Format of Articles

As part of the article submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with the following format. Submitted articles may be returned to authors or rejected that do not adhere to the format.

TITLE

An article must have a title. Titles must meet the following criteria:

The title should be related to the content of the paper and should not include obscene or abusive words. Titles with either obscene or abusive words will be immediately desk-rejected.
Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of the article title. If there is a colon, full stop or question mark in the article title, also capitalize the first letter of the first word after those.

AUTHOR(S)

Authors are listed in the order of their contribution to the article, or if equally contributing, in alphabetical order.
For each author, the surname is listed before the other names.
The author(s) list includes a footnote on their institutional affiliation.

ABSTRACT

An abstract summarizes the major aspects of the entire paper in the following prescribed sequence:

The purpose, the objectives and the question(s) you investigated
the design and methods used, (from Methodology)- clearly express the basic design of the study.
the major findings including key quantitative/qualitative results, or trends (from Results)
a brief summary of your interpretations and conclusions.
Briefly but clearly state the recommendations from your findings.
Briefly explain the study’s contribution to monitoring and evaluation
The length of your Abstract should be kept to about 200-300 words.

KEYWORDS

Include not more than 5 key words (concepts) relevant to your study/topic.

INTRODUCTION

The Introduction must answer the questions, "What am I studying? Why is it an important question? What did we know about it before I did this study? How will this study advance our knowledge?"
The structure of the Introduction can be thought of as an inverted triangle – the broadest part at the top representing the most general information and focusing down to the specific problem you studied.
Briefly explain how your study contributes to the ongoing debate in the chosen topic
Organize the information to present the more general aspects of the topic early in the Introduction, then narrow toward the more specific topical information that provides context, finally arriving at your statement of purpose and rationale.
A good way to get on track is to sketch out the Introduction backwards; start with the specific purpose and then decide what is the scientific context in which you are asking the question(s) your study addresses.
Once the scientific context is decided, then you'll have a good sense of what level and type of general information with which the Introduction should begin.
In summary, the Introduction is a master summary of your whole paper and should include:

Establish the context of the work being reported. This is accomplished by discussing the relevant primary research literature (with citations) and summarizing our current understanding of the problem you are investigating;
State the purpose of the work in the form of the hypothesis, question, or problem you investigated; and,
Briefly explain your rationale and approach and, whenever possible, the possible outcomes your study can reveal
Short description of the findings to prepare the reader for what is to come.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

A literature review (or “relevant review of the literature”) is an objective, concise, critical summary of published research literature relevant to a topic being researched in an article. The following are some of the most important elements that a literature review provides:

Historical background for your research: Analyze what has been written about your field of research to highlight what is new and significant in your study—or how the analysis itself contributes to the understanding of this field, even in a small way. Providing a historical background also demonstrates to other researchers and the journal editors your competency in discussing theoretical concepts. You should also make sure to understand how to paraphrase literature to avoid plagiarism in your work.
The current context of your research: Discuss central questions, issues, and debates in the field (the research topic/issue). Because a field is constantly being updated by new work, you can show where your research fits into this context and explain developments and trends in research.
A discussion of relevant theories and concepts: Theories and concepts should provide the foundation for your research. Provide models and theories that focus on specific aspects of your research and connection to contextualize your study.
Description of related relevant research: Include a description of related research that shows how your work expands or challenges earlier studies or fills in gaps in previous work. You can use your literature review as evidence of what works, what doesn’t, and what is missing in the field.
Discussion on the gaps in literature that your research addresses: Your literature review, while discussing the current literature must clearly document what the exact gap is that is being filled by your paper. If no apparent gap exists, please clearly elaborate how the paper contributes to debate on the subject. Does the paper update previous (outdated) findings on the subject matter, for example? etc

METHODOLOGY

In this section you explain clearly how you carried out your study in the following general structure and organization (details follow below):

The study design (conceptual/ theoretical/ etc
How primary/ secondary data was collected/ how review of secondary data/ article was undertaken/who was interviewed
How primary/ secondary data was analyzed (for secondary data: thematically), for empirical studies (descriptive, inferential analysis- this applies only to that primary data.
the policy, program, project or intervention (s) studied
the process /protocol for collecting primary/secondary data, i.e., how the procedures were carried out.

FINDINGS/ RESULTS

The function of the Findings/ Results section is to objectively present your key findings/ results, without interpretation, in an orderly and logical sequence. In general, the content of your results section should include the following elements:

An introductory context for understanding the results by restating the research problem that underpins the purpose of your study.
A summary of your key findings arranged in a logical sequence that generally follows your methodology section.
Inclusion of non-textual elements, such as, figures, charts, photos, maps, tables, etc. to further illustrate the findings, if appropriate.
In the text, a systematic description of your results, highlighting for the reader observations that are most relevant to the topic under investigation [remember that not all results that emerge from the methodology that you used to gather the data may be relevant].
Use of the past tense when referring to your results.
The page length of your results section is guided by the amount and types of data to be reported. However, focus only on findings that are important and related to addressing the research problem.
Important negative results should be reported, too.

