The CASE Journal

Guidelines for authors

The CASE Journal welcomes teaching case studies written about real-life organisations, and people within those organisations. Many cases are about a protagonist making a business decision, though entity-types may vary and a decision-focus is not a requirement. Teaching case studies should include two stand-alone documents: (i) a well-developed and engaging case narrative (body) and (ii) a Teaching Note. The journal also accepts scholarly, pedagogical articles about teaching cases and the method. The journal does not publish: (i) traditional research-based cases, (ii) teaching cases without an accompanying Teaching Note, or (iii) fictional cases. Please ensure your submission complies with the author guidelines listed below:

Formatting Requirements (All Submissions)

Authors should:

• Include a stand-alone "References" section at the end of each document.
• Format references following the most recent American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines.
• Place in-body citations using either (i) APA guidelines or (ii) end-notes. Articles without in-body citations are subject to a desk reject.
• Use 1" margins, single spacing, and clearly numbered exhibits. Number all tables, appendices, attachments, illustrations, exhibits, maps, and other ancillary material sequentially, using the generic "Exhibit" as the identifier.

Please note that from September 2025, the following changes of style have been made:

1. The Case and Teaching Note have separate DOIs, and will be published separately. Please note that the Teaching Note will still be accessible to those with the required access.
2. All exhibits/plates will be treated as figures and tables.

Teaching Cases

• Do not include a synopsis or abstract in the teaching case narrative.
• The case must be factual, featuring real organisations, people, and situations. Authors should not take creative liberty about what people from the case might have been thinking. To this end, non-factual phrases such as "sipped their coffee" or "looked out the window and pondered" should be avoided. The authors should describe how they disguised any information (if needed) in the research methodology section of the Teaching Note and in the submission system.
• Authors must write case narratives in the past tense, except for direct quotes. Cases not in the past tense are subject to a desk reject.
• Cases should not exceed 7,000 words, excluding references and exhibits.
• Cases do not have to have a decision focus; illustrative, descriptive, and analytical cases are welcome at The CASE Journal.
• Cases should be modern and engaging, typically based on organisational events occurring within the past five (5) years.
• Permissions and/or ethics review board approvals are required for cases that are developed using primary data. Authors should not include copyrighted images or other exhibits for which they do not have permissions for reproduction. 

Teaching Note

The Teaching Note should contain the following sections and information (at a minimum):

• Synopsis. A clear and concise synopsis summarising key elements of the teaching case, including: (i) the focal organisation and individuals, (ii) the case's organisational inflection point, such as a decision, dilemma, or situation, and (iii) other pertinent information for potentially adapting professors. The synopsis should not exceed 250 words.
• Relevant Courses and Levels. An explanation of the: (i) target courses, (ii) levels (e.g., lower-level, upper-level, graduate) and (iii) modalities (e.g., in-seat, hybrid, online). This section should highlight if and where the case has been classroom tested.
• Learning Objectives. A detailed set of student-focused learning objectives of what the students should know or be able to accomplish completing the case. There should be no more than six (6) learning objectives, and authors should utilize Bloom’s Taxonomy to select verbs for objectives. Authors should use only one verb per learning objective.
• Research Methodology. A description of the types of data used to develop the case, primary and / or secondary. Where applicable, this section should provide: (i) information about any disguised information, and (ii) explanations about ethics review board or other permissions.
• Links to Theory and Practice. A section where authors engage with relevant theory and practice, and how it is related to the case and its delivery. Any required, suggested, or otherwise relevant readings should be provided in this section.
• Teaching Plan. A 90-minute multi-media teaching plan, including suggested classroom facilitation questions and activities. The teaching plan should consider all modalities mentioned under the “Relevant Courses and Level” section.
• Discussion Questions. A clean set of assignment questions that align with the learning objectives. Authors should notate links between learning objectives and discussion questions (LO#).
• Discussion Question Answers. A repeated list of discussion questions with exemplary "A" responses to each question.
• Teaching Strategy (optional). A section for additional teaching tips and / or recommendations (e.g., analysis of discussion questions, strategies for delivery to different modalities).
• Epilogue (optional). 

