Submissions

Author Guidelines

Before submitting to the journal, authors must read these guidelines in full to ensure their manuscript is prepared correctly. Please download the Template for preparing the manuscripts.

1. Manuscript format

• The manuscript must be submitted in Microsoft Word format.
• The language of the manuscript must be English, with consistency in using either British or American spelling conventions. Non-English words should be used sparingly. Authors are strongly encouraged to have their manuscripts polished by a native English speaker or a professional language editing service prior to submission.

2. Article types

Authors should select the most appropriate article type for their submission. Please scroll down this page to view information about article types.

3. Cover letter

A cover letter must accompany every submission, which is treated as confidential and will be visible only to editors, not to peer reviewers. This letter should:

• Contain a declaration that the manuscript is the original work of the authors.
• Affirm that the study complies with the journal’s editorial policies.
• Include a brief explanation of the significance of the work and the rationale for the research.
• If the research involves human participants or animals, the Informed Consent Statement or Ethical Approval Statement (including the committee’s full name and reference number) must be provided alongside the cover letter.
• Declare any potential conflict of interest.

4. Article title

• The title must be concise, no more than 15 words (recommended), and convey significant, attractive information to readers.
• It should not contain uncommon jargon, abbreviations, or punctuation.

5. List of authors

• The list of authors should be ordered according to their relative contribution to the work, with the principal contributor listed first.
• Corresponding author(s) should be indicated by an asterisk (*) with a valid email address. Usually, no more than two corresponding authors should be designated.
• Affiliation details for each author must include: department, institution, city with post/zip code or equivalent where available, and country.
• All authors must approve the final version of the manuscript and agree to its submission.

For further details, please consult our Authorship Policy.

6. Abstract and keywords

• An abstract is required for most article types. It should be a single, concise paragraph summarising the article, with a maximum length of 250 words.
• A graphical abstract is encouraged.
• Provide 5–8 keywords. These should not simply duplicate words from the article title.

7. Main text

7.1. Overall structure

• Research articles should generally be organised into the following sections: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion (optional).
• Review articles and other types typically feature more flexible structures. We recommend that authors clearly state their research motivation, existing research findings, and conclusions when writing.

7.2. Section headings

Headings should be used to structure the text clearly. No more than four levels of headings should be used.

• First-level headings: Numbered as 1., 2., 3., in boldface.
• Second-level headings: Numbered as 1.1., 1.2., in boldface.
• Third-level headings: Numbered as 1.1.1., 1.1.2., in boldface.
• Fourth-level headings (not recommended): No numbering and in italics.

7.3. Introduction

The introduction should provide a background context accessible to a broad readership, pinpoint the specific research problem, and state the study’s significance. It may conclude with a brief statement of the work’s aim and a comment on its achievement.

7.4. Materials and methods

This section must detail the experimental design and methodologies with sufficient clarity to allow other investigators to replicate the work fully. It should also facilitate a better understanding of the results.

7.5. Results

This section should present the findings of the experiments performed.

7.6. Discussion

This section should interpret the results, discuss their significance, and identify the broader impact of the research. It must not be a repetition of the Results section.

7.7. Conclusion (optional)

The Conclusion section should be used for interpretation and must not summarise information already presented in the abstract or main text.

7.8. Figures

• All figures (photographs, images, graphs, charts, schematic diagrams, etc.) must be cited in the main text in boldface and numbered consecutively (Figure 1, Figure 2, ).
• They should be placed as close as possible to their first citation.

• Figure captions should be placed below the figure.
• Figures with multiple panels should be labelled with Latin letters in parentheses, e.g., (a), (b), (c) or (A), (B), (C), placed below or within the image.

• Preferred formats of figures are PNG, JPG, and SVG. The resolution must exceed 300 dpi. Vector formats (e.g., SVG) are preferred for scalable images like graphs and line drawings. Line drawings require a higher resolution for precision.

• Images must be aesthetically pleasing and have appropriate brightness and contrast to ensure clarity.
• Any abbreviations or symbols used in figures must be defined in the corresponding legend, unless already defined in the main text.
• Failure to adhere to format and resolution specifications may compromise image quality and readability. Excessively large files can cause system timeouts; it is advisable to keep the final article PDF under 10 MB for an optimal reader experience.

7.9. Tables

• Tables must be cited in the main text in boldface and numbered consecutively (Table 1, Table 2, ).
• They should be placed as close as possible to their first citation.

• Table captions should be placed above the table.
• Tables must be created using the Microsoft Word/Excel table function. Excessively large tables can be provided as supplementary material.

7.10. Lists and equations

• Both bulleted and numbered lists are acceptable.
• Equations should be centre-aligned, with equation numbers right-aligned.
• When cited in the text, equations should be labelled with consecutive numbers in parentheses, e.g., Equation (1).

7.11. In-text citations

All bibliographical references must be numbered sequentially in the order of their first appearance in the text. Cite references in the text using numbers in square brackets.

8. Back matter

The following elements constitute the back matter of the manuscript, in the order listed below. Headings for these sections are unnumbered. Some elements are optional.

8.1. Supplementary materials (optional)

This section should contain a brief description of the supplementary files. Multiple files are permitted and should be uploaded during Step 4 of the submission process. These materials are relevant but non-essential to understanding the article’s main content. Please ensure file names include “suppl. info”. Videos may be included here.

