Author Guidelines – Main Journal Articles

Main Journal Articles

Please see here for Author Guidelines for short journal articles

Articles should be submitted through the online submission form in Microsoft Word format. Before submitting your article please ensure that it is prepared in accordance with the Author Guidelines below.

Contributors are expected to submit the initial draft of their paper in the IAFOR Journal house style, which is APA (the American Psychological Association). For details see Purdue Owl https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/. If accepted for publication, the paper’s style will likely be slightly modified to provide consistency across papers. There may also be minor edits to ensure the academic rigour of the language, grammar and spelling. British and American English are both acceptable, but spelling and punctuation conventions should be consistent with the form of English used.

• We will only accept one submission from any author in a particular issue and no more than two submissions, in different issues, over the course of a year. This includes both individual and shared authorship. If you submit as an individual you may not be a shared author on another submission, and vice versa. Also, if you have had a submission rejected you cannot be an author on another paper for that same issue.

Only papers that demonstrate the following attributes will be accepted:

• Written in correct and fluent English at a high academic standard;
• Papers must cite the most recent literature in the field; papers relying on old (except seminal works and original source material) and non-academic references will be rejected;
• Showing sufficient evidence of research;
• We do no accept submissions with borrowed text that is not properly quoted and referenced and we reject articles that copy-paste entire paragraphs/sections from authors' previous publications (self-plagiarism, auto-plagiarism);
• Applicable to the topics covered by the journal. The manuscript should address critical issues and current trends and research in literature or librarianship. For more information about the Aims and Scope of the Journal, see the About the Journal page.

Contributors whose command of English is not at the level outlined above are responsible for having their manuscript corrected by a native-level, English-speaking academic prior to submitting their paper for publication. This is non-negotiable and strictly enforced by the editor of the IAFOR Journal of Literature & Librarianship.

For further information please also view details of the journal review process, copyright and licencing policy, and publication ethics statement.

If you have any queries about how to prepare your article for submission, please contact publications@iafor.org.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism screening software (iThenticate) is used to verify the originality of all submissions. If plagiarism is found on initial pre-screening, manuscripts are returned to authors without review. No further submissions will be allowed for that issue of the journal.

What is Plagiarism? – See here for the Complete Guide [eBook]

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• Article Structure
• Style Checklist
• Article Template

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Title

Ensure that your title accurately reflects the contents of your paper and is free of errors.

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Abstract

A concise and factual abstract is required (maximum length of 250 words). 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. An abstract should not have footnotes.

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Keywords

Immediately after the abstract, provide a minimum of three keywords.

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Introduction

Present purposes of the study and provide background for your work.

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Conclusion

The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a Conclusion section, which can include the main findings, the implications and limitations.

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Acknowledgements

Collate any 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 proofreading the article).

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Length

Regular articles are expected to be between 4,000 and 7,000 words in length from introduction to conclusion, NOT including references/footnotes/tables/figures; abstract 250 words maximum, 3-6 keywords.

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Footnotes

Footnotes should be used sparingly. Insert them using Word's footnote function, ensuring that they are numbered consecutively throughout the article in superscript Arabic numerals. Please do not insert footnotes manually.

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References

In-text citations

Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa).

Reference Style

Within the text: Citations in the text should follow the referencing style used by the American Psychological Association (APA). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition, ISBN 978-1-4338-0561-5.

List at end of paper: References should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. Please single-space, and indent after the first line of each.

Reference to a journal publication:

Lee, J. (2018). Yasukuni and Hiroshima in Clash? War and Peace Museums in Contemporary Japan. Pacific Focus, 33(1), 5–33. https://doi.org/10.1111/pafo.12109

Reference to a book:

Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B. (2000). The elements of style. (4th ed.). New York: Longman, (Chapter 4).

Reference to a chapter in an edited book:

Mettam, G. R., & Adams, L. B. (2009). How to prepare an electronic version of your article. In B. S. Jones, & R. Z. Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the electronic age (pp. 281–304). New York: E-Publishing Inc.

For more details about referencing, please read our APA Referencing Style Guide.

DOIs

Full DOI's need to be added, where available, to the referenced work.

Hyland, K. (2007). Genre pedagogy: Language, literacy and L2 writing instruction. Journal of Second Language Writing, 16(3), 148–164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2007.07.005

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• Please use APA style – APA Referencing Style Guide.
• 12-point Times New Roman font.
• All paragraphs and body text justified and single-spaced.
• One line should separate paragraphs or sections.
• Set page size to A4.
• Margins: Microsoft Word "Normal": This is top, bottom, left and right; 2.54 cm.
• Main headings, subheadings and sub-subheadings should be formatted as in the Article Template below. We recommend a maximum of three levels of headings.
• Please be as concise as possible when writing articles. Generally, regular articles are expected to be between 4,000 and 7,000 words in length.
• Japanese names should follow the modified Hepburn system of transliteration, including the use of macrons for long vowels.
• Contributors for whom English is not a native language are responsible for having their manuscript checked by a native-speaking academic prior to submitting their paper for publication.
• All figures and images must be inserted in a JPEG image format, within the page margins, left aligned images. Do not insert loose objects such as arrows, lines or text boxes. Please include figure number and caption above the figure (Figure 1: Caption), left aligned. Please ensure that all figures are referenced at least once in the main body of the text.
• Tables should be created within the Microsoft Word document, should fit onto one A4 page and should be numbered and captioned above the table (Table 1: Caption), left aligned. Please do not insert tables as images. Please ensure that all tables are referenced at least once in the main body of the text.
• Do not use any page headers, footers or page numbers (footers are acceptable if they contain footnotes).
• Use only portrait layout. Do not include any pages in landscape layout.
• Corresponding author contact email address should be added to the end of the paper after the reference list as in the article template below. IAFOR is not responsible for unsolicited emails received.
• An optional Acknowledgments section may be included as the last section before the reference list. Please ensure this is as concise as possible.
• References should be single-spaced. Each reference should be indented after the first line with a 1-cm hanging indent.
• Title page should include:
  • Title of the paper.
  • Author names and affiliations: Provide affiliations for all authors (where the work was done) including full institution name and country.
  • Abstract: A concise and factual abstract not exceeding 250 words is required.
  • Keywords: Immediately following the abstract provide a minimum of three keywords.

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Please use this template as a guide when preparing your article.