International Journal of Management, Economics and Social Sciences

1 – 5

Authors: Probir K. Banerjee

The community of researchers unanimously agrees that a code of ethics must be followed when engaging in research and consenting to publication of research findings in academic journals. However, unethical research practice continues to cause concern. In an effort to address the concern, several researchers have prescribed remedial action. Publishers and members of the research community have also tried to raise awareness of this malady plaguing the research community. For example, Ethics in Research & Publication, a website created by Elsevier, a trusted publisher of science and health information, aims to raise awareness in this regard by providing examples of scientific misconduct and breach of publications ethics, including plagiarism. Similarly, the iThenticate blog discusses plagiarism and other scholarly misconduct issues in a bid to promote integrity and ethical writing practices.

12 – 27

Authors: Souad Sherif; Kamel Fantazy

The purpose of this paper is to examine factors influencing export in bilateral trade in the Middle-East context. The study considers the bilateral trade flows across three Gulf Cooperation Council countries - the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Bahrain (BAH) and Qatar (QAT) - over the last 30 years (1981-2010). The study focuses on the relationships between BAH and QAT, combined as one group, and KSA, which has a relatively larger economic mass and population. Data related to bilateral trade was collected from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The proposed model was tested using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique. Our results indicated that GDP, POP_GR, and GDP/CA have a positive relationship with the level of KSA_EX, while the DIST related negatively to the level of KSA_EX. The study shows that all factors are crucial to the success of bilateral trade flow between both parties (BAH and QAT) and KSA because they provide the facts that decision makers need to make the appropriate decisions. Lastly, the article discusses research contributions and limitations of the study that could be addressed in future research scope.