EJIS reference format

What EJIS expects

• Reference style: Any style or format, applied consistently. Each reference needs author names, journal or book title, article or chapter title, and year.
• Manuscript format: Word, RTF, ODT, PDF or LaTeX. For LaTeX, a .bib reference file must be included.
• Length: A typical paper should not exceed 12,500 words (13,500 for review articles) at first submission. The count includes the abstract, tables, figures and captions, and excludes references and appendices. The abstract is 200 words, unstructured.
• Review: Double anonymous peer review.

Setting up the bibliography

EJIS names no .bst file, so any standard style works at submission. What the instructions do require is the .bib file itself. A minimal author-date setup:

\usepackage{natbib}
...
\bibliographystyle{apalike}
\bibliography{refs}

apalike is our example of a consistent author-date style, not an EJIS requirement. Upload refs.bib with the .tex source.

Three references in APA 7 (one consistent style EJIS accepts)

1. Baskerville, R. (2008). What design science is not. European Journal of Information Systems, 17(5), 441–443. https://doi.org/10.1057/ejis.2008.45
2. Peffers, K., Tuunanen, T., & Niehaves, B. (2018). Design science research genres: Introduction to the special issue on exemplars and criteria for applicable design science research. European Journal of Information Systems, 27(2), 129–139. https://doi.org/10.1080/0960085X.2018.1458066
3. Petter, S., DeLone, W., & McLean, E. (2008). Measuring information systems success: Models, dimensions, measures, and interrelationships. European Journal of Information Systems, 17(3), 236–263. https://doi.org/10.1057/ejis.2008.15

EJIS does not require APA at submission. These are formatted by hand in APA 7 to show one style applied consistently. Author initials follow the Crossref record for each DOI. Titles, authors, volumes and pages were checked against Crossref on 2026-10-01.

LaTeX template

EJIS does not require a template: the instructions say authors may submit in any scholarly format or layout. If you want a LaTeX starting point, our APA 7 template gives an author-date manuscript layout.

Common mistakes

• Mixing two citation styles in one list. Format-free still means one format, used throughout.
• Submitting LaTeX without the .bib file. The instructions say it must be included.
• Counting references toward the 12,500 words. They are excluded, and so are appendices; tables, figures and captions are included.

Check your .bib file

• BibTeX Validator (free) checks a .bib file for syntax errors and missing required fields.
• Citation Generator (free) builds IEEE, APA, MLA and Chicago citations from entry fields, in your browser.
• Reference Converter (free) converts between BibTeX, RIS and EndNote. The same converter is below.