Formatting Guidelines

These are the formatting rules for every manuscript submitted to JournalsPub. A manuscript that follows them moves to publication faster and with fewer queries to the author.

⬇ Anonymised manuscript template (.docx) ⬇ Title page template (.docx)
All the styles below are already set up in both files — write in the templates and use their styles (Heading 1–4, Abstract, Keywords, Reference, List Bullet, List Number).

1. Page setup

Setting	Value
Paper size	A4 — 8.27 × 11.69 in (21.01 × 29.69 cm)
Left and right margins	1 in (2.54 cm)
Top margin	0.6 in (1.52 cm)
Bottom margin	0.5 in (1.27 cm)
File format	Microsoft Word (.docx)

2. The two files you upload

Our journals use double-blind peer review, so you upload your submission as separate files:

• Title page — not sent to reviewers. It carries the title, all author names, affiliations, ORCID iDs, corresponding-author details, author contributions, funding, competing interests, the ethics statement and acknowledgments.
• Anonymised manuscript — the paper itself, with every author name, affiliation, acknowledgment, funding detail and other identifying statement removed. Write self-citations in the third person and clear the author property of the file (File ▸ Info ▸ Inspect Document).
• Cover letter — a short statement of the contribution, confirmation that the work is not under consideration elsewhere, and any related or preprint versions.
• Figures, tables and supplementary files as separate files where the submission system asks for them.

Both Word templates share the page setup and styles described below.

3. Title page file

Part	Font and size	Style	Alignment
Article title	Calibri Light, 20 pt	Bold	Left
Author names, affiliations and corresponding-author line	Garamond, 12 pt	Regular	Left
Section headings (Corresponding author, ORCID iDs, Author contributions, Funding statement, Competing interests, Ethics statement, Acknowledgments)	Times New Roman, 11 pt	Heading 1 (bold, capitals)	Left
Text under each heading	Times New Roman, 11 pt	Normal	Justified

• Number the affiliations with superscripts and mark the corresponding author with an asterisk (*).
• Corresponding author: email address, complete postal/institutional address and, optionally, a telephone number (not published).
• An ORCID iD is mandatory for the corresponding author and strongly recommended for all co-authors.
• Describe each author’s contribution with the CRediT roles (listed in the template).

4. Anonymised manuscript: title, abstract and keywords

Part	Font and size	Style	Alignment
Article title	Calibri Light, 20 pt	Bold	Left
The word “Abstract”	Times New Roman, 11 pt	Bold italic	Centred
Abstract text	Times New Roman, 11 pt	Italic	Justified
Keywords line	Times New Roman, 11 pt	Starts with “Keywords:”	Justified

Abstract: about 200–250 words, in English, with no citations and no undefined abbreviations. Keywords: 5–8, on one line after the abstract. The title, abstract, keywords, author details and reference list must be in English.

5. Body text

• Times New Roman, 11 pt, justified.
• First line of each paragraph indented 0.15 in (0.38 cm).
• 11 pt of space after each paragraph; no blank lines between paragraphs.

Example: the body of the article is set like this paragraph — Times New Roman at 11 points, justified, with a small indent at the start of the first line and a gap after the paragraph rather than an empty line.

6. Headings

Use up to six heading levels. All headings are in Times New Roman, 11 pt. Do not number headings and do not let Word number them automatically — type the heading text only. Do not skip a level (a Level 3 heading must sit under a Level 2).

Level	Case	Weight	Slant	Placement	Example
Level 1	ALL CAPITALS	Bold	—	Left-aligned, on its own line	MATERIALS AND METHODS
Level 2	Title Case	Bold	—	Left-aligned, on its own line	Sample Preparation
Level 3	Title Case	Bold	Italic	Left-aligned, on its own line	Thermal Treatment of Samples
Level 4	Title Case	Not bold	Italic	Left-aligned, on its own line	Annealing at Low Temperature
Level 5	Sentence case	Not bold	Italic	Run-in: starts the paragraph, followed by “:”	Cooling rate: the samples were cooled at 5 °C per minute.
Level 6	Sentence case	Not bold	Not italic	Run-in: starts the paragraph, followed by “:”	Final weight: the dried mass was recorded to 0.1 mg.

