Rules for writing articles

The structure and volume of articles for publication in the Issues in Journalism, Education, Linguistics journal

1. UDC

Specify the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) code before the article title.  It is placed in the upper-left corner of the page, left alignment, no indent.

The article title, information about the author(s), abstract, keywords, acknowledgements (if the article was prepared under a grant), and citation information should be provided in two blocks – in Russian and in English (if the manuscript is provided in English, the English block should come first).

 

2. Title of the article

The title (in Russian and English) should reflect the article content and not exceed 14 words. Type it in capital letters, in bold type, no indent, centre alignment (16 font size). Specify the type of paper (Original article, Review, Communication, Article review) in Russian and English above the article title, left alignment.

 

3. Information about the author(s)

Information about the author(s) should be provided after the article title: skip one line space after the title, type in the information about the author(s) with centre alignment.

How to specify the author’s name in Russian: Surname + initials (first letter of the first name, first letter of the patronymic), e.g.: Пушкин А.С.

How to specify the author’s name in English: First name + first letter of the Patronymic + Surname, e.g.: Alexander S. Pushkin

It is recommended to specify ORCID: suffice it to provide the ORCID logo icon after the surname, provide a full number in the INFORMATION ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S) block. Both the icon and the number should act as a hyperlink.

Following that, if you are an employed author, specify the name of your University or another organisation using the data from their official documents or websites (in Russian and English).

New line: mailing address of the organisation/University/research institution /  unemployed author’s address, as follows:

country, city / town postal code, city / town, street name, number of building - for the Russian block;

and

number of building, street name, city / town postal code, country - for the English block.

If there are several authors representing different organisations, names and addresses of these organisations should be specified separately for each author (use superscript for specifying the author and the organisation). If all authors represent the same organisation, specify its name and address only once.

Specify your e-mail address after the organisation data.

 

4. Abstract

Following that, after one line spacing, provide the abstract of the article (in two separate blocks: in Russian and in English).

The abstract of an article (the author’s summary) is supposed to be a standalone information source. Its content must be clear without the need to read the article.

The abstract IN RUSSIAN may be laconic, though its volume must be between 600 and 1200 characters (with spaces).

Specify the main goal of your research, provide a brief description of methodology, and summarize major findings of your research and their significance.  The abstract should not contain any exaggerations or any material that is not provided in the paper itself. Use full names instead of abbreviations. No images and references should be used in abstracts.

Information contained in the article title should not be repeated in the abstract.

Avoid unnecessary introductory phrases (e.g., the author of the article considers…) Do not provide any historical references in the abstract, unless they constitute the main content of the document or describe previously published papers and well-known postulates. The text of the abstract should be laconic and clear, free of general and pointess wordings; it should be coherent, with separate ideas being a logical continuation of preceding ones. Do not repeat paragraphs from the article in your abstract.

The ENGLISH version of the abstract is a measure of quality for international citation databases. It should reflect the main content of the article, be detailed enough and original (do not provide a word-for-word translation of the Russian abstract).

The volume of the English abstract should be between 1000 and 2000 characters (with spaces). Use correct English and relevant terminology. Avoid non-specific, pointless words. Use Active Voice instead of Passive, e.g.: The study tested instead of It was tested in this study.

No italics, bold type, underlining etc. is admissible in the abstract. Do not divide it into paragraphs.

Do not include quotes and references to other works into your abstract.

ABSTRACT STRUCTURE

Abstract sections

Detailed description of the structural elements of an abstract

Examples of cliches

The introduction (1–2 sentences) provides a general description of the significance of the area / phenomenon under study

A compulsory element that includes a general description of the significance of the area / phenomenon under study. DO NOT begin your abstract with sentences like “The article is devoted to…”, “The goal of the article is…”, etc., as first you should prove the need for conducting this research in order to fill the gap in science

Motivation plays a key role in teaching a foreign language …

 

Youth socialization issues include various aspects …

Specifying the gap in the scientific knowledge that provides grounds for conducting the research

A compulsory element. The gap in science is described as absence (insufficiency) of research, a gap in the theoretical knowledge on the theme of the article (including that on some specific aspects of the issue). Other grounds justifying the need for research may be provided, for instance, the emergence of a new phenomenon, aspect, etc.   

