Submission Instructions

• All manuscripts must be submitted via the submission system.

  Templates (Word or Latex for main text, EndNote for Reference) are available to assist authors.

  If a language editing service is required, please contact the Editorial Office. 

• New Submission
  FREE STYLE: Authors DO NOT need to edit their manuscripts so as to meet the journal's required format when submitting the original version. Only essential information necessary for administrative checking and peer review need to be provided at this stage.

  Authors should ensure that:

  1. Their study and manuscript meet the journal's ethical requirements outlined in Guidelines for Authors.

  2. Their manuscript is prepared in accurate, understandable and unambiguous English.

  3. The following files and information are ready:

  (i) A Cover Letter indicating the importance of the study to the subject field;
  (ii) Manuscript file, in Word or Latex form, should include:

  • Article title
  • Authors' full names, institutional email addresses, and ORCID iD numbers where possible
  • Authors' affiliations
  • Abstract (350 words or less, no citation)
  • Keywords (4-8 words)
  • Research article should be partitioned into sections: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion, Conclusion
  • Figures (high-resolution images are not required at this stage, but should be clear enough to allow peer review)
  • Tables in editable style, not as images
  • References (citation number in numerical order in main text, [1], [2,3], [4-6])
  • Ethics statements: such as Competing Interests, Sources of Funding, Availability of Data and Materials, Author Contributions

  (iii) Written permission for figures, tables, text quotations, etc. It is the author's responsibility to secure any permissions required for the use of published materials;
  (iv) If authors would like to propose or oppose any potential reviewers, they should provide their names and email/institutional addresses upon initial submission.

• Submission of Revision

  Authors should ensure that in revising their manuscript, they have fully addressed the comments received from the reviewers and editor(s). The following documents should be provided when submitting the revised manuscript:

  • A clean version of your revised manuscript;
  • A version highlighting (in color) all changes and corrections made to your manuscript;
  • A point-by-point response letter showing the authors’ replies to the reviewers’ and editor’s comments;
  • Other documents as required by the editor.