Authors Guidelines
Essential Title Page Information
Title Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
Author Names and Affiliations. Please clearly indicate the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author and check that all names are accurately spelled. You can add your name between parentheses in your own script behind the English transliteration. Present the authors’ affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author’s name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.
Corresponding Author Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. This responsibility includes answering any future queries about Methodology and Materials. Ensure that the e-mail address is given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author.
Present/Permanent Address If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a ‘Present address’ (or ‘Permanent address’) may be indicated as a footnote to that author’s name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.
Abstract
A concise and factual abstract is required up to 250 words. The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, References should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.
Keywords
Immediately after the abstract, provide a maximum of 5 keywords, using British spelling and avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, ‘and’, ‘of’). Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.
Abbreviations
Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field in a footnote to be placed on the first page of the article. Such abbreviations that are unavoidable in the abstract must be defined at their first mention there, as well as in the footnote. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.
Acknowledgements
Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proof-reading the article, etc.).
Formatting of funding sources
List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance to funder’s requirements:
Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA [grant number zzzz]; and the United States Institutes of Peace [grant number aaaa].
It is not necessary to include detailed descriptions on the program or type of grants and awards. When funding is from a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or other research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that provided the funding.
If no funding has been provided for the research, please include the following sentence:
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
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.
References
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.
Reference Links Increased discoverability of research and high quality peer review are ensured by online links to the sources cited. In order to allow us to create links to abstracting and indexing services, such as Scopus, CrossRef and PubMed, please ensure that data provided in the references are correct. Please note that incorrect surnames, journal/book titles, publication year and pagination may prevent link creation. When copying references, please be careful as they may already contain errors. Use of the DOI is highly encouraged. A DOI is guaranteed never to change, so you can use it as a permanent link to any electronic article. An example of a citation using DOI for an article not yet in an issue is: VanDecar J.C., Russo R.M., James D.E., Ambeh W.B., Franke M. (2003). Aseismic continuation of the Lesser Antilles slab beneath northeastern Venezuela. Journal of Geophysical Research, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JB000884. Please note the format of such citations should be in the same style as all other references in the paper.
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. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.
Data References This journal encourages you to cite underlying or relevant datasets in your manuscript by citing them in your text and including a data reference in your Reference List. Data references should include the following elements: author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add [dataset] immediately before the reference so we can properly identify it as a data reference. The [dataset] identifier will not appear in your published article.
References in a Special Issue Please ensure that the words ‘this issue’ are added to any references in the list (and any citations in the text) to other articles in the same Special Issue.
Reference Style
- Text: Citations in the text should follow the referencing style used by the American Psychological Association. You are referred to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition, ISBN 978-1-4338-0561-5, copies of which may be ordered online or APA Order Dept., P.O.B. 2710, Hyattsville, MD 20784, USA or APA, 3 Henrietta Street, London, WC3E 8LU, UK.
- List: references should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, etc., placed after the year of publication.
Journal Abbreviations Source
Journal names should be abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations.
Supplementary material
Supplementary material such as applications, images and sound clips, can be published with your article to enhance it. Submitted supplementary items are published exactly as they are received (Excel or PowerPoint files will appear as such online). Please submit your material together with the article and supply a concise, descriptive caption for each supplementary file. If you wish to make changes to supplementary material during any stage of the process, please make sure to provide an updated file. Do not annotate any corrections on a previous version. Please switch off the ‘Track Changes’ option in Microsoft Office files as these will appear in the published version.
Research data
This journal encourages and enables you to share data that supports your research publication where appropriate, and enables you to interlink the data with your published articles. Research data refers to the results of observations or experimentation that validate research findings. To facilitate reproducibility and data reuse, this journal also encourages you to share your software, code, models, algorithms, protocols, methods and other useful materials related to the project. Below are a number of ways in which you can associate data with your article or make a statement about the availability of your data when submitting your manuscript. If you are sharing data in one of these ways, you are encouraged to cite the data in your manuscript and reference list. Please refer to the “References” section for more information about data citation.
