Submissions

Author Guidelines

1. Guide for Author

1.1. Submission checklist

o  All required files have been uploaded, with file names and proper description.

Example: 1. Manuscript:

• Including Keywords not more than 6 words,
• Figures, (including titles and proper captions)
• Tables (including titles, description, and sources)
• Ensure all Figures and Tables citied in the correct place provided in the file
• Specify clearly if color print is required including Figures and Tables.

Example: 2. Supplementary materials will be uploaded, where applicable

o  Author names and their affiliations should be provided. Please indicate the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author, with affiliation address and country, and the e-mail address of each author is also required.

o All  authors  must  be  listed  in  the  order  of  their  contribution  before  submitting  their manuscript. No subsequent addition, deletion, or rearrangement of authors' names will be permitted after the manuscript has been accepted.

o One  author  should  be  designated  as  a  corresponding  author  who  will  handle  all  the correspondence at all process of peer-reviewing, publication, and post-publication.

o The manuscript title is catchy, short, and informative, and often does not exceed 20 words.

o The abstract can be read as stand-alone text and often does not exceed 250 words.

o The  manuscript  file  contains  all  essential  elements  though  the  order  can  vary:  Title, Abstract, keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion and Implications, References, and Figure and Table Captions, Acknowledgments, Conflict of interest, and short bibliography of all contributors.

o The  manuscript  text  presents  in  good  English  (American  or  British  language  usage  is accepted, but not a mix of).

o Manuscript text shall submit in an editable format (MS Word format), with font styles of

Times New Roman, 12 font size, and 1.5 line spacing.

o The  manuscript  has  consecutive  line  numbering.  This  is  an  essential  peer  review requirement.

o The manuscript file should be checked for ‘spelling’, and ‘grammar’.

o Authors are advised to check the manuscripts with software such as Turnitin, URKUND, iThenticate, and other plagiarism checker software before submission to ensure that the manuscripts  do  not  include  materials  that  already  existing  in  the  public  domain.  As  a minimum, text similarity percentage should below 1% with any existing sources, with a total similarity of no more than 20%, but if in any doubt, please cite the sources including page numbers in the text and use quotation marks where it is appropriate.

o All references cited in the text should be mentioned in the References list, and vice versa.

o Authors have obtained  the necessary written  permission to use a  copyrighted materials from third party, which shall include but is not limited to any proprietary text, illustration, figures, tables, or data.

o Authors  advised  to  follow  the  journal  guidelines,  but  a  failure  to  comply  with  the guidelines, the editor will send back it for further revisions.

o All information contained in the manuscript and acquired during the peer-review process will not be shared without the authors’ and editors’ consent.

o Rejected manuscripts may resubmit, if the author/s make significant revision.

1.2 Initial submission

Submission to the Journal of Equity in Sciences and Sustainable Development (JESSD) is online only using our editorial system: Open Journal System (OJS) (https://jessd.mwu.edu.et/. Authors are expecting to register in the system before starting the submission and required to Login as an author  to  begin  their  submission.  The  system  guides  the  submission  step-by-step  through  the process of entering the required details and uploading the manuscript files. A unique Id number will  be  assigned  for  all  successful  submitted  manuscripts  in  the  system,  and  the  system automatically converts the manuscript files to a single PDF file which will be used in the peer- review process. Through the system, the authors will be able to track the status of the manuscript submission in all stages of desk review, peer-reviewing, and publication. The system will send all the detail correspondence through the peer-review process, including letter of confirmation for submission of the manuscript and notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision through the  registered correspondence email, and often make ‘CC’ to other contributors, if email is provided.

1.3 Submission categories

1.3.1 Original Research Articles (approx. 10,000 words)

In this category, author/s can only submit full-length research articles that reports original findings and   experimental   procedures   sufficiently.   In   addition   to   having  specific   implications   for management  and  practice/policy  in  sciences  and  sustainable  development,  the  full  lengthen research articles should have bigger contribute to theoretical/methodological advancement. The total words no more than 10, 000 words including references, Figures, and Tables.

1.3.2 Critical Review Articles (approx. 10,000 words)

The Journal of Equity in Sciences and Sustainable Development (JESSD) does not accept pure bibliometric  studies  or  simple  systematic  literature  reviews.  Author/s  of  the  paper;  therefore, advised  to  submit  a  critically  review  scholarly  articles  which  is  current  and  the  discussion, conclusion, and implications need to be developed from with a strong theoretical and empirical focus, where the literature is now and where it might develop theoretically/methodologically in the future. The total words no more than 10, 000 words including references, Figures, and Tables.

