Submissions

Author Guidelines

Download the manuscript template here.

Ethical Guide for Author

• Authors should ensure the originality of their work and avoid plagiarism. The submitted manuscript should not be published elsewhere.
• Authors should not submit the manuscript to more than one publisher for simultaneous consideration.
• Authors must always give proper acknowledgement of sources and secure permissions for material that is copyrighted.
• Authors should maintain the integrity of research, present accurate work and discuss its significance objectively.
• Authors should be prepared to provide data or relevant supporting material for verification and validation of the results upon request.
• Authors should avoid statements that could potentially be seen as allegations.
• Authors are strongly discouraged to have excessive and inappropriate self-citation or collectively cite among several authors.
• Authors are obliged to notify the journal chief editor if inaccuracy of the published work is discovered.

Authorship

• Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the work reported in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data and interpretation. It is a collective responsibility and accountability of all the authors for the accuracy and integrity of the published work.

Preparation of Manuscript

Language

Prepare the manuscript in English, either British English or American English, but not a mixture.

Format and Layout

• Prepare manuscript by using single-column, double spacing, Arial font type and font size 12.
• For post-acceptance submission, a template will be provided to guide the author on final manuscript preparation.

Article Structure

The manuscript file should include:

• Title page
• Main text
• Tables with titles
• Figures with captions
• Conflict of interest
• Appendices or supplementary materials
• Acknowledgement
• References

Title Page
The title page should include the title, abstract, keywords, authors’ names and affiliations, name and email address of the corresponding author.

Abstract
A stand-alone summary that is not more than 300 words. It should include purpose, method, main findings and conclusions.

Keywords
Authors should provide not more than six keywords. Do not duplicate words from the title.

Authors
Authors are advised to ensure the order of authors, the corresponding authors, the contacts and affiliations of all the authors are correct upon submission. Changes to authorship are not permitted after acceptance of the manuscript.

Main Text
The main text for the research manuscript should include the introduction, method, results, discussion and conclusion.

Tables with Titles
Tables should be supplied as editable files and not pasted as images. Legends should be concise and comprehensive – readers can understand the table, legend and footnotes without reference to the text. All abbreviations must be defined in footnotes. Statistical measures (e.g. SD or SEM) should be identified in the headings.

Figures with Captions
Excellent figures, i.e. graphs, photographs, schemes, diagrams and other visuals can play a significant role in effectively communicating your research findings, giving impact to your work. The quality of figures in the journal depends on the quality of the original files provided by the authors. Figure legends should be concise and comprehensive – readers can understand the table, legend, and footnotes without reference to the text. All abbreviations must be defined in footnotes.

Authors are encouraged to send the highest-quality or resolution figures for peer-review purposes. A wide variety of formats, sizes and resolutions are accepted. The recommended resolutions are: (i) colour photographic images 300dpi, (ii) grayscale photographic image 600dpi, (iii) line art or monochrome images 1200dpi, (iv) combination of photographs and labelling 600dpi. Creating your figures in one of the preferred file types (EPS, TIFF, or PNG) is better than converting an existing figure later.

For post-acceptance submission, the figures should be prepared according to the guideline in the article template. Note to all authors that the quality of the journal will be significantly reduced, and will be most likely impacting its readability if you do not supply your images in the preferred formats and resolutions.

Figures submitted in colour may be reproduced in colour online, free of charge. However, it is preferable that line figures (e.g. charts and graphs) are supplied in black and white so that they are legible by a reader (if printed) in black and white. If the author prefers to have figures printed in colour in hard copies of the journal, a fee will be charged by the Publisher.

Conflict of Interest
Authors are required to disclose interests that are related to the work. The interests include but are not limited to the funding agency, employment, financial and non-financial. Authors must provide information on parties involved that may gain or lose through the publication of this manuscript.

Appendices or Supplementary Materials
Supplementary materials such as questionnaires, data, source codes, descriptions of complex equipment, images, etc. can be published with your article. The material must stand on its own, with the necessary explanation provided. Submit the material together with the manuscript.

Acknowledgment
The funding sources and support material must be listed if there are any. Individuals who do not meet the criteria for authorship but have contributed to the manuscript, e.g. technical assistance, formatting, translator, proof leading, etc., should be listed. It is the responsibility of the authors to obtain permission from the contributors.

References

• References should be indicated in the text by a superscript Arabic number. References must be numbered individually. All references should be grouped together at the end of the manuscript and numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Authors are also responsible for the accuracy of the references.
• Upon initial submission, references can be provided in any style, but they must be complete, including titles. For publication, references should adhere to the JSST’s APA format and should include the following components with proper punctuation and arrangement: authors’ names, year, title, journal title, volume, issue number, full-page ranges. Citation of a reference ‘in press’ implies that the material has been accepted for publication.
• Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended as references but may be included. For unpublished references, provide as much information as possible (e.g., list of the author, paper title, for lectures or symposia, symposium title, sponsor, location) during the submission process. The publication date can be substituted with either ‘Unpublished results’ or ‘Personal communication’.