Despite numerous publications on the issue, no research has been done into the systemic development of critical thinking within the framework of higher professional education.

 

Given that this phenomenon has been insufficiently studied, this is the first attempt to address the problem from the (economic, social, educational etc.) perspective.

Setting the goal of the research

A compulsory element. Instead of the goal, you can write a hypothesis or research questions.

The study is aimed at determining ….

 

Specifying the methodology, methods, procedures, etc.

A recommended element. Do not mention general methods, Instead, list specific methods, techniques, procedures, etc. In theoretical papers, authors frequently specify scientific schools, philosophical or other foundations of the theory they are developing.

The research was based on discourse analysis and dual coding method (J.Saldana).

 

To study the problem, we conducted a questionnaire survey that involved 152 University professors and 436 students.

Main results (these should be specified briefly, with a focus on the most significant findings and ones that will appeal to the readers / scientific community most of all)

A compulsory element. The authors’ results allowing them to verify a hypothesis or demonstrating that a goal has been achieved (what exactly is the author’s contribution to the theory)

The research revealed the following main trends in the development of the “...” phenomenon: (list the trends briefly).

 

The study revealed the main features of the “...” phenomenon

Assessing the research contribution to science

A compulsory element. It is strongly recommended to mention a specific contribution to science. This may be combined with the description of the main findings

The results obtained contribute to the development of “…” theory

The research findings open up a new path for studying the…

 

5. Keywords

From five to ten keywords (in Russian and in English) should be provided immediately after the abstract. These may include separate words or word combinations. The top-down approach should be used (from the general to the particular); geography (city, region, etc. associated with the research).

Do not repeat the words and word combinations from the article title. Use words that provide additional details on the paper. Separate the keywords with commas, DO NOT use a full stop at the end.

 

6. Funding

Specify the source of funding: e.g.: The work was supported by “(specify agency)”, Project No. …  / The work was carried out without any external sources of funding.

✓ For manuscripts provided in English, blocks written in English should be provided first, followed by Russian ones.

✓ The no conflict of interest statement should be provided at the end of the article:
О потенциальном конфликте интересов не сообщалось
No potential conflict of interest has been reported.

 

7. Information about the author(s)

After the References section, specify information about the author(s) in Russian and English. The ORCID number and the  icon should be active as a hyperlink.

 

8. The article content (structure)

✓ The text of the manuscript, including the abstract, should be  provided in good Russian / good English, i.e., be free of any grammar mistakes, speech errors, logical or actual mistakes.

The text of the article is placed after the keywords. The article must provide a clear and brief account of the current state of the problem, research methods, results and discussion, and conclusion.

A standard structure of the article is recommended, with the following headlines:

1) Introduction including:

  • the problem statement (one or two paragraphs disclosing the problem, its timeliness and significance);
  • literature review ( a brief overview of contemporary sources), followed by  stating the need to conduct the research (conditions that make this research timely and relevant). At the same time, avoid direct mentioning of timeliness (do not use the words timely, pressing). Instead, the timely character of the research, its relevance may be specified indirectly, by indicating a gap in the scientific knowledge or its insufficiency;
  • description of the research hypothesis or articulation of its goal, or presenting research questions.

2) Objects and methods of research;

3) Results and Discussion – for empirical research. In case of a theoretical paper, the author(s) should divide it into sections and provide headings, based on analytical considerations, with a view to providing the authors’ arguments logically and coherently;

4) In the Conclusion, the author once again provides a generalized list of the main results and assesses their significance for science. Further research programme may be described in this section. A specific contribution to science must be described (from one sentence to a paragraph). Use the words “the author’s contribution” and list the results which may be considered a contribution to science, briefly and clearly;

5) if you wish to express your appreciation to colleagues who have not authored the article but contributed to the study, you can write your Acknowledgements at the end of the article, no specific form required;

6) References (requirements for References and Sample list of References are provided in para.5 (item 5.2) of Appendix hereto.

