Author’s Guidelines

Author’s Guidelines

 An author writes a research paper to disseminate the knowledge he or she gains from a research. The first question that the author has to consider is whether he or she writes in a standard form objectively, with clarity of thought and argument for readers’ understanding, and following research ethics.   There may be a gap between an author’s thinking and presentation.  This happens with beginners. That is why standard journals prescribe guidelines to ensure that the article is scientific and that the new authors learn in the process. In view of this Sampratyaya prescribes guidelines so that the articles confirm to academic standard and much time is not spent in reviewing process.

  • Author’s declaration

 Author has to make a declaration that he or she has followed the standard norms and guidelines and submit it along with the manuscript.  On the basis of the merit of this declaration the article shall be rejected or accepted for review.

  • Format: The corresponding   author shall declare a signed ethical statement in following terms   and submit along with the manuscript (its scan copy shall be submitted with soft copy):
  • The author has followed all the guidelines strictly.
  • The manuscript is original research work and has not been published elsewhere including internet.
  • The data used in the article has not been manipulated, fabricated, or in any other way misrepresented to support the conclusions.
  • No part of the text of the manuscript has been plagiarised.
  • Citation of ideas, phrases, or sentences is duly acknowledged.
  • The manuscript is not under consideration and shall not be submitted for publication elsewhere.
  • There is no conflict of interest.

  • Manuscript submission

 The MSS shall be submitted in MS Word format with file extension *.doc. See scope section Types of article  to bIn addition, the author (s) shall consider the following at the time of manuscript (MSS) submission:

  • Article types

See scope section  of About the Journal  page for types of articles  to be submitted.

  • Structure of the MSS

            The MSS shall have three parts:

  • Pre-text material: This will include title (and sub-title if any) of the article (maximum 20 words), name and affiliation of the author(s), ORCID number, corresponding author’s contact address and an abstract (in 150 -200 words).
  • Text material: Only title of the paper shall be included followed by the text. Main text shall not be more than 4000 words.
    • Tables and figures: Table/figures/illustrations/boxes (photos in jpg format), shall not be more than 5(five). Box material shall be avoided unless it adds to clarification and consistence of argument.              Tables and illustrations shall be submitted separately.

Tables shall be typed (double line-spaced) on separate sheets. But in the text, their position shall be indicated with a note on table title/caption, table number, etc.   The table title shall be descriptive, short and below the table with footnotes and their source(s) shall be placed.

Illustrations include line diagrams and photographs. They are also   termed ‘Figures’.  They should be numbered consecutively as Fig.1, Fig.2, etc.. Line diagrams shall be drawn in a suitable format in separate file(s) for immediate reproduction (i.e. without re-drawing).   Photographs shall be submitted in jpg format.

  • Formatting headings in the text

                        The text may be organised into headings and sub-headings.

                        For example, the text may be   organised into following headings:

  • Introduction
  • Literature Review
  • Methodology
  • Findings/Results
  • Discussions/Presentation/Analysis/Interpretation
  • Conclusions
  • Reference

The headings as mentioned above are heading level 1. A heading level 1 may be divided into sub-headings; sub-headings under heading level 1 are called heading level 2. Further a heading level 2 may be divided into sub-headings called heading level 3. Similarly, heading level 3 may have subheadings called heading level 4 and so on.

The sections/headings are suggestive, but the authors have the liberty to organise the article depending on the theme and its logical arrangement into sub-themes, a sub-theme into further sub-themes, etc.

Heading level 1: Centred, bold and title case; text begins as a new paragraph, font size 12.

Heading level 2: Left margin, bold and title case; text begins as a new paragraph, 12 font.  .

Heading level 3: Left margin, bold and italic, title case; text begins as a new paragraph, font size 12.

Heading level 4: Left margin, bold and italic, sentence case; text begins as a new paragraph, font size 12.

 Heading level 5: Indented from left margin, italic, sentence case; text begins as a new paragraph, font size 12.

Heading level 6: Indented from left margin, italic, sentence case, font size 12.; text begins after a colon in the same line and continues as regular paragraph.

