Asia Pacific Academy of Science Pte. Ltd. (APACSCI) specializes in international journal publishing. APACSCI adopts the open access publishing model and provides an important communication bridge for academic groups whose interest fields include engineering, technology, medicine, computer, mathematics, agriculture and forestry, and environment.
Nanostructure Studies and Applications (NSA) is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal encompassing various disciplines related to all nanostructure-based areas. NSA builds a platform for scientists from around the world to discuss the current use of nanostructures and their future applications. Topics covered include particle synthesis and assembly, dispersions and coatings of nanoparticles, high-surface-area materials, functional nanoscale devices, bulk behavior of nanostructured materials, biological methods and applications, etc.
Focus and Scope
Nanostructure Studies and Applications(NSA) is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal encompassing various disciplines related to all nanostructure-based areas. NSA builds a platform for scientists from around the world to discuss the current use of nanostructures and their future applications. Topics covered include particle synthesis and assembly, dispersions and coatings of nanoparticles, high-surface-area materials, functional nanoscale devices, bulk behavior of nanostructured materials, biological methods and applications, etc.
For Authors
Authors should read the "Author Guidelines" before making a submission, and make sure that the manuscripts were written in accordance to the style and specifications of the journal's policy.
All manuscripts submitted to Nanostructure Studies and Applications are subject to rigorous peer review. Prior to the peer review process, the manuscripts will be screened for acceptable English language, novelty and relevance to the Focus and Scope of the journal.
Any manuscripts submitted to Nanostructure Studies and Applicationswill be treated as confidential materials. The manuscripts will not be disclosed to anyone except individuals such as editorial staff, reviewers and editors who participate in the initial screening, review, processing and preparation of the manuscript for publication (if accepted).
A manuscript would not be accepted if it has been published or is currently under consideration for publication in any other journals. The authors are required to notify the editorial team if the findings and data in their submissions have been presented in conferences.
APACSCI upholds the spirit of strict adherence to high ethical standards. This is consistent with APACSCI's mission of publishing high-quality articles and promoting open scientific exchanges globally. APACSCI follows the Ethical Oversight Guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in overseeing the publication process, as well as the activities of APACSCI journals, editors, and reviewers.
APACSCI and all the editors adhere to the following guidelines:
APACSCI is committed to protecting the privacy of its contributors and promises not to disclose personal information to third parties without permission, unless for necessary purposes of the publishing process or required by law.
Complaints and appeals
APACSCI takes allegations of misconduct (refer to the Misconduct Policy for more details) seriously and will launch an immediate investigation by a group of investigation members. Decisions will be made by the investigation group based on clear evidence, and the authors will be informed. If there is any appeal against the decision, it must be made to the publisher within 14 days of the decision date, or else actions will be taken after 14 days. The decision on the appeal is final.
Authors also could express complaints and concerns about delays, extensions, and unreasonable handling procedures during the editing process and the time it takes. The editor-in-chief will be accountable for initiating an investigation into the issue, and the complainant will receive feedback. Reasonable editing procedures will be enhanced.
Any complaints and appeals against APACSCI journals and editors can be directed to the publisher at editorial_office@apacsci.com, and APACSCI follows COPE guidelines in handling all complaints and appeals.
Research Involving Human Subjects
Authors who carry out research involving humans must declare that their studies followed the WMA Declaration of Helsinki. They must obtain approval from the concerned research ethics committee before carrying out the research and accept the monitoring by the committee. During the submission stage, authors are required to attach a statement containing the name of the ethics committee, the approval code, etc.
Informed consent to participate in the research must be obtained from all human subjects or their guardians. A statement on the consent to participate should also be included during submission. If there is no need for informed consent, authors must provide the name of the ethics committee and the reason for the absence of the need for informed consent.
Human subjects' right to privacy right is inviolable. Authors should not disclose any identifying information, including but not limited to names, initials, contacts, and medical record numbers, unless the absence of such information may influence the interpretation of the research. In addition, written informed consent for publication from the participants should be obtained. If participants are vulnerable, informed consent should be given by their guardians. Authors must inform the participants if pictures of their bodies (e.g., faces) have to be included in the manuscript and receive consent for publication. In the case of deceased human subjects, their next of kin or legal representative should be asked for consent.
Research Involving Animal Subjects
All studies involving animals should be approved by an ethics committee before the research is conducted. If ethical approval is not required by national laws, exemption from the ethics committee, the name of the ethics committee, and the reason should be provided by the authors during submission.
The following guidelines can be helpful for authors in upholding high ethical standards and avoiding submission rejection
NSA always follows the Ethical Oversight policy of COPE, and monitors every stage of the completion of best practice followed by the Core Practice and the ethical problem of COPE. All academic misconduct is strictly prohibited. If there is any potential for, including but not limited to academic fraud, plagiarism, and multiple contributions, the manuscript will not be assigned to the next stage for evaluation, and authors are responsible for explaining doubts to the Editorial Office. NSA promises that all the submissions are private, and they will not be disclosed to third parties unless the publishing purposes. Authors, editors, and reviewers should expose any potential conflict of interest timely according to the Conflict of Interest Policy.
