Author Guidelines

JOURNAL INFORMATION / FOR AUTHORS

Author Guidelines

Manuscript preparation, submission requirements, research integrity, and double-blind peer-review instructions.

APLIKATIF — Journal of Research Trends in Social Sciences and Humanities

BEFORE YOU SUBMIT

APLIKATIF: Journal of Research Trends in Social Sciences and Humanities welcomes original scholarly manuscripts that contribute to knowledge development in the social sciences, humanities, education, and related interdisciplinary fields. Authors are expected to demonstrate scholarly relevance, methodological rigor, analytical depth, and a clearly articulated contribution to existing research.

All manuscripts must comply with the journal’s Focus and Scope, Manuscript Types, Publication Ethics, and the submission requirements below.

Article Template →Manuscript Types →

01 / ACCEPTED CATEGORIES

Manuscript Types

APLIKATIF accepts two principal categories of manuscripts:

Original Research Articles

Original Research Articles report findings from original empirical studies conducted using qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods approaches. These manuscripts must present a clear research problem, appropriate methods, evidence-supported findings, and a meaningful scholarly contribution.

Review Articles

Review Articles critically examine and synthesize existing scholarship. Eligible approaches include systematic literature reviews, scoping reviews, critical or integrative reviews, and narrative reviews. Review manuscripts must demonstrate an analytical contribution beyond the description or summary of individual studies.

Detailed descriptions and scholarly expectations for each category are provided in the Manuscript Types policy.

02 / ELIGIBILITY

General Submission Requirements

Manuscripts submitted to APLIKATIF must meet the following requirements:

The manuscript must be original, unpublished, and not under consideration by another journal.
The subject matter must fall within the journal’s Focus and Scope.
The manuscript must be written in clear, accurate, and academically appropriate English.
The research problem, objectives, methods, findings, and conclusions must be logically connected.
Claims and interpretations must be supported by appropriate evidence and relevant scholarly literature.
All sources must be acknowledged accurately, and the manuscript must comply with the journal’s research and publication ethics policies.
All listed authors must have approved the submission and agreed to take responsibility for their contributions.

Manuscripts that do not meet the journal’s basic requirements may be returned for revision or declined during initial editorial screening.

03 / DOCUMENT PREPARATION

Manuscript Format

Manuscripts must be prepared using the official APLIKATIF article template and the following formatting requirements:

Paper size	A4
Layout	Single column
Margins	2.5 cm on all sides
Main text	Book Antiqua, 11 pt
Line spacing	Single
File format	Microsoft Word (.docx)
Citation and reference style	APA 7th Edition
Language	English

Titles, headings, subheadings, tables, and figures should follow the formatting styles provided in the official manuscript template. Authors should use consistent formatting throughout the manuscript and avoid unnecessary changes to the prescribed layout.

Article Template: Download the APLIKATIF Manuscript Template

04 / SECTIONS AND REPORTING

Manuscript Structure

4.1. Title

The title must be concise, informative, and accurately reflect the subject and contribution of the study. It should not exceed 25 words. Avoid unnecessary abbreviations, overly broad expressions, and claims that are not supported by the study.

4.2. Author Information

Complete author information must be provided through the OJS submission system, including:

Full names of all authors.
Institutional affiliations.
Email address of the corresponding author.
ORCID identifiers, where available.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the author information and confirming that all co-authors have approved the submitted manuscript.

To preserve the journal’s double-blind peer-review process, identifying information must be excluded from the manuscript file submitted for review. Any separate title page or identifying information requested by the editorial office must be submitted in accordance with the OJS instructions.

4.3. Abstract

The abstract must be written in English and must not exceed 200 words. For Original Research Articles, the abstract should concisely describe the research background or problem, objective, methods, principal findings, and conclusion.

For Review Articles, the abstract should present the review objective, approach to literature selection and synthesis, principal findings or themes, and main conclusion.

The abstract must accurately represent the manuscript and emphasize concrete findings rather than general statements about the importance of the topic. Avoid citations, unexplained abbreviations, and information that is not discussed in the manuscript.

4.4. Keywords

Provide 3–6 keywords that accurately represent the main concepts, subject matter, or analytical focus of the manuscript. Keywords should be arranged alphabetically and separated by semicolons. Avoid overly general terms and unnecessary repetition of words already prominent in the title.

