Journal of Information Studies & Technology (JIS&T)
Instructions to Authors
Submissions
Papers submitted to the journal must be previously unpublished and If using previously published figures, tables, or parts of text, the copyright-holder's permission must have been obtained prior to submission. Further information is provided below. For detailed information about article preparation/format please refer to the file JIST Instructions for Authors in English and JIST Instructions for Authors in Arabic
Submission site: https://www.editorialmanager.com/jis-t/default.aspx
Article Processing Charges: Charges are funded by the Special Library Association/ Arabian Gulf Chapter (SLA/AG) in case of acceptance of articles.
Ethical Policy: HBKU Press is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) https://publicationethics.org/about/our-organisation, and adheres to its Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers and its Best Practice Guidelines https://publicationethics.org/core-practices
We take publication ethics very seriously. Please ensure that the paper was not published before and is not a duplication of another published work. If your paper is a replication study (i.e. using the methodology, different audience etc) you must indicate that and cite the original study replicated. There are certain guidelines when conducting a replication study, please ensure to follow them.
In order to facilitate acceptance of your paper and facilitate peer review, please ensure you have attended to the following:
Integrity: an accurate, verifiable, and complete representation of how the study/work was done and the outcome.
Content quality: the quality of the methodology, completeness of data, and interpretation of results rather than (and perhaps instead of) positive or negative results alone.
Content completeness: the research is as complete as possible, especially the description of the methodology and the results. Reporting should be in accordance with the best practice for their discipline.
Plagiarism: HBKU Press runs similarity checks on submissions, via softwares, for similarity to previously published work. When copying some sections from other sources you need to cite them properly and summarize the sections in your own words.
Authorship: must be limited to those who have made a substantial contribution to the manuscript (conception, design of the study, data collection, analysis, and drafted the manuscript or revised it critically for content). The corresponding author should confirm that all co-authors have approved the final version submitted to the journal. Authors who are concerned about the editorial process may refer their concerns to COPE. All authors are asked to complete a declaration of competing interests. A person should not be listed as an author if they do not fulfill all of the above criteria. Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or supervision of the research group are not enough to justify authorship alone, however, these contributions should be listed in the acknowledgment section.
Competing interests: All potential conflicts of interest must be listed in the manuscript. Any personal or financial relationship with an individual or an organization that may influence your interpretation of the results should be disclosed.
Open Access: All articles are free for users to access, read, download, copy, distribute, and adapt as long as the original work is attributed (https://www.qscience.com/open_access). We use the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Copyright: The copyright is retained by the author(s). Authors grant HBKU Press a license to publish the article and identify itself as the original publisher. The authors also grant any third party the right to use the article freely as long as its original authors, citation details, and publisher are identified. Formal terms and conditions can be read at the Creative Commons website for AttributionLicences. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
Peer Reviewing: ROLACC journal uses a double-blind peer-review system, where the identities of the reviewers and authors are not revealed to one another. After checking the submission for plagiarism and initial screening, the paper is reviewed by at least two reviewers who are independent researchers in the relevant research area. Based on the reviewers' reports, the Editor will reach a publication decision (reject/accept after revision/accept). In most cases, reviewers submit their reports with comments or corrections suggestions for authors to address. When authors receive these reports, they revise their original submission and resubmit the paper with a letter highlighting the changes they have made in light of the reviewers' comments. For more information about our peer-reviewed policy https://www.qscience.com/reviewer_guidelines
Archiving: Articles are archived, for long term preservation, on multiple servers around the world by our archiving and preservation partners Portico (https://www.portico.org/) and CLOCKSS (https://clockss.org/).
Manuscript preparation
The journal accepts papers written clearly in English or Arabic. If the paper is in Arabic, a translation of the abstract in English is required in addition to the Arabic.
Manuscript Files:
Please divide your manuscript into the following separate files before submitting into the system:
1) Cover page file: This includes the title of the article, authors’ names (in Arabic and English for Arabic articles), affiliations of all authors, and email address of the corresponding author.
2) Main file: This should be up to 8000 words maximum. It includes an abstract (200-300 words); 5-6 key words which researchers are likely to use when searching for an article with a subject like yours; English translation of the abstract (if the article is in Arabic); main body of article (up to 8000 words); list of references, in the end, placed alphabetically (no numbering system, see the Reference section below). This is the file which goes to peer-reviewers, so ensure it does not reveal your names or affiliations.
3) Appendix files: Tables, images, graphs files should be clearly labeled. You can have to submit separate files for figures, images and tables or have them combined in one file. The location of tables and figures should be indicated in the body of article. Tables are needed in a text mode not as images (create tables using the Word processing software). If you are a Macintosh user, you must also type the extension at the end of the file name you choose (.doc, .rtf, .jpg, .gif, .tif, .xls, .pdf, .eps, .ppt, .mov or .qt). All illustrations should be numbered and have clear relevant captions.
Heading Levels and Formatting:
Please use clear styles for the different heading levels to make it smooth for readers to follow your article. It is better to use a numerical system like the example below:
1. LEVEL ONE HEADING
1.1. Level two heading
1.1.1. level three heading
level 4 heading (bullet points)
2. LEVEL ONE HEADING
Citation and References
This should follow the APA style. In-text citation in a numerical system would not be accepted anymore. Just include the name of the author and year of publication (i.e. Smith 2012) before or after the cited part. References at the end of the paper should be listed alphabetically (Arabic references then English references).
The reference entries should include names of journals in full; titles and subtitles of articles. Authors are responsible for checking the accuracy of all references and provide them in details. They will be returned to them for corrections and delay the publication. For formatting, instructions and examples are as follows:
Author last name, author initial. (year of pub). Title of the article. Title of journal in full, volume number (issue no.) page numbers (if available) or URL or the article or DOI number.
If the author’s name is Michael Bat Wooldridge and Jennifer J. Shapka
Example:
Wooldridge, M.B. & Shapka, J. (2012). Playing with technology: Mother-toddler interaction scores lower during play with electronic toys. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 33(5), 211-218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2012.05.005.
If authors are more than 7:
List the first six authors and then use ellipses (……) after the sixth author's name. After the ellipses, list the last author's name of the work.
Example:
Johnson, M. C., Carlson, M., Hanover, L. E., Chan, X. H., Smith, J. N. H., Kim, H. B., .... Watson, J. M.
Referencing a website:
Providing only the name of a website as a reference is not enough. Full details are required including the title of the text, author/writer name of the piece, date of the publication (if no date found, put n.d.). Then the full website address of the article. The date of accessing the website is not required unless it is a website that is likely to change like Wikipedia. Example below:
Feminism. (n.d.). In Encyclopædia Britannica online. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/724633/feminism.
Citing a book:
Book in print:
Last, F. M. (Year Published) Book Name. City, State: Publisher.
Example: James, H. (1937). The ambassadors. New York, NY: Scribner.
Online book:
Last name, F. M. (Year Published) Book title. Retrieved from URL/or put the DOI number including the http before DOI
You can use Google Scholar to help in citing your references.