Levels 1–4 are paragraph styles (Heading 1 to Heading 4). Levels 5 and 6 run into the paragraph: type the heading words at the start of the paragraph, end them with a colon, and apply the character style Heading 5 (run-in) or Heading 6 (run-in) to those words only. Level 1 appears in capitals automatically when you apply the Heading 1 style.

7. Lists

Bullets (by level)	Numbers (by level)
B1 ●   B2 ○   B3 ■   B4 □	N1 1.   N2 i.   N3 a.

Numbered items always end the number with a full stop (1. not 1) or (1)). Apply the template’s list styles — List Bullet to List Bullet 4 and List Number to List Number 3 — from the Styles pane; they carry the symbols above. Do not type the marks by hand, and note that Word’s default bullet and numbering buttons give different symbols.

8. Tables

• Every table has a caption above it: “Table 1. Caption text”. The label “Table 1.” is bold, 9 pt; the caption text is regular, 11 pt.
• Table text: Times New Roman, 9 pt.
• Borders: single line, 0.5 pt.
• Cell margins: top and bottom 0.02 in, left and right 0.04 in.
• Notes below the table start with “Note:”, “Abbreviations:” or “Source:” and are 9 pt.
• Place each table after the paragraph that first mentions it, with its caption above it and any notes below it.
• Build tables with Word’s table tool — never as images or with tab stops.

Table 1. Frequency and percentage of respondents by age group.

Age group	Frequency	Percentage
18–25	42	35.0
26–40	78	65.0

Note: Percentages are of all 120 respondents.

9. Figures and artwork

• No figure larger than 6 × 9 in (15.24 × 22.86 cm).
• Insert each figure in the text after the paragraph that first mentions it.
• Put a numbered caption (“Figure 1.”) below the figure, centred, in Times New Roman 11 pt (style “Figure Caption” in the template).
• Also supply high-resolution originals if the submission system asks for them.

10. References

• Numbered Vancouver style: cite in the text as [1], [2], [3–5] and list references in the order they are first cited.
• Times New Roman, 11 pt, justified, with a 0.25 in hanging indent.
• Give the DOI for every reference that has one, as a link: https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxxx
• Reference lists must be in Roman script. A reference in another language is transliterated, with an English translation of its title in square brackets.

1. Sharma A, Gupta R. Thermal stability of doped zinc oxide films. J Mater Sci. 2024;59(3):1123–35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-024-00001-x

Other source types (same style, same hanging indent):

• Book: Author(s). Book Title. Edition, if applicable. Place of Publication: Publisher; Year.
• Conference paper: Author(s). Title of paper. In: Editor(s). Title of Proceedings; Date; Place. Publisher; Year. p. page range. DOI
• Dataset or software: Creator(s). Title of dataset or software [dataset/software]. Version. Repository; Year. DOI or persistent URL.
• Web resource: Author/Organisation. Title [Internet]. Place: Publisher; Year [cited YYYY Mon DD]. Available from: URL

11. Before you submit

• Two files: the title page and the anonymised manuscript.
• The manuscript has no author names, affiliations, acknowledgments or funding details, and its author property is cleared.
• A4 page and the margins above.
• Times New Roman 11 pt throughout the body and headings.
• Headings typed, not auto-numbered, and no level skipped.
• Every table has a “Table N.” caption above it; every figure fits 6 × 9 in.
• Abstract of about 200–250 words, followed by 5–8 keywords.
• A Data Availability Statement is included (a section in the template).
• References numbered in citation order, with DOIs.

The general submission requirements — article types, ethics, authorship and peer review — are in Information for Authors.