The Guidelines for the UNESCO Chair on Culture and Cyberspace’s lectures and the Journal of Cyberspace Studies commentary

Commentaries are short, narrowly focused rigorous articles usually in areas of controversy analysis and debate relating to theories, methods, issues and prospect studies in the study of “cyberspace”, “cyber policy” and “culture & cyberspace”, which will fuel some interesting debate. Commentaries should contain a body of original information, a new method for doing something or a new idea (speculation, argument, proof, etc.) presented in a brief and unadorned form in 1500-4000 words.

1. Preparing your manuscript

1.1. Title page

The title page should:

  • present a title that includes, if appropriate, the research design or for non-research studies: a description of what the article reports
  • list the full names, institutional addresses and email addresses for all authors
  • if a collaboration group should be listed as an author, please list the Group name as an author and include the names of the individual members of the Group in the “Acknowledgements” section in accordance with the instructions below
  • indicate the corresponding author

1.2. Abstract

The abstract should briefly summarize the aim, findings or purpose of the article. Please minimize the use of abbreviations and do not cite references in the abstract.

1.3. Keywords

Four to six keywords representing the main content of the article.

1.4. Introduction

The Introduction section should explain the background to the article, its aims, a summary of a search of the existing literature and the issue under discussion.

1.5. Main text

This should contain the body of the article, and may also be broken into subsections with short, informative headings.

1.6. Conclusions

This should state clearly the main conclusions and include an explanation of their relevance or importance to the field.

2. Formatting

The Journal’s accepted format for the manuscripts is MS Word.

3. Artwork, figures and other graphics

Figures supplied in color will appear in color online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version. For specifically requested color reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from the Journal after receipt of your accepted article.

3.1. Artwork guidelines

Illustrations, pictures and graphs, should be supplied with the highest quality and in an electronic format that helps us to publish your article in the best way possible. Please follow the guidelines below to enable us to prepare your artwork for the printed issue as well as the online version.

  • Format: PNG, JPG, TIFF, JPEG: Common format for pictures (containing no text or graphs).

EPS: Preferred format for graphs and line art (retains quality when enlarging/zooming in).

  • Placement: Figures/charts and tables created in MS Word should be included in the main text rather than at the end of the document.
    Figures and other files created outside Word (i.e. Excel, PowerPoint, JPG, TIFF, EPS, and PDF) should be submitted separately. Please add a placeholder note in the running text (i.e. “[insert Figure 1.]")
  • Resolution: Rasterized based files (i.e. with .tiff or .jpeg extension) require a resolution of at least 300 dpi (dots per inch). Line art should be supplied with a minimum resolution of 800 dpi.
  • Color: Please note that images supplied in color will be published in color online and black and white in print (unless otherwise arranged). Therefore, it is important that you supply images that are comprehensible in black and white as well (i.e. by using color with a distinctive pattern or dotted lines). The captions should reflect this by not using words indicating color.
  • Dimension: Check that the artworks supplied match or exceed the dimensions of the journal. Images cannot be scaled up after origination
  • Fonts: The lettering used in the artwork should not vary too much in size and type (usually sans serif font as a default).

3.2. Figure captions

Ensure that each illustration has a caption. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.

3.3. Tables

Please submit tables as editable text and not as images. Tables can be placed either next to the relevant text in the article, or on separate page(s) at the end. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text and place any table notes below the table body. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in them do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article. Please avoid using vertical rules and shading in table cells.

4. Reference style

The JCSS adheres to the referencing style used by the American Psychological Association for in text citations and references. You are referred to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition

4.1. Citation in text 

Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either 'Unpublished results' or 'Personal communication'. Citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication.

4.2. Web references 

As a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given.

 

For further information contact Prof. Saied Reza Ameli at ssameli@ut.ac.ir

Note that commentaries are solicited and the manuscript should be sent to the Review Editor.