For subjects involving humans or animals, NSA asks authors to be deeply concerned the privacy and welfare of the subjects based on the policy of Statement of Human and Animal Rights. Authors should provide the approval from the institutional ethical regulator or committee. All the information of the subjects is private, and authors should hide the identifiable information such as face picture, name, and fingerprint picture. Most importantly, Informed Content Statement from all the research subjects should be obtained, and authors need to inform the subjects that this research will be published in future. For the vulnerable, it is necessary to obtain oral or written Informed Content Statement from their parent of kinship.
The Section Collection program has been driven by Asia Pacific Academy of Science Pte. Ltd. for a new chance to run an open access journal. This program aims to collect multidisciplinary topics, and concentrate authors from diverse research fields to focus on a special theme. It is great attempt to develop new ideas and applications. Section editorial team is composed of many scientists whose research fields covering various interests. They all supervise the implementation of the program, and the editorial process must comply with editorial policies of the journal.
A Section Collection is usually launched by an expert with great trust among peers and invited by the Editorial Office, or scholars could apply a section collection. Section Editors are representatives focusing on a theme from multidisciplinary topics. They have different research background, and gather to initiate new ideas and collaborations. Great responsibilities of Section Editors include:
Preparing the title, summary, keywords, submission deadline, etc.
Preparing a potential contributors’ list.
Suspecting and contributing to the editorial progress , including but not limited to the initial screening, peer-reviewed process, and final decision making.
Workflow of Section Collection
Section Editors are invited to prepare the summary of Section Collections, and advert the project. New manuscripts should be submitted via the open journal system, and then Section Collection Editors will evaluate the research field and the integrality of the manuscripts. Assistant Editors will screen the originality by iThenticate. Any manuscript with potential misconduct must be prevented to the next stage. The Editorial Office will pass it for the double-blind peer-reviewed process for further review comments with no less than two reviewers. The Section Collection Editors have the responsibility to supervise the rigor and scientificity of the whole process. All the comments are collected to Section Editors, who will make the final decision on the manuscript such as acceptance, revision, or rejection. Accepted manuscripts will go through the production stage. Meanwhile, authors will get the article accepted notification. Published papers will be archived in the current issue of the journal, and also collected on the Section Collections page.
Contributed substantially to the conception or design of the manuscript or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the manuscript; AND
Drafted the manuscript or reviewed it critically for significant intellectual content; AND
Have final approval of the version to be published; AND
Agreed to be responsible for the manuscript in ensuring that problems relating to the accuracy or completeness of any part of the manuscript are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Individuals who do not meet the above four criteria should not be listed as authors but should be acknowledged. All authors are expected to make meaningful contributions to this work. The publisher strictly prohibits false authorships, including those obtained through purchase, and only recognizes genuine contributions. Authors should disclose whether artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technologies were used in the preparation of their manuscripts and how they used them. Authors should also report the use of AI for writing assistance in the Acknowledgment section. AI tools should not be used in sections that rely on human intellectual analysis, such as data interpretation and conclusion summarization.
A corresponding author should be marked with "*", and the maximum of corresponding authors is two. A corresponding author serves as a representative of the authors and is responsible for contacting editors and reviewers, e.g., submitting manuscripts, responding to reviews, accepting queries, proofreading galleys, making corrections, etc.
Changes to Authorship
Authorship changes (addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names) should be made before the acceptance of the manuscript. Confirmation from all authors (including existing authors and author(s) to be added and/or removed) should be provided to the editorial office of the journal, together with the reason for such changes. Changes can be made after the approval of the journal. The publisher will deal with any changes or dispute over authorship following the COPE flowcharts of authorship and contributorship.
Authors are required to declare any potential conflicts of interest (financial or non-financial) during the submission stage. Any agreements with study sponsors (for-profit or non-profit), such as those that interfere with the authors' access to the study's data or with the authors' ability to analyze or interpret the data and to publish manuscripts independently according to their own decision, should be avoided by authors at all costs.
APACSCI also requires reviewers and editors to declare any (potential) non-financial conflicts of interest and declare any unpaid roles or relations that may influence the decision on the manuscript's publication before acknowledging the assigned request. These include, but are not limited to, unpaid roles in a governmental or non-governmental organization, unpaid roles in an advocacy or lobbying organization, and unpaid advisory positions in a commercial organization.
In addition, reviewers and editors must disclose any association that poses a conflict of interest in connection with the manuscript, including but not limited to those interferes with, or could reasonably be perceived as interfering with, the full and objective presentation, peer review, editorial decision-making, or publication of research or non-research articles submitted to a journal. Examples are personal or work-related relationships with one of the authors or the reviewer is on the authors' avoidance list.