Proofs
One set of page proofs (as PDF files) will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author (if we do not have an e-mail address then paper proofs will be sent by post) or a link will be provided in the e-mail so that authors can download the files themselves. To ensure a fast publication process of the article, we kindly ask authors to provide us with their proof corrections within two days. ARSS now provides authors with PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download the free Adobe Reader, version 9 (or higher). Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs (also given online). The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site.
If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return them to journal in an e-mail. Please list your corrections quoting line number. If, for any reason, this is not possible, then mark the corrections and any other comments (including replies to the Query Form) on a printout of your proof and scan the pages and return via e-mail. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication: please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility.
Author(s) can directly ask any query related to their work by sending email at editor.arss@gscwu.edu.pk
Language
All manuscripts should be in English language (US English). Research papers should be thoroughly checked by the author(s) to avoid grammatical, typographical and syntax errors. If the manuscript is written in a second or third language, it is recommended to first contact a language reviewing service to avoid grammar and style mistakes.
Length of paper
The length of paper should be in between (4000-6000 words) including tables and references.
Title page
It should include concise, specific, relevant and informative title (avoid abbreviations in the title). Please indicate the full name of author(s) clearly. Present the authors affiliation below the names. Provide the full address of each affiliation, including the country name and correct e-mail address of each author. Please clearly indicate who (corresponding author) is willing to handle correspondence at all stages of peer review and publication.
General Rules for Text
Please use the following rules for whole text, including abstract, keywords, JEL Codes, headings and references:
Font: Times New Roman; Size: 12
Paragraph Spacing: 12 pt
Line Spacing: fixed – Single
Heading: Times New Roman; Size-12; Bold;
A concise and factual abstract is required (maximum length of 200 words) without any headings. The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, data set, methodology, results, major conclusions and usefulness of the study produced in a continuous paragraph.
Keywords
Immediately after the abstract, provide 4-6 keywords specific to the research article.
JEL Codes
Since the JEL classification system was developed for use in the Journal of Economic Literature (JEL), and is a standard method of classifying scholarly literature in the field of economics, therefore, authors are mandatory to write JEL classifications Codes from the website mentioned below:
https://www.aeaweb.org/econlit/jelCodes.php?view=jel
Introduction
This section may cover overall background and description of the study, narrow down to research objectives, motivation of the topic, importance/significance, proposed tasks and novelty. Abbreviations should be described in parentheses when first time they appear in the text.
Literature Review
This section may critically describe/evaluate literature relevant to research problem, establish context, compare and contrast the most recent developments in literature and trends. Search gaps after concentrating on thought leaders’ work and linking the research with relevant theories. Authors are flexible in writing literature review to be the part of introduction section.
Data & Methodology
The sources and types of data should clearly be mentioned in this section. List of variables description should also be the part of this section. This section may describe the statistical and econometric techniques applied to the data sets with the explanation of construction of hypotheses, equations, statistical tool and justification in case of quantitative analysis while for qualitative analysis, methodology should clearly be mentioned.
Results and Discussion
This section may cover in depth interpretation through applying higher order thinking skill of analysis and develop novel arguments based on significance of statistical and econometric relations. Establish interconnections among and within variables. Testing hypotheses and comparing with literature.
Conclusion and Recommendations
It may be broken into meaningful sections without any heading init, i.e. conclusion, theoretical contribution, practical implications, recommendations, future study directions and limitations.
Figures
Present them in order (suitable heading and specific number; Arabic numerals) wherever appropriate in the text. High-resolution (black and white only) graphs must be provided in the main text of the paper.
Tables
Present tables with suitable heading and specific number (Arabic numerals) at the appropriate place of the article. Use the Table option of Microsoft Word to create tables. Ensure that the data presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article. Refer to table number wherever appropriate in the text of the paper.
Acknowledgements/Contribution of Authors
All types of acknowledgements regarding contribution of authors and financial aids/sources of funding in case of research projects should be mentioned at the end of complete article but before the references. The contribution of authors is mandatory to write author-wise only with in one sentence in all submissions. This should be written before the References of the article.
References
Citations in the text should follow the referencing style used by the American Psychological Association (APA) 6th Edition.
