Author Guidelines

GENERAL

The Journal of Science and Technology (JUST) aims principally to publish original research articles, reviews and case reports whether pure or applied in the various aspects of academic endeavour broadly classified as science (physical, biological, biomedical), the humanities and technology. The primary criteria will be that these articles contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the respective fields. Manuscripts MUST be accompanied by a written declaration that the materials have not been submitted for publication either in part or in full, in another journal and also include signature(s) of all author(s) of the manuscript. 

JUST does not charge manuscript processing or publication charges. Authors are required to provide evidence of ethical approval for their study.

JUST has implemented an "online first" publication model. Articles are made available online as soon as they are accepted and proofread, to underscore our dedication to disseminating cutting-edge research in a timely and accessible manner.

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION

Preparation

Manuscripts should generally be arranged in the following order: (1) Title Page with manuscript title, authors name(s) and address (es); (2) Abstract (3) Keywords; (4) Introduction; (5) Materials and Methods, (6) Results, (7) Discussion, (8) Conclusions, (9) Acknowledgments and Declaration of Conflict of interest (10) References.

Submission

Manuscripts, preferably in English, should be submitted through the JUST online journal system. Articles in French are acceptable if they address French language issues, otherwise they should be accompanied by an English translation. The submission file should be in Microsoft Word document file format. Manuscripts must be typed double-spaced. Double spacing apply to text as well as tables, references and figure legends. Articles that fail to meet the JUST style and form will be rejected outright. Submission of articles to JUST is understood to mean that the author(s) agree to transfer copyright of the article to the publisher to facilitate widest possible dissemination.

Title page

The first page of any manuscript shall include the title, name(s) of authors, their institutional affiliations and addresses, city and country (zip codes, if applicable) and a running head. The title of the article is typed in bold capitals using font size 12pt Times New Roman. Abbreviations are not allowed. Title must be short but descriptive of the contents of the manuscripts. Authors are listed with surnames first followed by their initials in upper- and lower-case letters in font 12pt Times New Roman. Addresses are listed under the names of authors. Where authors work at different addresses, they should be identified by numbered superscripts against their names. Where an author's current address has changed this may be provided as a footnote on the same page. References to professional qualifications are not necessary. A Corresponding author should be clearly indicated (marked by an asterisk) otherwise the first author will be assumed to be the contact person. Each title page should also have a running heading of 50 characters or less, including spaces placed at the bottom of the page. Authors are encouraged to provide their ORCID iD as part of their submission.

Abstract

The abstract heading as well as the text is typed 12 points Times New Roman. The heading should be bold and the text italic. The abstract is a concise abbreviated version of the article which telIs the reader whether the paper is worth reading at all; it must therefore be informative with respect to aim, experimental procedures, results and discussion and conclusion conveyed in the full paper. An abstract should maintain a maximum of 250 words.

Keywords

Heading should be 12 points Times New Roman bold. A maximum of five keywords that best describe the material being presented must follow the abstract.

Introduction

The introduction should follow the key words and should be as brief as possible; it should concern itself with a clear justification for the work undertaken and the underlying thesis; a short review of literature in the field of study is obligatory although any exhaustive review properly belongs to the Discussion section.

Materials and Methods (Methodology)

This section describes concisely and in detail the experimental procedures employed so that anyone wishing to replicate the work can do so and obtain comparable results. Provide sufficient detail so as to remove any possible ambiguities with respect to design, treatments, measurements or analysis. Where methods employed are commonly known in a given field, details should be omitted and the reference given instead. Modifications to known methodology must however be clearly described and explained.

Results and Discussion

This section describes clearly the observations made and their concise interpretation. While the two sections (Results/Discussion) may be separated, it is generally advisable to combine them to facilitate easy discussion of the results without having to repeat the results. Results could be presented in tables whenever possible, but should be clearly explained in the text taking care to avoid unnecessary repetition of tabular data. Standard deviations/errors help the reader to follow the trend of results and should be supplied as and when applicable. The discussion should include references to earlier or contemporary literature relevant to the topic studied; this way, a reviewer can decide on the merits of the manuscript.

Conclusions

This should contain the main or primary conclusions from the study and their implications. Suggestions of areas for further research if appropriate are also encouraged.

Acknowledgements

List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing technical support, language help, writing assistance etc.). These names must not be included on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise.

Declaration of conflict of interest

Authors must disclose specific information relating to any financial relationship they may have with a sponsoring organization and any interest that organization presents, as well as with any for-profit product discussed or implied in the text of the manuscript.

