Guide for Authors

Manuscript Submission Overview

Types of Submissions

There are no limitations on the maximum length of manuscripts, as long as the content remains concise and comprehensive. Manuscripts intended for submission to this Journal must not have been previously published and should not be concurrently under consideration by another journal. The primary article classifications encompass the following:

• Article: These are original research papers that detail scientifically valid results and introduce a noteworthy amount of fresh insights. The article should incorporate the most current and pertinent references in the field. The structure may encompass an Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Results, Discussion, and Conclusions sections. A suggested minimum word count of 4000 words is proposed.
• Review: Reviews provide a thorough evaluation of existing literature within a particular study domain, identifying prevailing gaps or challenges. They should be both critical and constructive, offering recommendations for future research. Unpublished data should not be introduced. The structure might involve an Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Relevant Sections, Discussion, Conclusions, and Future Directions. A suggested minimum word count of 4000 words is recommended.

Manuscript Preparation

General Considerations

• When you use acronyms, abbreviations, or initialisms for the first time in your paper, you should explain what they mean. You can do this by putting the full form first, followed by the acronym in parentheses.
• We should use SI Units, which are the International System of Units. If you’re using other types of units like Imperial or US customary units, try to change them to SI units whenever you can.
• Remember that when we publish your paper, you need to make everything associated with it available to readers – like materials, data, and protocols. If there are any limits on what you can share, tell us when you send the paper.
• If you’ve already preregistered studies or plans for analysis, you should give us links to these in the paper. This way, we can include them for readers to see.

Components of Research Manuscripts

1. Front Matter

   The following sections should be present in all types of manuscripts:

• Title: Your manuscript’s title should be concise, specific, and pertinent. Please avoid using shortened forms like running titles or headers. Our Editorial Office will remove these.
• Author List and Affiliations: Full first and last names of authors are required. Middle names can be abbreviated with initials. Use the standard PubMed/MEDLINE format for affiliations, including complete address details like city, zip code, state/province, and country. Designate one author as the corresponding author. The corresponding author’s email addresses will be displayed on the published papers. After acceptance, changes to author names or affiliations might not be allowed. Authors who contributed equally should be indicated with a superscript symbol (†) under the affiliations, and a statement stating “These authors contributed equally to this work” should be added. Their equal contributions should also be clearly detailed in the author contributions statement. Review the criteria for authorship eligibility.
• Abstract: The abstract should not exceed 200 words. It should be a single paragraph following the style of structured abstracts, but without headings. The abstract must objectively represent the article, avoiding unreported results and overstating the main conclusions.
• Keywords: After the abstract, include three to ten keywords that are relevant to the article. These keywords should be specific to the content yet commonly understood in the relevant field.

2. Sections within Research Manuscripts

• Introduction: Briefly contextualize the study, explain its significance, state its purpose, and specify the hypotheses being tested. Evaluate the current state of the research field, citing key references. Address conflicting hypotheses if applicable. Conclude by outlining the study’s primary objective and main conclusions. Ensure the introduction remains accessible to scientists beyond the paper’s topic.
• Software and Methods: Provide comprehensive details of software and methods, enabling others to replicate and expand on the findings. Thoroughly describe novel methods and protocols, while established ones can be summarized and properly referenced. Mention software names and versions, and indicate if computer code is available. Include any pre-registration codes.
• Results: Succinctly detail results, their interpretations, and the resulting insights.
• Discussion: Interpret the results within the context of prior studies and hypotheses. Discuss implications broadly and highlight work limitations. Address future research directions if appropriate. This section can be combined with the Results.
• Conclusions: While not obligatory, you can add this section if the discussion is particularly extensive or complex.
• Patents: This section is optional but can be included if the research has led to patents.