4.5. Introduction

The Introduction should establish the scholarly context, research problem, and significance of the study. It should:

Present relevant background supported by appropriate scholarly literature.
Critically identify what is already known and what remains insufficiently understood.
Establish a clear research gap, theoretical issue, methodological concern, or practical problem.
Explain the rationale and significance of the proposed investigation.
State the research objective, research question, or hypothesis, as appropriate.

The Introduction should develop a coherent argument leading to the study’s purpose rather than merely provide a descriptive overview of previous publications. Literature should be synthesized critically, with clear connections between previous research and the present study.

4.6. Methods

The Methods section must describe the research procedures with sufficient detail to permit an informed evaluation of the study’s methodological appropriateness, rigor, and trustworthiness. For Original Research Articles, relevant information may include:

Research design and rationale.
Research setting and context.
Participants, population, sample, or data sources.
Sampling or selection procedures.
Research instruments or data collection procedures.
Instrument development, validation, or other quality assurance procedures, where applicable.
Data analysis techniques.
Ethical considerations, including approval and informed consent where required.

The description should be appropriate to the research approach. Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods studies are not expected to report identical methodological elements.

For Review Articles, authors must explain the review approach and how relevant literature was identified, selected, evaluated, and synthesized. Systematic and scoping reviews should report search sources, search strategies, eligibility criteria, selection procedures, and synthesis methods transparently. Relevant reporting guidelines, such as PRISMA, should be followed when applicable.

Critical, integrative, and narrative reviews should explain their scope, literature selection approach, and analytical or conceptual synthesis procedures in sufficient detail to support the credibility of their interpretations.

4.7. Results or Review Findings

The Results section should present the main findings clearly, logically, and in alignment with the research questions or objectives. Findings must be supported by appropriate evidence, such as statistical results, qualitative data excerpts, documentary analysis, or other relevant research materials.

Tables and figures should be used when they improve clarity, not merely to repeat information already stated in the text. For Review Articles, this section should present the principal themes, patterns, relationships, debates, or developments identified through the literature synthesis. Authors should avoid presenting unsupported generalizations or interpretations that extend beyond the available evidence.

4.8. Discussion

The Discussion must interpret the findings in relation to the study’s objectives, relevant literature, and theoretical or conceptual perspectives. It should explain:

What the findings mean in relation to the research problem.
How the findings support, extend, qualify, or challenge previous research.
What theoretical, methodological, empirical, or practical contribution the study makes.
Which limitations should be considered when interpreting the findings.
What implications may reasonably be drawn from the evidence.

The Discussion should move beyond restating the Results and demonstrate critical engagement with the scholarly literature. Authors should distinguish findings supported by the data from interpretations, assumptions, and recommendations.

The Results and Discussion sections may be combined when appropriate to the research design and analytical presentation.

4.9. Conclusion

The Conclusion should provide a concise synthesis of the study’s principal findings and clearly explain how they address the research objectives or questions. It should emphasize the manuscript’s main contribution and, where appropriate, identify relevant implications and directions for future research.

The Conclusion must remain consistent with the evidence presented and should not introduce new findings, unsupported claims, or extensive literature discussions.

4.10. Declarations

Authors must provide the declarations required by the journal’s publication policies.

Conflict of Interest

All manuscripts must include a statement identifying relevant financial or non-financial conflicts of interest. Where no relevant conflicts exist, authors may state:

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use

All manuscripts must include an AI Use Declaration consistent with the journal’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use Policy. Authors must identify substantive AI assistance, describe its purpose, and take full responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of the manuscript.

Where no AI assistance has been used, authors may state:

The authors declare that no generative AI or AI-assisted tools were used in preparing this manuscript.

Funding

Authors must disclose financial support received for the research and identify the relevant funding organization, where applicable. If the study received no external funding, this may be stated explicitly.

Author Contributions

Authors should describe their respective contributions to the research and manuscript preparation, particularly for multi-author submissions.

Ethics Approval and Informed Consent

For research involving human participants, personal information, or other ethically sensitive materials, authors must report relevant ethical approval and informed consent procedures where required by applicable institutional, legal, or disciplinary standards.

