Submissions

As you start reading this Guidelines for Authors, we believe that you are willing to submit a manuscript for the upcoming issue of the Journal of Education and Research published by Academia International College. When submitting your manuscript, please consider that the audience of this Journal is international and range from academics to professionals, researchers, teachers, students as well as others. The AJMC publishes only the original research articles presenting theoretical/practical discussion of current relevance. We promote localized analysis and comparative perspectives. Similarly, we welcome papers that perceive education with an integrative perspective bringing in local, national, regional as well as global contexts. We publish full-length research, opinion and review papers as well as short-notes, reflective notes, book reviews and abstracts of student research works.

All contributions in this journal undergo rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and refereeing by two anonymous reviewers. The review process may take from two to three months. See the manuscript handling flow chart below.

• Legal Requirements

All manuscripts submitted to the AJMC are strictly assumed that they are not submitted, partly or wholly anywhere else, nor are currently being considered for publication or in the process of publication elsewhere. It is also strictly assumed that the manuscripts are not already published fully or partly anywhere, in print or electronic media. Likewise, when authors submit their manuscripts, they declare their manuscripts are their own writing and that there are no plagiarized texts in any form, either from published or unpublished sources. The authors should fully honour others’ copyright.

It is the responsibility of the authors to ensure the accuracy of facts, information, or the content in their paper. Their paper should not content any illegal, unauthorized, and unethical content. All the ideas, discussion, analysis, conclusions drawn in the paper are solely of the authors and thus they should take all the responsibilities of is written in their papers and have nothing to do with the Publisher (Academia International College) and the members of the Editorial Team. Academia International College and the members of the Editorial Team will not be held responsible should there be any claims for compensation.

• Manuscript Preparation

When preparing your manuscript, please consider the following:

General Information

• The paper must be in the English language and should consist of 5000 to 7000 words including abstracts, references, and notes. All papers should also include an abstract of about 200 words. Likewise, all papers should also have 3-5 keywords, placed immediately below the abstract. Properly linked and appropriately-sized diagrams, pictures, etc. may be included.
• Please give particular attention to making your language non-discriminatory in any way. Avoid sexist and racist terms and adhere to basic ethical principles of no harm.
• In the case of submissions resulting from student’s work, e.g., PhD studies, we usually only accept single authorship. Supervisors might be acknowledged in the article after the submission has been accepted for publishing.
• In case copyrighted materials are to be reproduced, it is the responsibility of the authors to obtain permission to reproduce the copyrighted materials. Include the copyright permission letter while submitting the paper.
• By submitting a manuscript to the Journal of Education and Research, the authors fully agree that the copyright of all published papers remains with the author. 
• By submitting a manuscript to the AJMC, the author(s) fully agree, if accepted for publication, to transfer the publisher (ACADEMIA) the exclusive right to first distribute their paper under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
• When the paper is published, each corresponding author is entitled to getting one print copy free-of-charge. The authors should be clear that they will not get any payment on the publication of their paper. Neither does the Journal charge fee for publishing the paper.
• The paper should be sent online as a standard attached file in MS Word. Attached email file should be named with your family name and initials and the date (do not use period or blank space). The date is when you email the manuscript and should be in ddmmyy format (example: ParajuliMN240112).
• In case there are figures, charts, photos, paints, etc., they should be embedded with the text. The AJMC encourages authors to also send them as separate files, so that their quality may be retained. While doing so, name these files the same as your manuscript file but add ‘attach1’, ‘attach2’, etc. (example: ParajuliMN240112attach1).
• Final decisions on the acceptance of the manuscript will be communicated to authors by email.

Page Layout and Design

Manuscripts should be submitted in the following format:

