Acta Structilia
Journal / Acta Structilia / Submissions

 

Author Guidelines

• An article may be submitted in English. The desired length for an article is between 4 000 en 12 000 words (without references).
• A copy of the typed article must be submitted in electronic format via the online portal.
• Formatting: MS Word, Times New Roman, font size 12, single line spacing. Paragraphs start on a new line and are not indented. All illustrations, figures, and tables must be placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end. Text in Tables must be in single line spacing, Times New Roman, font size 10. Table borders must be ¼ pt width.
• An edited (proofread) article on any relevant topic, well presented and written in easy understandable style, will be considered for publishing on the understanding that they are the original work of the authors named, and that they are being offered only to Acta Structilia.
• Tables and figures: There should be no more than 10 figures and tables in total per article. All captions must be provided in the text. Abbreviations/acronyms used in figures and tables must be explained in the heading/legend or footnote.
  • Figures must be provided as high-resolution images in TIFF format (avoid compressed formats like GIF and JPEG). Ensure that your figures will be clear and legible when reduced in size.
  • Tables must be submitted in editable format in Word or Excel and not as image files. Excel files should be uploaded as individual sheets, not the entire workbook.
• The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to alter the article(s) where necessary with regard to the style and presentation of the publication. If extensive alterations are advised by adjudicators the article(s) will be returned to the author.
• Copyright is transferred to the author(s) when an article is accepted for publication.
• Titles must be short and concise, but informative. Supply suitable headings and sub-headings where necessary. 
• A short abstract (between 200-250 words), in both Afrikaans and English, must be provided at the beginning of the text.
• Applicable keywords in English must be given after the abstract. 
• The abstract should start with 2–3 sentences that provide an introduction to the field and the particular problem investigated, followed by 2–3 sentences that state the research methods used, then a one-sentence statement of your main findings (or conclusions, in the case of a Review Article), and a further 2–3 sentences placing these findings/conclusions in a general context so that readers are made aware of the implications of the findings. Abstract paragraphs typically do not include references.
• The introduction should start with an overview of your topic, then your specific subject. Cite prior research on the topic and explain why your topic needs to be addressed right now. If applicable, connect it to current issues. Additionally, you can show a problem with former theories or reveal a gap in current research.
• Literature reviews should identify international research on similar topics and indicate a clear gap in research articles related to international cutting-edge research. Authors should clearly demonstrate how their research relates to that of other scholars on similar topics.
• The study area must be after the literature review and must not be part of the methodology section.
• The methods section should describe what was done to answer the research question, describe how it was done, justify the experimental design, and explain how the results were analysed. It must include the following sections: 1) Research design, 2) Population, sampling, and response rate, 3) Data collection, 4) Data analysis and how to interpret the results, 5) Limitations to the study.
• The discussion section should explain and evaluate what you found, showing how the results relates to your literature review and paper topic, and making an argument in support of your overall conclusion.
• The significance of the main findings or conclusions should not be a summary of the results but should reflect the contribution the results make to the field, and how the results are applicable in their respective field and in other fields. The points of significance should start with general contributions and proceed with more specific contributions. The significance of the findings will be published with the aim of promoting greater interest not only from readers in the field but also from a wider readership. The points of significance should therefore be written for a non-specialist.
• Use Arabic numbers with full stops in between for headings and subheadings, i.e. 1. followed by 1.1 and 1.1.1 up to a maximum of three levels. After that use an (a) etc.
• Source references in the text must be in the Harvard style of referencing (Author, date: pages). i. e. (Schleien, 2014: 20).
• In-text page numbers: Include page numbers to in-text references when incorporating a direct quotation into a sentence, paraphrase a passage, summarise an idea from a particular page, mention statistics, or you wish to direct the readers to a specific page. Page numbers are not necessary if you are referring to the entire work as a whole. Use a colon to indicate the page number e.g.: (Chunga et al., 2016: 5).
• Use of et al.: 4 authors, or more - first citation is immediately truncated to the first author’s surname and the abbreviation ‘et al.’ follows.
• Foot- and endnotes are likewise done in the Harvard style of referencing.
• The references list (Harvard style of referencing) should contain all the relevant information, and be listed alphabetically according to the names of the authors. i. e. Sun, M. & Howard, R. 2014. Understanding I.T. in construction. London: Spon Press.
• URLs for the references of internet documents cited in the text and listed in the references must accompany the article. Also, indicate the date that the URLs were visited.
• Quotations are not in italics and must be written in double inverted commas. Inserts in quotations are placed in block brackets. Quotations longer than three lines are indented and are placed without quotations marks.
• Avoid uncommon abbreviations and acronyms. Abbreviations should be limited to those in general use. Names of corporations, etc are at first written out in full with the abbreviation in brackets after which the abbreviated form may be used.
• Italics are preferred for stereotyped Latin terms such as per se and for words in other languages.
• Use single inverted commas to emphasise words or phrases.
• Details concerning the origin of the article should be indicated, i.e if it was presented at a congress or from a masters or PhD project. An article will only be referred to the panel of referees if the author clearly states that it had not received prior publication and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; also that the research has not been submitted for publication nor has it been published in whole or in part elsewhere.
• Authors may submit the names and addresses of three scholars (experts) in his field (not members at own place of work) as possible adjudicators.
• The article must contain the title, qualifications and affiliations of the author(s), the address, telephone numbers, email address and ORCID must also be provided.

All submissions should be accompanied by a signed Authors Agreement and Publishing Agreement.

*There are no submission fees or article-processing charges.

Enquiries: struct@ufs.ac.za