3. Supplementary Information

• Supplementary Materials: Describe any extra materials related to the manuscript published online (e.g., figures, tables, videos, spreadsheets). Each element should be labeled with a name and title, such as Figure S1: title, Table S1: title, and so on.
• Author Contributions: Each author should have significantly contributed to different aspects of the work, like planning, data analysis, or writing. They should approve the submitted version and take responsibility for their contributions. For papers with multiple authors, a brief description of their individual contributions is necessary.
• Funding: Disclose all sources of funding for the study. Clearly mention any grants supporting your research and any funds for publication costs. State if the research had no external funding or specify the funding agency.
• Data Availability Statement: If your study involves data, provide details about where readers can find it, including links to public datasets used or generated during the research.
• Acknowledgments: Thank any support not covered by the author contributions or funding sections, such as technical help or non-monetary assistance.
• Conflicts of Interest: Authors should declare any personal interests that could affect the interpretation of their research. If no conflicts exist, state so. If the funding source had a role, declare it.
• References: List references at the end of the manuscript, numbered according to their appearance in the text. For example, [1], [1–3], or [1,3]. References should include title, author names, and publication details. Use style files like EndNote or Zotero for accuracy.
• Citations in Supplementary Files: You can include citations and references in supplementary files if they also appear in the main text and reference list.
• Citation in Text: Use square brackets [ ] for reference numbers in the text, placed before punctuation. For citations with page numbers, use both parentheses and brackets; for example [5] (p. 10) or [6] (pp. 101–105).
• Reference Formats: Follow these formats for different types of works:
  1. Journal Articles: [1] Author 1, A.B. and Author 2, C.D., Year. Title. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), pp. 32-46.
  2. Books and Book Chapters: [2] Author 1, A. and Author 2, B., Year. Book Title, Edition; Publisher: Location, Country, pp. 154–196.
  3. Unpublished Works: [3]. Author 1, A.B., Year. Title. Journal Name, Stage (accepted; in press).
  4. Conference Proceedings: [4]. Author 1, A.B., Author 2, C.D. and Author 3, E.F., Year. Title. In Title of Collected Work, Proceedings of Conference Name, Location, Country, Date; Editor 1, Editor 2, Eds. Publisher: City, Country. (Abstract Number, Pagination).
  5. Thesis: [5] Author 1, A.B., Year. Title. Thesis Level, Degree-Granting University, Location, Date.
  6. Websites: [6] Site Title. Available online: URL (accessed on Day Month Year).

4. Review Manuscripts Structure

   Review manuscripts should encompass the front matter, sections containing the literature review, and the back matter. The template file accommodates the front and back matter of review manuscripts. However, it’s not mandatory to adhere to the remaining structure.

Preparing Figures, Schemes, and Tables

• File Formats and Resolution: Upon acceptance, Figures and Schemes must be provided in a single zip archive at a sufficiently high resolution (minimum 1000 pixels width/height or 300 dpi). While common formats are accepted, JPEG, EPS, and PDF formats are preferred.
• Placement and Numbering: All Figures, Schemes, and Tables should be inserted close to their first citation in the main text. They must be numbered according to their appearance, such as Figure 1, Scheme I, Figure 2, Scheme II, Table 1, and so forth.
• Titles and Captions: Each Figure, Scheme, and Table should have a concise explanatory title and caption.
• Table Formatting: All table columns should possess clear headings. In cases of larger tables, smaller fonts may be utilized for ease of copy-editing, but not less than 8 pt.
• Color in Figures and Schemes: Authors are encouraged to create figures and schemes in color (RGB at 8-bit per channel).

Supplementary Materials, Data Deposit, and Software Source Code

This journal is committed to promoting open scientific exchange and facilitating authors’ adherence to best practices in sharing and archiving research data. Authors are encouraged to share research data following policies aligned with minimal dataset requirements for a study’s core findings. Data should be publicly available and acknowledged in accordance with Journal of Combinatorial Mathematics and Combinatorial Computing guidelines, informed by TOP Guidelines and FAIR Principles.

Data Availability Statement: Data Availability Statements provide specifics on locating data that supports reported results. Various formats of Data Availability Statements are recommended, including data’s presence in publicly accessible repositories, sharing due to privacy or ethical considerations, or data being available upon request.

Here are the suggested Data Availability Statements:

• Data available in a publicly accessible repository
  The data presented in this study are publicly available in [repository name, e.g., FigShare] at [DOI], reference number [reference number].

• Data available in a publicly accessible repository that does not issue DOIs
  Publicly available datasets analyzed in this study can be accessed at [link/accession number].