Sample references are provided below:

Journal Article

Format:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date). Title of article: Subtitle. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number), page numbers of the whole article.

1.  Jian, Y., Handschuh-Wang, S., Zhang, J., Lu, W., Zhou, X., & Chen, T. (2021). Biomimetic anti-freezing polymeric hydrogels: keeping soft-wet materials active in cold environments. Materials Horizons, 8(2), 351-369.
2. Culebras, M., Barrett, A., Pishnamazi, M., Walker, G. M., & Collins, M. N. (2021). Wood-derived hydrogels as a platform for drug-release systems. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 9(6), 2515-2522.
3. Willner, I. (2017). Stimuli-controlled hydrogels and their applications. Accounts of Chemical Research, 50(4), 657-658.
4. Provost, F., & Fawcett, T. (2013). Data science and its relationship to big data and data-driven decision making. Big Data, 1(1), 51-59.

Book

Format:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date). Title in sentence case: Subtitle (edition, if not the first). Publisher. URL or DOI (if electronic)

Examples:

1. Tripathy, D. K., & Sahoo, B. P. (2017). Properties and applications of polymer nanocomposites. Springer-Verlag GmbH.
2. Peppas, N. A. (Ed.). (2019). Hydrogels in medicine and pharmacy: Fundamentals (Vol. 1). CRC press.
3. Majee, S. B. (Ed.). (2016). Emerging concepts in analysis and applications of hydrogels. BoD–Books on Demand.
4. Sakaguchi, R. L., & Powers, J. M. (2012). Craig’s restorative dental materials-e-book. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Book chapter

Format:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date). Title of chapter: Subtitle. In A. Editor & B. Editor (Eds.), Title of book: Subtitle (edition*, pages of chapter). Publisher. DOI or URL (if electronic)

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date). Title of chapter: Subtitle. In Title of book: Subtitle (edition*, pages of chapter). Publisher. DOI or URL (if electronic)

*if not the first edition – do not include edition information for first editions.

Example:

1. Le Couteur, D., Kendig, H., Naganathan, V., & McLachlan, A. (2010). The ethics of prescribing medications to older people. In S. Koch, F. M. Gloth, & R. Nay (Eds.), Medication management in older adults (pp. 29-42). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60327-457-9_3
2. Martin, A. (2006). Literacies for the digital age. In A. Martin & D. Madigan (Eds.), Digital literacies for learning (pp. 3-25). Facet.
3. Pagliano, P. (2018). Inclusive practices. In A. Ashman (Ed.), Education for inclusion and diversity (6th ed., pp. 235-267). Pearson Australia.
4. Rolf, F., & Burston, A. (2020). Safety. In A. Berman, G. Frandsen, S. Snyder, T. Levett-Jones, A. Burston, T. Dwyer, M. Hales, N. Harvey, L. Moxham, F. Rolf , K. Reid-Searl, & D. Stanley (Eds.), Kozier and Erb’s fundamentals of nursing (5th Australian ed., pp. 2695-2833). Pearson.

Thesis

Format:

a) Published Dissertations and Theses

Author, A. A. (year). Title of dissertation/thesis: Subtitle (Doctoral/Master’s dissertation/thesis, Name of Institution Awarding the Degree). URL (from institutional database)

b) Unpublished Dissertations and Theses

Author, A. A. (year). Title of dissertation/thesis: Subtitle (Unpublished doctoral/master’s dissertation/thesis) Name of Institution Awarding the Degree.

Examples:

1. Lee, Y. J. (2020). Silent partnership in the age of smart technology, (Doctoral thesis, Arizona State University). https://www.asu.edu/
2. Cruz, B. (2021). Additive manufacturing for complex structures with magnetic smart materials, (Doctoral thesis, The Ohio State University). https://www.osu.edu/
3. Shelby, T. (2022). A guide to parents about school bully intervention and prevention (Unpublished master’s thesis). South and City College Birmingham.

Paper published in conference proceeding, book form

Format:

Author, A. A. (Date). Title of paper. In A. Editor & B. Editor (Eds.), Title of proceedings (page numbers). Publisher. DOI OR URL if relevant.