Authors are advised to organise the discussion to limit the heading to level 4

Note:  Use the title case for all headings.  In a heading first letter of all nouns,   adjectives, and verbs    shall be capitalized.   Prepositions above five letters also shall be capitalized. .

  • In-text citation: normally (author, year, page(s))
  • Abbreviations: shall accompany full form at its first use in the text
  • Italicisation: Native (non-English) words excluding proper names shall be italicised when mentioned first.
  • Acknowledgements if any
  • Endnotes: Not more than 5 (five and total word of endnotes shall not be more than 250). End note shall be explanatory only, not bibliographic.
  • Reference section: Bibliographic information only on the work cited. It shall not be Bibliography section. Consult guide lines.

3.0       Language, Punctuations and Quotes

 3.1      Spellings

Use UK or USA style. For UK style, use preferably the Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors or any standard British dictionary. For USA style, use a standard American dictionary (e.g. Merriam-Webster’s).

3.1.1                  Date and time:   The style of writing date and time, punctuation, etc. shall

correspond to the style of spelling.

For example:                September 21, 1985 for the use of USA spelling

21 September 1985 (no commas) for use of UK spelling

  • Use the abridged version of the second year in the range: 1985–90 (and not 1985–1990; exception 1999–2000)
  • Write 1980s, 1990s, etc., and not eighties, nineties, or 1980’s, 1990’s.
  • Use the 12-O’clock time  format, except in specific cases:30 a.m., 12.30 p.m., etc. (not 9:30am, 12:30pm.

3.2       Punctuations

 Punctuations shall correspond to the version of language used.  Uses of comma and semi-colon have American and British style. The author(s) shall be careful while using punctuations matching the version of the language.

3.2.1    En and Em dashes

3.2.1.1            En dash  (–) is a short dash, and  is used to show relationship (connection, range,  contrast) between two words or figures.    Usually it is used for dates, times, scores and is interpreted to mean ‘ to’ or ‘through’.  Example: Indo-Pak War, 2023-2024 (2023-24), India won by 3-0, etc.

3.2.1.2 Em dash (—) is longer than En dash (–).  It marks diversions in the main sentence flow by separating.  Ex: The leaders— political and religious— attended the function.

3.2.1.3             Hyphen  (-)is the shortest of the dashes.  It is used in simple compound words like mother-in-law, thirty-four, socio-economic,   anti-India, post-corona19, etc.

Normally no space is used before or after any dash.

  3.2.2              Citation and Quote Marks

 Word-to word copying of a passage, sentence or phrase from another source is enclosed with opening and closing quotation marks.  The quotation marks are also called quote marks   or inverted commas.

The quote marks are single comma (‘) or double commas (”)

In American style double quote marks are used. In British style both single and double quote marks are used.  We advise double quote marks and punctuation ( comma or period/full stop) use after closing quote marks.   Example

Mass production is discouraged because “ …  mania for mass production is responsible for the world crisis”.  (Gandhi1934:310-312).

In the above example the opening quote mark is put before three dots (…) called ellipsis and are used with space at both sides to show omission of words or a break in the continuity of the quote. The period or full stop (.) is put after the closing quote marks. The citation style is also shown. A full stop is put after the citation in parentheses and before beginning of another sentence. When the omission is at the end of the sentence use four dots (….).

3.2.3    Quotes

Quotes can be placed in the running text or in a separate paragraph. It is ideal to place quotes of about 50 words in the running text. Place quote materials above 50 words in a separate paragraph as indented matter.

Pay attention to the length of quotes as long quotes may involve copy right permission. It is better to paraphrase idea when quotes are long, but with due acknowledgement following in-text citation style.

Exact page number (s) of direct quotes is mandatory. Exact page number(s) of paraphrased matter is also mandatory if the idea is expressed specific page(s).

