Submissions

Author Guidelines

Submission

Authors need to register an account in order to make submissions online. Once a login is created, please use the same login for current and future submissions.

Authors should submit three files, including: 1) "Manuscript anonymous", i.e., the full manuscript in WORD format (Article Template) with no author information or authors’ names in the text; 2) "Title page”, i.e., a WORD page with the manuscript title, authors’ names, affiliation and ORCID (optional); 3) "Similarity Check Proforma", completed and signed as a PDF copy.

If the author needs to replace the original submission, use the same login and do NOT resubmit as a new paper or create a new registration. Please watch 'How to Use OJS - Tutorial Videos'.

Manuscripts must be prepared using the article template provided which can be downloaded from the right-hand side navigation panel.

Articles are submitted on the understanding that they have not been published elsewhere previously and that they are not being submitted simultaneously to another journal.

If the author uses materials protected by copyright, it is the author’s responsibility to acquire any necessary permissions and they are personally responsible for the payment of any fee related to copyright that may be applicable. Authors are also responsible for obtaining any ethical clearance necessary for the publication of their article.

Length: Articles should normally be about or upto 6,000 words in length, not exceeding 8,000 words including appendices. 

Language: We consider papers in English using consistent spelling conventions either in BrE (British English) or AmE (American English).

If you feel your paper needs some revision so that it is more concise and accessible to the readers and reviewers, you could use professional copyediting service to improve the structure and expression of your paper. Some FAQs on copyediting.

Style Guides

RECAP uses APA referencing style. For grammar and usage, Chicago Style Guide is generally followed. Manuscript and copy typesetting follow RECAP’s own styles. Key points are listed below and further details can be found on the downloadable article template.

Abstract

An abstract of less than 250 words must be submitted together with the full manuscript.

Keywords

Keywords given in the manuscript should be the ones that are important but have not appeared in the title.

Font & Size

Use the downloadable article template for submissions. Times New Roman is the standard font for RECAP publications. For section titles, ATJH1 should be used. ATHH2 is used for sub-session titles, and so on so forth, if you need to use further sub-subsections. The ATJ body text should be used for all body texts.

Abbreviation, Acronym and Initial

Define abbreviations and acronyms the first time they appear in the main text, even they have been defined in the abstract. Avoid the use of abbreviations in the title or sections unless they are unavoidable. Symbols are treated in the same way as acronyms. They must be defined when they first occur in your text. It is recommended if these short forms are used no more than twice, perhaps you should avoid defining and using them at all.

Referencing & Footnote

APA referencing style should be abide by, and examples are given in the template. If a bibliography is needed, you can add it to the end of the references using the same layout.

RECAP does not support the use of footnotes as a means of content clarification or locally presented references. For content clarification, you can give explanation in the main text. The only allowable use of footnotes is to acknowledge the rights permission. The use of footnotes is strictly limited to the case where the use of them is to enable the publishing of the content legally.

Trademarks

All trademarks should be denoted as trademarks, not just usual proper nouns.

Tables & Figures

The table style is not stipulated, but titles and captions are. The table style is chosen to best form your content. If coloured grids or panels are used, be mindful of possible colour distortion from screens and printers. 

Every figure presented must have a title for it. Captions are optional. To make the layout neat and allow for sufficient clarification, RECAP recommends keeping explanation to figures in main text instead of the use of lengthy captions. 

Conflicts of interest

All authors should disclose any financial or other conflict of interest that may be deemed to influence the results or interpretation of their study. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

Editors and Editorial Staff as Authors

Editorial staff or editors shall not be involved in the processing of their own academic work. Submissions authored by editorial staff/editors will be assigned to at least two independent reviewers. Decisions will be made by other Editorial Board Members who do not have a conflict of interest with the author on whether their submissions ought to be published or not.

Licence and Copyrights

All the articles are published under the licence of Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial and Non-Derivative 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).

RECAP usually asks the author to transfer their copyright to the journal/publisher. Authors can utilize their work under the "fair use" provisions in copyright law, just like any other user. The publisher grants the authors certain rights per Copyright Transfer Agreement.

However, authors and/or their sponsors may request to hold the copyrights provided the full APCs are paid and, in such cases, they will need to grant the publisher a non-exclusive licence to publish their works.

Article Processing Charge

In order to provide free access to readers, it is a common practice for OA journals to charge Article Processing Charge (APC) to cover the costs of copyediting, typesetting, indexing & archiving, and journal management. RECAP is no exception.

The publisher agrees not to charge APCs till December 2024. APCs will be charged to the articles published after 1 January 2025. However, RECAP provides waivers and discounts to authors from low- and middle-income countries, based on the Research4Life country list. Authors from these countries will have APC costs waived (for Group A countries) or reduced by 50% (for Group B countries).