Submissions

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Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
  • The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, or RTF document file format.
  • Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
  • The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
  • The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.

Author Guidelines

Solicited and contributed manuscripts must be double-spaced and submitted online via this site. Submission of an original manuscript to the journal will be taken to mean that it represents original work not previously published, that it is not being considered elsewhere for publication; that the author is willing to license the content to the journal by means of an exclusive licence as per a contract that will be sent to the author just prior to publication and, if accepted for publication, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in any language, without the consent of the journal for a period of one year and without acknowledgment of its initial publication in the journal thereafter. Authors must take full responsibility for all figures, etc., and present them as print-ready copy.

Go to the registration page to register as a user of the online system if you do not yet have a username and password. Ensure that you register as an 'Author' when creating your account.

Once you have an online account, login and click on the 'Author' link. The 'Author' page will include a link to begin the online submission process.

When submitting online, please note that you need to click on 'Save/Continue' at the bottom of each page to proceed to the next step in the submission process. There are 5 steps to an online submission:

  • In Step 1, please ensure that:
    • You select a section from the 'Journal Section' menu.
    • You review, complete, and check off each item in the 'Submission Checklist'.
  • In Step 2, please ensure that:
    • You provide your personal information (name, email, etc.).
    • You provide the title of your article, media work, or reviewed book.
  • In Step 3, please ensure that:
    • You upload a copy of your manuscript in Word (.docx) format. Please upload a fully integrated manuscript, complete with figures/tables/images, as well as adding all figures/tables/images in the supplementary file section, Mp3 for audio files or MPEG for video files.
    • You remove all personal, identifying information from the submission file as per the provided instructions. Please note that this is not required for book reviews.
    • Tables and figures may be uploaded in their appropriate areas within the manuscript if they are .docx documents.
  • In Step 4, any figures or images that are not .doc should be uploaded as supplementary files.
    • Ensure all personal, identifying information is removed from the supplementary files as per the provided instructions. Please note that this is not required for book reviews.
    • Figures and images should be saved and uploaded to supplementary files using high quality image formats: BMP, PNG, TIFF, EPS, JPEG (uncompressed); not GIF or compressed JPEG.
    • Audio and video files should be saved and uploaded using MP3 for audio and MPEG for video.
  • In Step 5, finish your submission by reviewing your submission details and confirming that your submission is complete.

Reviews
Interested in doing a book or media review? JNMSR is interested in commissioning reviews from a wide variety of scholars and students. Book review guidelines can be obtained from the Managing Editor: nanoresearch@unn.edu.ng.

Article Abstracts

For each article (but not the commentaries or the research in brief), the author must provide at least a 300-word abstract in English and/or French. These summaries should be placed immediately below the paper title, author, and institutional affiliation. Each summary should be indented 2.5 cm (1/2") and double-spaced. For those who require the service, translations of abstracts can be undertaken by the Journal Management team at an agreed and affordable fee.

Author Bio

The author(s) must supply a brief (25-word) bio giving name, rank, institution, institutional address, and email address. Author information and bio should be entered in Step 2 of the online submission process, and not as part of the submission file itself. For example, Rowland Lorimer is Professor Emeritus and was the Founding Director of the Master of Publishing Program and the Canadian Institute for Studies in Publishing at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC. Email: lorimer@sfu.ca.

General Formatting

Authors are advised to review the style used by the journal and to submit manuscripts that follow that style as closely as possible. SRC style is based on the American Psychological Association (APA) manual with Canadian spellings. There should be no first-line-of-paragraph indents.

Manuscript Length Guidelines

  • Article: max. of 6,000 words
  • Field Note:  max. of 5,000 words
  • Book Review: max. of 1,500 words

Heading Styles

Format each as per the following descriptions:

  • First level headings: (Boldface, first word capitalized, justified at left   margin, on a separate line)
  • Second level headings: (Plain type, first word capitalized, justified at left margin, on a separate line)
  • Third level headings: (Italic type, first word capitalized, justified at left margin, on a separate line)

Citations in the Text

  • If the work has more than one author, give all the names the first time the work is referred to, then et al. thereafter.
  • When titles of journals or books are mentioned, they should be italicized, not underlined.
  • If the citation follows a quotation, place the parentheses after the quotation marks but before the end punctuation. For example: ''for the future of telecommunications'' (Smith, 1987, p. 42).

