Submissions

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Author Guidelines

Submission to this journal proceeds totally online. Use the following guidelines to prepare your article. 

Submission Template

For our Microsoft Word submission template, please download the file here.

Article Types

The following article types are included:

  1. Original Research Article
  2. Review
  3. Opinions
  4. Technical Notes
  5. Datasets

Manuscript Presentation

  1. Length: For Original Research Articles, articles should exceed 4,000 words but be less than 10,000 words and include references, tables, and figures. For Review, articles should exceed 5,000 words but be less than 15,000 words, with 150 references at the maximum. For Opinions, Technical Notes, and Datasets, articles should exceed 3,000 words but be less than 7,000 words.
  2. Language, Spelling, and Grammar: This journal only accepts English manuscripts. If English is not your first language, it is strongly suggested that you ask an English-speaking colleague to proofread your paper.
  3. Author Affiliations: These should immediately follow the title. For multiple-authored articles, list the full names of all the authors, followed by their email addresses. If an author's present address is different from the address at which the work was carried out, this should be given as a footnote. All co-authors must be listed on the manuscript submission and peer review sites as part of the submission process.
  4. Abstract: The abstract should not exceed 300 words in total. It should indicate the general scope and also state the main results obtained, the methods used, the value of the work, and the conclusions drawn. IMRAD format is recommended to organize the structure of your abstract. No figure numbers, table numbers, or references should be included.
  5. Keywords: Please include at least 3 and up to 7 pertinent keywords.
  6. Tables: The text should make clear references to the tables. Tables should be inserted in an editable format. Tables should be referred to in numerical order.
  7. Funding: You should list all funding sources in the Acknowledgments Section.
  8. Reference Style: This journal uses the APA reference style. Please review the APA reference style guidelines prior to submission.
  9. ORCiD: ORCiD provides a persistent digital identifier (an ORCID iD) that researchers own and control. It can help researchers record and report their work. Authors are encouraged to register with ORCiD and include ORCiD information when submitting. For more information on how to register an ORCiD, please visit https://orcid.org/.
  10. Cover Letter: Authors are encouraged to submit a cover letter with the manuscript. If you would like to submit one, please include a brief summary of your manuscript that highlights the key findings and main contributions. If your manuscript was previously a conference paper, please attach the paper and details of how the manuscript has been expanded.

Revisions

If your manuscript needs revision to meet the journal's requirements, please prepare the following files and include them at the time of uploading your revised submission:

  1. Author Response Letter: Provide detailed responses that address each editor and reviewer comment. Please provide a polite, objective rebuttal if you disagree with the comments.
  2. Revised Manuscript (Tracked Changes Copy): A marked-up copy of your manuscript file demonstrating the modifications you have made should be included.
  3. Revised Manuscript (Clean Copy): Upload an unmarked copy of your revised manuscript.

After Acceptance

  1. Check by Editorial Office: Once your paper has been accepted, it will be checked by the editorial office to ensure that it is ready for production. If any updates are necessary, you may be contacted. Otherwise, your paper will be forwarded to the production team.
  2. Publishing License and Payment: When the production team receives the accepted article, the corresponding author will be contacted by email to ask them to sign a publication license and pay APCs.
  3. Proofs: The corresponding author will receive an email for approval before it is typeset. Authors should check their proofs carefully to confirm all the information is accurate. Proofs must be returned within 5 working days of receiving the email.

Authorship

This journal adheres to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines, which specify that the following requirements must be met to qualify for authorship of a manuscript:

  1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
  2. Drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content; AND
  3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND
  4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Authors are expected to carefully consider the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide a definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Those who contributed to the work but do not qualify for authorship should be listed in the acknowledgments.

Any addition, deletion, or rearranging of author names in the authorship list should only occur prior to the manuscript's acceptance and with the Journal Editor-in-Chief's approval. To request such a change, the Editor-in-Chief must receive the following items from the corresponding author:

  1. The rationale for the revised author list.
  2. Written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal, or rearrangement.

Artificial Intelligence

This journal follows Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence in manuscript writing, which state that authors should not list a generative AI technology as a co-author or author of any submitted manuscript:

AI tools cannot meet the requirements for authorship as they cannot take responsibility for the submitted work. As non-legal entities, they cannot assert the presence or absence of conflicts of interest nor manage copyright and license agreements. 

