Author Guidelines
These guidelines apply to all publications intended for acceptance and publication by the Regional Maritime University Research Committee, including articles for the University’s Journal and the RMU Research Series. Failure to comply with these guidelines may lead to queries and delays in or rejection of the submitted text.
1. Aims and scope of RMU research publications
The RMU Research Series and the RMU Journal have as their scope topics relating to the maritime industry, including but not limited to the following:
- Maritime education and training
- Maritime technology (e.g. engineering, information technology)
- Maritime administration
- Maritime environmental and ocean management
- Port and shipping administration
- Maritime transport and logistics
- Technological, organisational, sociological, economic etc. issues related with the maritime industry
The Journal and Research Series are multidisciplinary publications aimed at influencing policy and practice in the Maritime industry via theory and in-depth theoretical and applied research and analysis in a global context, with emphasis on the West African sub-region.
The Journal also publicises conference details and reviews books that are deemed relevant to its aims.
2. Manuscript Format
2.1. Publication titles should be as succinct as possible.
2.2. Paper size: Letter 8.5 x 11 inches (A4).
2.3. Paper should be word processed with single line spacing (except before each major heading, in which case double spacing is required),
- Page limits are 8 to 12 pages (3000 – 5000 words) for journal articles and up to 40 pages (10000 – 15000 words) for manuscripts intended for the research series. These limits include figures, tables, reference list and any other additional material. The Journal Editorial Board may request that some text and figures be removed where a paper for the journal is deemed to be too long.
2.4. Font: Times New Roman, 14 point for titles and 12 point for the main text (including headings). All headings should be in bold letters
2.5. Top, bottom, left and right margins should be 1 inch (25 mm) each
2.6. Pages must not be paginated. Page numbers will be assigned during publishing.
2.7. Author’s details should be provided and should include the initial(s), surname(s), organisational affiliation, contact address and email of the author(s).
2.8. Capitals should be used only for the start of sentences, proper nouns and acronyms. This also applies to headings.
2.9. An abstract is required. The abstract should summarise the essence of the paper and not only describe the paper’s contents. For original research, the primary objective should be stated. The following should also be briefly described (where applicable): hypotheses tested, research design and methodology, methods, procedures and tools used, the main outcome and conclusions and implications for future research and/or practice. Where the paper is a critical discussion or review of literature or subject matter, state the primary objective, main literature reviewed (with reasons) and results and conclusions drawn. The abstract should be no longer than 250 words and should be comprehensive. References should not be included.
2.10. Structure and heading numbering: A generic example of the structure and numbering system for headings is shown below:
- Title
- Author(s)
- Affiliation(s) and contact email (for corresponding author)
- Abstract
- Main Text
1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
3. Research methods
3.1. Sample
3.2. Tools
3.3. Ethics
4. Results
4.1. Results for __________
4.2. Interpretation of results for ________ data
5. Analyses and Discussion
6. Conclusion
─ Acknowledgement (where relevant)
─ Reference list (as appropriate)
2.11. Title, author(s) name(s), affiliation(s) and email address(es) should be centre justified. The abstract caption, abstract and text of the body of the manuscript should be fully justified.
2.12. Where this is relevant, contributors to the research or preparation of the paper should be acknowledged briefly in an “Acknowledgment” section located immediately after the main text. Sources of funding, competing interests and ethical approval may be included in this acknowledgment section
3. Tables and figures
3.1. Figures and tables must be of good quality for review and printing purposes. Only sharp photo prints will be accepted.
3.2. The term “figure” applies to any kind of illustration apart from a table.
3.3. Figures and tables must only be used when they usefully augment the text.
3.4. All figures and tables must be numbered, have full descriptive caption and be mentioned in the text as indicated in the following example: “As figure 5 indicates …” or “Figure 5 shows how …”. Terms such as “the figure (or table) above/below” or “the figure (or table) on page xxx” should be avoided.
3.5. Figure captions (number and title) must be placed below the figure with an indication of the source below the caption e.g.
