Manuscript Preparation Guidelines


All submissions to Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication should be made using the online submission form. Submissions to JLSC must comply with all items on the Manuscript Preparation Guidelines, Section Policies, and Submission page. Non-compliant submissions will be returned to authors for revision before any further consideration.

Note: If the primary submission is not in manuscript format (i.e. a textual document), but is in another form of media (video, audio, etc.), please consult with the editors for appropriate submissions guidelines.

Please ensure that you consider the following guidelines when preparing your manuscript. Failure to do so may delay the processing of your submission.

Format and Length

Microsoft Word is the preferred format for submission of text documents. Paper copies are not accepted. Please refer to the individual section policies for appropriate submission length.

An informative abstract of 250 words or less is required (for all submissions except reviews). For articles in the Research and Practice sections, a structured abstract is required and the structure should mirror the required sections outlined in the section policies.

Note: If the primary submission is not in manuscript format (i.e. a textual document), but is in another form of media (video, audio, etc.), please consult with the editors for appropriate submissions guidelines.

Layout

All manuscripts must be submitted in standard format (adequate margins, single column, font size no smaller than size 12). All copy, including references and captions, must be typed double-spaced. The first page of the manuscript (text) must bear the title of the paper. Author names or other individually identifiable information should not appear anywhere on the manuscript.

Citation Style

In general, the style should follow the author/date parenthetical citation format of their choice. The style should be consistent across the manuscript.

Authors may wish to consult the Purdue Online Writing Lab Style Guide Resources, which is freely available online.

If you are using citation management software (Zotero, EndNote, etc), please remove all field codes before submitting the article.

Footnotes/Endnotes

Footnotes and endnotes should not be used for citation purposes. Use notes only for supplemental comments or narrative asides.

Please use your word processing program's footnote feature. If your paper contains fifteen (15) or more footnotes, they should be formatted as Endnotes in a separate section immediately preceding the References.

Organization

Submissions should be organized according to the guidelines in the section policies.

Data Files

Authors who wish to deposit data should refer to the data sharing policy.

Figures, Illustrations and Media

Figures, tables, and illustrations should be included/embedded in the manuscript file to facilitate the peer review process. However, upon acceptance, authors will be required to submit all figures, tables, and illustrations as separate files to aid in the production of the final article.

The requirements in this section apply to the separate files provided for production; figures and illustrations embedded in the manuscript for review purposes may be of lower quality. Figures, tables, and images should be submitted in a form suitable for reproduction online and in print. Images, figures and other pictorial content should be submitted separately. Color images and figures should be at least 300 dpi; black-and-white line images should be 1200 dpi.

For purposes of accessibility, all figures, images and other media should feature author-provided alt-text and sufficient color contrast prior to submission. Authors are encouraged to use an accessibility checker, such as the in-application tool within Microsoft Word, to identify and remediate accessibility issues in their manuscripts.

As appropriate, authors are encouraged to submit supplementary audio-visual materials (videos, screencasts, etc.) to illustrate the techniques or practices discussed in their articles. Videos will be posted alongside published articles. Note: If subjects other than the author(s) are pictured in the video, signed releases from the video participants will be required before videos are posted to the journal website.

Figures and Tables

Figures and tables should be clearly labeled, with appropriate captions listed directly under each figure or table. There should be clear markers within the manuscript to identify the placement of each figure/table.

Illustrations/Photographs

Images (either for inclusion in the manuscript or supplementary files) should be submitted as separate, high quality, uncompressed image files (no lower than 300 dpi) in either .EPS, .GIF, .TIFF, .PNG, or .JPG format . Image file names should be as precise as possible, and a corresponding marker should be placed within the manuscript to identify placement of each image. Image captions, as appropriate, should be included in square brackets in the manuscript immediately following the marker.

Multimedia (Audio or Video)

Multimedia files (either as primary submissions or supplementary files) should be submitted as separate high quality files. Audio files should be in either .WAV, .AIF/.AIFF or .MP3 format. Video files should be in either .AVI, .MP4 or .MOV format. If a multimedia file is not explicitly referenced in the manuscript, its proposed use should be mentioned in the author's cover letter.

If authors wish to submit multimedia files in alternative formats, please consult the editors prior to submission.

Other Supplementary Files

Data files, code, executable programs and other file types may also be submitted as supplementary files. If you would like to submit a file type not addressed here, please contact the editors.

Bibliography

The accuracy and completeness of the references are the responsibility of the author. Failure to submit accurate and properly formatted references may delay review and publication. References to unpublished material may be included. If such material may be of help in the evaluation of the paper, copies should be made available to the editor.

Correspondence

All correspondence should be addressed to the editors.