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Manuscript Guidelines

Author Guidelines

All manuscripts for Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations should be submitted electronically at this website (https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/jmsce_vamsc/)

Manuscripts must be submitted through the website; e-mail submissions will not be accepted. Submitting authors will be asked to confirm that the manuscript has not been previously published in a journal or other publication medium (print or electronic) or currently under review elsewhere.

Authors should complete a two or three sentence biographical sketch and upload it in the Cover Page Footnote (see step 4) section of the submission process. This biographical sketch will be published with the accepted article.

Formatting Requirements

  • Do not include a title page or abstract. This information is captured in Steps 2 through 4 of the online submission process. Begin the document with the introduction.
  • Submit your manuscript, including tables, figures, appendices, etc., as a single file. Only Microsoft Word or RTF files are accepted.
  • The document should be formatted according to the 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual Guidelines.
  • Page size should be 8.5 x 11-inches.
  • All margins (left, right, top and bottom) should be 1 inches (2.54 cm), including your tables and figures.
  • Use a single column layout with double spaced text.
  • Font:
    1. Main Body—12 pt. Times or the closest comparable font available
    2. Footnotes—10 pt. Times or the closest comparable font available
  • If figures are included, use high-resolution (300 dpi) figures, preferably encoded as encapsulated JPEGs or PNGs. (eps).
  • Copyedit your manuscript.
  • When possible, there should be no pages where more than a quarter of the page is empty space.

Additional Recommendations

Indenting, Line Spacing, and Justification

Indent all paragraphs. An indent should be 1/2 inch or 5-7 spaces.

Don't "widow" or "orphan" text (i.e., ending a page with the first line of a paragraph or beginning a page with the last line of a paragraph).

All text should be left-justified (i.e., flush with the left margin—except where indented).

Language & Grammar

All submissions must be in English. Except for common foreign words and phrases, the use of foreign words and phrases should be avoided.

Authors should use proper, standard English grammar. The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White is the "standard" guide, but other excellent guides (e.g., The Chicago Manual of Style, University of Chicago Press) exist as well.

Article Length

Articles should be no more than 10,000 words including tables, figures, notes, and references but not including the abstract (200 words maximum) and keywords (3 - 5 keywords).

Text Color

Set the font color to black for the manuscript text and for information presented in tables. Authors are encouraged to take advantage of the ability to use color in the production of figures.

Please ensure that there are no colored mark-ups or comments in the final version. (You may need to "accept all changes" in track changes or set your document to "normal" in final markup.)

Emphasized text

Whenever possible use italics to indicate text you wish to emphasize rather than underlining it. Please do not use color to emphasize text.

Font faces

Except, possibly, where special symbols are needed, use Times or the closest comparable font available.

Font size

The main body of text should be set in 12 pt. Avoid the use of fonts smaller than 10 pt.

Foreign terms

Whenever possible, foreign terms should be set in italics rather than underlined.

Headings

Headings (e.g., start of sections) should follow APA 7th edition guidelines.

Footnotes and Endnotes

Footnotes or endnotes should be used sparingly. Whenever possible all relevant information should be included in the body of the manuscript. Footnotes or endnotes should be in 10 pt. Times or closest comparable font available, they should be single spaced. Footnote or endnote numbers or symbols in the text must follow, rather than precede, punctuation. An excessively long footnote or endnote should instead be included as an appendix to the manuscript. All footnotes or endnotes should be left-justified.

Tables and Figures

To the extent possible, tables and figures should appear in the document near where they are referenced in the text. Large tables or figures should be put on pages by themselves. Avoid the use of overly small type in tables. In no case should tables or figures be in a separate document or file. All tables and figures must fit within 1 inch (2.54 cm) margins on all sides (top, bottom, left and right) in portrait view.

Mathematics

Roman letters used in mathematical expressions as variables should be italicized. Roman letters used as part of multi-letter function names should not be italicized. Whenever possible, subscripts and superscripts should be a smaller font size than the main text.

Short mathematical expressions and equations should be typed inline. Longer expressions and equations should appear as display math. Also expressions using many different levels (e.g., such as fractions) should be set as display math. Important definitions or concepts can also be set off as display math.

Symbols and notation in unusual fonts should be avoided. This will not only enhance the clarity of the manuscript, but it will also help insure that it displays correctly on the reader's screen and prints correctly. When proofing your document pay particular attention to the rendering of the mathematics, especially symbols and notation drawn from other than standard fonts.

References

Provide complete citations for all articles, books, websites, etc. referenced in the manuscript. Begin the reference section immediately after the last sentence of your text. Please insert a line break—not a page break—and begin your references on the same page of the manuscript. Each reference should adhere to APA 7th edition guidelines.