[Picture/Graph]
Figure 3: Title
Source:
3.6. Table captions (number and title) must be placed above the table. The source of the table (if any) must be put below the table.
Table 6 - Title
[Table]
Source:
4. Mathematical Equations and Formulas:
4.1. Mathematical equations should be word processed. Subscripts and superscripts should be clearly shown. A glossary of meanings should be provided for any symbols used in formulae, which are not otherwise defined in the main text.
4.2. System Internationale (SI) units should be used at all times
5. Language and spelling
5.1. All manuscripts must be in English. Authors may use either American or English spelling, but not a combination of the two. Material in any language other than English should be used sparingly and should be italicized with a translation into English given.
6. References/Citations
6.1. All references to and citations of external sources should be duly acknowledged. Referencing is required where externally-sourced material (tables, figures or text) are cited either by direct quotation or as a paraphrase.
6.2. References should be indicated in the text in either one of the following two formats (never a combination of the two):
• The APA 5th style for all articles except legal articles
─ In-text references and the accompanying reference list must follow the APA 5th format examples in Appendix 1
─ Footnotes in this style may only be used for explanatory notes or for the provision of substantive information and never for referencing
─ In the reference list, the style requires the second and subsequent lines of the reference to be indented, as shown in the examples in Appendix 1
─ All references in the text must appear in a full reference list at the end of the paper and vice versa.
• A footnote-endnote citation style for legal articles
─ Where a footnote citation style is used a reference list must be included comprising of:
o A list of texts and journal articles arranged alphabetically by author surname
o A list of legislation referred to
o A list of cases referred to
─ Where a footnote citation style is used the following Latin terms are permissible:
o Ibid. (ibidem) - meaning “in the same work”, used whenever a citation is exactly the same as the immediately preceding one.
o Id. (idem) - meaning “the same” is used where there is some variation, generally page number, between the immediately previous and present footnote.
These terms when used should not be italicised, and should not
be used in reference to legislation.
─ Do not use the following Latin terms:
o Infra; instead use “below”
o Supra; instead use “above”
o Lex cit. This is an obsolete term.
o Op cit. This is an obsolete term.
o Cf which has been replaced with “compare”
─ All references in the reference list must appear in the text and vice versa.
7. Copyright:
7.1. Copyright to submitted materials when accepted is transferred to the Journal, together with the associated reproduction rights.
7.2. The publishers reserve the right to alter the text to suit the Journal style, particularly in terms of punctuation, spelling and usage.
8. Copyrighted material:
Should the submitted work contain any material whose copyright(s) are held by other parties, the author is required to obtain all the necessary clearances or permissions and to give evidence of having done so. Such permissions must be sought for citations of text more than fifty words in length, figures/illustrations and/or tables originating directly or derived (adapted) from other sources.
9. Manuscript Submission
9.1. Submission of a manuscript will be taken to imply that it represents an original work which has not been previously published or under consideration elsewhere for publication. It is required that if the manuscript is accepted for publication, it will not be published elsewhere in a similar form
9.2. It is recommended that you proofread your paper with respect to grammar and spelling in the English language. Please ensure that the review panel will have a good understanding of your manuscript by for example using the services of an English language specialist, if you deem this to be necessary.
9.3. Authors are required to submit a brief biographical note (not more than 50 words) on a separate page when submitting their manuscripts.
9.4. Please submit soft copies of your completed manuscript, including all figures, tables and pictures in MS Word as an e-mail attachment to: research@rmu.edu.gh
Any enquiries may also be addressed to the same email.
In-text references
Where reference to or citations of external sources are made, this must be acknowledged in the text. In-text references are in the basic format of:
(Author, Year) or
(Author, Year, Page)
The page number(s) — or other exact location — is required when a source is directly quoted. All references cited in-text must appear in detail in a final reference list.
Reference list
This is the list of the references cited in the text and give full details of the source cited.
In the APA system it is title References and has the basic format of:
Author. (Year). Title. Source.
The reference list is presented alphabetically (A-Z) in single spacing, hanging indent and
with a blank line between each reference.
These are guidelines only. Details of the APA referencing system can be found in The
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Edition