Asia Pacific Academy of Science Pte. Ltd. is a member of Crossref. All submissions are screened by iThenticate. Any plagiarism (fabrication or falsification of data) is unacceptable, including duplicate publication without proper citations.
The Publisher will follow the flowcharts of COPE to handle cases of potential plagiarism in a submitted manuscript or a published article. All the authors and their institutions will be informed about the case.
Any complaint about reviewer suspected to have appropriated an author’s ideas or data, the journal office will investigate, and react according to the procedure set out in COPE's guidance as a flowchart.
Erratum
Editors, authors and readers, whoever find a correction is required in the publication, please feel free to contact editorial-nsa@apacsci.com. Please clearly state the content needing to be changed. Please also send the article title, DOI, and page number to us. Upon approving by the Editorial Office, an erratum will be published in the current issue.
Retraction
The journal considers retracting the publication including but are not limited to:
Editors have clear evidence that the result is unreliable, there is a tendency of misconduct, or evident calculation error, etc.
It reports unethical research including plagiarism.
The journal will post a notice of retraction by clearly identified as a retraction with the reason(s), and link to the retracted article wherever possible to minimize harmful effects.
This journal does not support withdrawal of publication considering that it may be suspected of academic misconduct. If the author can provide reasonable application to the Editorial Office after the manuscript has been accepted (but not yet published), and once the Editorial Office has agreed it, then the processing fee of USD 200 is chargeable upon withdrawal. Authors are advised to keep in mind that an article should only be withdrawn if the authors detect significant errors or flaws, as it is not an acceptable practice to withdraw an article after it has been sent for peer review. Once the approval of submission withdrawal is granted, the submission will be removed from the Journal’s online submission system, and a confirmation email of submission withdrawal will be sent to the authors. The withdrawal process is considered to be complete once the author receives a confirmation of withdrawal from the Journal Editorial Office.
The language of all manuscripts must be English (either British or American) and non-English words should be used sparingly. Poor English may lead to article rejection. Authors are encouraged to seek language polishing by a native English speaker or a professional editing service.
Authors retain the copyright, and they agree to make their original work completely available and free to be used, copied, downloaded, distributed and reused as long as the original source is properly cited. Authors should declare that there is no any academic misconduct, and will grant the right of first publication by signing a License for Publishing before formal publication.
Adapt: transform, reuse, remix and build upon the material;
Attribute: distribute the material on the premise of the correct original citation.
APACSCI allows authors to post preprints of the manuscript of their original research articles (limited to only this type of article) on community preprint servers, such as arXiv, bioRxiv, and PeerJ Preprint, prior to or simultaneous with their manuscript submission to APACSCI journals. Authors retain the copyright of the manuscript posted on a preprint server.
Authors should inform the editors of the preprint version of their submitted manuscript in a cover letter, as well as provide any associated accession numbers or DOIs. Revised versions per the result of the peer review process and accepted versions for publication should not be posted on a preprint server.
Upon publication of the article, APACSCI encourages authors to link the article in the preprint server to the journal site, so as to guide readers to access and refer to the final version of the article.
The authors reserve the copyright. Papers will be published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) by default. It is free to use, copy, download, distribute and reuse the work as long as the original source is properly cited. All the publications could be explored to the e-version; if you’d like to discuss in more detail how our content could work with your marketing strategy, please contact editorial-nsa@apacsci.com.
All papers submitted to Wearable Technology should declare that they have obtain the "statement of informed consent" written or oral during submitting. Any paper lacking it will not be considered for publication.
Patients have a right to privacy that should not be infringed without informed consent. Nonessential identifying details should be omitted. All information which could contribute to identify patients, including patients' names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, etc., unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives explicit written or oral informed consent for publication. If identifying characteristics are de-identified, authors should provide assurance that alterations do not distort scientific meaning, and editors will note that. Furthermore, individuals who provide writing assistance should be identified by the authors, and they should disclose the funding source for this assistance.
All papers submitted to Nanostructure Studies and Applications should declare agreement with the following "statement of human and animal rights". Any paper lacking it will not be considered for publication. Papers describing procedures involving humans or animals must include an explicit and easily identifiable statement pointing out that the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 and 2008. If any doubt exists as to whether the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, the authors must explain the rationale for their approach, and then demonstrate that the institutional ethical committee explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study.
When reporting experiments on animals, authors should be asked to indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.
All the articles published online will be archived in Portico for long-term digital preservation.
Authors are encouraged to self-archive the final version of their published articles into institutional repositories (such as those listed in the Directory of Open Access Repositories).
Authors are also encouraged to use the final PDF version published on the website of Nanostructure Studies and Applications.