Examples:

1. Morgan, R., Meldrum, K., Bryan, S., Mathiesen, B., Yakob, N., Esa, N., & Ziden, A. A. (2017). Embedding digital literacies in curricula: Australian and Malaysian experiences. In G. B. Teh & S. C. Choy (Eds.), Empowering 21st century learners through holistic and enterprising learning: Selected papers from Tunku Abdul Rahman University College International Conference 2016 (pp. 11-19). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4241-6_2

1. Rubio, M. P., Vergara, D., Rodríguez, S., & Extremera, J. (2018, June). Virtual reality learning environments in materials engineering: Rockwell hardness test. In International Conference in Methodologies and intelligent Systems for Technology Enhanced Learning (pp. 106-113). Springer.

Paper published in conference proceeding, Journal form

Format:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date). Title of article: Subtitle. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number), page numbers of the whole article.

Example:

1. Rudyardjo, D. I., & Wijayanto, S. (2017, May). The synthesis and characterization of hydrogel chitosan-alginate with the addition of plasticizer lauric acid for wound dressing application. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series, (Vol. 853, No. 1), p. 012042. IOP Publishing.

Conference papers, sessions and presentations

Format:

Author, A. A. (Date). Title of Contribution [Type of contribution]. Conference Name, Location. DOI or URL if applicable

Examples:

1. Bland, A. (2017, November). The implementation of a junior Samoan language programme in a South Island, New Zealand secondary school context [Paper presentation]. Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) Conference 2017, Canberra, Australia.
2. McDonald, E., Manessis, R., & Blanksby, T. (2019, July 7-10). Peer mentoring in nursing – improving retention, enhancing education [Poster presentation]. STARS 2019 Conference, Melbourne, Australia. https://unistars.org/papers/STARS2019/P30-POSTER.pdf

Website

Format:

Author, A. A. (Date). Title of web page. Publisher/Site sponsor name. URL

Examples:

1. Powertech Systems. (2021, April 30). Lead Acid battery downsides. https://www.powertechsystems.eu/home/tech-corner/lead-acid-battery-downsides/.
2. Mide Technology Corporation. (2021, May 1). Smart Materials. https://www.mide.com/smart-materials.

 

Footnotes

Footnotes should be numbered with consecutive superscript Arabic numerals and used sparingly. Keep footnotes brief. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list.

 

Endnotes

Endnotes should be placed as a list at the end of the manuscript only (not at the foot of every page). Endnotes should be numbered in the list and referred to in the text with consecutive, superscript Arabic numerals. Keep endnotes brief.

 

Numbered sections

Number the sections of the main text as 1, 2,…, and subsections as 1.1,…, then 1.1.1, 1.1.2 and so on.

 

Numbered tables, figures, equations

Tables, figures and equations should be numbered with Arabic numbers. For example, Table 1, Table 2, …Figure 1, Figure 2, …, and so on. For equations, use captions (1), (2),…, but mention as Equation 1, Equation 2, … in text.

 

Other points for consideration

Abbreviations

Generally, terms should not be abbreviated unless they are used repeatedly, and the abbreviation may be helpful to the readers. Initially, the author should use the word in full, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses and thereafter use the abbreviation only.

Chemical structures
Chemical structures should be produced with the use of a suitable drawing programme such as ChemDraw, Marvin Sketch and etc.

Nomenclature
Authors should use nomenclature (systematic names) similar to those in Chemical Abstracts Service and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.

Units of Measurement
All measurements should be given in SI or SI-derived units. Please check the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) website for more information about SI units.

Mathematical Equation
All mathematical equations should be prepared as editable text and not as images. Use Arial font type for variable, function, number and text, and use symbol font type for the symbol. Variables, parameters, functions are in italics. Number, bracket, comma, operators are not italicised. Define sizes for full 12, subscript 8 and sub-subscript 6.

 

After Acceptance

Open Access Agreement             
Prior to the publication of an article, corresponding authors are required to complete the Open Access Agreement CC BY; where authors retain self-archiving right. A downloadable version is available which can be completed and returned by editor@ngmc.ac.in to the editorial board.

Proof Correction 

Correction of the galley proofs is the responsibility of the corresponding author. Galley proofs will be emailed to the corresponding author with complete instructions for review. Substantial alteration in interpretation, data correction, or language polishing should be restricted at this stage. Any extensive changes on the galley proofs, including changes to the title or list of authors, are subjected to review by the editor. The corresponding author should also ensure that all authors listed on the manuscript agree with the changes made to the proofs. Authors are required to provide the proof corrections in one communication within 3 days.

 

Copyright and Licensing

Prior to the publication of an article, corresponding authors are required to complete the Open Access Agreement CC BY; where authors retain self-archiving right. A downloadable version is available which can be completed and returned by editor@ngmc.ac.in to the editorial board.

Manuscript Template

Download the manuscript template here.

For enquiry, contact editor@ngmc.ac.in