Author Guidelines
Submission
All manuscripts submitted to the Built Environment Journal (BEJ) must be original, unpublished work and must not be under consideration by another publication.
Manuscripts must be submitted through the BEJ online submission system. Authors must register or log in before submitting.
Authors must suggest two potential reviewers through the OJS submission system. For each reviewer, provide their name, academic position, institution and email address. Do not include suggested-reviewer information in either submission file.
Editors reserve the right to edit or comment on a manuscript. When substantial revisions are requested, authors may revise the manuscript or withdraw their submission.
Required Submission Files
Authors must upload two separate Microsoft Word files. Do not combine them.
1. Anonymous Manuscript
Prepare the manuscript using the Anonymous Manuscript Template.
The anonymous manuscript must not contain information that could identify the authors, their institutions or their research team. Remove identifying information from the text, file properties, comments and tracked changes.
Do not include authors’ names, affiliations, email addresses, biographies, acknowledgements, funding information, conflicts of interest, authors’ contributions or ethics approval details in this file. These must be provided in the Title Page File. Do not insert “withheld for review”; provide the actual information in the separate Title Page File.
The anonymous manuscript should contain:
- Title in sentence case
- Abstract of no more than 300 words
- Up to six keywords
- Main text
- Mandatory generative-AI declaration
- Data availability or supplementary-materials statement
- References
- Appendices, where applicable
Name this file Anonymous Manuscript.docx.
2. Title Page File
Prepare this file using the Title Page File Template.
The Title Page File must contain:
- Manuscript title
- Full names of all authors
- Authors’ affiliations
- Corresponding author’s email address
- A biography of no more than 100 words for each author
- Acknowledgements and funding statement
- Conflict-of-interest statement
- Authors’ contributions
- Ethics statement
The acknowledgements/funding, conflict-of-interest and ethics sections are compulsory. Where applicable, authors may state that no specific funding was received, no conflicts of interest exist, or ethics approval was not required.
Authors must select and adapt the appropriate ethics statement from the template for:
- Research not involving human participants or animals
- Research involving human participants
- Research involving animals
- Research formally exempted from ethics approval
Ethics information is submitted separately to the editor and must not appear in the anonymous manuscript. Reviewers who require this information should contact the editor.
Name this file Title Page.docx.
Manuscript Requirements
Language and Proofreading
Use either British or American English consistently throughout the manuscript. Authors must ensure that the manuscript is thoroughly proofread by a professional language editor or achieves a Grammarly writing score of at least 90. Manuscripts containing substantial language errors may be rejected during initial screening.
Length
- Original research paper: 6,000–8,000 words
- Review paper: 8,000–10,000 words
Similarity
The Turnitin similarity index must be below 20%.
Formatting
Authors must use the provided templates and must not alter their page layout, styles or formatting.
Detailed requirements for headings, paragraphs, tables, figures, equations, citations, references and other manuscript elements are provided in the Anonymous Manuscript Template.
Tables and figures must be embedded in the manuscript. Figures must be clear, legible and at least 300 dpi. Conceptual or theoretical diagrams should be editable or vector-based wherever possible.
References
BEJ uses APA 7th edition for citations and references. All cited works must appear in the reference list, and every reference listed must be cited in the manuscript.
A minimum of 15 references is required. Journal articles should include clickable DOI links where available.
Authors are responsible for verifying the accuracy, completeness and authenticity of every reference.
Data Availability and Supplementary Materials
Authors should provide a data-availability or supplementary-materials statement using the wording supplied in the Anonymous Manuscript Template.
Where supporting datasets, source code, protocols or other materials are deposited in a repository, provide a persistent DOI or stable URL. Repository records and supplementary materials must not reveal the authors’ identities during anonymous review.
Generative AI and AI-Assisted Tools
BEJ permits limited use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies for improving language, grammar, readability or formatting. These tools must not be used to generate original scientific content, analysis, interpretation or conclusions.
A generative-AI declaration is compulsory for every manuscript, including manuscripts for which no AI tools were used. Authors must use the applicable statement provided in the Anonymous Manuscript Template.
AI tools cannot be listed as authors because authorship requires human accountability.
Authors must disclose AI-generated, AI-altered or AI-enhanced figures or images during submission, including the tool used and the extent of the modification.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that all references and citations are genuine and verifiable. AI must not be used to generate reference lists. Fabricated or unverifiable citations will be treated as academic misconduct.
Authors remain fully responsible for the originality, accuracy and integrity of their work. Failure to declare relevant AI use may result in rejection or retraction.
Reviewers
Submitted manuscripts are confidential and must not be uploaded to generative-AI tools for analysis, summarisation or language correction. Reviews must reflect the reviewer’s independent scholarly judgement.
Editors
Editors must not rely on AI tools to make decisions on manuscripts. All editorial decisions remain the responsibility of the human editors.
Copyright and Permissions
Authors must obtain permission before using copyrighted figures, illustrations, photographs or other materials belonging to third parties. Appropriate acknowledgement must be included in the relevant caption.
Authors retain copyright in their articles. Published articles are licensed under the [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
