Author Guidelines

These instructions are designed for authors submitting final papers and should be read carefully. If they are not adhered to, it could result in delay in publication and/or in sub- optimal reproduction quality.

Articles should be between 6000 and 8000 words in length (including text, abstract, keywords, figures, tables, appendices), excluding bibliography.

The abstract should be clear, descriptive and should contain at least 150 and at most 250 words. It should provide a brief introduction to the problem. A statement regarding the methodology should generally follow a brief summary of results. The paper should include results of the presented research. The keywords should have minimum 3 and maximum 5 words which are not contained in the title.

1. Introduction

This author kit is designed to assist authors in preparing their submission. It is an exact representation of the format expected by the editor for the final version of papers. Final submissions not following the required format will be returned to the authors for modification and compliance.

All scientific papers should be written in English including the abstract and the keywords.

2.1 General Organization of the Paper

It is recommended that Scientific Papers have explicit sections for Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Related Work - literature review, Theoretical Background, Methodology, Analysis of Results, Discussion, Conclusions & limitations, Acknowledgement and References.

A conclusion section is not required. Although a conclusion may review the main points of the paper, do not replicate the abstract as the conclusion. A conclusion might elaborate on the importance of the work or suggest applications and extensions.

2.2 Typing Area

The paper size is A4 (210 x 297mm), single-column format with a 2.5 cm margins on the top, bottom, left and right.

The recommended type font is Times New Roman 12pt. Use Roman as default type and keep italics and/or bold for special text parts.

Lines are double spaced, justified.

2.3 Writing Style

Usually you should not use the first person singular (I) in your text, write we instead. As a general recommendation, use the first person sparsely, sometimes it can be replaced by a phrase like: This work presents....

3. Typographical Style and Layout

3.1 Title and Abstract

Center the title (horizontally) on the page. Leave approx. 1 cm between the title and the names, affiliation and address of authors. Type these information centered. Use for affiliation and address italics.

Type the abstract at a maximum width of 12 cm. Center the abstract (horizontally) on the page.

3.2 Headings

Number section and subsection headings consecutively in Arabic numbers and type them in bold, respectively italics. Keep headings and subheadings always flushed left. Do not include references to the literature, illustrations and tables in headings and subheadings. Keep one blank line above a section heading and one above a subheading. Put one blank line under a section heading and no blank line under a subheading. Only if you want to emphasize specific parts of the main text, use italics. Otherwise, use Roman. Headings should be capitalized (i.e., nouns, verbs, and all other words except articles, prepositions, and conjunctions should be set with an initial capital) and should, with the exception of the title, be aligned to the left. Words joined by a hyphen ( - ) are subject to a special rule. If the first word can stand alone, the second word should be capitalized.

3.3 Footnotes

The superscript numeral used to refer to a footnote appears in the text either directly after the word to be discussed or – in relation to a phrase or a sentence – following the punctuation mark (comma, semicolon, or period). Footnotes should appear at the bottom of the normal text area, with a line of about 5 cm set immediately above them.

To help your readers, avoid using footnotes altogether and include necessary peripheral observations in the text (within parentheses, if you prefer, as in this sentence). All footnotes must be numbered consecutively (in Arabic numbers) on each page.

3.4 Citations and References

Whenever you refer to previously published work, you should set a reference to acknowledge the work you build upon.

References and citations should follow the APA Citation Style. Besides that, all references should be cited in the text. No numbers with or without brackets should be used to cite or to list the references.

In Microsoft Word use the View | Citations menu option to add citations and Document Elements menu option to add references.

3.5 Tables

All tables must be numbered consecutively (in Arabic numbers). Table headings should be placed above the table. Leave no blank line between the table and the caption.

3.6 Equations

Equations or formulas are sequentially numbered in numeric fashion with the equation number and the title above the equation. Leave no blank line between the equation and the caption.

In Microsoft Word use the [ Insert | Caption ] menu option to add captions.

3.7 Figures

All figures should be centered, except for very small figures (no wider than 7 cm), which may be placed side by side. The fonts inside pictures must be clearly readable. Figures are sequentially numbered in numeric fashion with the table number and the title below the figures.

Place the caption beneath the picture. Leave no blank line between the picture and the caption.

Page Numbering and Running Heads

Do not add any text to the headers (do not set running heads) and footers, not even page numbers, because text will be added electronically.

Fine tuning

Do not end a page with a heading or sub-heading. Do not end a page with one or more blank lines, except to avoid ‘widow’ headings and to end your article. Avoid starting a page with an incomplete line. Do not underline headings, sub-headings, title, figure captions and table headings. Keep footnotes to a minimum or else list them in a special section before references.

4. Appendix

Appendices, if needed, appear before the acknowledgment.

5. Acknowledgement

Remember to thank those that have supported you and your work. Use the singular heading even if you have many acknowledgments.