DISCUSSION

The discussion section is where you delve into the meaning, importance, and relevance of your results.
It should focus on explaining and evaluating what you found, showing how it relates to your literature review and paper or dissertation topic, and making an argument in support of your overall conclusion.
There are different ways to write this section, but you can focus your writing around these key elements:

Summary: A brief recap of your key results
Interpretations: What do your results mean?
Implications: Why do your results matter?
Limitations: What can’t your results tell us?
Recommendations: Avenues for further studies or analyses

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Tell us again, in summary, what was your research question and how you set out to address it
Restate briefly the work carried out, the aims and hypotheses or research questions.
Think about what your research/ study has achieved, and the most important findings and ideas you want the reader to know.
As all studies have limitations also think about what you were not able to cover (this shows that you are able to evaluate your own work objectively). State what you consider to be the limitations of your work.
Assess how far the aims of your research have been satisfied. Here you can include a personal assessment of what you have learnt (if you are asked to provide it)
Suggest how your work reported in this paper opens new research possibilities
Place the study in a wider context of research in the discipline and/ or a situation in the real world.
Indicate how the research may be practically useful in real-world situations

REFERENCES

References are done in alphabetical order, using APA style.
We strongly recommend citing academic articles, books or authoritative institutions (e.g. Governments, international organizations, etc) in your work.
Blogs, newspaper articles, non-academic websites are strongly discouraged and should be cited only in exceptional cases where those citations are important for the context of the paper. However, in general, these should be the exception rather than the norm in your paper.
As a general rule, you should review and revise your sources if these non-academic sources constitute more than 10% of your references.

APA Citation Basics

APA style uses the author/date method of citation in which the author's last name and the year of the publication are inserted in the actual text of the paper. It is the style recommended by the American Psychological Association and used in many of the social sciences The American Psychological Association offers some guidance and examples at http://www.apastyle.org/. This guide only summarizes a few main points regarding APA style.

Name the author and the publication date in-text before a quote. To simplify the in-text citation, place the last name of the author in the text to introduce the quote and then the publication date for the text in parentheses. You can then leave the author’s name and the publication date out of the quote itself.[1] For example, you may write, “Gardener (2008) notes, ‘There are several factors to consider about lobsters’.”
Include the author’s last name in the citation if you don’t list it in-text. If you do not want to name the author in the text, start the citation with their last name in parentheses at the end of the quote or the information you wish to cite. If there is more than one author, list their last names, separated by commas.

For example, you may write, “‘There are several factors to consider about lobsters’ (Gardner, 2008, p. 199).” Or, “The paper claims, ‘The fallen angel trope is common in religious and non-religious texts’ (Meek & Hill, 2015).”
For articles with 3-5 authors, write out the names of all the authors the first time you cite the source. For example: (Hammett, Wooster, Smith, & Charles, 1928). In subsequent citations, write only the first author’s name, followed by et al.: (Hammett et al., 1928).
If there are 4 or more authors for the paper, include the last name of the first author listed and then write "et al." to indicate that there are more than 3 authors.
For example, you may write, "'This is a quote' (Minaj et al., 1997).

Write the name of the organization if there is no author. If you are quoting from a research paper or article with no author, look for the name of the organization that published the paper.

For example, you may write, “‘The risk of cervical cancer in women is rising’ (American Cancer Society, 2012).”

Use 1-4 words from the title in quotation marks if there is no author or organization. If you cannot find an author or an organization that published the paper, you can use the first 1-4 words of the title of the paper instead.

For example, you may write, “‘Shakespeare may have been a woman’ (“Radical English Literature,” 2004).” Or, “The paper notes, ‘There is a boom in Virgin Mary imagery’ (“Art History in Italy,” 2011).”

Include the year of publication for the paper. Place a comma between the author or title of the paper and the publication date.[5]

For example, you may write, “‘There are several factors to consider about lobsters’ (Gardner, 2008).” Or, “The paper claims, ‘The fallen angel trope is common in religious and non-religious texts’ (“Iconography in Italian Frescos,” 2015).”

Use “n.d.” if you cannot find the date. For example, you may write, “‘Shakespeare may have been a woman’ (“Radical English Literature," n.d.,).”.” Or, “Minaj (n.d.) notes, ‘The study of psychology has been underfunded.’”
Note the page number where the quote or information appears in the paper. Write “p.” for page number and place a dash between the numbers if the quote or information you are citing spans more than 1 page.[7]

For example, you may write, “‘There are several factors to consider about lobsters’ (Gardner, 2008).” Or, “The paper claims, ‘The fallen angel trope is common in religious and non-religious texts’ (“Iconography in Italian Frescos,” 2015).”

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