Nanostructure Studies and Applications has been indexed and archived in ROAD, EuroPub, ResearchGate, National Library Board of Singapore, Scilit, GoogleScholar, Crossref, and the journal aims to be included in the first-class academic databases in the world, such as WoS, Scopus, Inspec, and EI.
APACSCI's publishing model is open access. Open access enables readers to freely access and download articles immediately after publication online. APACSCI charges authors article processing charges (APCs) so as to cover operation costs, such as those arising from the evaluation and production processes. APCs should be paid upon the acceptance of articles and ahead of publication.
APCs of Nanostructure Studies and Applications are US$800.
Waiver and Discount Policy
APACSCI believes there should be no barriers to the dissemination of knowledge, and thus APACSCI offers APC waivers and discounts to authors from low-income countries and authors with special circumstances. Authors should write to the editorial office of the specific journal to apply for waivers and discounts. The decision to approve such applications is made by the editorial office on a case-by-case basis. Publishing fees or waiver status should not influence editorial decision making.
The Journal develops a waiver policy for authors from low-income countries. Please contact editorial-nsa@apacsci.com for application. WT reserves the right to approve or reject a waiver application.
Thisjournal is not liable to the statements, perspectives, and opinions contained in the published articles. The appearance of advertisements in the journal shall not be construed as a warranty, endorsement, or approval of the products or services advertised and/or the safety thereof. ThisJournal and the Publisher disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any ideas or products referred to in the articles or advertisements.
As an author, once submitting a manuscript, it means that you have been aware of all publishing policies & ethics, and will strictly abide by them.
As a reviewer, once reviewing a manuscript, it means that you must be aware of the peer review policies, and proactively disclose of all potential conflicts of interest, and guarantee that the article will be judged fairly and objectively.
The publisher requests that this journal only consider advertising applications that are relevant to the contents of the journal, if available.
The publisher (APACSCI) reserves the right to accept or refuse advertising. The Journal Editorial Office will evaluate whether to accept the request.
Advertisements must comply with relevant rules and laws in the country where they will appear.
Advertisements should be legible and advertisers identifiable. Sponsors may not arrange or influence editorial decisions including any content in the journal.
Advertisements must not be misleading or deceptive. Advertising content must not contain indecent, offensive, or sensitive information (such as politics, ethnicity, gender, religion, etc.).
APACSCI disclaims responsibility for any damages resulting from advertisements in its journals. The publisher or journal does not accept advertisements for products or services known to be harmful to health/science or contrary to academic principles.
Unless the advertiser requests differently, all advertisements posted by the publisher will be displayed at random. Special requests need to be addressed to the publisher, who will make a final decision on a case-by-case basis within 7 working days.
Advertising is independent, with journal web features and academic content free from all advertising and product interference.
Once an advertisement is posted online, it will be removed from the journal's website at any time if the Editor-in-Chief or publisher requests that it be removed.
Following COPE guidelines, APACSCI will not accept any misconduct behaviors that may mislead researchers.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is not acceptable. Using the content from one's own previously published articles without proper citation is also considered plagiarism. APACSCI adopts Crossref Similarity Check (powered by iThenticate) for checking the originality of submissions. Manuscripts with a high similarity index may be rejected.
Fabrication and falsification
Fabrication and falsification of data or images will mislead researchers. APACSCI strongly opposes such practices and will reject suspicious submissions.
Duplicate submission
Duplicate submission of a manuscript that has been published or submitted to other journals at the same time will not be considered.
Manipulation
Peer review manipulation is expressly forbidden. In particular, peer review manipulation by editors involves ethical issues, and when detected or complained about, editors are dealt with seriously and are subject to dismissal.
Eliminate excessive manipulative citation included in the peer review process by reviewers. Reviewers are encouraged to suggest that authors add references that are necessary and constructive to the research. Reviewers' own articles that do not contribute to the scholarly content of the author's work must not be oversold for the sole purpose of inflating the number of citations to the reviewer's own article.
Authors are prohibited from over-citing their own previously published articles. The journal's editorial board will determine self-citation thresholds, which authors must strictly adhere to in order to eliminate any suspicion of citation manipulation.
Editors will be involved in the journal management process to detect citation manipulations from authors or reviewers.
As behaviors above are illegal academic and very unethical, the Publisher will deal with it seriously. If any misconduct action is verified, authors and their institutions will be informed, and all the journals of the Publisher will not receive any new submission from these authors and their institutions in three years. If the allegations are disputable, their institutes are responsible to cooperate with the journal in investigating allegations.
If there are any suspicious allegations of the processing of articles especially the peer review process, referring to For Reviewers, the Editor-in-Chief will receive the complaint, and an investigation group will be formed to investigate the entire process, including the reviewers, editors, and staff who are involved. The journal will follow the procedures described in COPE and Publishing Ethics for handling allegations of misconduct.
