Style Guide

Language & Text

Capitalization
For the submission title:

Capitalize all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions (i.e. as, because, although). Use lowercase for all articles, coordinate conjunctions, and prepositions.

• Slip-Sliding on a Yellow Brick Road: Stabilization Efforts in Afghanistan

Headings

Headings should be 75 words or less and formatted according to the following conventions:

Level 1:

Title Case, Boldface, and Centered

Example: The Title of the Paper

Level 2:

Title Case, Boldface, and Left Aligned

Example: First Sub-Heading

Level 3:

Title Case, Boldface Italicized, and Left Aligned

Example: Second Sub-Heading

Level 4:

Indented, Title Case, Boldface, and Followed with a Period.

Example: Third Sub-Heading.

Level 5:

Indented, Title Case, Boldface Italicized, and Followed with a Period.

Example: Fourth Sub-Heading.

Spelling
Submissions must be made in English. Authors are welcome to use American or British spellings as long as they are used consistently throughout the whole of the submission.

• Colour (UK) vs. Color (US)

When referring to proper nouns and normal institutional titles, the official, original spelling must be used.

• World Health Organization, not World Health Organisation

General Grammar Conventions
American or English grammar rules may be used as long as they are used consistently and match the spelling format (see above).

Punctuation

You must use a serial comma.

• red, white, and blue.

Tenses

According to APA 7, authors must use specific tenses throughout their papers. In the “literature review” section, authors should use past or present perfect tense.

• Mack (1999) argued…
• Scholars have argued…

In the “method” section, authors should use past or present perfect tense.

• Psychologists tested…
• Psychologists have used similar tests…

In the “results” section, authors should use past tense.

• Test scores ranged…

If an author is describing his or her own reaction to any part of the study, then he or she can use past, present perfect, or present.

• I believed…
• I have believed…
• I believe…

If an author is discussing the implications of his or her results, the he or she should use present tense.

• The findings demonstrate…

If an author is discussing conclusions, future directions, or limitations, then he or she should use present tense.

• I surmise…
• Future studies should investigate…
• The limitations of this study are…

Font
The font used should be commonly available and in 12 point.

Underlined text should be avoided whenever possible.

Bold or italicized text to emphasize a point is permitted, although should be restricted to minimal occurrences to maximize their efficiency.

Lists
Use bullet points to denote a list without hierarchy or order of value. If the list indicates a specific sequence, then a numbered list must be used.

Lists should be used sparingly to maximize their impact.

Quotation Marks

Quotations that are longer than three lines in length must be in an indented paragraph separate from the main text.

Standard, non-italicised font must be used for all quotes.

It must be clear from the text and / or citation where the quote is sourced. If quoting from material that is under copyright then permission will need to be obtained from the copyright holder.

Acronyms & Abbreviations
With abbreviations, the crucial goal is to ensure that the reader – particularly one who may not be fully familiar with the topic or context being addressed – is able to follow along. Spell out almost all acronyms on first use, indicating the acronym in parentheses immediately thereafter. Use the acronym for all subsequent references.

• Research completed by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows …

A number of abbreviations are so common that they do not require the full text on the first instance. Examples of these can be found here.

Abbreviations should usually be in capital letters without full stops.

• USA, not U.S.A.

Common examples from Latin origin do not follow this rule and should be lower case and can include full stops.

• e.g., i.e., etc.

Use of Footnotes/Endnotes
Use footnotes rather than endnotes.

All notes should be used only where crucial clarifying information needs to be conveyed.

Avoid using notes for purposes of referencing, with in-text citations used instead. If in-text citations cannot be used, a source can be cited as part of a note.

Data & Symbols

Symbols
Symbols are permitted within the main text and datasets as long as they are commonly in use or have an explanatory definition on their first usage.

Hyphenation, Em and En Dashes
There is no set rule on the use of hyphenation between words, as long as they are consistently used.

Em dashes should be used sparingly. If they are present, they should denote emphasis, change of thought or interruption to the main sentence and can replace commas, parentheses, colons or semicolons. Learn how to make an em dash.

• The president’s niece—daughter of his younger brother—caused a media scandal when…

En dashes can be used to replace ‘to’ when indicating a range. No space should surround the dash.

• 10-25 years
• pp. 10-65

Numbers
For numbers zero to nine please spell the whole words. Please use figures for numbers 10 or higher.

We are happy for authors to use either words or figures to represent large whole figures (i.e. one million or 1,000,000) as long as the usage is consistent throughout the text.

If the sentence includes a series of numbers, then figures must be used in each instance.

• Artifacts were found at depths of 5, 9, and 29 cm.

If the number appears as part of a dataset, in conjunction with a symbol or as part of a table, then the figure must be used.

• This study confirmed that 5% of…

If a sentence starts with a number, it must either be spelled or the sentence should be re-written so that it no longer starts with the number.

• Fifteen examples were found to exist…
• The result showed that 15 examples existed…

Do not use a comma for a decimal place.

