Author Guidelines

Download title page template

Download research article template

LANGUAGE

All submissions should be in British English.

PAGE LAYOUT

All material on each page should fit within an A4 size paper.

1. Margins:

Margins are set accordingly as below:

• Top: 2.16 cm
• Bottom: 2.16 cm
• Left: 2.16 cm
• Right: 2.16 cm

TYPESET TEXT

1. Normal or Body Text

• Title- font size 16, Headings - font size 14, subheading- font size 12 (all in BOLD).
• Text -Font type is Times New Roman with size 12.
• 1.15 spacing throughout with justified alignment.
• The manuscript should have a uniform style, correct journal format, carefully proofread for grammar, spelling and punctuation.
• Word limit;

• Original Research Article: 8000
• Review Article (Commentaries): 6000
• Case Study: 3000

2. Title and Authors

The title (Times New Roman font 16-point) and 20-points of white space between the Title and Authors' names (Times New Roman font 14-point) and affiliations (Times New Roman font 12-point) and 20-points of white space below the affiliation, before the abstract. These should be on a separate page.  All of these elements run across the full width of the page – one column wide. Subsequent Pages

3. Page Numbering

Include page numbers in your submission however, separate page numbers will be assigned when the publications are assembled.

4. Section

The heading of a section should be in Times New Roman 14-point bold in all capitals flush left with additional 6-points of white space above the section head. 

5. Sub-section

The heading of sub-sections should be in Times New Roman 12-point bold with only the initial letters capitalized. (Note: For sub-sections and sub-sub-sections, a word like ‘the’ or ‘a’ is not capitalized unless it is the first word of the header).

6. Sub-sub-sections

The heading for sub-sub-sections should be in Times New Roman 12-point italic with initial letters capitalized and 4-points of white space above the sub-sub-section head. 

MANUSCRIPT ORGANIZATION

In general, the original article should be divided into the following sections: Title page, Abstract, Text, Acknowledgement and References. The tables with titles, graphs/diagrams/pictures with titles and should be within the text where it should actually appear.  

Title page

• Title of the article.
• Names of all authors with institutional affiliations.
• Name of the corresponding author with contact address, telephone number, Email address.
• Disclosure of conflict of interest if any
• The title page should be on a separate page.

Abstract

• Title of the article.
• Structured without heading (should have Background, Objectives, Methods, Result and Conclusion).
• The authors’ names should not be given.
• Preferably within 150-250 words.
• Avoid abbreviations in the title and abstract except standard abbreviations.

Keywords

• 3-5 words arranged alphabetically, separated by a semi-colon.

Text/Body

The text should be generally arranged into the following sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgement, and References.

1. INTRODUCTION

• Statement of the problem with a short discussion of its importance and significance.
• Review of the literature related to the problem with pertinent references.
• Objectives/ hypothesis/ benefits expected stated in 1-2 paragraph.

2. METHODS

• Study type, place and time.
• Description of study variables.
• Description of study subjects and grouping.
• Selection criteria.
• Description of procedure and methods.
• Description of the statistical procedure with enough detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results.

3. RESULTS

• Present results in logical sequence in text, table and illustration with the most important findings first.
• Describe without comment.
• Do not duplicate data in tables and figures.

4. DISCUSSIONS 

• This should explore the significance of the results of the work and do not repeat the result.
• A combined Results and Discussions section is often appropriate. 
• Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published

5. CONCLUSION 

• The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short conclusion section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section.

6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

• Individuals, institutions, sponsors, organizations, or bodies can be acknowledged in the article for their contribution or financial or any form of assistance to the work.
• The acknowledgment should be short and brief.

CITATIONS AND REFERENCING

Citations in the text should follow the APA (7th edition) referencing style. 

1. In-text citation 

The format of the author element of the in-text citation changes depending on the number of authors and is abbreviated in some cases. See the table below for examples of the basic in-text citation styles.

• For work with one or two authors, include the author name(s) in every citation.
• For work with three or more authors, include the name of only the first author plus “et al.” in every citation

Citing multiple works in one parenthesis:

When citing multiple works parenthetically, place the citations in alphabetical order, separating them with semicolons.

(Adams et al., 2019; Shumway & Shulman, 2015; Westinghouse, 2017)

Work with the same author and same date

When multiple references have an identical author (or authors) and publication year, include a lowercase letter after the year. The year–letter combination is used in both the in-text citation and the reference list entry.

(Judge & Kammeyer-Mueller, 2012a) or (Judge and Kammeyer-Mueller (2012b) or (Sifuentes, n.d.-a, n.d.-b)

Authors with the same surname

If the first authors of multiple references share the same surname but have different initials include the first authors’ initials in all in-text citations, even if the year of publication differs.

(J. M. Taylor & Neimeyer, 2015; T. Taylor, 2014)

If the first authors of multiple references share the same surname and the same initials, cite the works in the standard author-date format.

(Chen & Chen, 2019)

Citing a reference with no date:

For works with no date, use “n.d.” in the in-text citation.

(Mitchell, n.d.) or (Department of Veterans Affairs, n.d.)

Citing a secondary source:

When citing a secondary source, provide a reference list entry for the secondary source that you used. In the text, identify the primary source and then write “as cited in” the secondary source that you used. If the year of publication of the primary source is known, also include it in the text.  