✓ Headings of the article should be typed in bold, no indent, centre alignment

 

9. The total volume of the manuscript (including the title, abstract, keywords, text, and references)
  • Minimum volume – 15,000 characters with spaces.
  • Maximum volume – 35,000 characters with spaces.
  • Articles exceeding 35,000 characters in volume are published at the decision of the Journal’s Editorial Board.

 

10. A scientific report

Scientific reports are publications that contain information about a new or first registration of an object, fact or phenomenon. In a scientific report, the author presents and/or summarises facts, though no theoretical elaboration with an introduction to existing concepts is provided to the scientific community.

For a brief scientific report, provide the same elements as for a research  article (UDC, title, authors, organisations and addresses, keywords). The abstract and the list of references can be significantly reduced.

The length of a scientific report should be from 4,000 to 8,000 characters with spaces.

 

11. How to format self-citation

The authors may quote their own texts from earlier works to the extent justified by the purpose of the citation. Self-citation should be formatted according to the same rules as regular citation of other authors. That is, the authors’ own previous text that is being reused in the paper should be clearly separated from the authors’ ‘new’ text. For that purpose, use inverted commas and specify the source in square brackets – a reference to the authors’ own work which is cited and included in the list of References.

Repeated use by the authors of their own texts from earlier works without reference to the source or in the volume not justified by the purpose of citation is deemed as self-plagiarism, which is unacceptable in research papers. Rewriting by the authors of their own previous text is also self-plagiarism, unless it is formatted correctly.

The authors’ citation of their past publications is appropriate if the new article is a continuation of a previously initiated study. There may be cases when previously published data are analysed using new methods that were not available at the time of the previous publication. This will not constitute self-plagiarism if the authors explicitly state that the earlier data analysis has already been published and differs from the new one. At the same time, the conclusions in two different research articles cannot be the same, they must differ significantly.   

An expert (reviewer) makes conclusions on the integrity and correctness of self-citation in the document under review by analysing the full report, the list of References, based on the genre of the document under review and the requirements established by the host organisation.

Self-citation is included in the total citation volume. The permissible volume of citation of the author's own works should not exceed 10% of the entire article. The number of the author’s works in the list of References should not exceed 20% of the total list. Editorial Boards may set the limits of acceptable self-citation volume not exceeding the established threshold, based on the journal aims.

 

11. How to improve the article VISIBILITY on the INTERNET
  • Manuscript elements that maximally support search engine optimisation: title, abstract, keywords.
  • Mentioning several keywords in the text side by side helps increase the article ranking.
  • The most important keywords should be included in the first part of the title.
  • When creating the title, make sure that its interpretation is unambiguous and not misleading when presented outside the context of the journal issue.
  • A standardised structure (Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, etc.) helps academic search engines on the Internet identify the article as a research paper.
  • Keywords that accurately describe the content of a research paper significantly improve its accessibility in a search query.
  • Individual words should be precise terms of the subject field or clarify the main term that is placed immediately before or after them.
  • The use of keyword synonyms enhances the article ‘visibility’. Synonyms of significant keywords should also be mentioned several times in the text.
  • If a ‘narrow’ (i.e. very specific) term is used in the title, it is better to use a ‘broader’ term in the keywords.
  • Both in the title and in the keywords, try to avoid vague, unrepresentative, ‘empty’ words such as ‘comparison’, ‘characteristic’, ‘criticism’, ‘description’, ‘to the issue’, etc.
  • The abstract should contain the most significant keywords and give a complete picture of the article content.
  • The most significant terms should be placed at the beginning of the abstract.
  • If the authors use the abbreviated form of a term in the text of the article, it should be presented in its full form in the abstract, followed by an indication of its abbreviated form.
  • A justified repetition of keywords indicates their special significance and confirms their status as keywords.