Tables

Tables are to be numbered according to their sequence in the text and should also be referred to in the text. The Tables should be inserted at the exact positions where they belong in the body of the paper. Size and layout limitations of JUST do not allow for large tables. All tables must have short but self-explanatory titles. Table numbers and titles should be placed at the top left of tables. Roman numerals are to be used. Editable tables should be constructed using the Microsoft Word Table format in columns and rows. Avoid putting legend/title to Table in the first row of the Table

Figures

Figures/illustrations should be inserted at the exact positions where they belong in the body of the paper. They should be clearly captioned and numbered according to sequence below each figure. Line drawings must be done in black ink and photocopies are not acceptable. Figures may not be used to duplicate data already presented in tables or text or vice versa. Photographs and illustrations are considered as figures and should be referred to as such. Captions should be brief but should adequately describe the contents. Do NOT include the legend or caption in the figure.

Footnotes

Footnotes to tables should be superscript numbers while superscript letters should be reserved for statistical analysis; asterisks are reserved for probability values. Footnotes to the title page (including title, authors, addresses etc) are numbered sequentially from the beginning. Footnotes should be used sparingly and only if absolutely required, otherwise the information should be embodied in the text of the paper.

References

References to literature in the body of the manuscript are cited by author(s), followed by year. Authors are cited by their surnames only, e.g., Asamoah-Hassan (1999) or (Asamoah-Hassan, 1999) depending on sentence structure. Asamoah-Hassan (1999) stated that archival collections present an impartial body of information. Archival collections present an impartial body of information (Asamoah-Hassan, 1999). Distinguish between different papers by the same author(s) by postscript letters (Osei, 1994a, 1994b, 1994c). In the body of the paper, where a paper has more than two authors, give only the name of the first author followed by et al. (see Osei, Okai and Tuah below). Unpublished papers must be referred to only in the text ( e.g. Osei, unpublished or S.A. Osei, personal communication) and should not be listed in the References section.

All literature mentioned in the text should be listed in alphabetical and chronological (if same authors have more than one paper cited) order at the end of the paper under References. The year of publication (in brackets) must follow the names of authors who should be listed surname first followed by initials. The use of et al in the references section is not allowed. Provide the full title of the paper in the original language or in an English translation.

For Journals, use the proper journal abbreviations; if in doubt, quote the full name of the journal. The name of the journal, volume and pages should be typed in italics. Follow the title with the volume number in Arabic numerals and the first and last pages of the citation. Issue numbers are not necessary except for journals where continuous pagination is not used. Only proper nouns in titles of papers and books need to be capitalized; for example:

Osei, S.A., Okai, D.B. and Tuah,A.K. (1999). Quality protein maize as the sole source of amino acids in the diets of starter pigs: a preliminary study. Journal of the University of Science and Technology 19: 1 – 4

For books, the full citation should also include the title, edition number (if more than one), name of publishers, city of publication and country (if city cannot be easily identified by readers): Cryer, P.E., (1976). Diagnostic Endocrinology. Oxford University Press, New York.

Where the book is edited, a reference to part of it must be given the normal literature citation but the title of the article is followed by the word In: and then the name of editor, book title, publishers and city of publication:

Baker, D.H. (1977), Amino acid nutrition of the chick. In: Draper, H.H. (Editor) Advances in Nutrition Research. Plenum Press, New York.

For references to conference and seminar papers, the citation should include the title of the paper, the theme of the conference/seminar, place where it was held and date (days and month, e.g., 19 – 21 May).

LATIN WORDS AND PHRASES

Latin words used to identify biological structures or entities are always italicised; similarly phrases like et al., in situ, in vivo, versus, per se. On the other hand, commonly used abbreviations such as etc., viz and e.g. do not require italicisation.

NUMBERS

As a rule, numerals are not used to start sentences; words are preferred. In addition, words should be used for all numbers less than 10 and numerals for those greater than 10. In the situation where a sequence of numbers is given with some less and others more than 10, the use of numerals for all is advised. If a number is followed immediately by a unit of measurement, use the numeral, e.g., 200g. 30cm.

UNIT OF MEASURE

The metric system of measure is obligatory.

PEER REVIEW

All manuscripts are subject to review by at least two referees knowledgeable in the author's field of study. These reviewers ensure the accuracy, currency and relevance of papers and their comments aid the Editor-in-Chief in deciding on the acceptability or otherwise of submitted manuscripts. Based on their review, authors may be required to make alterations to their papers before final acceptance.

PROOFS

Galley proofs of all accepted manuscripts are sent to the corresponding author who should check for typographical errors and answer queries raised by the Editor-in-Chief. The checked proofs should be returned to the Editor-in-Chief through the online submission system. Extensive alterations to the galley proof beyond those demanded by the Editor-in-Chief will attract a surcharge.

ORIGINALITY OF MANUSCRIPTS

The Editorial Board of JUST assumes no responsibility for statements made or opinions expressed by authors who should ensure that all submitted manuscripts have resulted from their own original work.

MANUSCRIPT LENGTH

Manuscripts submitted for publication should be between 1,500- and 8,000-words including tables and figures. The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right either to refuse long articles or to request that such articles be reduced in size to fit this maximum limit.