Instructions for Authors/Author Guidelines

Author Guidelines (click to download file)

1. Publishing in this journal is totally free of cost, i.e. no fee for review, proofreading, editing, formatting, and publication, etc. Submit your paper via email to <ijolis@aiou.edu.pk>
2. Prepare and submit your paper in MS Word format; 2 inch margins (top, left, right) and 1.75 inch from bottom, black toner, Times New Roman, 11 size font for text/body with single line spacing, justified paragraphs; 0.25” indentation to each paragraph; no space between paragraphs; 6-point space before and after every heading.
3. All pages should be top-right numbered as header 1.6 inch from top, however, hide the page number on title page of the paper. Different headers for even and odd pages should also be used. Footnote(s) with asterisk(s) should be used for author(s) detail. See the published papers of IJoLIS for example.
4. All authors should write their full names in straight order without titles along with their institution name, city, and country on the title page. The first author should also write his/her email address as he/she will be considered the principal and corresponding author.
5. No article should exceed 5000 words inclusive of everything. Maximum two authors can be included in one paper. However, this condition may be relaxed in case of lab research where a group of researchers may involve to invent/develop new products.
6. A structured abstract as per Emerald journals’ style should be given comprising maximum 250 words. Try to complete the abstract on first page of the article including author footnote(s).
7. Use APA6 Style Manual for headings, tables, figures, citations, references, and appendices. However, table number and caption should be written in one line. No table or figure should exceed beyond one page (you may change the font style and size to fit it on one page), however, if it exceeds, place it as appendix after the references. Always give in parenthesis (n = ???) after table or figure caption, where applicable. All parts in a figure should be grouped. Use Tables and hide unwanted lines in lieu of Shapes.
8. Check your paper in Turnitin for plagiarism before submitting it to the IJoLIS for consideration. The similarity index should not exceed 15% excluding author(s) details, keywords, acknowledgements, references, and bibliography. The IJoLIS editorial team will also check your paper for plagiarism using Turnitin.
9. Papers will be selected by a process of peer review, with double-blind review of each paper. However, preference will be given to papers that literally contribute to knowledge innovatively. Quantitative studies using a small sample (e.g. less than 100) and with merely frequency counts and descriptive statistics will be least preferred. Hence, use in-depth analysis of data to draw conclusions.
10. If your first language is not English, get your paper proofread by a language expert before submitting it to the IJoLIS.
11. See some examples below.

Headings and their Three Levels

Level One Heading (Font Size 12)

Level two heading (Font size 11)

Level three heading (Font size 11)

Tables

Table 1. Student Mode of Study (n = 230)

Figures

Figure 1. Pie chart of population (n = 230)

Title Page

Title of Paper

Author 1

Author 1 institutional affiliation

Author 1 email address

Subsequent authors

Subsequent authors’ institutional affiliation(s)

Next to Title Page

Title of Paper

Abstract

Purpose:

Design/methodology/approach:

Key findings:

Research limitation(s):

Practical implication(s):

Contribution to knowledge:

Paper type:

Keywords:

Body of Research Paper

Introduction/Background

Objectives/Research Questions/Hypotheses

Literature Review

Methodology

Findings

Discussion

Conclusions

References

Appendix(es), if any