Author Guidelines

 Author(s) Guidelines

Articles submitted for publication must conform to the following guidelines:

  1. Article Type

Akademika offers multiple article types to maximize your options for disseminating your work. Please refer to your preferred section to clarify which article types are available. Ensure that any manuscript, you submit conforms to the general Akademika article requirements. All Akademika articles are peer-reviewed, receive a DOI, are citable, published in PDF format, and submitted for indexing in relevant digital archives. Manuscripts are primarily concerned with research in educational technology, the design and development of learning systems, and educational technology applications.

  • Original Research

Original Research articles report on primary and unpublished studies. Original Research may also encompass confirming studies and disconfirming results such as hypothesis elimination, reformulation, and report on the non-reproducibility of previously published results. Original Research articles are peer-reviewed, have a maximum word count of 12,000 and may contain no more than 15 Figures/Tables. Original Research articles should have the following format: 1) Abstract, 2) Introduction, 3) Method, 4) Results and Discussion, and 5). Conclusions and Recommendations for Further Research.

  • Systematic Review

Systematic Review articles present a synthesis of previous research and use clearly defined methods to identify, categorize, analyze, and report aggregated evidence on a specific topic. Systematic Review articles are peer-reviewed, have a maximum word count of 12,000 and may contain no more than 15 Figures/Tables. Systematic Reviews should: clearly define the research question: population, interventions, comparators, outcomes and study designs (PICOS), and state which reporting guidelines. For design and reporting, systematic reviews must conform to the reporting guidelines (e.g., PRISMA, Cochrane, Campbell), and include the PRISMA flow diagram http://prisma-statement.org/prismastatement/flowdiagram.aspx (if applicable), as well as funding information (if no specific funding to carry out the research, please state so).

Systematic Reviews should have the following format: 1) Abstract, 2) Introduction, 3) Methods (including study design, participants, interventions, comparators, systematic review protocol, search strategy, data sources, study sections and data extraction, and data analysis), 4) Results (including a flow diagram of the studies retrieved for the review; study selection and characteristics; synthesized findings; assessment of risk of bias), 5) Discussion (including summary of main findings; limitations; conclusions). Systematic Reviews must not include unpublished material (unpublished/original data, submitted manuscripts, or personal communications). It may be rejected in review or reclassified, at a significant delay, if found to include such content.

  • Mini Review

Mini Review articles cover focused aspects of a current area of investigation and its recent developments. They offer a succinct and clear summary of the topic that allows readers to get up-to-date on new developments and/or emerging concepts. Besides that, the manuscript includes 1) Different schools of thought or controversies, 2) Current research gaps, 3) Potential future developments in the field. Mini Reviews articles are peer-reviewed, have a maximum word count of 3,000, and may contain no more than 2 Figures/Tables. Mini Review articles should have the following format: 1) Abstract, 2) Introduction, 3) Subsections relevant for the subject, 4) Discussion. Mini Review articles must not include unpublished material (unpublished/original data, submitted manuscripts, or personal communications). They may be rejected or reclassified, at a significant delay, if found to include such content.

  1. Templates

If working with Word please use our Word templates.

  1. Title

The title should be concise and informative, omitting any implicit terms, and, where possible, be a statement of the main result or conclusion presented in the manuscript. Within the title, acronym or abbreviations should be avoided.

Witty or creative titles are welcome only if relevant and within measure. Consider if a title meant to be thought-provoking might be offensive or alarming. In extreme cases, the editorial office may veto a title and propose an alternative. Authors should avoid titles that are mere questions without answering. For example, unambitious titles starting with Towards, A description of, A characterization of, or Preliminary study on. Vague titles, for example, starting with Role of, Link between, or Effect of that do not specify the role, link, or effect.

  1. Authors and affiliations
  • The name(s) of the author (s)
  • The affiliation(s) of the author (s), i.e. institution, (department), city, country (without detailed address information such as city zip codes or street names).
  • Please ensure that the name and an active e-mail address of the corresponding author are clearly indicated in the manuscript.
  1. Abstract

As a primary goal, the abstract should make the general significance and conceptual advance accessible to a broad readership. Please provide an abstract of 150 to 250 words. The abstract should be no longer than a single paragraph and should be structured, for example, according to the IMRAD format. For the specific structure of the abstract, authors should follow the requirements of the article type to which they're submitting. Minimize using abbreviations and do not cite references, figures, or tables.