Correction
Authors are responsible for approving the final version of their manuscript and they should avoid any errors prior to publishing. In the case of errors that occur in a published article and have no influence on research results, APACSCI will issue a correction/erratum.
Authors, readers, and editors are encouraged to report any errors found in published papers. Please contact the editorial office of the particular journal.
Retraction
Based on COPE guidelines, the following conditions can lead to the retraction of a published article:
Unreliable findings
Plagiarism
Published elsewhere without proper attribution to previous sources, disclosure to the editor, permission to republish, or justification
Containing material or data without the authorization for use
Infringement of copyright, violation of privacy, or other legal issues
Unethical research
Dubious peer review processes
Failing to disclose a major competing interest
If any of the above misconduct proved to be true, a retraction notice will be issued with the reason, while the PDF of the retracted article will be watermarked with "Retracted". The journal editors will inform the authors of the retraction.
Paid Article Processing Charges will not be refunded to the authors if retraction occurs.
Withdrawal
Although not encouraged, authors can initiate the withdrawal of their submission before and during the peer review process by providing the reason. However, authors should note that a penalty fee of US$200 will be imposed for the withdrawal of a submission undergoing the peer review process due to the spent efforts on the evaluation of the manuscript by the editors and reviewers. Upon the approval of submission withdrawal, the submission will be removed from the journal's operation system, and the authors be informed.
Accepted articles and articles in press may also be withdrawn due to infringements of professional ethical codes (similar reasons to those for retraction).
The opinions, statements, methods, results, and data in APACSCI's published articles are those of the authors and do not reflect the opinions of APACSCI and its editors. APACSCI disclaims responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, or products referred to in the articles or advertisements.
Authors contributing to APACSCI journals retain the copyright and grant a publishing license. In the absence of any specific requests, articles will be published under the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license by default. The license allows anyone to download and read the articles for free, and reuse the material contained in the articles with proper acknowledgment and citation.
It is imperative that authors thoroughly review the policies of the journal to which they intend to submit their manuscript. Authors without explicit requests will be considered to have agreed to the standard licensing terms.
It is the responsibility of authors to obtain permission to reuse material previously published under a more restrictive license from the copyright holder before the submission stage. These may include figures, tables, and schemes.
1. What is a Special Issue?
A Special Issue Program has been launched by APACSCI. A Special Issue is a collection of research hotspots or topics in a specific field. Guest Editors who are experts in this discipline, have the responsibility to drive the special issue program. Manuscripts accepted will both be ordered/archived in a regular volume/issue and a special issue.
Benefits of Special Issue
Being more quickly discovered and cited.
Promoting academic exchanges in this field.
Avoiding repetition of topics.
Disseminating the latest achievements.
Broadening the visibility and maximizing the impact of a certain field so that more experts could focus on the topic.
Benefits of being Guest Editors
Expanding the popularity.
Initiating the communication and establishing co-operatives ties faster.
Learning the latest research.
Publishing one article without any APCs as the privilege.
2. How to drive a Special Issue?
There are two ways to obtain a special issue proposal.
Guest Editors will be invited by assistant editors to submit a professional proposal.
Authors and readers are welcomed to submit proposals via emailing to editorial-nsa@apacsci.com, and EiC will evaluate them for the viability and suitability for this journal.
Preparation for a proposal
A great topic is the crucial element for success. Each candidate topic will be selected by EiC for considering whether it is consistent with the scope of this journal. Hot topics are usually considered to be more attractive.
A proposal should include necessary information:
List of Guest Editors
Types of manuscript
Main topics
Submission deadline
Keywords
3. Special Issue Ethics
APACSCI abides to the Code of Conduct of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and Best Practice Guidelines in all the editorial process. Each new submission must follow the journal's Editorial Policies, and any potential unethical manuscripts will not be passed to the nest stage. APACSCI promises to protect the confidentiality of all submissions unless the publishing needs. All the editors and reviewers must strictly abide by the Conflict of Interest of the journal, and they are asked to inform the Editorial Office if any potential conflicts of interest exist, and then, the Editorial Office may consider to change the editor or reviewer. As authors, they have the right to provide a list of avoided experts. Please appeal to editorial-nsa@apacsci.com for any requests related to manuscript promotion.
4. Workflow of a Special Issue
Manuscripts should be submitted to Open Journal Systems (OJS) and go through a double-blinded peer-reviewed process (refer to Peer Review Policy).
For authors:
Researchers using an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool/service to directly generate the manuscript text must provide clear disclosures and statements, otherwise it will be considered academic misconduct. The journal allows the use of an AI tool/service for text embellishment and automatic sorting of references, but does not recommend the use of the AI tool/service in the thinking and concluding sessions of human involvement such as data analysis and interpretation, opinion hypothesis and conclusions, and the AI tool/service cannot fulfill the role of a textual author. If any part of the manuscript was written using an AI tool/service, it must be described openly, transparently, and in detail in the Methods or Acknowledgments section, for example:
"In the preparation of this work, the authors used the [name of the specific AI tool/service] to [purpose of use: e.g., literature research/text embellishment, etc.]. After using this tool/service, the authors reviewed and edited the content as needed, and take full responsibility for the content of the publication."
