Section/Aspect

Criteria

Comment

1. the research in the article is of an acceptable quality, and considers relevant sources sufficiently, given the type of submission, its length, and its scope.
2. the research provides an original perspective on some issue related to
3. the article is coherent and arguments are set out clearly;
4. the author’s assumptions and methodology are acceptable and theoretically sound;
5. the length of the article falls within the prescribed word count (>8000 words, excluding references), or, if it does not, please indicate whether you think the length is appropriate and justified given the topic and scope of the discussion

Title

• Concise and informative or interesting
• Would this interest a potential reader to read abstract and manuscript
• Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible

Abstract

• Concise
• Factual
• Purpose of research
• Principal results
• Major conclusions
• Not more than 5% of manuscript
• Must be able to stand alone
• Avoid references
• If included references, cite author(s) and year(s)
• Avoid non-standard or uncommon abbreviations
• If using non-standard abbreviations (if they are essential) defined at first mention in abstract itself

Introduction

• Objectives of work
• Adequate background
• No detailed literature survey
• No summary of results

Material and methods

• Clear and concise

Results

• Clear and concise
• Do not duplicate results in tables and figures unless specific motivation
• Do not include material appropriate to the Discussion

Discussion

• Significance of results
• Place results in context of other work
• Not over-speculative
• Not reiterate results
• Can combine Results and Discussion sections; then conclusion section may also be appropriate

Appendices

• Number A, B etc if more than one
• Equations in appendices separate numbering A.1, A.2
• Tables and figures separate numbers
• Legend to tables and figures clear so that can be understood without referring to text

Abbreviations

• Define if not standard in footnote on first page of article
• If abbreviations unavoidable in abstract, define in first mention there as well as in the footnote
• Consistency of abbreviations throughout article

Acknowledgements

• Collate acknowledgements in separate section at the end of article before references
• Do not include on the title page, as footnote to title or otherwise
• List individuals who provided help during research (language help, writing assistance, proof reading) but do not meet four requirements of authorship

Reference

Reference in text in reference list and vice versa

• Give references cited in abstract in full
• Unpublished results and personal communications not recommended in reference list, may mention in text
• If include unpublished results and personal communications in reference list, should follow standard reference style of journal; substitute publication date with: “unpublished results” or “personal communication
• Citation of reference “in press” implies that item has been accepted for publication
• Web references: full URL, date last accessed; also give any further info: DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source of publication
• Text references:
• Single author: the author's name (without initials, unless there is ambiguity) and the year of publication.
• Two authors: both authors' names and the year of publication.
• Three or more authors: first author's name followed by "et al." and the year of publication.
• 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
• 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.

Examples

Reference to a journal publication (journal names in full, not abbreviated):

Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J.A.J., Lupton, R.A., 2000. The art of writing a scientific article. Journal of Science Communication 163, 51–59.

Reference to a book: Strunk Jr., W., White, E.B., 1979. The Elements of Style, third ed. Macmillan, New York.

Reference to a chapter in an edited book: Mettam, G.R., Adams, L.B., 1999. How to prepare an electronic version of your article, in: Jones, B.S., Smith, R.Z. (Eds.), Introduction to the Electronic Age. E-Publishing Inc., New York, pp. 281–304.