Source: Tikhonova E.V. Academic Search Engine Optimization: Improving Visibility and Accessibility of Scientific Publications.  Science Editor and Publisher. 2023;8(1):18–27. https://doi.org/10.24069/SEP-23-15

 

See the article template Загрузить

Technical requirements for the manuscript typesetting and format

1. Typesetting requirements

Type the text in Microsoft Word.

Do not number the pages.

Page parameters: A4 size; margins: bottom - 2 cm; top - 2 cm; left - 2.5 cm, right - 2 cm.

Font: Times New Roman; size 12 pt. Line spacing - single line.

Paragraph indent 1 cm, centre alignment. Indents should be set automatically (see the ‘Paragraph’ tab), do not use the ‘Space’ or ‘Tab’ key. Double or triple spaces are not allowed. Paragraph indentation applies to the entire text, including page footnotes.

 Dashes and hyphens have different characters and meanings. A dash (long dash –) is a punctuation mark, a hyphen (short dash -) is a mark used to connect parts of a compound word.

A dash ‘–’ without a space after it should be used as a minus sign (to indicate a negative value before a digit). Mathematical signs (=, >, <, etc.) are punctuated by unbroken spaces on both sides.

The multiplication sign must be genuine (insert the × symbol), do not use the Russian ‘x’ letter or the Latin ‘x’.

Abbreviations and symbols in the text must conform to accepted standards.

 

2. Table format

Tables should be placed in the text after respective references. The reference is provided as follows: (Table 1). If there is a need to repeat the reference in the text, it should be done as follows: (see Table 1). Each table should have a serial number and a brief clear title. The caption – Table 1 (below – Table 1) – is aligned to the right, the title of the table is aligned in the centre.

Titles of tables should be provided in Russian and English; it is recommended to add English versions of column and row headings.

If there is only one table in the article, it is not numbered, and the word ‘Table’ is not written before its title. The reference is made as follows: (see Table).

Text formatting in tables: single spacing, Times New Roman font (11 pt).

The tables support the textual material, so their content should not be duplicated in the text, which does not exclude the possibility of using some generalised data from the tables in the analysis of the results obtained.

The tables should be simple in structure, easy to read and easy to place in the journal. Bulky tables should be avoided.

Where possible, the numerical material should be summarised in summary tables. Quantitative data used for comparative analysis should be statistically processed (mean error, confidence interval, reliability, sample size, etc.). All columns in the table should have headings. In those columns where it is necessary, units of values should be indicated after the heading.

Do not make tables with only one row of content, or tables that are too extensive and contain lists. Such data should be summarised and analysed in plain text.

All names of indicators in the head of the table are given in the nominative case of the plural, except for words of generalising nature, names of indicators, phenomena, etc., which are usually provided in the singular form only (for example: Temperature, Quantity, etc.).

In the table, it is allowed to use only common abbreviations and ones introduced by the author in the text of the article. Do not use any graphic symbols. If some data in the table need explanation, these data are marked with superscript indices (1, 2 for text and *, ** for figures) and explained in a separate line (lines) below the table; explanations begin with the word ‘Note’.

Do not use figures that depict (imitate) tables instead of actual tables. Do not use tables inserted one into another.

If the rows or columns of the table exceed the page format, divide it into parts, placing one part under the other or next to it, and repeat its head and sidebar in each part of the table . Above the continuation of the table on a new page, write  the heading ‘Continuation of Table 3’ (if the table does not end on this page) or ‘End of Table 3’ (if the table ends there).

Use portrait rather than landscape page layout for tables.

 

3. Format of Figures

Use figures only if they supplement the text part of the article or contribute to the understanding of complex material. Each figure must be referred to in the text of the article. Figures are placed after the references. References are arranged as follows: (Fig. 2) at the first mentioning and (see Fig. 2) when mentioned again, if the reference is repeated after the figure.

If there is only one figure in the article, it is not numbered. In this case, do not use the word ‘Figure’ before the name of the figure. The reference should be done as follows: (see figure).

All photographs, graphs, charts, diagrams, schemes, maps, etc. should be drawn as illustrations (figures) with appropriate captions.

Captions must be editable.