1. Font: Times New Roman, size 12 (including titles and headings)
2. Line space: Double
3. Page margin: one-inch on all sides
4. Text alignment: left
5. Paragraphs: indent each paragraph (half-inch); no extra space in between paragraphs 
6. The manuscript should be sent in two files: one with metadata (containing the title page and abstract page) and the other main paper (beginning with the introduction, without the title of the paper and author information).
7. The title page includes (in the order of): running head (also included on all other pages, flush left) and page number (flush right), title and subtitle of the paper (title case, bold, centred), and author information (each author's name, affiliation, email, ORCiD), submission date.
8. Author information [in standard (i.e., nonbold, nonitalic) font]: Place author information on a new line (two lines below the title) in the order of your name [first name, middle initial(s), surname]; affiliated institution (department or division, name of the institution), town/city and country;  your email address on a new line; and your ORCiD Number on a new line.
9. For names with suffixes, separate the suffix from the rest of the name with a space, not a comma (e.g., David S. Oladejo Jr.).
10. Maximum two affiliations are allowed; however, include two affiliations only if two institutions contributed substantial support to the study.
11. In case there are multiple authors, repeat the author information as mentioned in 8 above, with a gap of a line after the first author information.  
12. Add an asterisk (*) after the name of the corresponding author. Generally, the lead author is the corresponding author, but it is not necessary.
13. At the end of the title page, type the date you email your paper.
14. The second page is the ‘Abstract’ page. Type Abstract (bold, centred), and on the next line begin the abstract text (without indentation). The abstract should be of about 200 words.
15. One line below the abstract, write the label “Keywords:” (bold), followed by three to five keywords (standard font) in lowercase (but capitalize necessary words like proper nouns), separated by commas.
16. The main content of the paper should start on a new page. This is the content file of your manuscript which should exclusively contain the main text of the paper (do not repeat the title), with endnotes (if any), acknowledgements (if any), references, and appendices (if any).
17. Tables should where possible be created simply using MS Word Table function. All tables and figures must be numbered and set flush left. In a new line give the title of the table/figure (heading style capitalization, italic). If necessary give Table/Figure notes immediately below the table/figure. Contents within the tables are to be single-spaced. Font size can range from 8 to 14 pt in figures.
18. For emphasis, please use italics, not bold. Italics should also be used for non-English words, titles of books, plays, etc.
19. Quotations less than 40 words are included within the paragraph enclosed by double-quotes. Quotations more than 40 words are to be separated from the paragraph, and the whole block is indented half-inch. Do not use double quotation marks to enclose the block quotation. The AJMC encourages authors to try to avoid the block quotations.
20. Use no more than three levels of displayed headings (Follow the APA 7th ed.).  

                                                   Level 1: Centered, Bold, Title Case Heading

    Level 2: Flush Left, Bold, Title Case Heading

    Level 3: Flush Left, Bold Italic, Title Case Heading

21. Request a template (if you need) (research@academiacollege.edu.np) for formatting your manuscript.

In-Text Citations

The simple practice of in-text citation follows the author/date format. To cite a specific part of a source, indicate the page, chapter, figure, table, or equation at the appropriate point in text. Always give page numbers for quotations. Example: Gnawali (2008) says, “In the teaching profession, the pedagogic knowledge and skills a trainee teacher gets at the training college are not sufficient for his life long career” (p. 219). When you paraphrase or summarise, the page number is not necessary. Example: It has also been noted that the knowledge and skills teachers acquire during their college days are not enough for their future career (Gnawali, 2008). The general rules of in-text citations are as follows:

1 author (Lawoti, 2005) (Lawoti, 2005, p. 25)

2 authors (Gautam & Basnet, 2004, pp. 24-48)

3 or more authors (Gautam et al., 2003)  

No author (Shortened Title, 2000) when it refers to a book; ("Shortened Title", 2000) when it refers to a paper or book chapter

Organization as author (Tribjuvan University [TU], 2004) Next cite: (TU, 2004)

In Press (Subedi, in press)

Personal communication (These are not included in References) (S. Upretee, personal communication, July 4, 2012)

Citing multiple works parenthetically (Dhakal, 2019; Gurung, 2001; Lawoti, 2005;  Tamang & Baral, 1990; Wolter, 2016)

No date (Dhungana, n.d.)

Two authors with the same last name (Sharma, T. N., 1999) (Sharma, A., 2008)

Multiple works by the same author, same year (Luitel, 2010a) (Luitel, 2010b)

Multiple works by the same author, same citation (Luitel, 2010, 2012)

Notes

The AJMC does not allow footer based content footnotes on the main page of the article. It does allow content footnotes but places them as 'Notes' below the end of the main text (before 'References'). Authors should number all notes consecutively in the order in which their callouts appear in the text with superscript Arabic numerals. 