1.3.3 Case Study Report/Technical Note (approx. 6, 000 words)

The JESSD publishes articles that report case studies/technical Note that carried out in a single location  within  the  domain  of  sciences  and  sustainable  development.  Authors  advised  to sufficiently  describe  the  new  methods,  techniques,  or  procedures  how  it  differs  from  those currently in use. The case report can demonstrate the validity of and contribution to the further development of a theory/method/technique/procedure. Submission of this type does not exceed 6,000 words.

1.3.4 Short Research Note (approx. 3,000 words)

The JESSD encourages the submission of short research notes that report the results of small-scale study  or  investigation  or  reporting  details  of  new  models  or  testing  hypotheses  on  a  niche topic/concept within the scope of sciences and sustainable development. The research note should have a bigger contribution to knowledge/theoretical/methodological advancement beyond offering pure empirical evidence of a phenomenon. A short research note often does not exceed 3, 000 words.

1.4 Manuscript Structure

The Journal has no strict formatting requirements, but it is important that all manuscripts be well- organized and concise, and should include all the essential elements needed to convey the scientific quality/soundness of the content in clearly defined sections: Cover page (title, authors name, with affiliation address, and contacts, abstract, keywords), Introduction, Materials and methods, Results and Discussion, Conclusions and/or  Implication  or recommendations,  Figures and  Tables  with captions,   Acknowledgments,   Conflict   of   interest,   Short   bibliography   of   all   contributors, References, and any Supplementary material, where applicable.

1.4.1 Title

The title should be concise, brief, and informative. The title is preferably does not exceed more than 20 words, and the first letter of each word must be capitalized and avoid any abbreviation in the title. It is important to keep in mind that title is often used in information-retrieval systems and therefore the choice of title impact how easily readers can discover the published research. The title  page  should  include  the  authors'  full  names  and  their  affiliations,  the  name  of  the corresponding author along with E-mail, Fax, and Phone number, and P.O.Box address.

1.4.2 Abbreviations/acronyms/symbols

All abbreviations/acronyms should be defined at first use.

1.4.3 Abstract

A  concise  and  self-explanatory  abstract  is  required.  The  abstract  briefly  state  the  title  and  its background,  statement  of  the  problem,  and  objective  of  the  research.  Basic  research  methods, experiments, and research data are indicated in the abstract. The abstract also points out the major findings, conclusion, and implications. Because an abstract is encouraged to present separately from the main body of manuscript, it should be present read as stand-alone text; therefore, authors keep this in mind when writing the abstract. Avoid all references and non-standard or uncommon abbreviations, but abbreviations which are essential should be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself, and only standard nomenclature is used. The abstract should not be exceed 250 words.

1.4.4 Keywords

The abstract should be followed by a maximum of 4-8 keywords for indexing purpose. They should be left justified and written in alphabetical order, and avoid general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, 'and', 'of').

1.4.5 Introduction

Following  a  general  to  specific  writing  tone,  the  introduction  provides  adequate  background information, provide a clear statement of the problem, state the objectives of the current study in light of previous findings, and state the proposed approach or solution; while avoiding a detailed literature review.

1.4.6 Literature Review

An empirical and theoretical section should extend by reviewing most recent literature but  not repeat the background information discussed in the introduction. The literature review can lay the foundation for further discussion of the results.

1.4.7 Materials and Methods

The Materials and Methods should be provided sufficient detail to explain the research approach and paradigm, experiment or the study design presented. The procedures, methods or tools used in data collection and statistical analysis and tools should be adequately described. More importantly, authors  encouraged  to  describe  in  detail  the  new  procedures  and  methods,  or  important modifications of the previous published procedures; while previously published methods need to be cited.

1.4.8 Results and Discussion

The results section need to present with clarity and precision. Results should be explained by cross referencing  between  text,  tables  and  figures,  and  the  statistical  significance  of  the  result.  The discussion  presents  to  interpret  the  findings  and  implications  of  the  results  obtained  just  in comparison with most  recent  past studies. A  discussion should explore the significance of the results of the study but not just repeat them. A separate results and discussion section is often appropriate but still authors can present together, with appropriate writing tone.

1.4.9 Conclusions and Implications

Conclusion is the reasonable extension of the results, and state the contribution of the findings to the body of knowledge/literature and methodological advancement. The main conclusion(s) of the study may be presented in a short conclusion section, as a stand-alone section or in form of a subsection  of  the  discussion  or  results  and  discussion  section.  The  recommendation  indicates empirical/theory/policy, or management implications of the study. Study’ methods and findings need to be thoroughly scrutinized and from them a decision on the best direction for future study is made.

