Author Guidelines
AUTHOR GUIDELINES
Please prepare your manuscript following the instructions for authors given below before submitting it.
Manuscripts submitted for publication in JSL should be between 6,000 and 12,000 words/ The abstract should maintain a maximum of 250 words.
PREPARATION
Use of word processing software
It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the word processor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular, do not use the word processor's options to justify text or to hyphenate words. However, do use bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. When preparing tables, if you are using a table grid, use only one grid for each individual table and not a grid for each row. If no grid is used, use tabs, not spaces, to align columns. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts. Note that source files of figures, tables and text graphics will be required whether or not you embed your figures in the text. See also the section on Electronic artwork. To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions of your word processor.
ARTICLE STRUCTURE
Subdivision - numbered sections: Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ...), 1.2, etc. (the abstract is not included in section numbering). Use this numbering also for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to 'the text'. Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line.
Introduction: State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.
Material and methods: Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described.
Results: Results should be clear and concise.
Discussion: This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.
Conclusions: The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section.
ESSENTIAL TITLE PAGE INFORMATION
Title: Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
Author names and affiliations: Please clearly indicate the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author and check that all names are accurately spelled. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.
Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that the e-mail address is given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author.
Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a 'Present address' (or 'Permanent address') may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.
ABSTRACT
A concise and factual abstract is required. The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, References should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.
GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
You are requested to Design the GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT with the size 670 x 500 pixel width and height. The best practice graphical abstract can be seen here: https://www.elsevier.com/authors/tools-and-resources/visual-abstract#examples. The Graphical abstract file type: jpg or png. Please copy and paste here and also upload your GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT and submit the file through ADD SUPPLEMENTARY FILE -> entitled GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT.PNG
HIGHLIGHTS
Highlights are an obligation for this journal. They consist of a short collection of bullet points that convey the core findings of the article and should be submitted in a separate editable file in the online submission system. Please use 'Highlights' in the file name and include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including spaces, per bullet point).
KEYWORDS
Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords, using American spelling and avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, 'and', 'of'). Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes. Acknowledgements Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc.).
NOMENCLATURE AND UNITS
Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI). If other quantities are mentioned, give their equivalent in SI. You are urged to consult IUPAC: Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry: http://www.iupac.org/ for further information.
MATH FORMULAE
Please submit math equations as editable text and not as images. Present simple formulae in line with normal text where possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms, e.g., X/Y. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).
FOOTNOTES
Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article. Many word processors can build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Otherwise, please indicate the position of footnotes in the text and list the footnotes themselves separately at the end of the article. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list.
TABLES
Please submit tables as editable text and not as images. Tables can be placed either next to the relevant text in the article, or on separate page(s) at the end. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text and place any table notes below the table body. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in them do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article. Please avoid using vertical rules.
REFERENCES
Citation in text
Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either 'Unpublished results' or 'Personal communication'. Citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication.
Web references
As a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.
References in a special issue
Please ensure that the words 'this issue' are added to any references in the list (and any citations in the text) to other articles in the same Special Issue.
REFERENCE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
Most journals have their reference template available in many of the most popular reference management software products. These include all products that support Citation Style Language styles (http://citationstyles.org), such as Mendeley (http://www.mendeley.com/features/reference-manager) and Zotero (https://www.zotero.org/), as well as EndNote (http://endnote.com/downloads/styles). Using the word processor plug-ins from these products, authors only need to select the appropriate journal template when preparing their article, after which citations and bibliographies will be automatically formatted in the journal's style. If no template is yet available for this journal, please follow the format of the sample references and citations as shown in this Guide. Users of Mendeley Desktop can easily install the reference style for this journal by clicking the following link: http://open.mendeley.com/use-citation-style/journal-of-aerosol-science When preparing your manuscript, you will then be able to select this style using the Mendeley plugins for Microsoft Word or LibreOffice.
REFERENCE STYLE
Text: Citations in the text should follow the referencing style used by the American Psychological Association. You are referred to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition, ISBN 978-1-4338-0561-5, copies of which may be ordered from http://books.apa.org/books.cfm?id=4200067 or APA Order Dept., P.O.B. 2710, Hyattsville, MD 20784, USA or APA, 3 Henrietta Street, London, WC3E 8LU, UK.
List of references should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters 'a', 'b', 'c', etc., placed after the year of publication.
SUBMISSION PREPARATION CHECKLIST
Essential title page information
Title
- Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
Author names and affiliations.
- Please clearly indicate the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author and check that all names are accurately spelled.
- Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lowercase superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address.
- Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.
Corresponding author.
- Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication.
- Ensure that the e-mail address is given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author.
Abstract
- A concise and factual abstract is required. The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone.
- References should be avoided
Keywords
- Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 6 keywords, using American spelling and avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, 'and', 'of').
- Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.
Article structure
- Subdivision - numbered sections
- Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ...), 1.2, etc. (the abstract, acknoledgment,and references are not included in section numbering).
Math formulae
- Please submit math equations as editable text and not as images.
- Present simple formulae in line with normal text where possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms, e.g., X/Y.
- In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text)
Results
- Results should be clear and concise.
Discussion
- A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.
