Author Guidelines
Author Guidelines For the benefit of publication efficiency, the journal demands authors to follow submission guidelines strictly. Submission of a manuscript implies that the author(s) has (have) seen and approved the manuscript and its contents, and that they are aware of the responsibilities connected to authorship. If the number of authors of the manuscript is two or more, signatures from all the authors are not required; it is the corresponding author’s responsibility to obtain agreement from all authors supporting the submission. All authors will be notified upon receiving of a new manuscript and upon acceptance of a manuscript, but the editorial board corresponds only with the Corresponding Author. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to communicate with all other authors.
Article Types
- Original Research Articles
These involve reports of original research undertakings. These manuscripts should present well-rounded studies reporting innovative advances that further knowledge about a topic of importance to the scope of the journal. The conclusions of the Original Research Article should be clearly supported by the results. These are submitted to the journal as a full-length article (no more than 4000 words, 15 pages), The abstract should be not more than 200 words. The specific standard guidelines are given in the guideline for authors.
- Review Articles
Reviews provide a reasoned survey and examination of a particular subject of research within the scope of the journal. These can be submitted as a mini-review (no more than 2,500 words) or a long review (no more than 3,500 words). They should include critical assessment of the works cited, explanations of conflicts in the literature, and analysis of the field. The conclusion must discuss in detail the limitations of current knowledge, future directions to be pursued in research, and the overall importance of the topic in the field of study. Reviews contain four sections: 1) Abstract, 2) Introduction, 3) Topics (with headings and subheadings), 4) Conclusions.
- Book Reviews
A book review is a description and a critical evaluation of a book. It gives a summary of the content and assesses the value of the book focusing on the book's purpose, contents, and authority. It involves critical reviews that describe and evaluate a recent book of relevance to the scope of the journal, in terms of accepted literary and historical standards, and supports this evaluation with evidence from the text. The review must be a considered judgment that includes: a statement of the reviewer's understanding of the author's purpose, how well the reviewer feels the author's purpose has been achieved, and evidence to support the reviewer's judgment of the author' achievement. These articles provide a description of the book being reviewed, the strengths and weaknesses of the book, and the intended audience. The reviews should not be more than 1500 words and need to be structured as follows.
Introduction: Be clear about what book you are reviewing. State the title and introduce the author. Provide a hook that illustrates what it means to the reader.
Overview: Give your reader the context of the book by succinctly setting the scene. Describe the book’s who, what, where, when, why, and how by providing the reader with context.
Summary: Provide the main points of the book and tie in a great 1-2 line quote that pulls it all together.
Assessment: Provide your evaluation of the book.
Conclusion: Tie up loose ends and succinctly recap the introduction. Discuss any forthcoming books by the author or provide additional information the reader may be interested in pursuing at this juncture (e.g., recommend a related book).
- Short Communications
Short Communication should be no more than 2500 words. It must report completed work, not preliminary findings: they are an alternative format for describing smaller pieces of work. Prior to submission, please ensure that the manuscript has been prepared according to this Instruction, with special emphasis on the style of the manuscript. Please use the style and standard suggested under Original Research Article above.
Guideline for Authors Language:
The language of the manuscript should be either English or Afaan Oromoo (Though authors have the right to submit articles in either of the languages, the abstract should be presented both in English and Afaan Oromoo). If the manuscript is presented in English, author (s) are required to follow the spelling system of either American or British English consistently.
Length:
The length of the paper should not exceed 20 pages including references, appendix, title page etc. Papers should be submitted only as Microsoft Word format with 1.5 line spacing in A4 size, using Times New Roman (Font size: 12).
Manuscript Elements:
- Title page
This page should include the title of the manuscript, the author(s), abstract (s) and key words.
Title should be concise and informative, and try to avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
All the authors have to be listed (full name) with their organizational affiliation and e-mail address of corresponding author. Numbers in superscript should be used to indicate the department, institution, email, city with postal code and country, for each author. Authors should clearly indicate who is willing to handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing, publication and also post-publication.
All manuscripts must include a maximum of 200 words abstract, next to the authors along with a total of 4 to 5 keywords in italics below the abstract. A concise and factual abstract is required which should briefly state the purpose/gap of the research, the methodology employed, the principal results and major conclusions and recommendations. Authors should avoid abbreviations, references and using the complete statistical results in the abstract.
- Body of the Manuscript
The body of the manuscript should contain the following section in the given order. What should be included in each section is described below. (1) Introduction (2) Literature Review /Conceptual Framework (3) Method and Materials (4) Results and Discussion (5) Conclusion and Recommendation (s)(optional) (6) Acknowledgements (7) References (8) Figure(s) (9) Table(s)
- Introduction
In the introduction section, provide an adequate background; indicate the gap and significance (justification for the study) and state the objectives of the work. Avoid a detailed literature survey, but where appropriate, use citation of primary literature.