For Reviewers:
Reviewers are required to disclose whether any artificial intelligence (AI) tools were utilized in the preparation of their review reports. This disclosure should be clearly indicated as a note within the reports themselves.
Nanostructure Studies and Applications adopts and follows the rules of International System of Units (SI) for physical quantities and units of measurement. For example:
Quantities including time, length, mass, electric current, etc., should be written as s (second), m (metre), kg (kilogram), A (ampere) after metric numbers.
Adopt unified format for the same unit of measurement.
According to the data and reproducibility of COPE, APACSCI encourages authors to share associated data, code, and materials, register clinical trials, and use standardized guidelines to achieve greater transparency, replicability, and trust in scientific findings. Thus, authors are encouraged to deposit datasets in a data repository; the premise is that this data is not suitable for submission as online supplementary files. Authors who have deposited raw data in community database repositories are encouraged to include a data availability statement in their manuscript. The statement should provide information about the availability of the research data and any limitations or conditions associated with accessing the data, except for reasonable controls related to human privacy or biosecurity. Reusing scientific data can offer great potential for further scientific and economic development.
Data sharing
For data shared, the FAIR Data Principles should be followed, which guides that (meta)data are assigned a globally unique and eternally persistent identifier. Authors should cite the correct sources. Collaborative practices should be implemented across journals and institutions to monitor and ensure the scientific validity and credibility of overall research practices. Authors are encouraged to prioritize the use of original data from their study and provide supporting data such as accessible data sources as early as possible.
Regarding data involving confidentiality/privacy/personal privacy, etc., authors are advised to do their best to hide identifiable sensitive information and to share data in strict accordance with mandatory guidelines for the discipline.
According to the guidelines of COPE regarding unpublished data, the journal will address concerns to the data provider regarding the scientific rigor of an unpublished dataset. The journal will contact the corresponding author, and request comments on the concerns, supporting documentation as needed, and information about any other affected content. Following the guidelines regarding published data, if there is a manuscript associated with a published dataset whose scientific rigor is in doubt, the journal will contact any implicated journals that have published results from the suspicious dataset, summarizing the issue and actions taken to date. Authors must respond with a satisfactory update. If the issues are major or impact the conclusions of the manuscript, the author(s) should withdraw the manuscript or the journal will reject the submission.
Data citation
Authors are encouraged to cite any datasets deposited in external repositories mentioned in their manuscript in the references. For previously published datasets, authors should cite both the published research article and the source of the dataset itself. Journal editorial staff will check and enforce proper data citation before publication.
Data citations should include the minimum information recommended by DataCite:
1) Author(s)
2) Year of publication/release
3) Title
4) Publisher/repository or archive name
5) Persistent identifier (e.g., DOI)
Data repository
Authors are encouraged to deposit their datasets in the relevant community dataset repository, or a general dataset repository (including any generalist data repository provided by a university, funder or institution for its affiliated researchers) that aligns with the specifications and requirements of their discipline could be selected. The publisher recommends that authors select a repository with a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) to ensure that the referenced dataset can be linked to consistently.
Authors could explore online resources for lists of registered data repositories through FAIRsharing.org and re3data.org.
Here are some examples of generalized dataset repositories:
Before submitting to the journal, authors should read through the author guidelines for preparing their manuscript. Starting in 2024, a new layout style will be applied, so please download the new manuscript template. Those who have submitted manuscripts or processed articles to be published in Volume 4 Issue 2 of 2023 (including Vol. 4 No. 2) should still refer to the previous author guidelines.
Manuscript Format
The manuscript should be in MS Word format. The language of all manuscripts must be English (either British or American) and non-English words should be used sparingly. Poor English may lead to article rejection. Authors are encouraged to seek language polishing by a native English speaker or a professional editing service.
Article Types
Please refer to the Section Policy for choosing an appropriate type.
Cover Letter
Authors should attach a cover letter together with the article text. A cover letter should encompass a declaration of originality, affirm compliance with the journal's editorial policies, and also contain a brief explanation of the significance of their work and the intention of doing the work. If the work involves the human and animal research, authors should provide the Informed Consent Statement or Ethical Approval ID attached with cover letter. The cover letter is confidential and will be read only by the editors. It will not be seen by the reviewers.
Article Title
Titles should be no more than 50 words, with significant and attractive information for readers. Titles should not include uncommon jargons, abbreviations, and punctuation.