Data Availability

Authors should provide a Data Availability Statement indicating whether the data supporting the findings are publicly available, available upon reasonable request, or subject to access restrictions. Restrictions arising from confidentiality, participant consent, ethical considerations, or legal requirements should be explained. The journal does not require authors to disclose confidential or identifiable participant information.

Declarations should appear before the References section. Identifying details must be handled appropriately during double-blind review.

4.11. References

All in-text citations and reference entries must follow the American Psychological Association Publication Manual, 7th Edition (APA 7). Authors must ensure that:

Every source cited in the manuscript appears in the reference list.
Every reference-list entry is cited in the manuscript.
Author names, publication years, article titles, journal titles, volume and issue numbers, and page ranges or article numbers are accurate.
DOI links are included where available and presented in the https://doi.org/ format.
Sources are relevant, credible, and appropriately integrated into the scholarly argument.
The reference list is arranged alphabetically by the first author’s surname.

Authors are encouraged to prioritize relevant, recent, peer-reviewed research while retaining foundational or seminal works when academically justified. The journal does not impose a universal publication-year restriction on references. The appropriateness of the literature will be evaluated in relation to the research topic and disciplinary context.

Reference management software such as Mendeley, Zotero, or EndNote is recommended to support citation accuracy and consistency. For further guidance, consult the APA Style website.

05 / PRESENTATION OF EVIDENCE

Tables, Figures, and Supplementary Materials

Tables and figures must be relevant, clearly presented, and appropriately cited or acknowledged. Each table and figure must:

Be numbered consecutively according to its order of appearance.
Have a concise and informative title or caption.
Be mentioned and discussed in the manuscript.
Include necessary explanations of abbreviations, symbols, and data sources.
Be presented in a readable format with adequate visual quality.

Tables should preferably remain editable rather than being submitted as images. Figures should have sufficient resolution for publication.

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted material when required. Supplementary materials, including research instruments, detailed analytical procedures, or additional datasets, may be submitted where relevant and permitted by the journal.

06 / ANONYMIZED SUBMISSION

Double-Blind Peer Review Preparation

APLIKATIF applies a double-blind peer-review process in which authors’ and reviewers’ identities are concealed from one another during manuscript evaluation. Before submission, authors must:

Remove author names, institutional affiliations, email addresses, acknowledgments, and other directly identifying information from the review manuscript.
Check document properties and metadata for identifying information.
Present self-citations in a neutral manner without unnecessarily revealing authorship.
Provide complete and accurate author information separately through the OJS submission system.
Ensure that supplementary files intended for review do not disclose author identities unnecessarily.

Authors should not remove relevant scholarly references solely to achieve anonymity. The editorial office may request additional anonymization when necessary.

07 / ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Research Integrity and Publication Ethics

Authors must comply with the journal’s policies concerning originality, authorship, plagiarism, conflicts of interest, responsible AI use, research misconduct, and post-publication corrections.

Fabrication or falsification of data, plagiarism, inappropriate authorship, undisclosed duplicate publication, fabricated references, and misrepresentation of research findings are unacceptable.

AI-assisted tools must not be listed as authors, and their use does not reduce authors’ responsibility for the accuracy, originality, or integrity of the submitted work.

Authors must also ensure that research involving participants or sensitive information complies with relevant ethical standards. Suspected violations may be examined in accordance with the journal’s published procedures.

08 / ONLINE EDITORIAL WORKFLOW

Submission and Editorial Evaluation

Manuscripts must be submitted through the journal’s online submission system. Before submitting, authors should confirm that the manuscript:

Fits the journal’s Focus and Scope and an accepted manuscript category.
Follows the prescribed formatting and structure.
Contains an accurate abstract and appropriate keywords.
Uses APA 7 consistently.
Includes all applicable declarations.
Has been prepared for double-blind peer review.
Complies with the journal’s ethical and submission requirements.

All submissions undergo initial editorial screening for relevance, originality, academic quality, methodological adequacy, and compliance with journal policies.

Manuscripts that pass initial screening proceed to the journal’s double-blind peer-review process, normally involving at least two qualified reviewers.

The final publication decision is made by the Editor-in-Chief or an authorized handling editor based on scholarly merit, peer-review assessments, and journal policies. Compliance with formatting requirements does not guarantee acceptance.

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