For example, if you read a work by Lyon et al. (2014) in which Rabbitt (1982) was cited, and you were unable to read Rabbitt’s work yourself, cite Rabbitt’s work as the original source, followed by Lyon et al.’s work as the secondary source. Only Lyon et al.’s work appears in the reference list.

(Rabbitt, 1982, as cited in Lyon et al., 2014)

2. End-text Citation/Reference lists

A reference generally has four elements: author, date, title, and source. Each element answers a question:

• author: Who is responsible for this work?
• date: When was this work published?
• title: What is this work called?
• source: Where can I retrieve this work?

Format of the Reference List
The following guidelines will help you properly format your reference list in APA Style:

• Begin the reference list on a new page after the text.
• Place the section label “References” in bold at the top of the page, centered.
• Order the reference list entries alphabetically by author (surname of the first author followed by the initials of the author’s given name)
• Double-space the entire reference list (both within and between entries).
• Apply a hanging indent of 0.5 in. to each reference list entry, meaning that the first line of the reference is flush left and subsequent lines are indented 0.5 in. from the left margin. Use the paragraph-formatting function of your word-processing program to apply the hanging indent.
  

Journal article with a DOI
McCauley, S. M., & Christiansen, M. H. (2019). Language learning as language use: A cross-linguistic model of child language development. Psychological Review, 126(1), 1–51. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000126

Journal article without a DOI, with a non-database URL
Ahmann, E., Tuttle, L. J., Saviet, M., & Wright, S. D. (2018). A descriptive review of ADHD coaching research: Implications for college students. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 31(1), 17–39. https://www.ahead.org/professionalresources/publications/jped/archived-jped/jped-volume-31

Journal, magazine, or newspaper article without a DOI, from most academic research databases or print version

Anderson, M. (2018). Getting consistent with consequences. Educational Leadership, 76(1), 26–33.

Goldman, C. (2018, November 28). The complicated calibration of love, especially in adoption. Chicago Tribune.

Journal article with a DOI, 21 or more authors

Kalnay, E., Kanamitsu, M., Kistler, R., Collins, W., Deaven, D., Gandin, L., Iredell, M., Saha, S., White, G., Woollen, J., Zhu, Y., Chelliah, M., Ebisuzaki, W., Higgins, W., Janowiak, J., Mo, K. C., Ropelewski, C., Wang, J., Leetmaa, A., . . . Joseph, D. (1996). The NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis project. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 77(3), 437–471. http://doi.org/fg6rf9

Newspaper article

Guarino, B. (2017, December 4). How will humanity react to alien life? Psychologists have some predictions. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/12/04/how-will-humanity-react-to-alien-lifepsychologists-have-some-predictions

Hess, A. (2019, January 3). Cats who take direction. The NewYork Times.

Authored book with a DOI
Brown, L. S. (2018). Feminist therapy (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000092-000

Authored book without a DOI, from most academic research databases or print version
Burgess, R. (2019). Rethinking global health: Frameworks of power. Routledge.

Authored book with editor credited on the book cover
Meadows, D. H. (2008). Thinking in systems: A primer (D. Wright, Ed.). Chelsea Green Publishing.

(When an editor is credited on the cover of an authored book, provide the editor’s name in parentheses after the book title with "Ed." or "Eds." in parentheses)

Edited book without a DOI, from most academic research databases or print version
Hacker Hughes, J. (Ed.). (2017). Military veteran psychological health and social care: Contemporary approaches. Routledge.

Dictionary, thesaurus, or encyclopedia
American Psychological Association. (n.d.). APA dictionary of psychology. Retrieved June 14, 2019, from https://dictionary.apa.org/

Chapter in an edited book with a DOI
Balsam, K. F., Martell, C. R., Jones, K. P., & Safren, S. A. (2019). Affirmative cognitive behavior therapy with sexual and gender minority people. In G. Y. Iwamasa & P. A. Hays (Eds.), Culturally responsive cognitive behavior therapy: Practice and supervision (2nd ed., pp. 287–314). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000119-012

Chapter in an edited book without a DOI, from most academic research databases or print version
Weinstock, R., Leong, G. B., & Silva, J. A. (2003). Defining forensic psychiatry: Roles and responsibilities. In R. Rosner (Ed.), Principles and practice of forensic psychiatry (2nd ed., pp. 7–13). CRC Press.

Report by a government agency or other organization
Australian Government Productivity Commission & New Zealand Productivity Commission. (2012). Strengthening trans-Tasman economic relations.              https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/australia-newzealand/report/trans-tasman.pdf

Report by individual authors at a government agency or other organization
Fried, D., & Polyakova, A. (2018). Democratic defense against disinformation. Atlantic Council. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/images/publications/

Annual report
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. (2017). Agency financial report: Fiscal year 2017. https://www.sec.gov/files/sec-2017-agency-financialreport.pdf

Unpublished dissertation or thesis
Harris, L. (2014). Instructional leadership perceptions and practices of elementary school leaders [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Virginia.

Dissertation or thesis published online (not in a database)
Hutcheson, V. H. (2012). Dealing with dual differences: Social coping strategies of gifted and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer adolescents [Master’s thesis, The College of William & Mary]. William & Mary Digital Archive. https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/bitstream/handle/10288/16594/HutchesonVirginia2012.pdf