Submission Guidelines
Language: English, except articles on literature of specific languages like Bengali, Hindi/ such as Bengali and Hindi.
NB. Authors of Bengali and Hindi articles will use a clear and suitable Unicode-supported font of suitable size. All other aspects of the submission guidelines will be the same. They will also use the MLA style for referencing, using their own scripts.
Word limit:
For full papers- 3000 words excluding final Reference list.
For short commentaries etc. (Coverage area-2)-1500 words.
Word count may be rounded to the nearest hundred.
Page set up
● Use Microsoft Word 7 or its upper versions. Set page size to A4. The file should be editable. Do not send pdf files.
● Margin of one-inch height to be kept on four sides of the page.
● Page numbers in Indo-Arabic numerals should be inserted at the bottom right corner of each page.
● Manuscripts should be composed using Times New Roman, font size 12
Style
Maintain a lucid and impersonal style. Be careful not to disclose your identity in the text and anywhere else except the Title page, which will hamper the blind review process; e.g. avoid constructions like- …in my previous paper on the topic in 2011…
Title page
● The title page should be a separate page and should precede the textual pages.
● It should contain the title, subtitle etc. author(s)’s name(s) and affiliation(s), e-mail ID(s) and phone number(s). In case of more than one author the first author will be considered corresponding author and all further communications will be made to him/her.
● Justify your title to the Centre.
● Author name(s) should also be centre-justified and placed below the title, one beneath another.
● Affiliation(s) etc. of author(s), centre-justified, should come under author(s)’s name(s). Use superscripts a, b, c, and so on with the author(s)’s name(s) to indicate their respective affiliations; The style is showcased below:
Title: subtitle
(Author 1) Forename Surnamea, (Author 2) Forename Surnameb
a. Author 1-Affiliation and contact, b. Author 2-Affiliation and contact
- Use font size 20 in the bold face for the title
- Use font size 14 in bold face for author(s)’s name(s)
- Use font size 10 in bold face for affiliations and contacts
NB: Do not capitalize your title; use normal sentence case instead.
Textual pages:
Textual pages should begin next to the title page and should contain the abstract and the keywords in the beginning.
Abstract and keywords
● The abstract, approximately in 200 words, must be fully self-contained and make sense by itself, without further reference to outside sources or to the actual paper. It should highlight the key content areas, your research purpose, the relevance or importance of your work, methodology, and the main outcomes in brief.
● Use at least 3 but not more than 6 keywords.
● Use font size 11 for abstract and keywords.
● Only the keywords should be italicised
Headlines
If you want to use headlines you may use them in any of the two ways, A. or, B.
Use normal sentence case for all headlines and sub-headlines.
A. Use hierarchical headlines and sub-headlines, but make their use limited up to three-tiers, in font sizes 14 bold-faced, 12 bold-faced, and font size12 in bold-face italics respectively. The style is demonstrated below.
Headline in font 14, bold faced
Sub-headline level 1 in font 12, bold faced
Sub-headline level 2 in font 12, bold faced, italicised
If you need to create further sub-headlines under level 2, continue with font 12, bold faced, italicised but use them in the regular textual lines rather than making separate paragraphs for each creating an extra tier.
Enumerate your headlines and sub-headlines hierarchically, up to a manageable level e.g. 1, 2, 3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.1.1, 3.1.2, 3.1.3…etc. After that, use i. ii. iii. …; a. b. c. … etc.
B. Use non-hierarchical headlines using font 12 in bold face consistently, and enumerate them in a suitable way.
NB: Authors of Bengali and Hindi articles will use the same font size as of the text-body in bold face for headlines.
Quotations:
- If your quotation is within 4 lines, incorporate it within your regular text lines using quotation marks. Put the in-text citation just after the quotation ends. Put the full stop after the closing bracket of the in-text citation, and never after the end of the quotation itself, i.e. follow the “quotation” (in-text citation). pattern.