1.4.10 Figure captions

Figures caption should be typed in numerical order, and should be self-contained and consist of a brief  title  and  a  concise  description  of  the  illustration.  Graphics  should  be  prepared  using applications capable of generating high resolution GIF, TIFF, JPEG or PowerPoint before pasting in the Microsoft Word manuscript file.

1.4.11Tables

Authors are not advised to have many Tables in the manuscript. Tables should be designed to be self-explanatory and simple. Table captions should be numbered consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. All Tables should be presented in editable text, not as image. Tables should be self-explanatory without reference to the text. Authors should keep in mind that the same data should not be presented in both Table and Graph form in the text. Authors often recommend to provide Tables within the manuscript file where applicable.

1.4.12 Mathematical Equations

Authors make ensure that all mathematical equations are submitted in an editable format, not as images. The equation should present in simple formulae in the line of normal text, where possible, and all variables in the formulae should be presented in italics form. Equations that have to be displayed separately from the text and should be number consecutively.

1.4.13 Acknowledgements

It is important to duly acknowledge all sources of research funding, as required by research funder. Authors need collate all acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article, before the references.

1.4.14 Conflict of Interest

All necessary declarations should be made, as well as any conflict of interest should be stated. Especially, any financial and personal relationships that the authors may have with other people or organizations that could inappropriately bias their scholarly works should be disclosed. Authors should ensure that they are responsible for any conflict of interest that may arise.

1.4.15 References

There are no austere requirements on reference formatting at initial submission of the manuscripts, as long as the style is consistent; however, authors are highly encourage to use APA referencing and  citation  styles,  with  the  inclusion  of  DOIs,  or  URL  to  ensure  references  are  citable  and discoverable. In the references, where applicable, author name(s), journal title/book title, chapter title/article title, year of publication, volume number and issues/book chapter, pagination and the DOI, or URL should be included. In JESSD, APA reference style will be applied to the accepted article at the proof stage, and any missing data such as volume number, issue number, or page number, will be highlighted at the proof stage for authors to correct.

In Text Citation

Authors should ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list, and vice versa. In the text, references are citing using the last name of the author/s (or editor/s) followed by the year of publication. Examples of citation in the text: Dorchies (1978) or (Dorchies, 1978), Goff and Horst (1997),  Caroline et al. (2004) or  (Caroline et al., 2004),  Getachew (2008a) or (Getachew, 2008a), Getachew (2008b) or (Getachew, 2008b). If a work has three (3), four (4) or five (5) authors, cite all authors should be cited in the first time, and from then on cite only the last name of the first author followed by the words et al. (i.e., ‘et al.’ is Latin for ‘and others’). If a work has six (6) or more authors, only the last name of the first author is cited followed by et al., and year of publications. Similarly, there are eight (8) or more authors, only the last name of the first author is cited followed by ‘et al.’, but in the reference list, the first six (6) authors’ names should be included followed by ellipsis points (...) before including the last author’s name. The names of groups, as authors, e.g., corporations, associations, or government agencies, are spelled out in the first citation, and shortened/abbreviated subsequently. In case of secondary sources cited by  another  author,  it  is  important  to  acknowledge  the  source  you  have  read,  showing  it  is  a secondary  source,  but  encourage  to  read  and  use  the  original  material.  Therefore,  in  the  text citation, use the words “as cited in” to indicate this is a secondary source, for example, (Fawcett,2008, as cited in Polit & Beck, 2010).

The reference list

All references or information sources cited in any written work (i.e. full length original articles, critical review articles, and research notes , etc.) should be listed in a reference list on a separate page at the end of the manuscript, headed as ‘References’. It is critical to provide all the details of reference list that necessary for the reader and/or marking the sources to locate and retrieve any information  from  the  cited  references.  Authors  need  to  know  that  providing  an  accurate  and properly constructed reference list increases the credibility of the manuscript and the sources cited. Reference lists can be entered either manually or automatically using Crossref, Mendeley, Zotero, and etc.

Examples of APA referencing styles

Book – author

Collier, A. (2008). The world of tourism and travel. Rosedale, New Zealand: Pearson Education 

2.  Peer-review process

JESSD operates a double blind or anonymized review process which means all the information that identifies the authors are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa. Therefore, authors asked to submit separate files of: 1) title page (with author details), including the title, author’s affiliations, acknowledgments, and any declaration of statement, and a complete address for the corresponding author including email address; and 2) anonymized manuscript (without author’s details),  including  title,  abstract,  and  main  body  of  the  manuscript.  The  Editor-in-Chief,  or Associate Editor-in-Chief, or the Section Editor with relevant expertise will then be assigned for handling the peer-review process. All the manuscripts submitted will be initially desk review by the  editors  for  suitability  for  the  journal  within  the  first  three  (3)  days  after  submission.  In discussion with editorial team, assigned Editors may reject manuscripts that they are not suitable for the journal and they deem highly unlikely to pass peer-review without further consultation. However, manuscripts that deemed suitable are typically sent to at least two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality/soundness of the full research article, reviews, or case studies.  Therefore,  Editor  makes  the  final  decision  regarding  acceptance  or  rejection  of  the manuscripts.

