Author Guidelines

Before you submit your manuscript, it is important you read and follow the guidelines below. 

Format

Article files should be provided in Microsoft Word format. Acceptable figure file types are listed further below.

Article length/word count

Articles should be between 5000  and 7000 words in length. This includes all text, for example, the structured abstract, references, all text in tables, and figures and appendices. 

Please allow 280 words for each figure or table.

Article title

A concisely worded title should be provided.

Author Details

The names of all contributing authors should be added to the ScholarOne submission; please list them in the order in which you would like them to be published. Each contributing author will need their own ScholarOne author account, from which we will extract the following details:

  • Author email address (institutional preferred).
  • Author name. We will reproduce it exactly, so any middle names and/or initials they want to be featured must be included.
  • Author affiliation. This should be where they were based when the research for the paper was conducted.

In multi-authored papers, it is important that ALL authors that have made a significant contribution to the paper are listed. Those who have provided support but have not contributed to the research should be featured in an acknowledgments section. You should never include people who have not contributed to the paper or who do not want to be associated with the research.

Biographies and acknowledgments

If you want to include these items, save them in a separate Microsoft Word document and upload the file with your submission. Where they are included, a brief professional biography of not more than 100 words should be supplied for each named author.

Research funding

Your article must reference all sources of external research funding in the acknowledgments section. You should describe the role of the funder or financial sponsor in the entire research process, from study design to submission.

Structured abstract

All submissions must include a structured abstract, following the format outlined below.

These four sub-headings and their accompanying explanations must always be included:

  • Purpose
  • Design/methodology/approach
  • Findings
  • Originality

The following three sub-headings are optional and can be included, if applicable:

  • Research limitations/implications
  • Practical implications
  • Social implications

The maximum length of your abstract should be 250 words in total, including keywords and article classification (see the sections below).

Keywords

Your submission should include up to 12 appropriate and short keywords that capture the principal topics of the paper. Please note, while we will always try to use the keywords you have suggested, the in-house editorial team may replace some of them with matching terms to ensure consistency across publications and improve your article's visibility.

Article classification

During the submission process, you will be asked to select a type for your paper; the options are listed below. If you do not see an exact match, please choose the best fit:

  • Research Article
  • Practitioner-Researcher Voices
  • Book Review
  • Short Article

Headings

Headings must be concise, with a clear indication of the required hierarchy. 

The preferred format is for first-level headings to be in bold, and subsequent sub-headings to be in medium italics.

Notes/endnotes

Notes or endnotes should only be used if absolutely necessary. They should be identified in the text by consecutive numbers enclosed in square brackets. These numbers should then be listed, and explained, at the end of the article.

Figures

All figures (charts, diagrams, line drawings, webpages/screenshots, and photographic images) should be submitted electronically. Both color and black and white files are accepted.

There are a few other important points to note:

  • All figures should be supplied at the highest resolution/quality possible with numbers and text clearly legible.
  • Acceptable formats are .ai, .eps, .jpeg, .bmp, and .tif.
  • Electronic figures created in other applications should be supplied in their original formats and should also be either copied and pasted into a blank MS Word document or submitted as a PDF file.
  • All figures should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals and have clear captions.
  • All photographs should be numbered as Plate 1, 2, 3, etc., and have clear captions.

Tables

Tables should be typed and submitted in a separate file to the main body of the article. The position of each table should be clearly labeled in the main body of the article with corresponding labels clearly shown in the table file. Tables should be numbered consecutively in Roman numerals (e.g. I, II, etc.).

Give each table a brief title. Ensure that any superscripts or asterisks are shown next to the relevant items and have explanations displayed as footnotes to the table, figure, or plate.

References

Quotation and references follow APA 7th edition and the latter should be included at the end of the article

NOTE:

1. Please check the journal template for details.

2. We use the Mendeley app to check the reference. We suggest before submitting articles already using the Mendeley app.