References

  • Following the Notes, list only those works actually cited in the text.
  • The heading for the references should be bold and left-justified, as References.
  • Single-space all entries.
  • Begin each entry at the margin and indent the subsequent lines by 1/2 inch; i.e., hanging indent.
  • Separate the main items in each entry by periods (i.e., name of author, publication date, title of book, etc.) Leave one space between a period and next part of the entry.
  • Publication date should be in parentheses following author name. Title of book should be in italics and only the first word and first word after a colon should be capitalized (see examples above).
  • For articles, the title should be in plain text, with only the first word capitalized; the title of the periodical or edited book should be in italics.
  • For journals the volume number of the periodical volume is in italics, with the issue number in plain text and parentheses. Page numbers are given at the end of the reference but without the requirement for 'page'' or 'p.' See examples below.
  • The formats must be strictly adhered to in terms of punctuation and order of the items within each entry:

Book: Amin, Ash & Cohendet, Patrick. (2004). Architectures of knowledge: Firms, capabilities and communities. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Article in a book: Longford, Gordon. (2004). Rethinking the virtual state: A critical perspective on e-government. In Marita Moll & Leslie Regan Shade (Eds.), Seeking convergence in policy and practice (pp. 109-140). Ottawa, ON: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Article in a journal: Heyer, Paul. (2008). Live from the Met: Digial broadcast cinema, medium theory, and opera for the masses. Canadian Journal of Communication, 33(4), 591-604.

Government document: Royal Commission on newspapers. (1981). Report. Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services Canada.

Website: Gurstein, Michael. (2000). Effective use: A community informatics strategy beyond the digitial divide. First Monday, 8(12). URL: http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue8_12/ gurstein/index.html [March 4, 2005].

Use of Notes

  • Footnotes are not used in this format; only endnotes are used.
  • Do not use automatically formatted endnotes. Notes should appear at the end of the text and before the references (typed in a regular text). Endnote numbers in the text should be regular text formatted as eight-point superscript.
  • Use of notes should be very sparing. They should be used only where additional explanations are absolutely necessary and cannot be incorporated in the text. Maximum: 10.
  • Notes should be listed after the text and before the list of biographical references.
  • The heading for the notes should be bold and left-justified, as Notes.

Keywords

JNMSR requests that authors assign 3-5 keywords to their article.

Removal of Identifying Information

To enable blind peer review: prior to uploading your submission files, please remove all identifying information, including identifying information in the actual text of the manuscript as well as all identifying information saved internally by software such as Microsoft Word as part of each file's attributes and properties.

Technical Reports

JNMSR looks for technical reports that have a wide implication for scholarly communication, outlining a technical approach conceptually to a workable technical solution related to online journal publication. The article should provide the foundations, limitations, and recommendations of research, with a call for public comment and scrutiny.

Commentary

Commentaries, as informed analysis of a critical issue, may or may not be classified as original research. This is an editor’s decision. They should encompass a broad set of initiatives in scholarly and research communication.

Field Notes

In setting up JNMSR, the editorial team realized that there was a great deal of activity involved behind the scenes in inventing and developing digital publishing technology. JNMSR wanted to encourage the documentation of that process and thus created a section called Technical Reports. Following the example of our colleagues in the health professions we are inaugurating yet another useful category to document scholarly and research communication practice. The category will be called "Field Notes" and its intent is to allow those involved in scholarly publishing to share experience and knowledge that they think would be helpful to others. The category will be peer reviewed to ensure that others think the content useful. It is not our intent to set definitive boundaries, but Field Notes could encompass the following:

  • accounts of journal findings
  • financial management
  • encouraging timely peer reviews
  • strategic planning with relationship to secondary aggregators
  • legal issues
  • the development of performance measures
  • adapting to multiple formats
  • relationships with commercial publishers.