- If your quotation runs for more than 4 lines, write the quoted lines as a block quotation i.e. put a colon (:) at the end of the regular text line before the quotation; use a 0.5-inch indention from your left hand margin so that the long quotation stands separate as a block of lines. You need not use any quotation marks. Put the in-text citation within round brackets as usual, but put the full stop before the in-text citation.
- If you have already mentioned in the text-sentence the name of the person whose quotation you are using, do not mention the name again in the in-text citation; i.e. Do not write: As Tagore said, “quotation from Tagore” (Tagore 121). Instead, use the page no. only.
Citations and works cited (References)
Use in-text citations as well as Works Cited list freely to avoid plagiarism. Apart from books, book chapters and journal articles, many different types of sources can be cited in a scholarly article such as news paper items, video recordings, websites, e-books, etc. follow the rules from the MLA Style Manual, Ed. 9 accordingly. For quick references, you may consult:
i. https://columbiacollege-ca.libguides.com/MLA9/welcome
ii. https://guides.library.ualberta.ca/citing/mla
Citations usually include: 1. Author(s) 2. Title of cited work 3. Title of container of the cited work 4. Contributor(s) 5. Version, edition etc. 6. Volume, Number, etc. 7. Publisher 8. Publication date 9. Location-page no/URL/DOI. e.g.
● All in-text citations and references should be prepared following the MLA style (Ed. 9).
● In-text citations usually include author(s)’s surname(s) and page number(s) in a round bracket; e.g. (Marlowe 226); (Auden and Isherwood 55), etc.
● In the Works Cited list provide an alphabetical list of all your cited works.
● Do not start in a separate page, but put it after a double space gap from the last line of your textual body.
● Put the head line Works Cited, put another double space and begin your list of cited works. Do not enumerate them and excepting the first line of each citation maintain a hanging indention of 10 spaces for the subsequent lines as shown below. Keep 1.5 point space between lines.
● Always prefer DOI to URL when DOI is available. e.g.
The style is shown below.
References
Alfar, Cristina L. Fantasies of Female Evil: The Dynamics of Gender and Power in Shakespearean Tragedy. U of Delaware P, 2003.
“Charlie Chaplin.” History, AETN UK, 14 Jan. 2013, www.history.co.uk/biographies/charlie-chaplin.
Dworkin, Ronald W. “Science, Faith and Alternative Medicine.” Policy Review,vol. 108, no. 2, 2001, pp. 3-19. Academic Search Premier.
Koltz, Hattie. “Doctors Offer Alternative, Naturally: Naturopathic Doctors Meet Growing Demand for Their Services.” Ottawa Citizen,17 May 2008, H10. Canadian Newsstand.
Foot notes and end notes
You should generally avoid foot notes and end notes except when they are absolutely necessary for providing any extra information that cannot be covered by the text and references.
- Use a bold line double-line space below the last line of the text in the page where you are going to put your foot note.
- Leave single-line space beneath the bold line and then write your foot note in the same font, using font size 10. Maintain a 10 space indention from the left margin.
- Indicate in the text references to your foot notes with numbers in superscripts for each page separately. Never use a, b, c etc. or any special character.
- Do not flow foot notes on to the next page.
Figures and tables and images
Number your figures, tables and images as Fig. 1, Fig. 2; Table 1, Table 2; Image 1, Image 2, etc. Give sources of tables, figures or images if they are from outside sources. Mention the source just beneath the Figure etc. within square brackets in font size 10.
Plagiarism and copyright
Contributors should be careful to avoid plagiarism of all kinds. If selected for publication, a declaration from the author(s) regarding the originality of their work and the transfer of copyright of the article will be obtained from the contributor(s) in prescribed format by the editor.
NB. Use of any AI-based or, Large Language Model tool even in small proportion is not allowed. Declarations regarding this will be obtained by the same declaration form.
Reviews and Modifications
Contributors whose papers are accepted may have to modify their papers according to the suggestions/ comments put forth by their respective reviewers.
