Manuscript preparation

Preparing the initial submission

For direct submissions to the GPPS journal, our MS Word or LaTex manuscript templates are available. The templates include instructions on how to format your paper. For the initial submission in the GPPS journal’s submission system, only a PDF file based on our MS Word OR LaTex template is required.

For GPPS technical conference papers recommended for journal publication, the initial submission can be made with a PDF file of the original conference paper (or an updated version in the conference paper template with all changes marked up in color).

We aim to be flexible and to make the submission process as easy as possible for authors. As such, we keep our formatting requirements to a minimum (see the “formatting” section below) and do not insist on adherence to a rigid style. However, we do ask that authors consider the readability of their manuscripts to reviewers when formatting their manuscripts. Further, during the initial paper submission, we will ask for additional information (author details, declaration of competing interests, funding sources, etc.) provided by the submitting author via our journal’s submission system.

Article type

The following article types are considered for publication:

	Running title	Abstract	Manuscript length (excluding references)	Number of figures or tables
Original article	60 characters	300 words	6,000 words	16
Review article	60 characters	300 words	6,000 words	16
Technical Note	60 characters	No Abstract	1,000 words	3

Please note the maximum lengths for running title, abstract, and manuscripts will apply. However, we believe that a good paper is a concise paper. For this reason, we encourage authors to submit documents that are shorter than the allowed maximum length. In exceptional circumstances, longer papers may be accepted at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.

Preparing the final submission

Once your paper was initially accepted for publication after the review process, we will ask you to submit all the supporting files (high-resolution figures, tables, employer licenses (if needed), permission to reuse copyrighted material, etc.). Further, you will need to submit the final version of your manuscript both as an MS Word OR LaTex file AND as a PDF file. Please use our MS Word or LaTex manuscript templates. The templates include instructions on how to format your paper.

Text formatting requirements

Headings and body text

Built-in ‘styles’ should be used for the text and headings; this facilitates conversions into other file formats and results in more consistently formatted and laid out manuscripts for reviewers and editors. Header styles include GPPS Heading 1, GPPS Heading 2, GPPS Heading 3 (Please use no more than three heading levels). The body of the text is 10 pt Times Roman (Body Text Indent style) with precisely 12 pt line spacing. No text should be smaller than 7 pt.

References

GPPS journal uses the Harvard (author(s), year) reference style. All references should be cited in the text and listed in the references section in alphabetical order of citation. Unpublished work and personal communications should not be used as references.

References should be cited in the text using the names of the authors and year of publication in brackets, e.g. (Smith, 2015). If a reference has more than three authors, give only the first author’s surname, followed by “et al.” If several references with the same authors and the same year of publications are cited, they should be differentiated with letters (Smith and Duncan, 2010a; Smith and Duncan, 2010b). Order multiple references cited together chronologically and separated with semicolons.

The reference section should be ordered alphabetically using the formats below. Alphabetical sequencing is determined by the first author’s last name (including particles such as “de,” “van” etc.) and, if necessary, by the first author’s initial, then, letter-by-letter, by the following authors’ names, and finally by year of publication.
If no authors are present (not even an organisation that serves as author), the reference should be ordered by its title with articles “a,” “an” and “the” dropped.

Articles
Ross, N. (2015). On Truth Content and False Consciousness in Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory. Philosophy Today, 59(2), pp. 269-290.

Dismuke, C. and Egede, L. (2015). The Impact of Cognitive, Social and Physical Limitations on Income in Community Dwelling Adults With Chronic Medical and Mental Disorders. Global Journal of Health Science, 7(5), pp. 183-195.

A DOI is necessary for online articles and recommended for all articles. Replace DOI or volume and page numbers by “ In press” for accepted articles pending publication.

Books
Dahl, R. (2004). Charlie and the chocolate factory. 6th ed. New York: Knopf.

Daniels, K., Patterson, G. and Dunston, Y. (2014). The ultimate student teaching guide. 2nd ed. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications, pp. 145-151.

Book chapters
Bressler, L. (2010). My girl, Kylie. In: L. Matheson, ed., The Dogs That We Love, 1st ed. Boston: Jacobson Ltd., pp. 78-92.

Theses
Shaver, W. (2013). Effects of Remediation on High-Stakes Standardized Testing. PhD. Yeshiva University.

Blogs
Cohen, M. (2013). Re-election Is Likely for McConnell, but Not Guaranteed. [Blog] FiveThirtyEight. Available at: http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/re-election-is-likely-for-mcconnell-but-not-guaranteed/ [Accessed 4 Apr. 2015].

Other: As far as possible, include author names, publication date, title, medium, publisher, URL, reference or identification number and date accessed.

Websites
Raina, S. (2015). Establishing Correlation Between Genetics and Nonresponse. Journal of Postgraduate Medicine, [online] Volume 61(2), p. 148. Available at: http://www.proquest.com/products-services/ProQuest-Research-Library.html [Accessed 8 Apr. 2015].

For additional information regarding referencing please see: http://www.citethisforme.com/harvard-referencing

Nomenclature

SI units should be used, although other units can be acceptable if widely used in a specific field. Nomenclature should follow established practices and recommendations from authoritative bodies and committees.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations should be defined when first mentioned unless they are unambiguous and well known in the field.

Equations

For submissions in MS Word format, equations should be inserted in the manuscript text file in an editable format that can be converted to MathML, not as an image. Articles containing complex equations should use the commercial plugin MathType (version 6.9). Although it is possible to insert simple equations inline in plain text, please note that these equations will not be searchable on future versions of our website.

Language

Manuscripts must be written in clear English. Both US and UK spellings are acceptable but should be consistent throughout the document. Articles should be thoroughly checked and proofread before submission. Authors may consult the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition, for specific guidance on grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. Articles with serious language issues may be rejected without peer review; authors who are not fluent English speakers are encouraged to use professional editing services before submission.

Abstract

The abstract should concisely summarize the background, objectives, methods and results, and conclusions.
Abstracts should not contain citations.

Image and Figure Requirements

Each figure and table, including their captions, should be submitted as a separate file after the initial paper acceptance. Please make sure that all figures and tables are cited in the text.

Halftone Images

The editorial office recommends that all halftone (color or greyscale) should be saved as TIFF files. Files should be saved at a minimum resolution of 300 dpi with a minimum width and height of 5 inches or 13cm. TIFF files should be compressed once created, ensuring file sizes are kept to a minimum to aid swift file transfer. When saving as TIFF format, please ensure that LZW compression has been applied.

Line artwork

For figures using primarily line artwork, authors should use vector graphics saved in either EPS or PDF format. Files should be saved at a minimum resolution of 1200 dpi. When saving as PDF, it is important to ensure that any fonts are embedded, and all images are at the correct size and resolution.

Metadata and additional information

The following information is requested during the initial submission and should not be included in the manuscript file:

• Manuscript type
• Keywords
• Declaration of interest (for each author)
• Funding sources (for the research described in the manuscript)
• Acknowledgements (optional)
• Cover letter (optional)

Providing this information separately allows us to keep manuscripts anonymous as well as to achieve enhanced readability and format consistency in different output formats during the review stage.