In overview, JNMSR is interested in publishes practical accounts of challenges faced by individuals performing the work of scholarly publishing (as opposed to studying scholarly and research communication) when such an account conveys a broadly applicable lesson of interest to our readers. These articles are meant to serve as a resource for individuals facing pragmatic issues in the work of producing scholarly and research communication materials.

Some helpful guidelines

Those wishing to submit to Field Notes should indicate this in their submission and should feel free to submit articles as short as 1,000 words but probably no longer than 5,000 words. In addition, authors should consider the following, which has been adapted from the British Medical Journal.

  • Please explain to readers in a few opening sentences why they should read the article and what they will learn.
  • Provide some context for the article both what the activity was trying to address and where other related accounts can be found. We don't want an extensive literature review, but we do want you to establish that someone on the world may have reported on a parallel experience. The reader should have some sense of what prompted the article. (Include references)
  • In the actual account of the activity, please avoid personal narrative.
  • Consider focusing on recommendations as you draw the article to a close.
  • Another useful approach might be to describe the problem experienced, what tools and techniques were tried - which ones were successful and which ones weren't, costs/benefits, risk/reward, and then a section reflecting on the problem and lessons learned.

Privacy Statement

Last updated: 08 November 2023

JNMSR is committed to maintaining your confidence and trust with respect to your privacy. This privacy policy explains how we collect, use and share your personal information.

About our privacy policy

This privacy policy applies to our websites, apps and other services, including programs and events, that refer or link to this privacy policy (each, a “Service”). This policy may be supplemented by additional privacy statements, terms or notices provided to you or by the Service. The JNMSR company that owns or administers the Service, as identified therein, is the primary controller of your personal information provided to, or collected by or for, the Service.

Information we collect

We collect information about you in three ways: directly from your input, from third-party sources, and through automated technologies.

Information you provide to us

The types of personal information that we collect directly from you depends on the content and features of the Service you use and how you otherwise interact with us, and may include:

  • Contact details, such as your name, email address, postal address, phone number and social media handle;
  • Account login credentials, such as usernames and passwords, password hints and similar security information;
  • Other account registration and profile information, including educational, professional and other background information, such as your field of study, current position, practice area and areas of interests, gender, ORCID ID and photo;
  • Content that you upload and share or store in your account, such as annotations, comments, contributions and replies;
  • Payment information, such as a credit or debit card number, and government-issued ID numbers;
  • Information that you communicate to us, such as questions or information you send to customer support;
  • Data that you provide to us as part of interacting with the Service, such as your favorites and search queries; and/or
  • Communications preferences, such as your preferred language and the frequency, type and format of the alerts you sign up to receive.

Data from your institution

We may obtain information about you from the institution with which you are employed or affiliated in order to activate and manage your access to and use of the institution’s subscription to the Service, including:

  • Contact details, such as your name and institutional email address, postal address and phone number;
  • Other account registration information, such as job title; and/or
  • Institutional user ID.

Data from other sources

We also may obtain contact details and other information about you from other entities within RELX and from third parties, including:

  • Social networks that you grant permission to the Service to access your data on one or more networks;
  • Service providers that help us determine a location in order to customize certain products to your location;
  • Partners with which we offer co-branded services or engage in joint marketing activities; and/or
  • Publicly available sources and data suppliers to validate or supplement the information we hold or to support the Service.

Device and usage data

The Service may automatically collect information about how you and your device interact with the Service, such as:

  • Computer, device and connection information, such as IP address, browser type and version, operating system and other software installed on your device, unique device identifier and other technical identifiers, error reports and performance data;
  • Usage data, such as the features you used, the settings you selected, URL click stream data, including date and time stamp and referring and exit pages, and pages you visited on the Service;
  • For educational Services, the course modules and test questions you view, answer or complete; and/or
  • For location-aware Services, the physical location of your device.

We collect this data through our servers and the use of cookies and other technologies. You can control cookies through your browser's settings and other tools.  However, if you choose to block certain cookies, you may not be able to register, login, or access certain parts or make full use of the Service. For more details, visit the cookie notice of the Service.