4.0       Reference style

 APA, MLA and other   reference styles are available.  These styles, however, change with editions. Besides, different disciplines have their accepted styles   Research ethics require that the bibliographic information shall provide complete details about source of information. Complete bibliographic information means: author(s), year (original year of publication and the edition consulted), title of the work , publishers and place of publication (for both authored and edited work); when the title is a journal article /book chapter, then name of journal/book and range of pages of the article/book chapter; for the journal volume and issue numbers. The consulted work if taken from online portal like Jstor, Archives.org, Google Scholar,  Coogle Books,Research Gate, WorldCat, Academcia.edu, Library of Congress, etc. proper website, access date   are mandatory.  Website shall be trustworthy, not user-generated content or other ‘unprofessional websites’.   Citation of any online source other than the recognized academic website is not acceptable.

  Samratyaya, the journal of ASSRA   is multidisciplinary. Keeping all these issues in view and the available styles, the journal adopts its reference style.

Reference style in an article refers to in-text citation, endnote and full bibliographic information (of in-text citation) in reference section

4.1 In-text citation:  In-text citation may be presented as part of the sentence or in parentheses at the end of the sentence.

As part of the sentence write year and page following the author. (e.g.  Stiglitz (year:page) argues that… or according to Stiglit (year: page). At the end of the sentence write surname of Author, year and page (s).   It is said that ‘mania for mass production is responsible for the world crisis”.  (Gandhi1934:310 ).    If the quote is from two or more pages the citation style shall be, as for example, (Gandhi1934:310-312 ).   Name of the institution (for institutional publication) or news paper shall be considered as author and cited accordingly.  Some times in news paper the writer is known.

Page number may not be necessary if general idea is taken from the book or article without   reference to any particular page.  The standard citation style shall be (author and year).

Authors may also cite a work, already cited in the work available with them, to support their argument.     The style shall be  (Gandhi year;  cited in Stiglitz year: page).

             Use citation abbreviations like ibid., op cit., et al., cf., etc. in the text.

More than one publication by an author in the same year shall be made distinct by adding a, b, c, etc. to the year (e.g. 2020a, 2020b, 2020c, etc.), and in different years they shall be arranged chronologically mentioning the oldest first and latest last.

Don’t use et al in reference section if authors are five or less. If more than five mention five authors and then et al.

4.2       Bibliographical information format

Bibliographic information shall be alphabetically arranged without numbering. 

Bibliographical source may include book, journal, institutional author, website, etc. Presentation style of a few sources in reference section is given below as example:

 Book with single author

Behera, M.C. 1994. Planning and Socio-Economic Development of the Tribals. New Delhi: Commonwealth Publishers.

Book with two authors

McMillan, Kathleen & Jonathan Weyers. 2013. How to Cite, Reference & Avoid Plagiarism at University. Harlow, England: Pearson Education Limited.

Book with three to five authors

Anderson, Janathan; Berry H. Durston & Millicent Poole. 1992. Thesis and Assignment Writing. New Delhi: Wiley Eastern Limited. (in in-text citation Anderson et al. 2013)

Edited volume

Elwin, Verrier. (ed.). 1959. India’s North-East Frontier in the Nineteenth Century. London: Oxford University Press.

A journal article

Behera, M. C. 2018.    Self and Other: Revisiting Differences in Tribal Interactions. The Oriental Anthropologist, 18(1) 2018: 149-165.

Article from an edited volume (book chapter)

Hatiboruah, Diganta. 2022. The Northeast India: Colonial Constrict of Identity. In M.C. Behera (ed.), Tribe, Space and Mobilisation, 151-165.  Singapore: Springer Nature.

Personal Communication     ( e.g.letters, telephone conversations, emails, interviews, and private social networking)

P. Priyadarshini .2024. Personal communication, (mention if letter, interview or email, etc.), 24 January 2024 (for interview mention place, time).For citation of letter date of writing, to whom, etc shall be mentioned.  In-text citation: (Priyadarshini 2024)

Corporate author (e.g. organisation, association, government department)

ADB (Asian Development Bank). 2002.Philippines: Indigenous peoples/ Ethnic Minorities and Poverty Reduction. Manila: ADB.