8.2. Author contributions

This section is mandatory for research articles, unless there is only one author. We recommend using the following CRediT-based statements to list the contributions of all co-authors. XX, YY, ZZ represent authors’ initials.

“Conceptualisation, XX and YY; methodology, XX; software, XX; validation, XX, YY and ZZ; formal analysis, XX; investigation, XX; resources, XX; data curation, XX; writing—original draft preparation, XX; writing—review and editing, XX; visualisation, XX; supervision, XX; project administration, XX; funding acquisition, YY. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.”

8.3. Funding

Authors should acknowledge financial support here. The statement must follow the template’s style.

“This research was funded by [name of funder] grant number [xxx]”, “The APC was funded by [XXX]”, OR “None”.

Please ensure the funding details are accurate and that the standard spelling of the funding agency’s name (as found in https://search.crossref.org/funding) is used, as errors may affect future funding.

8.4. Ethical approval

The statement should be explicit and include specific identifying details. For example:

• Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the [Full Institutional Name of the Ethics Committee/Institutional Review Board] (Approval Reference Number: [XXX]).
• This study was granted an exemption from requiring ethical approval by the [Full Institutional Name of the Ethics Committee/Institutional Review Board], as it involved [provide a clear and brief justification, e.g., anonymized analysis of publicly available datasets].
• Not applicable.

8.5. Informed consent statement

Authors should clearly state whether written informed consent has been obtained from all subjects involved in this study prior to their participation; OR “Patient consent was waived for this study by the [Full Institutional Name of the Ethics Committee] because [provide a detailed, specific justification.]; OR “Not Applicable”.

8.6. Data availability statement

This statement should provide a clear and precise account of how to access the data that underpin the study’s results: repository names, DOIs, URLs, or accession numbers wherever possible.

8.7. Acknowledgments (optional)

This section can be used to acknowledge any support or contributions not covered in the Author Contributions or Funding sections.

8.8. Conflict of interest

In accordance with our Conflict of Interest Policy, all authors must declare any activities that could be perceived as a potential source of competing interest. Authors with no conflicts to declare must include similar statements as follows:

“No conflict of interest was reported by all authors.” or “The authors declare no conflict of interest.”

9. References

This is a compulsory section placed at the end of the manuscript. The list must only include works that are cited in the text and that have been published or accepted for publication. Personal communications and unpublished data should be excluded. Footnotes or endnotes are not a substitute for a reference list.

• Author names should be formatted as “Last-Name + Initial”, e.g., David Smith should be written as Smith D, and William John Smith written as Smith WJ.

The cited literature must be pertinent to the research. Prioritise original sources over secondary citations. Avoid plagiarism, over-reliance on a single source, and excessive or inappropriate self-citation to ensure scientific rigour.

9.1. Journal article (English)

Author A, Author B, Author C, et al. Title of the article. Journal Name. Year; Volume(Issue): Firstpage–Lastpage. doi (if available)

9.2. Journal article (other Languages)

Author A, Author B. English title of the article [Original language]. Journal Name. Year; Volume(Issue): Firstpage–Lastpage. doi (if available)

9.3. Book (without editors)

Author A. Chapter (optional). Title of the Book, Edition. Publisher; Year. pp. Page range (optional).

9.4. Book (with editors)

Author A, Author B. Title of the contribution. In: Editor C, Editor D (editors). Title of the Book, Edition. Publisher; Year. Volume (optional), pp. Page range (optional).

9.5. Conference proceeding (as a named book)

Author A, Author B, Author C, Author D. Title of presentation. In: Editor D, Editor E (editors). Title of Collected Work, Proceedings of the Name of the Conference; Date of Conference (Day Month Year); Location of Conference (City, Country). Publisher; Year. Abstract Number (optional), Pagination (optional).

9.6. Conference proceeding (without separate book title)

Author A, Author B, Author C, et al. Title of presentation. In: Proceedings of the Name of the Conference; Date of Conference (Day Month Year); Location of Conference (City, Country). Abstract Number (optional), Pagination (optional).

9.7. Oral presentation (unpublished)

Author A. Title of presentation (if any). Presented at the Name of Conference; Date of Conference (Day Month Year); Location of Conference (City, Country); Paper number (if available).

9.8. Thesis/dissertation

Author A. Title of Thesis [Level of thesis]. Degree-Granting University; Year.

9.9. Newspaper article

Author A, Author B, Author C, et al. Title of article. Title of Periodical, Complete Date (Day Month Year), Pagination (if available).

9.10. Patent

Patent Owner A, Patent Owner B, Patent Owner C. Title of Patent. Patent Number, Date (Day Month Year).

9.11. Unpublished work

Author A, Author B. Title of unpublished work. Journal Title. Year; Phrase Indicating Stage of Publication (e.g., submitted, in press). doi (if available)

9.12. Online resource

Author (if available). Title of content (if available). Available online: http://URL (accessed on Day Month Year).

10. Appendix (optional)

• An appendix provides supplementary material and is placed after the References section, starting on a new page.
• A single appendix is titled “Appendix”; multiple appendices are titled “Appendix A”, “Appendix B”, etc.
• The appendix must be cited in the main text. Any tables, figures, or equations within it should be prefixed with “A” (e.g., Figure A1, Table A1).