- Literature Review/Conceptual Framework
Under this section of the manuscript provide a review that is linked to the introduction, and lay the base for the discussions to be made in the results section. Use relevant and up-to-date previous works to situate your work and demonstrate its significance. Include theoretical or conceptual framework your study adopts/follows. Make sure to include descriptions of the motivation for the study and its significant contribution in light of previous works in this section.
- Materials and Method
Present sufficient details about the procedures. Discuss the nature of the empirical data focusing on its relevance, reliability, its support to the robust conclusions to be made and that the methodology is appropriate, systematic and rigorous. Indicate the design of the research, characteristics of the participants, sample size, methods of data collection and analysis.
- Results and Discussion
The report of the analysis must be accurate, unbiased, complete, and insightful. The result section can stand alone or presented together with discussion depending on the nature of data (quantitative or qualitative) but the finding should be clearly indicated. If treated separately, the results section, and associated figures, tables and supplementary information, must accurately describe the findings of the study. Figure order should follow the text. Avoid detailed methodological descriptions. Significant data should be displayed in the main figures or supplementary information. The discussion should explore the significance of the results of the work Authors are encouraged to discuss their work in the broader context. Related published data must be appropriately discussed and cited.
- Conclusion and Recommendation(s)
The main conclusions of the study should be presented in a short conclusions section. This section summarizes the findings and explains the implications of the work. It is expected that the original contributions of the work and the policy or other implications of the findings be discussed briefly. Recommendations are not mandatory for all fields of studies, and hence, a separate treatment can be optional. Yet a critical assessment of the limitations of study can be provided, and possible fruitful lines for further research can be outlined as part of the recommendation.
- Acknowledgements (optional)
Personal acknowledgements should precede those of institutions or agencies.
- References
The Journal requires the citation of primary literature wherever appropriate. Authors are responsible for ensuring that the related literature is accurately and comprehensively discussed and cited. Review articles should only be cited for general background information, the proposal of certain concepts or similar purposes, whereas primary research articles should preferentially be referenced to introduce the question being addressed or to support the conclusions and interpretations of the results.
The Journal follows APA (author date) referencing style in which in-text citations are made with author’s surname and the year of publication as in the following examples. ... (Kuntson, 1967; Asmarom, 1963) Baxter (1986) argues that… For more than two authors, use the first author’s name plus “et al.”: Furuichi et al. (1982) set forth.... Refer to pages for direct quotations, after a coma following the year: Leech (1957, pp. 119-120) stated that.... ... (Pruit, 1960, p. 19).
The references at the end of the paper should list all works referred to in the text and only those, in alphabetical order of the author surnames.
Do not abbreviate journal names. Do not indent the reference entries, although they will be indented in the final print. Use the 6th edition of APA referencing style guide (http://student.ucol.ac.nz/library/onlineresources/Documents/APA_guide_2015.pdf).
Copyright, permissions & reprints
All articles are published under a Creative Commons Attribution License; copyright is retained by the authors. Readers are welcome to reproduce, share and adapt the content without permission provided the source is attributed. Published articles are openly accessible online and therefore reprints are not provided.
Self-archiving: You may archive the final published version of your article in personal or institutional repositories immediately after publication. Self-archiving prior to publication is not permitted and may result in the withdrawal of a submission or accepted manuscript.
Fees: There are no submission fees or article-processing charges.
Readability: As the journal has a multidisciplinary focus, manuscripts must be written in a manner and style that is intelligible to specialists and non-specialists alike. Articles are judged by reviewers at the discretion of the editors. Contributions should therefore be written clearly and simply so that they are accessible to readers in other disciplines and those for whom English is not a first language.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism is when you use someone else’s work (book, article, website, etc.) or idea without acknowledging them as the source, whether it be copied verbatim or paraphrased. Manuscripts submitted online will be screened for potential plagiarism before peer review using similarity detection software. All cases of suspected or alleged plagiarism are considered very seriously in accordance with the journal’s Plagiarism Policy.
Permissions:
Permission must be obtained from the copyright owner for the use of quotations, illustrations, tables and other materials taken from previously published works that are not in the public domain. The author is responsible for the payment of any copyright fee(s) if these have not been waived. The letters of permission must accompany the manuscript. The original source(s) must be mentioned in the figure legend or as a footnote to a table.
Ethical guidelines:
Submissions involving research conducted on human or non-human vertebrates must meet the highest standards regarding both the ethical consideration given and reporting of the procedures followed. Full details are necessary so that a non-specialist reader can appreciate the need for the research undertaken. All reported research involving humans or other animals must be approved prior to commencement of the study by an institutional ethics committee. The name of the approving body and a reference number (if provided) must be included in the Methods section of the manuscript.
