Author Guidelines
GUIDE TO AUTHORS
Format of the Manuscript
Manuscripts should be word processed with Times New Roman, font size 12, double-spaced and line-numbered using A4 size paper. Pages of manuscripts should be serially numbered using Arabic numerals. The sequence of organization of manuscripts should generally include:
Title of the paper
This should be concise, specific and appropriately describe the content of the paper.
Authors’ Names and Addresses
Authors’ names and initials should be provided (e.g. Ajani, E. K., Ogunsanwo, O. Y. and Lameed, G. A.); with their affiliations. The corresponding author should be identified with an e-mail address and a telephone number.
Target audience
The target or primary audience that would benefit from the article should be stated.
Abstract
This should be brief and informative, giving an account of the scope of the paper, as well as highlighting the major findings and conclusions in not more than 250 words. The abstract of a review and general interest article should highlight the new ideas the article is reporting.
Keywords
These should consist of 4-5 words with each word separated by semicolon.
Introduction
This heading should start the main body of the paper, after the abstract. It should include a brief statement of the problems and clear description of the justification, aims and objectives of the investigation being reported.
Materials and Methods
The materials and methods should be clearly stated in a way to permit the reproducibility of the work by other researchers. The experimental design and statistical tools used should be clearly described. The measurement instruments and tools used for independent and dependent variables should be stated. However, known methods should only be referenced while new techniques and /or modifications to known methods should be described in detail.
Results and Discussion
This could be separated or combined. This section should contain the observed results and their interpretations. Results should be adequately described using tables, figures, charts, graphs, plates etc. Tables should be numbered in Arabic numerals. Where descriptive subheadings are used, they should be italicized and should precede all major paragraphs. Discussion of results must specifically show how the findings of the work address the problem(s) and objectives stated at the onset of the study.
Conclusions
This section should contain the inferences drawn from the results of the study and its application by the target audience. The conclusions should be in a single paragraph of not more than four sentences.
Acknowledgements
Author(s) may wish to state their appreciation to individuals or agencies or institutions that contributed in one way or another to the research, which the article is reporting.
References
References cited in the text should be follow the APA referencing format 7th edition. All references cited should be listed in the reference section in alphabetical and chronological order stating the surnames, initials, year of publication, title, and medium of publication, journal volume and the page range.
Tables and Figures
All accompanying tables, figures or photographs should be numbered and cited sequentially in the text. When preparing tables, the title should be in lower case letters (except the first letter). Avoid horizontal and vertical lines within the tables. Insert Table option should be used to prepare tables instead of preparing tables manually. The illustrations (as minimal as possible) must be very sharp and clearly defined. Legends should not be on the photographic illustrations but should be typed on a separate page accompanying the figures. Graphs should be prepared in clear reproducible camera-ready forms of printing.
