Author Guidelines
Before your submission, please check that your manuscript has been prepared in accordance to the step-by-step instructions for submitting a manuscript to our online submission system. We recommend that you keep this page open for your reference as you move through the submission process.
Do not follow these instructions if you are re-submitting a revised manuscript, are responding to a technical check inquiry, or have otherwise already submitted this paper to Advances in Material Science.
Manuscript Format
Your manuscript should be in MS Word format. Your manuscript must be written in clear, comprehensible English. If you have concerns about the level of English in your submission, please ensure that it is proofread before submission by a native English speaker or a scientific editing service.
Cover Letter
All submissions should include a cover letter as a separate file. A cover letter should contain a brief explanation of what was previously known, the conceptual advancement with the findings and its significance to broad readership. The cover letter is confidential and will be read only by the editors. It will not be seen by reviewers.
Title
The title should capture the conceptual significance for a broad audience. The title should not be more than 50 words and should be able to give readers an overall view of the paper’s significance. Titles should avoid using uncommon jargons, abbreviations and punctuation.
List of Authors
The names of authors must be spelled out rather than set in initials with their affiliations footnoted. Affiliations should contain the following core information: department, institution, city, state, postal code, and country. For contact, email address of the corresponding authors has to be included. Please note that all authors must see and approve the final version of the manuscript before submitting.
Abstract
Articles must include an abstract of 200–300 words. The purpose of abstract is to provide sufficient information for a reader to determine whether or not to proceed to the full text of the article. After the abstract, please give 5–8 keywords; please avoid using the same words as those already used in the title.
Section Headings
Please number the section headings (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) in boldface. Likewise, use boldface to identify subheadings too but please distinguish it from major headings using numbers (e.g. 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, etc.). Further sub-sections of subheadings should be differentiated with the numbers 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 2.1.1, 2.1.2, etc.
Introduction
The introduction should provide a background that gives a broad readership an overall outlook on the field and the research performed. It tackles a problem and states its importance regarding the significance of the study. The introduction can conclude with a brief statement of the aim of the work and a comment about whether that aim was achieved.
Materials and Methods
This section provides the general experimental design and methodologies used. The aim is to provide enough details for other investigators to fully replicate your results. It is also required to facilitate better understanding of the results obtained. Protocols and procedures for new methods must be included in detail to reproduce the experiments.
Ethics
Ethics information, including IACUC permit numbers and/or IRB name if applicable, should be included in a subheading labeled “Ethics Statement” in the “Methods” section of your manuscript file, in as much detail as possible.
Results
This section can be divided into subheadings. This section focuses on the results of the experiments performed.
Discussion and Conclusion
This section should provide the significance of the results and identify the impact of the research in a broader context. It should not be redundant or similar to the content of the results section.
Please use the conclusion section for interpretation only, and not to summarize information already presented in the text or abstract.
Conflict of Interest and Funding
This section should include a declaration of any conflict of interest. It should also acknowledge funding sources if any.
Acknowledgements
This section should acknowledge contribution(s) from non-authors.
In-text Citations
References must be listed at the end of the manuscript and numbered in the order that they appear in the text. In the text, citations should be indicated by the reference number in superscript square brackets. An example: Negotiation research spans many disciplines[3,4].
References should include papers already published and those in “press”. Authors cannot cite any unavailable and unpublished work.
Please use the style shown in the template of submission of manuscript. Note that “et al.” should only be used after three authors.
Text
The text of the manuscript should be in Microsoft Word or LaTeX. The length of the manuscript cannot be more than 50000 characters (inclusive of spaces) or approximately 7000 words.
Figures
Authors should include all figures into the manuscript and submit it as one file in the OJS system. Reference to the “Instructions for Typesetting Manuscript” is strongly encouraged. Figures include photographs, scanned images, graphs, charts and schematic diagrams. Figures submitted should avoid unnecessary decorative effects (e.g. 3D graphs) as well as be minimally processed (e.g. changes in brightness and contrast applied uniformly for the entire figure). It should also be set against a white background. Please remember to label all figures (e.g. axis etc.) and add in captions (below the figure) as required. These captions should be numbered (e.g. Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.) in boldface. All figures must have a caption that describes the entire figure without citing specific panels, followed by a legend defined as description of each panel. Please identify each panel with uppercase letters in parenthesis (e.g. (A), (B), (C), etc.)
The preferred file formats for any separately submitted figure(s) are TIFF or JPEG. All figures should be legible in print form and of optimal resolution. Optimal resolutions preferred are 300 dots per inch for RBG coloured, 600 dots per inch for greyscale and 1200 dots per inch for line art. Although there are no file size limitation imposed, authors are highly encouraged to compress their figures to an ideal size without unduly affecting legibility and resolution of figures. This will also speed up the process of uploading in the submission system if necessary.