Compact Cases

The CASE Journal publishes Compact Cases designed to provide sufficient information to motivate student learning, illustrate concepts and provide discussion opportunities in a shorter case format. Compact Cases must meet all of the guidelines for a full-length Teaching Case Study, with a maximum of 1,500 words. Compact Cases should use the same format for the Teaching Note, with three minor modifications;

• Learning Objectives. Two (2) or three (3) learning objectives
• Links to Theory and Practice. A more focused and concise explanation of literature pertinent to theory and practice.
• Discussion Questions. Two (2) or three (3) discussion questions corresponding with learning objectives.

Articles

The CASE Journal publishes pedagogical articles about teaching cases and the teaching case method from time-to-time. Articles can be empirical, review, or theoretical. Article submissions that use primary research methods should include the proper human subject permissions, most likely approvals from the submitting institution's ethics or institutional review board.  

Copyright

Teaching cases submitted for publication should not have been published before in their current or substantially similar form, or be under consideration for publication with any ISSN/ ISBN registered publication. Please see Emerald’s originality guidelines for details. Authors submitting teaching cases for publication warrant that the work is not an infringement of any existing copyright and will indemnify the publisher against any breach of such warranty. For ease of dissemination and to ensure proper policing of use, papers and contributions become the legal copyright of the publisher unless otherwise agreed. The editor may make use of iThenticate software for checking the originality of submissions received.

Permissions

Prior to teaching case submission, authors must clear permission to use any content that has not been created by them. Failure to do so may lead to lengthy delays in publication. Emerald is unable to publish any content which has permissions outstanding. The rights that Emerald require evidence of clearance for, are:

1. Non-exclusive rights to reproduce the material.
2. Print and electronic rights.
3. Worldwide English language rights.
4. To use the material for the life of the work (i.e., there should be no time restrictions on the re-use of material, e.g., a one-year licence).

When reproducing tables, figures or excerpts from another source, it is expected that:

1. Authors obtain the necessary written permission in advance from any third party owners of copyright for the use in print and electronic formats of any of their text, illustrations, graphics, or other material, in their manuscript. Permission must also be cleared for any minor adaptations of any work not created by them.
2. If an author significantly adapts any material, the author must inform the copyright holder of the original work.
3. Authors obtain any proof of consent statements.
4. Authors must always acknowledge the source in figure captions and refer to the source in the reference list.
5. Authors should not assume that any content which is freely available on the web is free to use. Authors should check the website for details of the copyright holder to seek permission for re-use.

Emerald is a member of the STM Association and participates in the reciprocal free exchange of material with other STM members. This may mean that in some cases, authors do not need to clear permission for re-use of content. If so, please highlight this upon submission. For more information and additional help, please follow the Permissions for your Manuscript guide.

Consent to publish – release form

All teaching cases submitted for review must include appropriate signed permissions from case Protagonists, e.g., CEO; company directors or any employee given authority by the organisation; or the person or persons under review, granting full permission to publish the case. Written permission must also be obtained if you include any material for which someone other than yourself or the case subject/protagonist, own the copyright. Please see Permissions section above for more detail. Please refer to our Consent to publish – Release Form as an example of the required release form.

Defamation / Libel

If inaccurate, unsubstantiated or emotive statements are made about organisations or people in a submitted case, Emerald reserves the right to request changes to the text from the author or to reject the case prior to publication.

Critiques and reviews of organisations, products and services are acceptable but comments must be constructive and must not:

• Expose groups or individuals to hatred, ridicule or contempt;
• Cause them to be shunned or avoided;
• Lower them in the estimation of right-thinking members of society generally;
• Disparage them in their business, trade, office or profession.

Final Submission

Authors should note that proofs are not supplied prior to publication. The manuscript will be considered to be the definitive version of the teaching case. Therefore, any requests for changes after the final submission will not be granted. The author must ensure that the final submission is complete, grammatically correct and without spelling or typographical errors.

Emerald’s Policy on AI Usage

Emerald’s overarching principles of AI usage:

1) Authors and peer reviewers are responsible and accountable for the accuracy and integrity of their work.

2) AI tools and technology must be used responsibly and transparently.

3) AI tools and technology should not replace human involvement in the publication process but instead supplement it.

Copywriting (creating, drafting, or writing) any part of a submission using generative AI tools and technology to generate new material is not permitted.

Copy-editing (correcting, editing, formatting, modifying, or refining) all or part of an author’s own original existing work using generative AI tools and technology the content to improve its structure and the clarity of the language and grammar is permitted, ensuring users adhere to the following overarching principles.

Emerald’s full policy, including examples of use cases can be found on our Publishing Ethics page.