APA (American Psychological Association).  2009. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Washington D.C.: APA,  6th ed.

GoI (Government of India) 2011. Employment and Unemployment Situation in India, 2009-10, NSS 66th Round, New Delhi: National Sample Survey Office, National Statistical Organisation, Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation.

 OR

NSSO 2011.    Employment and Unemployment Situation in India, 2009-10, NSS 66th Round, New Delhi: National Sample Survey Office, National Statistical Organisation, Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation, Government of India.

Advancing Human Development through ASEAN Community: Thailand Human Development Report, 2014.   Bangkok,Thailand: UNDP.

Available at: http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/thailand_nhdr_2014_0.pdf,  Accessed:  7/5/14 at 13.49 pm.

OR

UNDP 2014. Advancing Human Development through ASEAN Community: Thailand Human Development Report, 2014.   Bangkok,Thailand: UNDP.

Available at: http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/thailand_nhdr_2014_0.pdf, Accessed:  7/5/14 at 13.49 pm.

Individual as Corporate author

Borthakur, I.K.1995. The Report of the Group on Industrial Development of the North east Region including Sikkim and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. New Delhi: Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance.

Martinez, M.A. 2004.  A Woking Paper. UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.4/2004/2.

Psydonyms

 Munshi Premchand (Dhanpat Rai) 1936. Goodan.  Benares: Saraswati Press.

 Vinoba Bhave (Vinayak Narahari Bhave) nd.  Democratic Values. Varanasi: Sarva Seva Sangh. (nd. Stands for “not dated”)

Unknown author or where author is not available

Political Department Proceedings, January 1871. Kolkata: Government of West Bengal State Archives, (No.24-6).

‘Notice issued (in Garo) by the DC Garo Hills to all Laskars of Mauzas I–IV’.   No. 387/R-1, File No. 1, ‘B’ Pros.,  DC Records, Collection No. V, Tura: Agriculture Branch Revenue Department.

Downloaded materials

Article by a person with doi,

Green, T. 2009.  We Need Publishing Standards for Datasets and Data Tables . Research Information. doi:10.1787/603233448430

Fitikides, T. J. 2002. Common Mistakes in English with Exercises. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, 1st edn. in 1936, downloaded on 2nd May, 2014 from http://english4success.ru/upload/books/681.pdf  

News item

BBC  News dorset. 2014.  Storm waves crash over Chesil Beach (Online). Available at:                     http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-dorset-26071550, Accessed on: 2 May, 2014.

 The New Indian Express. 2014. Language Policy: Writers Support Govt. (online). Bangalore City edition, Published and last updated: 17th January 2014 10:19 am, Available at: http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/bangalore/Language-Policy-Writers-Support-Govt/2014/01/17/article2004114.ece, Accessed on:    Wednesday, May 07, 2014 at 03:46 pm.

 Official document with author

Shelton, Clare 2014.Climate Change Adaptation in Fisheries and Aquaculture: Compilation of initial examples. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Circular No. 1088, Available at: http://www.fao.org/docrep/019/i3569e/i3569e.pdf, Accessed on 7/5/2014at13.49 pm.

 You tube

Museum of Modern Art, Painting Process/Process Painting.YouTube video, 2007, 13:50. Accessed  on….

Wikis

 Normally reference to Wikis should be avoided in academic work as the article is not complete. There are possibilities of addition and editing. If you do not have access to other source   and you are to refer to Wikis, then ensure that the article is properly and thoroughly referenced. The order of referencing shall be as under:

  1. Title of the article within single quotation marks followed by year of construction/publication or updating of the site
  2. URL followed by accessing date.

‘Methodology’ 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methodology, Accessed: 26th April, 2014.
‘Theory’ 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory, Accessed: 26th April, 2014.

Web page

Pati, Bibhuti. 2008.   Reaping the Whirlwind’. Tehelka (Online).7th October 2008. https://www.tehelka.com/story_main37.asp?filename=ws230208Reaping.asp. Accessed on 6th June 2024

If no known author, then start with title of the article/text