Preparing Your Manuscript

These guidelines describe how manuscripts submitted to KJAR should be prepared. Submissions that depart substantially from them may be returned before peer review.

Manuscript structure

Title page

• The title should be brief but informative, as it may be used in information-retrieval systems.
• Avoid abbreviations where possible.

Abstract

• Around 250 words in a single paragraph. Follow the style of a structured abstract — objective, method, results, conclusion — but without the headings.
• Be informative rather than descriptive, and do not include citations.
• The abstract must be self-contained: no abbreviations, footnotes or references, and no displayed equations or tabular material.
• Together with the title, it serves as an index to the subjects covered and must be suitable for indexing.

Keywords

• Provide 5 to 8 keywords that accurately describe the manuscript and are common within the subject discipline.

Introduction

• Give background accessible to readers outside the field, and explain the rationale for the study.
• Include two to three paragraphs on relevant literature.
• State why the work merits publication, or list the contributions of the paper.
• Set out the layout of the manuscript.
• Number in-text citations sequentially from “1” using Arabic numerals in square brackets, placed immediately after the reference or its author, or before the closing full stop.

Related work (optional)

• Applies to computer science, engineering and agriculture submissions, or where relevant to the article type.
• Review and discuss research directly relevant to the study, mapping the current state of knowledge and the gaps the work addresses.
• Analyse previous studies critically — their methods, findings and limitations — so that the novelty and significance of the present work is clear by contrast.

Materials and methods

• Provide enough detail for an independent researcher to reproduce the study.
• Disclose the source of all materials. For new formulations, list every ingredient and its source.

Results

• Present results clearly and in a logical sequence, supported by figures and tables.
• Include the rationale behind the experimental design and the outcomes obtained.
• Reserve interpretation for the discussion, so readers can distinguish data from analysis.

Discussion

• Emphasise the new and important aspects of the study and place the results in the context of previous work.
• Address the implications of the findings and the conclusions that follow from them.
• Limitations and directions for future study may be included here. A combined results and discussion section is acceptable where appropriate.

Conclusions

• Summarise the principal findings and explain their significance in the broader scholarly and practical context.
• Outline the implications of the research, acknowledge its limitations, and suggest avenues for further inquiry.
• Reflective closing remarks or a call to action are encouraged.

Figures, tables and equations

Figures

• Supply illustrations and charts at 300 dpi.
• Refer to them as Figure 1 to Figure N using Arabic numerals.
• All figures must be original unless stated otherwise and accompanied by permission to reproduce from the copyright holder.
• Place the caption below the figure in sentence case. It must be self-contained: a brief title and a concise description.
• Explain all symbols and abbreviations used.
• Embed figures within the body text rather than collecting them at the end.
• Label multi-part figures “(a)”, “(b)” and describe each part in order within the caption.

Tables

• Number tables sequentially from Table 1 to Table N.
• Use plain black and white rules, without shading or special fonts.
• Tables must be editable, not images, and must fall within the manuscript margins.
• Embed tables within the body text rather than collecting them at the end.
• Where a table runs across two pages, repeat the header on the second page as “Table 2: Continued.”

Mathematical equations

• Use Microsoft Equation Editor or the MathType add-on.
• Submit equations in an editable format, not as images, and include them in the main text.
• Number equations referred to in the text parenthetically, for example (1), and refer to them as “equation (1)”.

Abbreviations and acronyms

• Define abbreviations and acronyms at first appearance in the text, even where already defined in the abstract.
• Common abbreviations such as IEEE, WHO, UN, DNA, SI, ac and dc need not be defined.
• Abbreviations incorporating full stops should not contain spaces.

Citations and references

Citation practice

• Acknowledge all material taken from other sources, including your own previously published work, and obtain permission where necessary.
• Do not cite your own work excessively, or give undue preference to work by colleagues or your own institution.
• Do not cite material you have not read, and do not cite advertisements or promotional content.

IEEE style

KJAR uses IEEE style at 8pt. Citations are numbered in order of appearance, enclosed in square brackets on the same line as the text, with a space before the bracket and before any punctuation. Once a source has been cited, the same number is reused for every subsequent citation of it. Every reference in the list must be cited in the text, and every citation in the text must appear in the list. Reference management software such as Mendeley, Zotero or EndNote is recommended.

Cover letter

Authors and affiliations

• The corresponding author must list all co-authors with full names, email addresses, telephone numbers, exact affiliations (department, university, city, country) and an ORCiD iD for each.

Author contribution

• KJAR follows the CRediT Contributor Roles Taxonomy. All authors must meet authorship criteria and make substantial contributions.
• Roles include conceptualisation, data curation, formal analysis, funding acquisition, investigation, methodology, project administration, resources, software, supervision, validation, visualisation, writing of the original draft, and writing through review and editing.
• All authors are expected to have reviewed, discussed and agreed their individual contributions as submitted by the corresponding author.

Data availability

• Include a statement describing how readers can access the data or code supporting the reported results.
• Raw data supporting the findings must be available to reviewers and editors on request.

Conflicts of interest

• Declare all interests that could be perceived as conflicting, and explain why each may represent a conflict.
• Where none exist, state: “The authors declare no conflict of interest.”
• The submitting author is responsible for ensuring co-authors declare their interests.

Funding statement

• Name the funding body or bodies in full, followed by grant numbers in square brackets where applicable — for example: “This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy].”
• Where the study received no funding, state: “This research received no external funding.”

Acknowledgments

• Place acknowledgments at the end of the manuscript, before the references.
• Acknowledge anyone who contributed to the research or manuscript without qualifying as an author, with their permission.