Formatting of captions: single spacing, Times New Roman font (11 pt). Captions should be provided in two languages: Russian and English (or another language corresponding to the text of the article). All text labels inside the figures should also be made in Times New Roman font.

Figures borrowed from sources should be provided with a reference indicating the source and the page on which the figure is located. Graphs and diagrams in the article should be made in Microsoft Word and available for editing. They may be made in Microsoft Excel, if inserted into Microsoft Word correctly.

The figures placed in the article should be of good quality, clear, and rich in contrast. If there are captions, the text should be readable. Figure formats: JPG, JPEG, PNG. Choose the “in line with text” image layout.

Ordinary graphs, charts, and uncomplicated diagrams should occupy an area of no more than 0.5 standard sheets (approximately 16×12 cm). Only the diagrams that are very rich in content may occupy up to 1 standard sheet (approximately 17×25 cm).

Do not place  more than three graphs or charts in one figure: it becomes cumbersome and difficult to read.

Do not place figures in tables.

Photos should be clear and rich in contrast. By default (in case of an article by a single author) all photos are considered to have been taken by the author. In case of several authors, the author of the photos must be indicated.

 

4. Format of formulae

To write formulae, use the Microsoft Equation editor (a Microsoft Word feature). You can also use MathType or ‘Insert→Equation’ (except for the Applied Mathematics & Physics journal). A formula should be placed in the centre of the page. Large formulae should be continued in the next line, with each new line being a new object. Before you continue the formula in a new line, place one of the following symbols in the previous line: ‘+’, ‘-’, ‘×’, ‘:’, ‘=’, and duplicate this symbol in the new line where the formula will be continued. If formulae follow each other and there is no text between them, they are separated with a comma. Formulae should not be scaled.

When typing formulas, use Times New Roman font, 

font sizes: regular - 12 pt, large index - 9 pt, small index - 7 pt, large symbol - 14 pt, small symbol - 11 pt.

 

Formulae in the form of drawings are not accepted!

Formulae are numbered only if they are referred to in the text, e.g.: the coefficients were calculated according to the formula (6). In other cases, formulae are not numbered. When numbering formulae, Arabic numerals are used, the serial number is enclosed in brackets and written to the right of the formula (right-alignment).

 

5. Citations and References

1) include at least 15–20 sources (depending on the article volume) into your list of References;

2) the list of References should include scientific works on the subject under study that have been first published within the last 5 years (about 80% of sources); 20% is allocated for authoritative scientific publications of different times;

3) in reviews and analytical papers, reference should be made to primary sources rather than to other works that cite those primary sources;

4) it is recommended to include up to 30% of sources published in English and other foreign languages;

5) the share of the author(s) works listed in the References should not exceed 20%.

 

5.1. In-text citations format

In-text citations are provided in square brackets: specify the author's surname (for works that have no author, specify the first words of the title), the year of publication, for example: [Rubinstein, 2015], [Code of Laws... 2010].

Each item in the Reference list must be referred to in the text!

When quoting the original or translated work from legally published sources (to the extent justified by the purpose of quoting), after the reference to the source, indicate the page on which the quoted fragment is located, e.g.: [Cheng, 2015, p. 20], [Rubinstein, 2015, p. 23],

If the publication has two authors, both surnames and the year are indicated, for example: [Dorokhov, Zaitsev, 2015]. If there are three or more authors, the surname of the first author only is indicated, followed by ‘et al.’, e.g.: [Wen et al., 2020; Shulman et al., 2015].

When Russian authors are referred to in the text, it should be written: ‘Smirnov et al. [2015] showed...’. Surnames of foreign authors should preferably be given in the original language (use English in the case of languages that do not use the Russian or Latin alphabet): ‘There is another opinion [O'Connor et al., 2018], according to which...’. However, if necessary, surnames of foreign authors are provided in a Russian text in Russian spelling, followed by the original spelling in brackets,  indicating the year of publication, for example: ‘Вейс [Weiss, 1955] established...’. The same applies to the names of foreign educational institutions, firms, branded products, etc. mentioned in a Russian text.