How we use your information

We are committed to delivering a relevant and useful experience to you. Depending on how you interact with us and the Service, we use your personal information to:

  • Provide, activate and manage your access to and use of the Service;
  • Process and fulfill a request, order, download, subscription or other transaction;
  • Offer you customized content and other personalization to make the Service more efficient for you and more relevant to your interests and geography;
  • Enhance and improve the Service, such as add new content and features;
  • Notify you about changes, updates and other announcements related to the Service;
  • Deliver targeted advertisements, promotional messages, and other information related to the Service and to your interests;
  • Provide technical, product and other support and help to keep the Service working, safe and secure; and/or
  • Identify usage trends and develop data analysis, including for the purposes of research, audits, reporting and other business operations, such as to pay royalties and license fees to third-party content providers, determine the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns, evaluate our business performance, or in other ways pursuant to a customer agreement.

We may also use your personal information to:

  • Respond to your requests, inquiries, comments or concerns;
  • Invite you to submit or review manuscripts or otherwise participate in our publishing programs;
  • Issue payments and statements, such as for royalties and editorial fees;
  • Conduct and administer user testing and surveys as well as sweepstakes, competitions and similar promotions;
  • Provide you with relevant promotional messages and other information about products, events and services of ours, our group companies and third parties such as societies and sponsors;
  • Enhance and improve our products, events and services and develop new ones; and/or
  • Comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes and enforce our agreements.

Sharing of your information

We share your personal information in the following ways and contexts.

Your institution

If you access the Service through a subscription administered by your institution, your personal information and certain usage data gathered through the Service, such as the number of items you downloaded, any fee-based items you accessed, and test scores, may be accessed by or shared with the administrators authorized by your institution for the purposes of usage analysis, subscription management, course management and testing and remediation.  If your institution is a corporation or other business entity, additional usage data, such as the types of records you viewed and the number of searches you ran, also may be shared for the purposes of cost attribution and departmental budgeting.

We may also disclose to your institution or other third parties non-personally identifiable information, such as anonymous usage data reports and aggregated information, subject to any applicable legal or contractual obligations.

Our group companies and service providers

Depending on the Service provided, we share your personal information with our:

  • Affiliates, collaborators, sponsors and certain RELX companies that provide technology, customer service and other shared services functions; and/or
  • Suppliers and service providers, including editors, reviewers, payment processors, customer support, email service providers, access and authentication service providers, event venues and service providers, mailing houses, shipping agents and IT service providers;

to process the information as necessary to provide the Service, complete a transaction or fulfill your request or otherwise on our behalf based on our instructions and in compliance with this privacy policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.

Your choices

We may also share your personal information with our group companies and with sponsors, joint venture partners and other third parties, including entities for which we are acting as an agent, licensee, application host or publisher, such as societies, that wish to send you invitations, surveys, programs or information about their products and services that may be of interest to you as determined by your choices in managing your communications preferences and other settings.

The Service may let you post and share personal information, comments, messages, materials and other content. Any such information that you disclose publicly or in discussion fora in the Service may be collected and used by others, may be indexed by search engines, and might not be able to be removed.  Please be careful when disclosing personal information in these public areas.

Legal reasons

We also will disclose your personal information if we have a good faith belief that such disclosure is necessary to:

  • meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process or other legal obligation;
  • detect, investigate and help prevent security, fraud or technical issues; and/or
  • protect the rights, property or safety of JNMSR, our users, employees or others;

and as part of a corporate transaction, such as a transfer of a journal or other assets to or an acquisition by or merger with another company.

Data retention

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to provide the Service and fulfill the transactions you have requested, or for other essential purposes such as complying with our legal obligations, maintaining business and financial records, resolving disputes, maintaining security, detecting and preventing fraud and abuse, and enforcing our agreements.


Data security

We take precautions to safeguard your personal information against loss, theft and misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration and destruction through the use of appropriate technical and organizational measures.

Changes

We will update this privacy policy from time to time.  Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date. If we make any material changes, we will provide notice through the Service or by other means.