List of Authors
The list of authors should be arranged based on the level of their contribution, with the major contributor listed first. Corresponding authors should be marked with an asterisk (*). Affiliation information should be provided with the following elements: department, institution, city, postal code (if available), and country. The email address of at least one corresponding author must be provided. All authors must approve the final version of the manuscript and agree with the submission. For more information about authorship, please refer to our Authorship Policy.
Abstract and Keywords
Depending on the article type, an abstract should be provided, which gives a concise summary of the article. It is usually a single paragraph of about 200–250 words maximum. Between 5–8 keywords should be included. Words and phrases in article titles should be avoided as keywords.
Text
The text of manuscripts should be in MS Word or LaTeX format. Original research articles should include the Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion (optional) sections.
Section Headings
Headings are used to indicate the hierarchy of the sections of the text. No more than three levels of headings should be employed. The first level of heading should be numbered as 1., 2., 3., 4. in boldface. Likewise, the second and third levels of headings should also be in boldface, for example, 1.1., 1.2., 1.1.1., 1.1.2.
Introduction
The introduction should provide a background that gives the broad readership an overall outlook on the field and the research performed. It pinpoints a problem and states the significance of the study. The introduction can conclude with a brief statement on the aim of the work and a comment about whether that aim was achieved.
Materials and Methods
This section provides the general experimental design and methodologies used. The aim is to provide enough details for other investigators to fully replicate the experiments. It is also to facilitate a better understanding of the results obtained.
Results
This section can be divided into subheadings. This section focuses on the results of the experiments performed.
Discussion
This section should provide the significance of the results and identify the impact of the research in a broader context. It should not be redundant or similar to the content of the Results section.
Conclusion (Optional)
The conclusion section can only be used for interpretation, and not be used to summarize information already presented in the text or abstract.
Figures and Tables
Figures (photographs, images, graphs, charts, and schematic diagrams) and tables should be referred to within the main text and numbered consecutively as Figure 1, Figure 2, Table 1, Table 2, etc. They should be placed as close as possible to where they are first cited and center-aligned. Both figure captions and table captions should be center-aligned, with figure captions set underneath the figures and table captions above the tables. When captions are longer than one line, they should be left-aligned.
Figures can contain multiple panels. They should be numbered by Latin letters with parentheses, e.g., (a), (b), (c), or (A), (B), (C), placed below the image or within the image.
Tables should be in MS Word/Excel table format. Tables containing too much information can be provided as supplementary material.
In the main text, all figures and tables should be cited, e.g., "Table 1 indicates…", "Figures 1 and 2 shows…", and "Figure 1a,b shows…".
The submission of images should comply with the following requirements to ensure clarity and readability for both reviewers and readers:
File Formats and Resolution: Images should be submitted in preferred formats such as PNG, JPG, SVG, with a resolution exceeding 300 dpi. Vector formats (e.g., SVG) are preferred for scalable images like graphs and line drawings. For line drawings, a higher resolution is necessary compared to photographic images, as each line must be rendered with precision.
Aesthetic and Technical Quality: Images should not only be aesthetically pleasing but also possess appropriate brightness and contrast levels to guarantee clarity.
Abbreviation: Any abbreviations or symbols utilized in the figures must be clearly defined in their respective legends (except for those already mentioned in this article).
Note: Failure to provide images in the specified format and resolution may significantly compromise image quality and readability. If an individual image is excessively large, it may lead to slow loading or system timeouts. It is advisable that the PDF file for each article remains under 10 MB to enhance the reading experience for users.
Lists and Equations
Both bulleted lists and numbered lists are acceptable (refer to the template). Equations should be center-aligned and equation numbers should be right-aligned. If cited in the text, equations should be labeled with numbers in parentheses, e.g., Equation (1).
In-Text Citations
All bibliographical references that make an important contribution to the article should be numbered according to the appearance order. When cited in the text, the number should be placed in square brackets, for example:
Negotiation research spans many disciplines [3,4].
This effect has been widely studied [1–5,7].
Appendix (Optional)
An appendix provides information supplementary to an article and is included at the end of the article after the References section and it should start on a new page. For one appendix, it is designated as "Appendix"; for more than one appendix, they are designated "Appendix A", "Appendix B", etc.
An appendix should be cited in the main text. Tables, figures, and equations should be started with the prefix A (i.e., Figure A1, Figure A2, Table A1, etc.).
Back Matter
The sequence of back matter elements in an article is listed below. There is no numeral label for back matter headings. Some of these elements are optional.
Supplementary materials (Optional)
The Supplementary Materials section provides a short description of the supplementary materials. One or more individual supplementary files are allowed and should be submitted in Step 4 during submission. These materials are relevant to the manuscript but remain non-essential to readers' understanding of the article's main content. Please ensure the names of such files contain "suppl. info". Videos may be included in this section.
Author contributions
For original research articles, this section is required, except when there is only one author for the article. The contribution of each co‐author should be reported in this section.