Authors who use AI tools in the writing of a manuscript, production of images or graphical elements of the paper, or in the collection and analysis of data, must be transparent in disclosing in the Materials and Methods (or similar section) of the paper how the AI tool was used and which tool was used. Authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, even those parts produced by an AI tool, and are thus liable for any breach of publication ethics. 

Deposit Policy

Authors are encouraged to deposit the final published PDF as follows:

  • on public eprint server
  • on a non-profit server
  • on the personal website
  • on the company or institutional repository

Authors should provide a link from the deposited version to the URL of the journal's website.

Preprint Policy

The journal accepts articles previously published on preprint servers. You are requested to update any pre-publication versions with a link to the final published article. You may also post the final published version of the article immediately after publication.

Correction Policy

To maintain the integrity of the scientific record and avoid inconsistencies downstream, minor corrections that do not affect the scientific understanding of the paper (for example, formatting or typographical errors or preference of wording) may be rejected if submitted post-publication.

The correction procedure depends on the publication stage of the article, but in all circumstances, a correction notice is released as soon as possible.

Online First publication: Journal of Scholarly Communication will consider replacing the Online First version with an updated version that corrects the error and notes the changes that have been made and the date(s) on which the changes were made (in a correction notice at the end of the article).

Publication in an issue: If the article has already appeared in an issue, a correction notice will be released in the next available electronic and print issue. The online version of the article will link to the correction notice.

Retraction Policy

Retractions are considered by journal editors in cases of evidence of unreliable data or findings, plagiarism, duplicate publication, and unethical research. All retraction notices explain why the article was retracted. A retraction notice will also be published in the next available electronic and print issue.

Editors should consider retracting a publication if:

  • They have clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of a major error (eg, miscalculation or experimental error) or as a result of fabrication (eg, of data) or falsification (eg, image manipulation).
  • It constitutes plagiarism.
  • The findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper attribution to previous sources, disclosure to the editors, permission to republish, or justification (ie, cases of redundant publication).
  • It contains material or data without authorization for use.
  • Copyright has been infringed, or there is some other serious legal issue (eg, libel, privacy).
  • It reports unethical research.
  • It has been published solely on the basis of a compromised or manipulated peer review process.
  • If the author(s) failed to disclose a major competing interest, it would have unduly affected interpretations of the work or recommendations by editors and peer reviewers.

Supplementary Material

To enrich your content, you can include supplementary materials such as applications, images, and videos. Submitted supplemental materials are published precisely as submitted. Please submit your material together with the article and supply a concise, descriptive caption for each supplementary file. If you wish to make modifications to supplemental materials at any point during the process, please submit an updated file.

Advertisement Policy

As of right now, the journal has not opted for advertising, and no advertisements will be published in the articles, on the official website of the journal, etc.

Information of Consent

Authors should ensure that the individual rights of all the participants who are involved in the study are protected. Identifying details (eg, names and dates of birth) of the participants that were studied should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and genetic profiles unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the participant (or parent or guardian if the participant is incapable) gave written informed consent for publication. 

Conflicts of Interest

All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial and personal relationships with other people or organisations that could be viewed as inappropriately influencing their work. Examples of potential conflicts of interest which should be disclosed include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. 

Appeals

Authors may appeal if they feel that the decision to reject was based on: i) a major misunderstanding over a technical aspect of the manuscript; or ii) a failure to understand the scientific advance shown by the manuscript. Appeals without sufficient justification will not be considered. To lodge an appeal, please contact the Managing Editor by email within 3 months from the decision date, quoting your manuscript number. Appeals will only be considered by the original submitting author.

The manuscript and any relevant materials will be sent by the Managing Editor to a designated Editorial Board Member. This delegate would provide a recommendation on the manuscript and may recommend acceptance, further peer review, or uphold the original rejection decision. The Editor-in-Chief would make a final decision based on the recommendation. A reject decision at this stage is final and cannot be reversed.

Submission Preparation Checklist

All submissions must meet the following requirements:

  • This submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration.
  • All references have been checked for accuracy and completeness.
  • All tables and figures have been numbered and labeled.
  • Permission has been obtained to publish all photos, datasets, and other material provided with this submission.

Copyright Notice

Journal of Scholarly Communication applies the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license to published articles. Under this license, authors retain ownership of the copyright for their content, but they allow anyone to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute and/or copy the content as long as the original authors and source are cited. Appropriate attribution can be provided by simply citing the original article.