounding in Relevant Literature.
    • Does the paper do a good job of developing the theory behind the thesis? 
    • Are the core concepts in the paper clearly defined?
    • Is the theoretical framework or conceptual issues grounded appropriately in the discipline-specific literature, both in breadth and depth? Are critical references missing?  The need for more thoroughness or saturation in the relevant literature is one of the most frequently noted weakness of JBIB submissions. 
    • Do the hypotheses or propositions flow logically from the theory?
  • Biblical Integration.
    • Is biblical integration central to the purpose of the paper or is it an add-on, after-thought?
    • Does the author base the integration directly in the Bible not only in “faith language”? 
    • Is the biblical integration “denominationally neutral” in the sense that particular denominational viewpoints are not insisted upon?   
    • Does the author base integration on “the whole council of God” (both Old Testament and New Testament) and the broad theological messages of the Bible rather than on proof texts?
    • Is the context of the biblical passages the author uses handled appropriately? 
    • If there are opposing points of view to the central issues addressed by the paper, does the paper address these?
  • Methodology (for reports of empirical research).
    • Are the variables and sample appropriate for the hypotheses?
    • Does the study have internal and external validity?
    • Are the analytical techniques appropriate for the theory and research questions?  Were they applied appropriately?
    • Are the results reported in an understandable way?
    • Are there alternative explanations for the results, and if so, are these adequately discussed?
  • Contribution.
    • Does the manuscript make a value-added contribution to the integration literature?
    • Does the author provide at least one testable hypothesis or principle?
    • Does the manuscript avoid both stridency and simplicity in its treatment of the theme?
    • Does the submission stimulate thought or debate?
    • Does the author discuss the implications for the readers?

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

This journal permits and encourages authors to post items submitted to the journal on personal websites or institutional repositories both prior to and after publication, while providing bibliographic details that credit, if applicable, its publication in this journal.

Creative Commons License  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/

Membership and Renewal

Membership (with voting privileges) in the Christian Business Faculty Association is open to college and university faculty members who agree with the following tenets:

  • That Jesus Christ is the Son of God and through His atonement is the mediator between God and man.
  • That the word of God expressed in the Bible is inspired by God and is authoritative in the development of Christian faith and practice.
  • That the Christian faith has significant implications for the structure and practice of business.
  • That developing Christian education for business practice should be undertaken as a cooperative venture of this organization.

https://www.cbfa.org/membership-info-and-application

Review Board

See "Endings" section of the current issue.

Opportunities to Pursue the JBIB Mission

Building on the faith integration scholarship that has been produced thus far by other scholars, as published in JBIB and in other settings, what are ways that JBIB mission might be advanced? By writing and submitting articles:

  • on the topic of faith integration: What is faith integration: An end state or a process? If it is a process, what do we know about it?
  • that foster dialogue between practicing business professionals and clergy and between business scholars and biblical scholars or clergy
  • that result from Christian business scholars/authors who collaborate with others.
  • that study the opportunities and problems of business as an appropriate setting for evangelism, apologetics and religious dialogue.
  • that study the problem of biblical illiteracy and point the way toward solutions.
  • that evaluate a business “school of thought” from the perspective of Scripture and theology.
  • that study dimensions of personal religious experience observed in the context of business practice.
  • on business history and faith integration in practice.
  • on hermeneutics (principles of biblical interpretation).
  • that deal with empirical research.
  • on standard business topics that deserve further study from the biblical point of view.
  • on selected Scripture passages.
  • that review books and media.

Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

The statements for the Journal of Biblical Integration in Business are based on the Code of Conduct and Best- Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors from the Committee on Publication Ethics (2011).

Editor Responsibilities

The editor is responsible for deciding which articles will be published and is accountable for everything published in the journal. The editor will inform readers about who has funded research and what role the funders had in the research and publication. The editor will evaluate manuscripts for intellectual content, originality, importance and clarity. Unpublished manuscripts will be kept confidential and will not be used for personal advantage. The editor will take appropriate measures to prevent academic misconduct and when necessary retract affected manuscripts.

Reviewer Responsibilities

Peer reviewers will provide recommendations to the editor and suggestions for improvement to the author(s). If a reviewer is unable to complete their review within the specified period of time or due to a conflict of interest they should promptly notify the editor. Reviewers should keep all manuscripts confidential and not use them for their own benefit. Reviewers should objectively evaluate manuscripts in a fair and unbiased manner. Reviewers should identify other relevant publications that could be included in a manuscript and notify the editor when concerned about conspicuous overlap with previously published material.

Author Responsibilities

Authors should submit original work that accurately describes their findings and significance. The work of others should be appropriately cited and acknowledged. Authors should not submit their manuscript to more than one journal at a time. Authors should disclose funding sources and any conflicts of interest. If an error in their published work is found the author should promptly notify the editor.

Reference

Committee on Publication Ethics (2011). Code of Conduct and Best- Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors. Retrieved from http://publicationethics.org/files/Code_of_conduct_for_journal_editors_Mar11.pdf

Sponsors

Christian Business Faculty Association: https://www.cbfa.org

Journal History