Town and Regional Planning
Journal / Town and Regional Planning / Submissions

 

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

1. The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
2. Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
3. The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
4. The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
5. The submission file is in Microsoft Word document file format.
6. The ORCID's for individual authors have been included in the article, as well as in the online profile.
7. The Author Agreement Form has been completed, signed, uploaded or return to the Editorial Office.
8. The correct sequence for items in each reference complies with the inhouse Harvard referecing style required by the journal (see online archive for examples).
9. The references list contains all the relevant information, and is listed alphabetically according to the names of the authors.
10. Only sources cited/reference in the text and vice versa are in the list.

 

Author Guidelines

Town and Regional Planning publishes articles in English. The desired length for an article is between 4 000 and 8 000 words, (excluding references list) written in third person.

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. Tables must be provided in editable format and not as images. Text in Tables must be in single line spacing, Times New Roman, font size 10. Table borders must be ¼ pt width.

Articles on an applicable topic in town, urban and regional planning, well presented, written in any easy style and already proofread, will be considered for publishing.

The Editor reserves the right to alter articles where necessary with regard to the style and presentation to bring it in line with the journal. If the referees propose large-scale changes, the article will be returned to the author for alterations.

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.  Titles must be provided in both Afrikaans and English.  The Editorial Staff can be of assistance here.

Short summaries of no more than 150 words in English and Afrikaans, must be provided at the beginning of the article. (By choice also in any other official language, except if other arrangements were made with the editor).

Applicable keywords in English must be given after the summary.

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.

For sections and subsections use Arabic numbers with full stops in-between, i.e. 1. Followed by 1.1 and 1.1.1 up to the maximum of three levels. After that use an (a).

Source references in the text must be in the Harvard style of referencing. i.e. (Healey, 1996: 201-202).

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: 5-7).

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 and be included at the bottom of the page.

The references list (in the Harvard style of referencing) must contain all the relevant information, and be listed alphabetically according to the names of the authors, i.e. HEALEY, P. 1997. Collaborative planning.  London: McGraw-Hill.

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 internet sites were visited.

Abbreviations must be limited and only used for corporations etc. in general use, then only after it was written out in full at first, with the abbreviation in brackets. After this the abbreviated form is used.

Words in other languages and stereotyped Latin terms such as per se must be in italics. Italics must be used sparsely. Emphasis must be in single inverted commas.

Diagrams, maps and photos must preferably be provided in Tif or Jpeg format, 300dpi resolution on separate pages to simplify scanning. Computer graphics are welcome, but must also be provided camera-ready on A4 paper. Clearly legible text and markings is a must.

Tables and Figures containing statistics, research output and conceptual frameworks must be in editable format and not as images.

Details concerning the origin of the article must be indicated, i.e. if it was presented at a congress, or from a masters or PhD study. 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 persons (not members at own place of work) who might be qualified adjudicators.

The article must contain the title, qualifications and affiliation of the author(s). The address, telephone number, and e-mail address and ORCID must also be provided, for easy accessibility.

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

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

Research articles

These are original research manuscripts. The work should report scientifically sound research and provide a substantial amount of new information. The article should include the most recent and relevant references in any applicable field of scholarship, i.e. town, urban and regional planning.

Format:

- The format can be found in the Guidelines to Authors.

- Will be peer-reviewed.

Review articles

• Systematic Review

Systematic review articles present a detailed investigation of previous research on a given topic that use clearly defined search parameters and methods to identify, categorise, analyse, and report aggregated evidence on a specific topic.

Format:

- The structure is similar to an original research article.

- Suggested minimum word count of 4000-8000 words (excluding references list).

- The structure includes a Title, Abstract, and Keywords followed by the body of the manuscript, including: 1) Introduction, 2) Literature review, 3) Methods, 4) Results, 5) Discussion, 6) Conclusion and a References list.

- In the methods section the following components should be discussed in detail: databases used, time when search was done, search methods, keywords used, inclusion and exclusion criteria, identification of studies, study selection, data extraction, quality assessment, data analysis.

- The intext citations and referencing format can be found in the Guidelines to Authors.

- Will be peer-reviewed.

Literature Review

Reviews offer a comprehensive analysis of the existing literature within a field of study, identifying current gaps or problems. They should be critical and constructive and provide recommendations for future research. No new, unpublished data should be presented.

Format:

- Suggested minimum word count of 4000-8000 words (excluding references list).

- The structure includes a Title, Abstract, and Keywords, followed by the body of the manuscript, including: 1) Introduction, 2) Methods and review approach, 3) relevant sections (Key Issues), 4) Discussion, 5) Conclusions, 6) Future directions, and a References list.

- The intext citations and referencing format can be found in the Guidelines to Authors

- Will be peer-reviewed.

Perspectives

Perspective papers should add a dimension to the research and should not merely comment on or summarise other papers. Perspectives should showcase current developments in a specific field and provide a review of concepts and not of research studies. Emphasis is placed on future directions of the field (concept) and on the personal assessment/perspective of the author. It may draw on substantial literature and is therefore written by authors with considerable experience and authority on the subject matter. They offer the author the opportunity to present criticism or address controversy.

A perspective piece is necessitated under the following conditions:

- Preliminary data is presented under the premise that it is supported by research.

- A contemporary subject of broad concern to the scholarly community.

- Present an idea or perspective on innovative ideas not yet implemented.

Format:

- Authors of perspective articles should include a short 100-word biography to illustrate experience and authority in the field.

- Provide four key points (1 or 2 sentences each) before the abstract under “Highlights” to help highlight the importance of the perspective. (These should include, key learning points, seminal discoveries highlighted in the review, potential future directions, future societal use/impact, and further reading options).

- Suggested minimum word count of 4000-6000 words (including references).

- The structure includes Highlights and an Abstract, followed by the body of the manuscript, including: 1) Introduction, 2) Relevant Sections (Key Issues), 3) Discussion, 4) Conclusions, and 5) Future Directions, References list.

- No more than 5 tables and figures (must include legends).

- References should be no more than 30-35.

- The intext citations and referencing format can be found in the Guidelines to Authors.

- All perspective pieces will be peer-reviewed in a similar fashion to research and review papers.

Book reviews

This journal publishes book reviews relevant to the field of scholarship, i.e.  town, urban and regional planning of books with a publishing date not older than three calender years from the year in which the review is written. If you want to recommend a book for a review, contact the editorial office.

Format:

- Full book details should be provided at the beginning of the article.

- Full details of person writing the review should be provided.

- The structure should only include an Introduction and be a discussion of critical points with no sections or conclusions.

- A suggested minimum word count of 500 words or one A4 page.

- Will not be peer-reviewed.