Disclosures and Acknowledgements

Authors should disclose activities and relationships that might be viewed as potential conflicts of interests. Even if there exists no known conflict of interest, authors should state it explicitly.

On a new line, please acknowledge any support from individuals or agencies while undertaking and finalising the study and the paper. You do not need to thank the editors and anonymous reviewers.

References

'References' is the listing of all citations made in the text of the paper. At the end of your main text, on a new page, type ‘References’, centred, and list all citations in alphabetical order. No materials should be included in the list that that are not cited in the text.

A book with a single author

Acharya, M. R. (2002). Nepal culture shift!: Reinventing culture in the Himalayan kingdom. Adroit Publishers.

A book with two or more authors

Bongartz, H., & Dahal, D. R. (1996). Development studies: Self-help organizations, NGOs and civil society. Nepal Foundation for Advanced Studies.

An edited book

Bhattachan, K. B., & Mishra, C. (Eds.). (1997). Developmental practices in Nepal. Central Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Tribhuvan University.

A single chapter/paper in an edited book

Dahal, K. R., & Paudyal, B. R. (1998). Legal perspective of decentralization in Nepal. In G. B. Thapa (Ed.), Promoting participatory democracy in Nepal: An assessment of local self-government (pp. 43-57). Political Science Association of Nepal.

Corporate author (also the publisher)

Government of Nepal. (2015). The constitution of Nepal.

An article from a print journal or magazine

Koirala-Azad, S. (2008). Unravelling our realities: Nepali students as researchers and activists. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 28(3), 251-263. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188790802270245  

An article from an online source

Onta, P. (2000). Nepal education: Finding a ray of hope.  http://www.epw.org.in/35-47/comm6.htm#top  

 An unpublished thesis/dissertation

Gnawali, L. (2001). Investigating teacher practices: A proposal for teacher development of the secondary school teachers of English in Nepal (Unpublished Master’s dissertation). University of Exeter.

Dissertation/thesis published online 

Manion, C. (2011). Girls’ education as a means or end of development? A case study of gender and education policy knowledge and action in the Gambia [Doctoral dissertation, University of Toronto]. https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/29801/3/Manion_Caroline_J_201106_PhD_thesis.pdf 

Non-English book

Gautam, B., Adhikari, J., & Basnet, P. (Eds.). (2004). Nepalma garibiko bahas [Poverty debates in Nepal]. Martin Chautari.

Translated book

Bourdieu, P., & Passeron, J. C. (1990). Reproduction in education, society and culture (2nd ed., R. Nice, Trans.).  Sage. (Original work published 1970)

In-text citation: (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1970/1990).

Dictionary or Encyclopedia article

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved May 5, 2020, from https://www.merriamwebster.com/

Simpson, A. (2017). Moral foundations theory. In Encyclopedia of personality and individual differences (pp. 1–11). http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1253-1   

Newspaper Article

Prashrit, M. N. (2002, July 12). Bhanubhaktako sirjana ra rashtriya ekikaran [The creation of Bhanubhakta and national unification]. Kantipur, p. 5.

Editorial

Dhakal, R. K. (2016). Responsible practice of research: Safeguarding research integrity and publication ethics [Editorial].  Journal of Education and Research, 6(2), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.3126/jer.v6i2.22144

• DOI-References

The references should always include the digital object identifier (DOI), when possible. The DOI-reference should be accessible by clicking at the URL. If you are not sure about the DOI-code of a reference you may search for it here (title or author name): http://search.crossref.org/

• Online First

The article will be published online ahead of print after receipt of the corrected proofs. This is the official first publication citable with the Digital Object Identifier (DOI). After the release of the printed version, the paper can also be cited by page numbers.

• Erratum

We publish the articles only after the corresponding author ensures that the accepted (and revised) manuscript has been copyedited and proofread thoroughly. After online publication, further changes can only be made in the form of an Erratum, a separate document which will be hyperlinked to the article.

• Anti-Plagiarism Policy

Please note that AJMC uses Crossref Similarity Check software to screen papers for unoriginal material. By submitting your paper to AJMC you are agreeing to any necessary originality or plagiarism checks your paper may have to undergo during the peer review and production processes. In case of a duplicate submission, fabricated data, breach of participants' confidentiality, improper award or denial of authorship, and plagiarised texts, we warn the author(s) for misconduct and may allow rework. But if so is found in the resubmission, we will consider that deliberate and thus bar the author for submitting any (including original) article to AJMC for three years.

