General Information for Authors

General Guidelines

• All authors are required to check the manuscript for plagiarism before submission. Papers that have unacceptable levels of similarity (>10%) will be desk rejected. Also, authors should take care to keep single source similarity levels to a minimum (< 1%) while submitting manuscripts.

• Authors should take care to submit manuscripts that have acceptably good levels of English grammar and usage. Please use a tool like Grammarly (or similar) to check your manuscript before submission.

• Manuscript length should be between 5000 - 8000 words including all relevant tables, figures and references.

• The author shall present an accurate and complete account of research performed with data collected or used and give an objective discussion of the relevance of the research.

• The manuscript can contain figures or materials copied from other sources with proper written permission for such use and obtaining such permissions should be ensured by the author. Declaration to the same should be enclosed during the time of submission.

• The author shall disclose all personal, professional, financial conflicts related to the paper to the editor along with the submission.

• Ghost authorship and Gift authorship are not allowed.

• Paper-based on prior research work should be attributed.

• The author shall cite the original publications that have presented similar work.

• The author should have conducted the research leading to the paper, in accordance with the accepted ethical standards.

• The author has the ethical obligation to notify the editor, should any of the statements to the above list cease to be true.

• The editor has full right to accept or reject an article for publication. Editorial decisions will be communicated by e-mail.

• The editor reserves the right to modify and improve the manuscripts to meet the Journal’s standards of presentation and style.

1.2 Manuscript Preparation Guidelines

• Manuscripts to be prepared in Microsoft Word with Times New Roman, font size as per the paper format.

• All pages to be numbered

• Figures and tables should be numbered as Table 1, Figure 1, etc. There should be clear indications in the main text as to where each figure/or table should be inserted. All figures and tables should have sources clearly mentioned. Line drawings, maps, charts, graphs, diagrams, photos, etc. should all be labeled as figures. Number tables and figures consecutively, using Arabic numerals, in order of appearance (one series for tables, one for figures). Long tables that have many panels should preferably be broken into separately numbered tables. Each table or figure must have at least one sentence in your text that introduces it. In-text references to tables should be in sequential order throughout the paper. A table should be understandable on its own. The text should highlight the main points in a table and summarize its message, but not duplicate the details. Tables should not have any lengthy introductory text; any necessary notes should be included as footnotes to the table and should not repeat text from the body of the paper. Indicate the position of each table and figure in the text ("Figure 1 goes about here") on the page where it is introduced. All tables should be editable in Word. Embedded Excel worksheets are acceptable, provided the author has taken into account the amount of data that can reasonably fit on a journal page. Tints are not acceptable in figures as they do not reproduce well in printing.

• Abstract of around 250-350 words to be included with the paper. The abstract should then concisely - but clearly - outline the paper’s:

1. Purpose or primary objectives

2. Research design/methodology/dataset/time period

3. Key findings

4. Implications

• Keywords: 5-8 appropriate keywords to be included after abstract.

• References to be prepared following American Psychological Association (APA) 7th Edition.

1.3 An Author Declaration Form that states the following:

• 1. That the work is original, and has not been published in any form prior to submission with us.

  2. The work has not been submitted elsewhere concurrently.

  3. Disclosure of conflicts of interest if any.

  4. The corresponding author has the permission of all co-authors for submitting with us.

1.4 Submission Checklist

Please check if the following documents are prepared before proceeding to the Submissions page.

1. Cover Letter stating briefly the nature of the paper and why it fits with the academic style of the journal.

2. Title and Abstract with keywords- This document should contain the names and affiliations of all authors.

3. Main Manuscript- Should contain no identifying material. Include Title, Abstract, Keywords, Main Text, with figures and tables including clear indications where the figures and tables should be inserted, and references.

4. Any other appendices- Include any material that was not included in the main manuscript such as questionnaires, additional data, figures, tables, etc.

1.5 Mode of Submission

All complete submissions can be emailed to journal@srustiacademy.ac.in. Submissions that are incomplete and/or do not follow the stated Author Guidelines will be desk rejected.