Figures & Tables

For additional assistance with the guidelines below, please use the Purdue OWL reference guide.

Figures
Figures, including graphs and diagrams, must be professionally and clearly presented. If a figure is not easy to understand or does not appear to be of a suitable quality, the editor may ask to re-render or omit it.

All figures must be numbered and cited within the main text, in consecutive order using Arabic numerals (e.g. Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.). The numbered headings should be in boldface and left aligned.

Each figure must have an accompanying descriptive main title that is double-spaced beneath the numbered heading. The title should be in title case and italicized. Additionally, it should clearly and concisely summarise the content and/or use of the figure image. A short additional figure legend is optional to offer a further description. If included, the figure legend should be placed either within the figure or directly beneath the figure (not to the side).

Figure titles and legends should be placed within the text document, after the paragraph of their first citation.

The source of the figure should be included, along with any relevant copyright information and a statement of authorization (if needed). Any additional information pertinent to the figure should be added directly beneath the figure using a “note” heading that is title case, italicized, and followed by a period. The “note’s” information then follows as a complete sentence.

If your figure file includes text, then please present the font as Ariel, Helvetica, or Verdana. This will mean that it matches the typeset text.

NOTE: All figures must be uploaded separately as supplementary files during the submission process, if possible in color and at a resolution of at least 300dpi. Each file should not be more than 20MB. Standard formats accepted are JPG, TIFF, GIF, PNG, EPS. For line drawings, please provide the original vector file (e.g. .ai, or .eps).

Per APA 7, tables should only be included if the data presented in them requires three or more columns and rows. Data that does not meet this criterion should be embedded within the manuscript. Any tables included in the manuscript will be placed as close to their first citation as possible.

Tables must be created using a word processor's table function, not tabbed text.

All tables must be numbered and cited within the main text, in consecutive order using Arabic numerals (e.g. Table 1, Table 2, etc.). The numbered headings should be in boldface and left aligned.

Each table must have an accompanying descriptive main title that is double-spaced beneath the numbered heading. The title should be in title case and italicized. Additionally, it should clearly and concisely summarise the content presented in the table.

A short additional table legend is optional to offer a further description of the table. The legend should be placed underneath the table.

All columns must have headings. Headings within the table should not be wider than the widest entry in the column below it.

Only horizontal borders should be used. Spacing and consistent alignment across the table circumvents the need for vertical borders.

Aside from the subsequent guidelines, tables should also not include:

• Rotated text
• Colour to denote meaning (it will not display the same on all devices)
• Images
• Multiple parts (e.g. ‘Table 1a’ and ‘Table 1b’). These should either be merged into one table or separated into ‘Table 1’ and ‘Table 2’.

NOTE: If there are more columns than can fit on a single page, then the table will be placed horizontally on the page. If it still can't fit horizontally on a page, the table will be broken into two.

References

In-Text Citations
Every use of information from other sources must be cited in the text so that it is clear that external material has been used.

If the author is already mentioned in the main text, then the year should follow the name within parenthesis.

• Both Jones (2013) and Brown (2010) showed that …

If the author name is not mentioned in the main text, then the surname and year should be inserted, in parenthesis, after the relevant text. Multiple citations should be separated by a semi-colon and follow alphabetical order.

• The statistics clearly show this to be untrue (Brown, 2010; Jones, 2013).

If two authors are cited from the same citation, then they should both be listed. If three or more authors are part of the citation then ‘et al.’ should follow the first author name.

• (Jones & Smith, 2008)
• (Jones et al., 2008)

If citations are used from the same author and the same year, then a lowercase letter, starting from ‘a’, should be placed after the year.

• (Jones, 2013a; Jones, 2013b)

Specific pages must be cited when the author is directly quoting another source or paraphrasing another source. If specific pages are being cited, then the page number should follow the year after a comma.

• (Brown, 2004, p. 65; Jones, 2013, p. 143)

For publications authored and published by organizations, spell out the full name of the organization in the signal phrase when it is first used. Following this initial mention, use the acronym for consequent references and in-text citations. use the short form of the organization’s name or its acronym in lieu of the full name.

• First mention: According to the International Committee of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (2000), the studies show…
• Consequent in-text citations: (ICRC, 2000)

Please do not include URLs in parenthetical citations, but rather cite the author or page title and include all details, including the URL, in the reference list.

Reference List

Please do not use auto-citing programs to compose the reference list as they do not always cite article title and book chapter titles correctly.

All citations must be listed at the end of the text file in alphabetical order of authors’ surnames.

All reading materials should be included in "References." Works which have not been cited within the main text, but which the author wishes to share with the reader, must be cited as additional information in endnotes explaining the relevance of the work. This will ensure that all works within the reference list are cited within the text.

According to APA 7, DOIs should be included for all reference entries, where possible.

For additional assistance with APA 7 format, please use the Purdue OWL reference guide.