- This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them.
Tables
- Please submit tables as editable text and not as images. Tables can be placed either next to the relevant text in the article, or on separate page(s) at the end.
- Tables can be placed either next to the relevant text in the article, or on separate page(s) at the end.
- Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text and place any table notes below the table body
- Please avoid the use of prepositions “above”, “below” after the number tables indicating the position of table to the text.
References
- Citation in text. Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa).
- Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text.
- If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either 'Unpublished results' or 'Personal communication'. Citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication.
Reference style
Citations may be made directly (or parenthetically). Groups of references should be listed first alphabetically, then chronologically.
Examples: "as demonstrated (Allan, 1996a, 1996b, 1999; Allan and Jones, 1995). Kramer et al. (2000) have recently shown ...."
- List of References should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary.
- More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters "a", "b", "c", etc., placed after the year of publication.
In-text APA citations typically appear at the end of the sentence, between the last word and the period.
Example of a parenthetical citations without the author’s name in the text:
Harlem had many artists and musicians in the late 1920s (Belafonte, 2008).
Example of a parenthetical citation when author is mentioned in the text:
According to Belafonte, Harlem was full of artists and musicians in the late 1920s (2008).
For parenthetical citations with two authors, format your parenthetical citation like this:
Rallying to restore sanity was a revolutionary undertaking (Stewart & Colbert, 2010).
For parenthetical citations with three to five authors: Include all names in the first in-text parenthetical citation, separated by commas and then an ampersand (&).
Rallying to restore sanity was a revolutionary undertaking (Stewart, Colbert, & Oliver, 2010).
For all subsequent in-text parenthetical citations, include only the first author, followed by “et al.” and the publication year if it is the first citation in a paragraph.
The event resulted in thousands of participants flocking to the National Mall in support of the cause (Stewart et al. 2010).
or
Stewart et al. (2010) state that the event resulted in thousands of participants flocking to the National Mall in support of the cause.
For parenthetical citations for six or more authors, include only the last name of the first author, followed by “et al.” and publication year in ALL parenthetical citations.
The study did not come to any definitive conclusions (Rothschild et al., 2013).
APA Styles Guideline for References
Book:
Author, F. M. (Year of Publication). Title of work. Publisher City, State: Publisher.
James, H. (2009). The ambassadors. Rockville, MD: Serenity.
Chapter in a Print Book:
Author, F. M. (Year of Publication). Title of chapter. In F. M. Editor (Ed.), Title of book (pp. xx-xx). Publisher City, State: Publisher.
Shuhua, L. (2007). The night of MidAutumn Festival. In J. S. M. Lau & H. Goldblatt (Eds.), The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature (pp. 95-102). New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
E-Books:
Author, F. M. (Year of Publication). Title of work [E-reader version]. Retrieved from URL
Stoker, B. (2000). Dracula [Kindle HDX version]. Retrieved from http://www.overdrive.com/
Chapter in an E-book:
Author, F. M. (Year of Publication). Title of chapter. In F. M. Editor (Ed.), Title of book [E-reader version] (pp. xx-xx). Retrieved from URL or http://dx.doi.org/xxxx
Journals found on a database or online:
Author, F. M. (Year of Publication). Article title. Journal Title, Volume Number(Issue Number), pp.-pp. http://dx.doi.org/xxxx or Retrieved from homepage URL
Trier, J. (2007). “Cool” engagements with YouTube: Part 2. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 50(7), 598-603. http://dx.doi.org/10.1598/JAAL.50.7.8
Journals found in print:
Author, F. M., Author, F. M. & Author, F. M. (Year of Publication). Article title. Journal Title, Volume(Issue Number), page range.
Lin, M.G., Hoffman, E.S., & Borengasser, C. (2013). Is social media too social for class? A case study of Twitter use. Tech Trends, 57(2), 39-45.
Magazine:
Last, F. M. (Date Published). Article title. Magazine Title, Volume(Issue), Page(s).
Website:
Last, F. M. (Date Published). Web page title. Retrieved from Homepage URL
Newspaper:
Last, F. M. (Year, Month Day published). Article title. Newspaper Title, Page(s).
Funding Sources
Notes
Abbreviations
SL, Science Learning; SPS, Science Process Skills.
Further considerations
- Manuscript has been 'spell-checked' and 'grammar-checked' using word processing.
- References are in the correct format for this journal
- All references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa
- Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Internet)
- Printed version of figures (if applicable) in color or black-and-white. Indicate clearly whether or not color or black-and-white in print is required.
- There is no grammatical and typographycal errors
- The active and passive sentences must be presented clearly.
- Checking the coordinating conjuction, subcoordinating conjunction, transitional expression.
- Checking the grammar rule of past tense, simple present, present perfect.
- Checking the grammar rule and style written english
Eg. count-uncount noun, gerund, adjective with the linking verb, dual comparisons, comparative sentences, causative verbs, subjunctive, inclusives (not only,… but also, as well as, both … and…), transitive-intransitive verbs, dependent-independent clauses, antecedent of pronouns, the parallel structure of sentence, direct-indirect objects
Acknowledgements
- Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise.
- List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc.).