The following statements should be used "Conceptualization, 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; visualization, XX; supervision, XX; project administration, XX; funding acquisition, YY. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript."
Funding (Optional)
Authors can acknowledge financial support in this section, which is NOT mandatory. If authors provide a funding statement, it should be in the same style as the template.
For example:
"This research was funded by [name of funder] grant number [xxx]" and "The APC was funded by [XXX]". Please check carefully that the details given are accurate and that the standard spelling of the funding agency's name in https://search.crossref.org/funding is used, as any errors may affect the authors' future funding.
Acknowledgments (Optional)
Authors can acknowledge any support and contribution that cannot be included in the Author Contributions and Funding sections. This section is NOT mandatory.
Conflict of interest
According to our Conflict of Interest Policy, all authors are required to declare all activities that have the potential to be deemed as a source of competing interest in relation to their submitted manuscript. Examples of such activities include personal or work-related relationships and events. Authors who have nothing to declare should add "No conflict of interest was reported by all authors" or "The authors declare no conflict of interest" in this section.
References
This section is compulsory and should be placed at the end of the manuscript. Footnotes or endnotes should not replace a reference list. The list of references should only include works that are cited in the text and that have been published or accepted for publication. Personal communications should be excluded from this section.
The format of author names should be "Last-Name Initial", e.g., David Smith should be written as Smith D.
Journal
Journals in English:
Author AA, Author BB, Author CC, et al. Title of the article. Journal Name. Year, Volume(Issue) (if available): Firstpage–Lastpage. doi (if available)
Journals in languages other than English:
Author AA, Author BB, Author CC, et al. English title of the article (original language). Journal Name. Year, Volume(Issue) (if available): Firstpage–Lastpage. doi (if available)
Book
A book without editors:
Author AA, Author BB. Chapter (optional). Title of the Book, Edition (if available). Publisher; Year. pp. Page range (optional).
A book with editors:
Author AA, Author BB. Title of the contribution. In: Editor CC, Editor DD (editors). Title of the Book, Edition (if available). Publisher; Year. Volume (optional), pp. Page range (optional).
For a translated book, the translators' names should be placed after the editors' names: "Translator AA (translator)" or "Translator AA, Translator BB (translators)".
If the editors and translators are the same, the format should be as follows:
Author AA, Author BB. Title of the contribution. In: Editor CC, Editor DD (editors and translators). Title of the Book, Edition (if available). Publisher; Year. Volume (optional), pp. Page range (optional).
Conference
Full citations of published abstracts (proceedings):
In most cases, proceedings will be simply called "Proceedings of the Name of the Conference (full name)" without a book title. In this case, please only add the conference name in the proceedings' title and keep that in regular font (i.e., do not italicize):
Author AA, Author BB, Author CC, et al. Title of presentation. In: Proceedings of the Name of the Conference; Date of Conference (Day Month Year) (if available); Location of Conference (City, Country) (if available). Abstract Number (optional), Pagination (optional).
If the proceedings are published as a book with a separate title (i.e., not "Proceedings of the Name of the Conference (full name)" as the title), the book title should be included:
Author AA, Author BB, Author CC. Title of presentation. In: Editor DD, Editor EE (editors) (if available). Title of Collected Work, Proceedings of the Name of the Conference; Date of Conference (Day Month Year) (if available); Location of Conference (City, Country) (if available). Publisher; Year. Abstract Number (optional), Pagination (optional).
Oral presentations without published material:
Author AA, Author BB, Author CC. Title of presentation (if any). Presented at the Name of Conference; Date of Conference (Day Month Year) (if available); Location of Conference (City, Country) (if available); Paper number (if available).
Thesis/Dissertation
Author AA. Title of Thesis [Level of thesis]. Degree‐Granting University; Year.
The level of thesis can be called "XX thesis" or "XX dissertation". Thesis types include but are not limited to the following:
PhD thesis
Master's thesis
Bachelor's thesis
Licentiate thesis
Diploma thesis
Newspaper
Author AA, Author BB, Author CC, et al. Title of article. Title of Periodical, Complete Date, Pagination (if available).
Patent
Patent Owner AA, Patent Owner BB, Patent Owner CC. Title of Patent. Patent Number, Date (Day Month Year, the Application granted date).
Unpublished work
Author AA, Author BB. Title of unpublished work. Journal Title. Year(if available); Phrase Indicating Stage of Publication (submitted, in press, etc.).
Online resources
Author (if available). Title of content (if available). Available online: http://URL (accessed on Day Month Year).
For a homepage, the access date is not required.
Authors contributing to this journal agree to publish their articles under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), allowing third parties to share their work (copy, distribute, transmit) and to adapt it, under the condition that the authors are given credit, and that in the event of reuse or distribution, the terms of this license are made clear. With this license, authors hold the copyright without restrictions and are allowed to retain publishing rights without restrictions as long as this journal is the original publisher of the articles.
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