If materials from several publications are used, their references are arranged in chronological order, for example: ‘In a number of works [Shpigler, 2015; Wrenn, Loomis, 2018; Bychkov, Smirnov, 2021] it was found...’. If works of the same year are cited, references are arranged in alphabetical order: first Russian, then foreign ones. If several works by the same author (group of authors) published in the same year are cited, Russian or Latin (for foreign authors) lowercase letters are added to the year in alphabetical order. For example: [Petrov et al., 2015a, 2015б; Smith, 2018a, 2018d; McAloon et al., 2018b]. The order of letters is determined by the placement of the source in the list of References.

Footnotes may contain information about legislative, regulatory, archival, published and other documents, reports, as well as meaningful notes (comments, additions, etc.).

If a fragment of a radio or television programme is used as the research material, the author of the programme (if any), the name of the programme, the name of the radio or television channel and the date of the broadcasting should be indicated in the footnote. If the research material is represented by quotations from newspapers or any non-scientific publications (journals, websites, archival documents, etc.), specify the source in the footnote, or, if there are more than 5 sources, specify them in the list of sources before the References (you do not no need to describe the research materials in the English list of References).

 

5.2. Оформление Списка литературы

✓ Misrepresentation of sources in References can lead to significant misrepresentation of publication citation statistics.

✓ If the cited article has a DOI, it is necessary to indicate it. Failing DOI, the citation in the International Scientometric Databases is established by the surname of the first author and the article citation data (journal title, year, volume, number, pages). A mismatch of at least one letter or digit in these elements leads to a loss of the reference

The list of scientific literature should be presented in two blocks: in the Cyrillic script (Список литературы) and in Latin script (References). Both blocks should have the same number of sources.

The References in the Cyrillic list are listed alphabetically (except for lists in the Applied Mathematics & Physics journal, see para. 6).  Foreign sources are cited after Russian ones. The titles of books, articles, journals, names of publishers are given in full, without abbreviations.

If the Russian list of References contains foreign sources, they should be fully duplicated in the English Reference list (the one in Latin script).

The formatting of the English list of References has its own specifics. Titles of papers in languages that do not use the Russian or Latin alphabet (Chinese, Japanese, etc.) should be provided in English (the source language should be specified in brackets). Titles of papers in languages that use the Latin alphabet (English, German, French, Polish, etc.) are given in the source language (the translation of the title into English is given in square brackets).

The Russian titles of journals, articles, books, monographs, collections of articles and conferences (as well as ones provided in languages using the Cyrillic script) are transliterated, followed by a translation into English provided in square brackets. If an article or journal has a fixed title in English, specify this title in the English list of References, transliteration is not required in this case, and the source language should be indicated at the end of the reference, e.g.: (in Russian).

If the reference contains transliteration,  it is not necessary to specify the source language (in Russian) at the end.

The name of the publisher (if it is a proper name) is  transliterated only. The words ‘volume’, ‘issue’, ‘series’, ‘edited by’ (Ed.), ‘publishing house’, ‘translated from...’, abbreviated page designation - ‘p.’, as well as the place of publication (city) are provided in English only. Surnames of Russian authors are transliterated only, foreign authors’ names are provided in the authors’ language.

When referring to articles from Russian journals that have a translated version, it is better to give a reference to the translated version of the article.

For transliteration, you can use the free programme at http://translit.ru/, selecting the BSI system option.

Source description in transliteration only (i.e., without any translation into English) in References is inadmissible!

The name of the source and citation data are separated from the authors' surnames and the title of the article with a dot. The // sign is not used. Do not place commas between the author's surname and initials. The type of publication (textbook, manual, monograph, etc.) is not indicated. The title of the journal is italicised.

Description of educational literature, legislative and archival documents, reference books, patents, GOSTs, etc. (non-scientific literature) is provided in footnotes or in the list of sources at the end of the article (do not include it into the the Russian and English lists of References).

 

See Article template: DOCX, PDF

See Sample list of References: DOCX, PDF