Guidelines For Authors

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

1. Please read the Author Guide before you submit a manuscript

2. The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).

3. The submission file is in Microsoft Word file format.

4. The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guide.

5. Copyrights for articles published in this journal are retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal. The journal/publisher is not responsible for subsequent uses of the work. It is the author's responsibility to bring an infringement action if so desired by the author.

1. Type of papers

a) Original research papers:

Papers that include original empirical data that have not been published anywhere earlier (except as an abstract). Null/negative findings and replication/refutation findings are also welcome. This type of paper normally should not exceed 25 double-spaced pages of text (including references) and should not contain more than 15 figures/tables. We advise a length of 3000-6000 words (including everything)..

b) Short communications:

Short Communications are urgent communications of important preliminary results that are very original, of high interest and likely to have a significant impact on the subject area of the journal. A Short Communication needs only to demonstrate a ‘proof of principle’. Authors are encouraged to submit an Original Research Paper to the journal following their Short Communication. There is no strict page limit for a Short Communication; however, we advise a length of 2500-3500 words, plus 2-3 figures and/or tables, and 15-20 key references.

c) Review papers:

These papers will not have empirical data acquired by the authors but will include discussion of papers published and data acquired in a specific area. We advise a length of 5000-9000 words, (including 50-150 references plus 3-5 figures and/or tables (if required).

1.2 Manuscript structure

The manuscript should be written in English or French with a simple layout. The text should be prepared in double column format. Bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. can be used.

The text, excluding the abstract, if required, can be divided into numbered sections with brief headings. Starting from introduction with section 1. subsections should be numbered (for example 2.1 (then 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.2, etc.), up to three levels.

2. Brief guidelines

Title Page

The title page should contain a brief title, name(s) of author(s) and their affiliations. The title should be without any abbreviations and it should enlighten the contents of the paper. All affiliations should be provided with a lower-case superscript letter just after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. The name of the corresponding author should be indicated along with telephone and fax numbers (with country and area code) along with full postal address and e-mail address.

Abstract

The abstract should be concise and informative. It should not exceed 300 words in length. It should briefly describe the purpose of the work, techniques and methods used, major findings with important data and conclusions. Different sub-sections, as given below, should be used. No references should be cited in this part. Generally non-standard abbreviations should not be used, if necessary they should be clearly defined in the abstract, at first use.

Keywords

Immediately after the abstract, about 4-8 keywords should be given. Use of abbreviations should be avoided, only standard abbreviations, well known in the established area may be used, if appropriate. These keywords will be used for indexing.

Abbreviations

Non-standard abbreviations should be listed and full form of each abbreviation should be given in parentheses at first use in the text.

Introduction

Provide a factual background, clearly defined problem, proposed solution, a brief literature survey and the scope and justification of the work done.

Material and methods

Give adequate information to allow the experiment to be reproduced. Already published methods should be mentioned with references. Significant modifications of published methods and new methods should be described in detail. This section will include sub-sections. Tables & figures should be placed inside the text. Tables and figures should be presented as per their appearance in the text. It is suggested that the discussion about the tables and figures should appear in the text before the appearance of the respective tables and figures. No tables or figures should be given without discussion or reference inside the text.

Tables should be explanatory enough to be understandable without any text reference. Double spacing should be maintained throughout the table, including table headings and footnotes. Table headings should be placed above the table. Footnotes should be placed below the table with superscript lowercase letters.

Each figure should have a caption. The caption should be concise and typed separately, not on the figure area. Figures should be self-explanatory. Information presented in the figure should not be repeated in the table. All symbols and abbreviations used in the illustrations should be defined clearly. Figure legends should be given below the figures.

Results & Discussion

Results should be clearly described in a concise manner. Results for different parameters should be described under subheadings or in separate paragraph. Table or figure numbers should be mentioned in parentheses for better understanding.

The discussion should not repeat the results, but provide detailed interpretation of data. This should interpret the significance of the findings of the work. Citations should be given in support of the findings. The results and discussion part can also be described as separate, if appropriate.

Tables & Figures

Tables & figures should be placed inside the text. Tables and figures should be presented as per their appearance in the text. It is suggested that the discussion about the tables and figures should appear in the text before the appearance of the respective tables and figures. No tables or figures should be given without discussion or reference inside the text.

Tables should be explanatory enough to be understandable without any text reference. Double spacing should be maintained throughout the table, including table headings and footnotes. Table headings should be placed above the table. Footnotes should be placed below the table with superscript lowercase letters.

Each figure should have a caption. The caption should be concise and typed separately, not on the figure area. Figures should be self-explanatory. Information presented in the figure should not be repeated in the table. All symbols and abbreviations used in the illustrations should be defined clearly. Figure legends should be given below the figures

Conclusions

This should briefly state the major findings of the study.

Acknowledgments

A brief acknowledgment section may be given after the conclusion section just before the references. The acknowledgments of people who provided assistance in manuscript preparation, funding for research, etc. should be listed in this section. All sources of funding should be declared as an acknowledgment. Authors should declare the role of the funding agency, if any, in the study design, collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript. If the study sponsors had no such involvement, the authors should so state.

Reference style

References must be listed at the end of the manuscript and numbered in the order that they appear in the text. Every reference referred in the text must also present in the reference list and vice versa.

Only published or accepted manuscripts should be included in the reference list. Articles submitted for publication, unpublished findings and personal communications should not be included in the reference list but may be mentioned in the text.