• Author Permissions

Articles in this journal are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

• Copyright and Permission

© Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. 

Each article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon the articles even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms.

• Publishing Ethics

The Editorial Board of AJMC and Academia International College are committed to the highest academic, professional, legal, and ethical standards in publishing work in this journal. To this end, we have adopted a set of guidelines, to which all submitting authors, reviewers and editors are expected to adhere, to assure the integrity and ethical publishing. We also adopt the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines to deal with publication ethics and malpractice policies.

Here are some general ethical guidelines that AJMC adopts and recommends for its authors, reviewers and editors.

Ethical guidelines for AJMC authors

We expect all authors submitting to AJMC to adhere to the following ethical guidelines:

• All authors must warrant that their article is their own original work, which does not infringe the intellectual property rights of any other person or entity, and cannot be construed as plagiarizing any other published work, including their own previously published work.
• In case copyrighted materials are to be reproduced, it is the responsibility of the authors to obtain permission to reproduce the copyrighted materials. Authors must also include the copyright permission letter while submitting such paper.
• Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication. All authors named on the paper are equally held accountable for the content of a submitted manuscript or published paper.
• Authors must not submit a manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.
• Authors should not submit previously published work, nor work which is based in substance on previously published work, either in part or whole.
• Authors must appropriately cite all relevant works. Information obtained privately, as in conversation, correspondence, or discussion with third parties, should not be used or reported in the author's work unless fully cited, and with the permission of that third party.
• Authors must make available all necessary formal and documented ethical approval from an appropriate research ethics committee, including evidence of anonymization and informed consent from the client(s) or patient(s) studied, if appropriate.
• Authors may be asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access to such data, if practicable, and should, in any event, be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.
• Authors must pay particular attention to making their language non-discriminatory in any way. They should avoid sexist and racist terms and adhere to the basic ethical principle of no harm.
• Authors must declare any potential conflict of interest – be it professional or financial – which could be held to arise with respect to the article.
• Authors must disclose all sources of financial support for the research reported in the paper.
• When authors discover a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published work, it is the authors’ obligation to promptly notify the journal editor and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

Ethical guidelines for AJMC peer reviewers

We ask all peer reviewers to make every reasonable effort to adhere to the following ethical guidelines for AJMC articles they have agreed to review:

• Reviewers must give unbiased consideration to each manuscript, and should judge each on its merits. Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
• Reviewers must keep the peer review process confidential; information or correspondence about a manuscript should not be shared with anyone outside of the peer-review process.
• Reviewers should provide a constructive, comprehensive, evidenced, and appropriately substantial peer review report.
• Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse her- or himself from the review process.
• Reviewers should assist the editors in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper.
• Reviewers should make all reasonable effort to submit their report and recommendation in a timely manner, informing the editor if this is not possible.
• Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. Reviewers should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they are aware.
• AJMC strongly recommends that reviewers also adhere to the COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers.

Ethical guidelines for AJMC editors

We ask all journal editors to make every reasonable effort to adhere to the following ethical guidelines for AJMC articles that are worthy of peer review:

• Journal editors should give unbiased consideration to each manuscript and should judge each on its merits, without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.
• Journal editors must keep the peer-review process confidential; information or correspondence about a manuscript should not be shared with anyone outside of the peer-review process.
• Journal editors may reject a submitted manuscript without resort to formal peer review if they consider the manuscript to be inappropriate for the journal and outside its scope.
• If a journal editor receives a claim that a submitted article is under consideration elsewhere or has already been published, then he or she has a duty to investigate the matter with AJMC.
• Journal editors should make all reasonable effort to process submitted manuscripts in an efficient and timely manner.
• Journal editors should arrange for the responsibility of the peer review of any original research article authored by themselves to be delegated to a member of the editorial or advisory board as appropriate.
• Journal editors are responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The editor may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision.
• If a journal editor is presented with convincing evidence that the main substance or conclusions of an article published in the journal are erroneous, then, in consultation with AJMC, the journal editor should facilitate publication of an appropriate corrigendum or erratum.

• Privacy Statement 

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.