General Requirements

Language: Clear, grammatically correct English.

File type: Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx). PDF is accepted only for supplementary material.

Font & size: Times New Roman, 12‑pt.

Line spacing: 1.5 lines throughout the text (single‑spacing may be used in tables, figure legends, and references).

Margins: 1 inch (2.54 cm) on all sides.

Page numbers: Bottom‑center, starting from the title page (i.e., “1”).

Header/footer: Do not include header/footer.

Structure of the Manuscript

1. Title Page
   • Manuscript title (title case, no abbreviations).
   • Full names of all authors (first, middle, last).
   • Affiliations (department, institution, city, country).
   • Corresponding author: name, complete mailing address, telephone, and a valid e‑mail address.
2. Abstract (150–250 words)
   • A single, un‑indented paragraph that concisely states the purpose, methods, main results, and significance.
   • No references, abbreviations, or citations.
3. Keywords (5-7)
   • Choose terms from the Geosciences Keywords List (or similar controlled vocabularies).
4. Main Text
   • Introduction – background, research gap, objectives.
   • Study Area-if any
   • Materials and Methods – data acquisition, analytical techniques, statistical methods; sufficient detail for reproducibility.
   • Results and Discussion – factual findings, presented with figures/tables, interpretation, comparison with literature, implications, limitations.
   • Conclusion – concise summary of key findings and future outlook.
5. Acknowledgments (optional)
   • Funding sources, institutional support, contributions of non‑author individuals.
6. Conflict of Interest Statement
   • Declare any financial, personal, or professional interests that could be perceived as influencing the work.
7. References (APA 7^th edition)
   • Alphabetically ordered by first author’s surname.
   • Use DOI where available.
   • Example:

Journal Articles

Standard journal article (with DOI): Lee, S., & Kim, H. (2023). Virtual reality exposure therapy for anxiety disorders. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 79(4), 512‑527. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.2312

Article without DOI (from a database): Patel, R. (2021). Workplace mindfulness interventions. Occupational Health Review, 15(2), 87‑102.

Early‑view/Online‑first article: Gómez, L. (2024, March 15). Climate‑change adaptation in coastal cities. Environmental Science & Policy. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/esap.2024.01.005

Books

One author: Smith, J. M. (2022). Understanding social behavior. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003102005

Two‑to‑twenty authors: González, L., Patel, R., & O’Brien, K. (2020). Data visualization for the social sciences. Sage.

Edited book (chapter author differs): Brown, T. (Ed.). (2019). Handbook of educational psychology. Wiley.

Chapter in an edited book: Martinez, S. (2021). Cognitive load theory in online learning. In J. Lee (Ed.), Advances in instructional design (pp. 45‑68). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12345-6_3

E‑book without DOI: O’Neil, D. (2018). Artificial intelligence: A guide for thinking humans. MIT Press. https://archive.org/details/ai-guide

Reprinted classic: Freud, S. (2005). The interpretation of dreams (Reprint ed., Penguin Classics, 2005). Penguin Classics. (Original work published 1900)

Magazine & Newspaper Articles

Magazine (print/online): Davis, K. (2022, July). The rise of electric bikes. Technology Today, 33(7), 24‑27.

Newspaper (print/online): Torres, M. (2023, February 5). City council approves new housing plan. The Daily Gazette, p. B3.

Web Sources

Webpage on a corporate site: World Health Organization. (2023, November 10). COVID‑19 vaccination recommendations. WHO. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-2023-123

Webpage with no author: How to cite sources in APA style. (2022, June 5). Purdue Online Writing Lab. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_general_format.html

Social media post: Johnson, L. [@lisa_johnson]. (2024, August 12). Excited to share our new research on renewable energy… [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/lisa_johnson/status/1857398421

YouTube video: National Geographic. (2021, March 27). The secret life of the rainforest [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ1jYd3J7gU

Blog post: Patel, R. (2023, April 2). Minimalism in interior design. Design Insights. https://designinsights.com/minimalism-interior

Reports, Government Documents, & Grey Literature

Corporate/agency report: National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2020). Framework for improving critical infrastructure cybersecurity (NIST Special Publication 800‑53 Rev. 5). https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.800-53r5

Conference proceeding (paper): Liu, Y., & Chen, Z. (2022, May). Machine‑learning approaches to traffic prediction. In K. M. Lee (Chair), Proceedings of the International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (pp. 101‑108). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICITS.2022.9876543

Dissertation/Thesis (published/unpublished): Ahmed, S. (2021). Social media influence on political participation (Published/Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of California, Berkeley. https://digitalcommons.berkeley.edu/etd/1234

Dataset: Jones, M., & Patel, R. (2023). Global temperature anomalies 1880‑2022 (Version 2) [Data set]. Harvard Dataverse. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/ABC1234

Legal & Classical Works

Statute: Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 (1990).

Court case: Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).

Treaty: United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1577 U.N.T.S. 13 (1990).

Classical work (ancient text): Homer. (1999). The Iliad (R. Fagles, Trans.) (Original work published c. 8th century BCE). Penguin Classics.

Quick Reference Checklist

Author(s): Last name, initials; use an ampersand (&) before the last author (up to 20 authors).

Year: In parentheses, followed by a period. Use “n.d.” if no date.

Title: Sentence case, italicized only for books, reports, theses, and periodical names.

Source: Journal name (title case, italicized) + volume (italicized) + issue (parentheses, not italicized) + pages.

DOI: Format: https://doi.org/xxxxx. Do not use “doi:” prefix.

URL: Provide a direct, stable URL (no “Retrieved from” unless a retrieval date is required).

Hanging indent: First line flush left; all subsequent lines indented 0.5 in.

Alphabetical order: Sort entries by the surname of the first author.

Capitalization: Only the first word of the title, the first word after a colon or em‑dash, and proper nouns are capitalized.

Punctuation: Period after each major element; commas separate authors; ampersand before the final author; brackets for edition, volume, etc.

In‑Text Citation Quick Guide

One author: (Smith, 2022)

Two authors: (Lee & Kim, 2023)

Three or more authors: (González et al., 2020)

Direct quote: (Brown, 2019, p. 45)

No author: (“How to Cite Sources,” 2022)

Multiple works by same author: (Patel, 2019, 2021)

Group author as author: (World Health Organization, 2023)

Citing a specific part of a source: (Lee, 2023, § 3.2)

Supplementary Material (optional)

1. • Additional figures, tables, datasets, or code. Provide a brief description and reference it in the main text.

Figures and Tables

Numbering: Sequential Arabic numerals (Figure 1, Table 1) in the order of appearance.

Captions: Place below figures, above tables. Captions must be concise but fully explanatory; include units, abbreviations, and statistical details.

Legends: If needed, provide a separate legend file for symbols, line types, or color codes.

Permissions: For any reproduced or adapted material, obtain written permission from the copyright holder and provide a scanned copy during submission.

Funding acknowledgment: If your research grant covers APCs, provide the grant number and funder name in the acknowledgments.