  1. Keywords

All article types require a minimum of four and a maximum of eight keywords

  1. Introduction

This Section explains the context of the study and states the precise objective. An Introduction should contain the following three parts:

  • Background: Authors have to make clear the context. Ideally, authors should give an idea of the state of the art of the field the report is about.
  • The Problem: If there is no problem, there would be no reason to write a manuscript, so no reason to read it. So, please tell readers why they should proceed reading.
  • The Proposed Solution: The author(s) make sure readers point out the novel aspects of the author’s work.

Author(s) should place the manuscript in proper context by citing relevant papers. At least, using five references (recent journal articles) in this section.

  1. Method

The presentation of the methods should be clear and complete in every detail facilitating reproducibility by other scientists.

  1. Results and Discussion

The presentation of results should be simple in style. This section reports the most essential findings, including results of statistical analyses as appropriate and comparisons to other research results. Results given in figures should not be repeated in tables. The author(s) should explain in words with logical sequences what he/she/they discovered in the research. This section should be supported suitable references.

  1. Conclusion

Summarize sentences the primary outcomes of the study in a paragraph. The manuscript supports or contradicts previous theories. The conclusion explains how the research has moved the body of scientific knowledge forward.

  1. References

Akademika requires submissions based on current, relevant, and peer-reviewed academic research Authors are welcome to use online referencing tools in manuscript. Various valuable resources include EndNote, Zotero, and Mendeley (APA 7th edition). The citation of non-academic and non-peer-reviewed sources, including blog posts, website content, anonymous sources, or commercial websites, should be avoided or kept to a minimum. Authors should avoid citing content that is not directly relevant to the scope of the article and the journal.

Reference lists should reflect the current status of knowledge in the field, avoid bias, and not include a high proportion of citations to the same authors or sources, school of thought, etcetera. The reference list should be appropriate depending on the article type, covering the relevant literature through sufficient referencing. Authors should ensure that references are accurate, links are accessible, and citations/references adhere to the available reference styles. If available, please always include DOIs as full DOI links in your reference list (e.g., “https://doi.org/abc”).

  1. Figures, tables, and images: rights and permissions

If you include figures previously published elsewhere (including re-published/adapted/modified/partial figures and images from the internet), you must obtain permission from the copyright owner(s) for both the print and online format. Please be aware that several publishers do not grant electronic rights for free and that Akademika will not be able to refund any costs that may have occurred to receive these permissions.

All tables should be in Arabic numerals. Tables should always cite in text in consecutive numerical order. For each table, please supply a table caption (title) explaining the components of the table. Identify any previously published material by providing a reference at the end of each table caption.

  1. Abbreviations

Abbreviations should be defined at first mention and used consistently afterward.

  1. Role of the Corresponding Author

One author is assigned as Corresponding Author and acts on behalf of all co-authors and ensures that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work. The Corresponding Author is responsible for the following requirements:

  • Ensuring that all listed authors have approved the manuscript before submission, including the names and order of authors;
  • Managing all communication between the Journal and all co-authors before and after publication;
  • Providing transparency on re-use of material and mentioning any unpublished material (for example, manuscripts in press) included in the manuscript in a cover letter to the Editor;
  • Ensure disclosures, declarations, and transparency on data statements from all authors are included in the manuscript as appropriate.
  1. Author contributions

Akademika recommends that the author(s) include contribution statements in the work that specify the contribution of every author to promote transparency. These contributions should appear on the separate title page. Examples of such statement(s) are shown below.

Free text:

  • All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by [full name], [full name] and [full name]. The first draft of the manuscript was written by [full name], and all authors commented on previous versions. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
  • For review articles where discrete statements are less applicable, a statement should have the idea for the article, who performed the literature search and data analysis, and who drafted or critically revised the work.
  • For articles based primarily on the student’s dissertation or thesis, the student should be the first author.
  1. Affiliation

The primary affiliation for each author is the institution where they do a significant amount of their work. If an author has subsequently moved, it is best to include your current address. Addresses will not be updated or changed after publication of the article.

  1. Changes to authorship

Authors are strongly recommended to ensure the correct author group, the corresponding author, and the order of authors at submission. Changes of authorship by adding or deleting authors, changes in corresponding author, or changes in the sequence of authors are not accepted after acceptance of a manuscript. Please note that author names will be published exactly as they appear on the accepted submission! Please make sure that the names of all authors are present and correctly spelled, and that addresses and affiliations are current. Adding or deleting authors at the revision stage is generally not permitted, but in numerous cases, it may be warranted. The reasons for these changes in authorship should be explained. Approval of the change during revision is at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief. Journals may have individual policies on adding or deleting authors during revision stage.

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