2.1 Decisions

Once the manuscripts have been referred by the peer reviewers, based on the review report, the editor  will  make  three  possible  decisions:  1)  Accept,  if  the  manuscript  satisfies  all  journal publication criteria); 2) Invitation to Revision, if more work is required. In this case, editor will

invite authors to revise and resubmit the manuscript within 4 weeks after receiving the notification from the editor but it depends on the comments given; and 3) Reject, if the manuscript fails to satisfy key criteria and it is highly unlikely that further work can address its shortcomings.

2.2 Revisions

If the manuscript has been refereed and the editor invites author to resubmit a revised version of the manuscript, it is critical to consider all editor’s and reviewers’ comments. If authors are able to suitably address these comments, the editor ask the author to submit a response to each comment alongside the revised manuscript. The revised manuscript and author’s responses to the comments and criticisms will be assessed by original editor, and whenever possible and, if required, editor will often ask the original peer-reviewers to check the manuscript again whether if their concerns have been addressed or not. The revision of the manuscript may go with many rounds until it is revised in accepted form. Therefore, authors are advised to either outline how the criticism was addressed in the revised manuscript or provide a rebuttal to the criticism. This makes it easier for editors  and  reviewers  to  evaluate  authors’  revised  manuscript,  and  may look  like  the  example below.

Table 1: Examples of author’s response to reviewers’ comment

Reviewers’ comment                 Author’ responses                                            Page

Comment  #1:  Although  the methodology section is well- written,      still      how      the respondents were intercepted are not adequately described.

Comment #2: The authors used PLS-SEM, but it is highly vulnerable to manipulation that could affect model replication. Therefore, I strongly recommend authors to inform how the assumptions of the model have been tested.I appreciate the reviewer’s comments about the    methodology    section.    This    study increases some content to describe how the respondents were intercepted.

This study follows the criterions suggested by Hair et al. (2020) to assess PLS structural model.

Step 1. Evaluate structural model collinearity

Step 2. Examine significance of path coefficients

Step 3. R2 of endogenous variables

Step 4. f 2 effect size

Step 5. Predictive relevance Q2 , therefore, the results of assumption test are annexed and indicated in the manuscript

See Pp. 21-22

See pp. 25-26

3.After Acceptance

3.1 Online Proof Correction

The corresponding author will receive a notification through a registered e-mail with a link to our online proofing system, which lets you annotate and correct proofs online. If preferred, authors can get the PDF Version through the registered email and annotate and upload the corrections. Authors can check the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures, citation, and references lists, and answer queries that arose during the production of the article by copy editor. All instructions for proofing are provided either on the online proofing site help  pages  or  instruction  will  be  given  to  authors  through  their  emails  on  how  to  proof  their accepted articles before final publication.  To ensure a  fast publication process of the  accepted article, the editorial team, most importantly, the production section kindly ask authors to send back their proof corrections within 2 days. Once, the proof has been accepted, the article get published within one (1) week, and will available online as soon as possible then a Digital Object Identifier (DOI)  is  assigned  to  fully  citable  and  searchable  by  title  or  author  name(s).  Therefore,  it  is important to know that proofreading is solely author’s responsibility. Authors make sure that all queries are properly answered and corrections are critically made before submitting the final proof, but the editorial team or the publisher cannot give any guarantee of the inclusion of any subsequent corrections. However, upon request from authors who have changed their name, the publisher will update author names on published papers and publish a correction.

3.2 Open access Note

JESSD is a fully open access journal. Therefore, once published in JESSD, the article will be fully accessed by readers to read, download, and share in free of charge.

3.3 Publication fee

Authors are not required to pay any publication fee or article processing fee.

3.4 License

JESSD  is  licensed  under  a  Creative  Commons  Attribution-Noncommercial  4.0  International license.

3.5 Copyright

The manuscript is not currently under submission to, nor is under consideration by, and nor has been accepted or published by any other journal. The author is also declared that the manuscript has  not  been  assigned  or  licensed  to  any  third  party.  Therefore,  upon  the  acceptance  of  the manuscript for publication in JESSD, the authors agree to automatic transfer of the copyright to the publisher.