• Data available on request due to restrictions, e.g., privacy or ethical concerns
  The data presented in this study are accessible upon request from the corresponding author. Data availability is limited due to [insert reason here].

• Third Party Data
  Availability of these data is subject to restrictions. The data were sourced from [third party], and they can be accessed [from the authors/at URL] with permission from [third party].

• Data sharing not applicable
  No new data were generated or analyzed in this study. Data sharing is not applicable to this article.

• Data is contained within the article or supplementary material
  The data presented in this study are available within [insert article or supplementary material here].

Data Citation: Data should be cited in the following format:

• [dataset] Authors. Year. Dataset title; Data repository or archive; Version (if any); Persistent identifier (e.g., DOI).

Computer Code and Software: For manuscripts involving novel computer code, authors should release the code either through recognized repositories or as supplementary information. The software used should be clearly specified.

Supplementary Material: Additional data and files can be submitted as “Supplementary Files” during manuscript submission. These will be accessible to referees during peer review. Common, non-proprietary formats are recommended.

Unpublished Data: Restrictions on data availability should be stated during submission. “Unpublished data” intended for future publication should be cited in text and references.

Remote Hosting and Large Data Sets: Data may be deposited with recognized service providers or repositories. Specialized repositories using the DataCite mechanism are preferred for large datasets.

References in Supplementary Files: Citations and references in supplementary files are permissible if they also appear in the main text’s reference list.

Reviewer Recommendations

Throughout the manuscript submission process, authors have the option to propose three potential reviewers with expertise pertinent to the subject matter. Editorial selection of referees is not exclusively reliant on these suggestions. Comprehensive contact details (address, homepage, phone, email) of the suggested reviewers should be furnished. Proposed reviewers must neither be current collaborators of the co-authors nor have co-authored works with them within the past three years. Moreover, reviewers should represent distinct institutions from those of the authors. Editorial Board members of the journal and authors frequently cited in the paper may be considered as suitable reviewers.

Language Refinements

This journal extends minor English language editing by proficient native speakers to all accepted papers. Manuscripts submitted should already exhibit proficient English writing, necessitating only minor corrections before publication. If substantial language editing is required, your paper may be returned during the editing phase, potentially prolonging the publication timeline of your research.

This journal has partnered with LetPub to recommend language editing support for authors prior to submission. For authors whose native language is not English, editorial support from LetPub is a useful pre-submission resource that can speed the submission and peer review process.  

Please note that the use of editing and translation services does not guarantee your manuscript will be accepted for publication.

Sharing Early Versions and Conference Papers

The journal welcomes submissions that were shared as early drafts called “preprints,” as long as they weren’t reviewed by experts yet. Preprints are like initial versions of papers that authors put online before sending them to a journal. But once a paper is accepted by us, authors need to remove the preprint. Check our Open Access Policy for more details.

Also, if a conference paper is well-developed and meets specific requirements, we might consider it as an article. The requirements include expanding the paper to be similar to a regular research article, mentioning the original conference paper, getting permission if needed, and explaining changes made from the conference version.

Authorship Criteria

• The journal subscribes to the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), dictating that authorship eligibility entails the fulfillment of the ensuing criteria:
• Significant contributions to the conceptualization or design of the work; or acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
• Engagement in the drafting of the work or its critical review to encompass crucial intellectual content; AND
• Final endorsement of the version intended for publication; AND
• Pledge to uphold responsibility for all facets of the work, guaranteeing that queries concerning the accuracy or integrity of any segment of the work are suitably investigated and resolved.

Individuals who have contributed to the work but do not satisfy the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged in the acknowledgments section. A more comprehensive guide on authorship is provided by the International Council of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

If there’s a change to the list of authors, everyone, including those who were taken off the list, has to agree. The main author, known as the corresponding author, should talk with the editor and the other authors. They should also keep the co-authors updated and include them in important decisions about the publication. We might ask to make sure all authors really meet the criteria to be authors.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors must be open about any relationships or interests that could affect their research. This includes financial ties and personal relationships. They can share this information when submitting their paper. The main author must also summarize these disclosures in a section called “Conflicts of Interest” at the end of the paper. If there are no conflicts, they should say so.