The Editor-in-Chief and Publisher reserve the right to request from author(s) the high-resolution files and unprocessed data and metadata files should the need arise at any point after manuscript submission for reasons such as production, evaluation or other purposes. The file name should allow for ease in identifying the associated manuscript submitted.
Tables, Lists and Equations
Tables created using Microsoft Word table function are preferred. The tables should include a title at the top. Titles and footnotes/legends should be concise. These must be submitted together with the manuscript. Likewise, lists and equations should be properly aligned and its meaning clear to readers. For listing things within the main body of the manuscript, please use roman numbers in parenthesis (e.g. (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), etc.).
References
This section is compulsory and should be placed at the end of all manuscripts. Do not use footnotes or endnotes as a substitute for a reference list. The list of references should only include works that are cited in the text and that have been published or accepted for publication. Personal communications and unpublished works should be excluded from this section.
For references in reference list, all authors must be stated. Authors referenced are listed with their surname followed by their initials. All references should be numbered (e.g. 1. 2. 3. etc.) and sequenced according to the order it appears as an in-text citation. References should follow the following pattern: Author(s) followed by year of publication, title of publication, full journal name in italics, volume number, issue number in parenthesis and lastly, page range. If the referred article has more than three authors, list only the first three authors and abbreviate the remaining authors to italicized ‘et al.’ (meaning: “and others”). If the DOI is available, please include it after the page range. The upper limitation of Reference total amount is 100, or author will be asked to revise and resubmit the manuscipt.
Journal
Journal article (print) with one to three authors
Younger P, 2004, Using the internet to conduct a literature search. Nursing Standard, vol.19(6): 45–51.
Journal article (print) with more than three authors
Gamelin F X, Baquet G, Berthoin S, et al. 2009, Effect of high intensity intermittent training on heart rate variability in prepubescent children. European Journal of Applied Physiology, vol.105: 731–738.
Journal article (online) with one to three authors
Jackson D, Firtko A and Edenborough M, 2007, Personal resilience as a strategy for surviving and thriving in the face of workplace adversity: A literature review. Journal of Advanced Nursing, vol.60(1): 1–9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2007.04412.x.
Journal article (online) with more than three authors
Hargreave M, Jensen A, Nielsen T S S, et al. 2015, Maternal use of fertility drugs and risk of cancer in children—A nationwide population-based cohort study in Denmark. International Journal of Cancer, vol.136(8): 1931–1939. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ijc.29235.
Book
Book with one to three authors
Schneider Z, Whitehead D and Elliott D 2007, Nursing and Midwifery Research: Methods and Appraisal for Evidence-based Practice, 3rd edn, Elsevier Australia, Marrickville, NSW.
Book with more than three authors
Davis M, Charles L, Curry M J, et al. 2003, Challenging Spatial Norms, Routledge, London.
Chapter or article in book
Knowles M S 1986, Independent study, in Using Learning Contracts, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 89–96.
Others
Proceedings of meetings and symposiums, conference papers
Chang S S, Liaw L and Ruppenhofer J, (eds) 2000, Proceedings of the twenty-fifth annual meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, February 12–15, 1999: General session and parasession on loan word phenomena. Berkeley Linguistics Society, Berkeley.
Conference proceedings (from electronic database)
Bukowski R M, 2009, Prognostic factors for survival in metastatic renal cell carcinoma: update 2008, Innovations and challenges in renal cancer: Proceedings of the third Cambridge Conference, Cancer, vol.115(10): 2273, viewed May 19, 2009, Academic OneFile database.
Online document with author names
Este J, Warren C, Connor L, et al. 2008, Life in the clickstream: The future of journalism, Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, viewed May 27, 2009, http://www.alliance.org.au/documents/foj_report_final.pdf
Online document without author name
Developing an argument, n.d., viewed March 30, 2009, http://web.princeton.edu/sites/writing/Writing_Center/WCWritingResources.htm
Thesis/Dissertation
Gale L, 2000, The relationship between leadership and employee empowerment for successful total quality management, thesis, University of Western Sydney, viewed March 31, 2009, Australasian Digital Thesis database.
Standards
Standards Australia Online 2006, Glass in buildings: Selection and installation, AS 1288-2006, amended January 31, 2008, viewed May 19, 2009, SAI Global database.
Government report
National Commission of Audit 1996, Report to the Commonwealth Government, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.
Government report (online)
Department of Health and Ageing 2008, Ageing and aged care in Australia, viewed November 10, 2008, http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/ageing
Patent
Rencher W F, 1995, Bioadhesive pharmaceutical carrier. US Patent 5462749 A.
No author
Guide to agricultural meteorological practices 1981, 2nd edn, Secretariat of the World Meteorological Organization, Geneva.
Note: When referencing an entry from a dictionary or an encyclopedia with no author there is no requirement to include the source in the reference list. In these cases, only cite the title and year of the source in-text. For an authored dictionary/encyclopedia, treat the source as an authored book.
