The Editorial Process

A manuscript will be reviewed for possible publication with the understanding that it is being submitted to Journal of Applied Consciousness Studies alone at that point in time and has not been published anywhere, simultaneously submitted, or already accepted for publication elsewhere. The journal expects that authors would authorize one of them to correspond with the Journal for all matters related to the manuscript. All manuscripts received are duly acknowledged. On submission, editors review all submitted manuscripts initially for suitability for formal review. Manuscripts with insufficient originality, serious scientific or technical flaws, or lack of a significant message are rejected before proceeding for formal peer-review. Manuscripts that are unlikely to be of interest to the Journal of Applied Consciousness Studies readers are also liable to be rejected at this stage itself.

Manuscripts received from Editorial Board members will be screened by the Editor in Chief and sent to external peer reviewers. The editorial board members who are authors will be excluded from publication decisions.

Manuscripts that are found suitable for publication in Journal of Applied Consciousness Studies are sent to two or more expert reviewers. During submission, the contributor is requested to provide names of two or three qualified reviewers who have had experience in the subject of the submitted manuscript, but this is not mandatory. The reviewers should not be affiliated with the same institutes as the contributor/s. However, the selection of these reviewers is at the sole discretion of the editor. The journal follows a double-blind review process, wherein the reviewers and authors are unaware of each other's identity. Every manuscript is also assigned to a member of the editorial team, who based on the comments from the reviewers takes a final decision on the manuscript. The comments and suggestions (acceptance/ rejection/ amendments in manuscript) received from reviewers are conveyed to the corresponding author. If required, the author is requested to provide a point by point response to reviewers' comments and submit a revised version of the manuscript. This process is repeated till reviewers and editors are satisfied with the manuscript. Manuscripts accepted for publication are copy edited for grammar, punctuation, print style, and format. Page proofs are sent to the corresponding author. The corresponding author is expected to return the corrected proofs within three days. It may not be possible to incorporate corrections received after that period. The whole process of submission of the manuscript to final decision and sending and receiving proofs is completed online. To achieve faster and greater dissemination of knowledge and information, the journal publishes articles online as 'Ahead of Print' immediately on acceptance.

Processes for appeals

The authors do have the right to appeal if they have a genuine cause to believe that the editorial board has wrongly rejected the paper. If the authors wish to appeal the decision, they should email the editorial office (email: [email protected]) explaining in detail the reason for the appeal. The appeals will be acknowledged by the editorial office and will be investigated in an unbiased manner. The processing of appeals will be done within 6-8 weeks. While under appeal, the said manuscript should not be submitted to other journals. The final decision rests with the Editor in Chief of the journal. Second appeals are not considered.

Anti-plagiarism policy

Plagiarism includes duplicate publication of the author's own work, in whole or in part without proper citation or mispresenting other's ideas, words, and other creative expression as one's own. The Journal follows strict anti-plagiarism policy. All manuscripts submitted to Journal of Applied Consciousness Studies undergoes plagiarism check with commercially available software. Based on the extent of plagiarism, authors may be asked to address any minor duplication, or similarity with the previous published work. If plagiarism is detected after publication, the Journal will investigate. If plagiarism is established, the journal will notify the authors' institution and funding bodies and will retract the plagiarised article. To report plagiarism, contact the journal office (email: [email protected])

Clinical trial registry

Journal of Applied Consciousness Studies favours registration of clinical trials and is a signatory to the Statement on publishing clinical trials in Indian biomedical journals. Journal of Applied Consciousness Studies would publish clinical trials that have been registered with a clinical trial registry that allows free online access to public. Registration in the following trial registers is acceptable: http://www.ctri.nic.in/; https://www.anzctr.org.au/; http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/; http://isrctn.org/; http://www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/index.asp; http://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr.This is applicable to clinical trials that have begun enrolment of subjects in or after June 2008. Clinical trials that have commenced enrolment of subjects prior to June 2008 would be considered for publication in Journal of Applied Consciousness Studies only if they have been registered retrospectively with clinical trial registry that allows unhindered online access to public without charging any fees.

Authorship Criteria

Authorship credit should be based only on substantial contributions to each of the three components mentioned below: 

1. Concept and design of study or acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data;
2. Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and
3. Final approval of the version to be published.

Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship. General supervision of the research group is not sufficient for authorship. Each contributor should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content of the manuscript. The order of naming the contributors should be based on the relative contribution of the contributor towards the study and writing the manuscript. Once submitted the order cannot be changed without written consent of all the contributors. The journal prescribes a maximum number of authors for manuscripts depending upon the type of manuscript, its scope and number of institutions involved (vide infra). The authors should provide a justification, if the number of authors exceeds these limits.

Contribution Details

Contributors should provide a description of contributions made by each of them towards the manuscript. Description should be divided in following categories, as applicable: concept, design, definition of intellectual content, literature search, clinical studies, experimental studies, data acquisition, data analysis, statistical analysis, manuscript preparation, manuscript editing and manuscript review. Authors' contributions will be printed along with the article. One or more author should take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole from inception to published article and should be designated as 'guarantor'

Conflicts of Interest/ Competing Interests

All authors of articles must disclose any and all conflicts of interest they may have with publication of the manuscript or an institution or product that is mentioned in the manuscript and/or is important to the outcome of the study presented. Authors should also disclose conflict of interest with products that compete with those mentioned in their manuscript.

Submission of Manuscripts

All manuscripts must be submitted on-line through the website https://review.jow.medknow.com/jacs. First time users will have to register at this site. Registration is free but mandatory. Registered authors can keep track of their articles after logging into the site using their username and password. Authors do not have to pay for submission, processing or publication of articles. If you experience any problems, please contact the editorial office by e-mail at editor [AT] jacsonline . in

The submitted manuscripts that are not as per the 'Instructions to Authors' would be returned to the authors for technical correction, before they undergo editorial/ peer-review. Generally, the manuscript should be submitted in the form of two separate files:

[1] Title Page/First Page File/covering letter:

This file should provide

1. The type of manuscript (original article, case report, review article, Letter to editor, Images, etc.) title of the manuscript, running title, names of all authors/ contributors (with their highest academic degrees, designation and affiliations) and name(s) of department(s) and/ or institution(s) to which the work should be credited. All information which can reveal your institute affiliation should be here. Use text/rtf/doc files. Do not zip the files;
2. The total number of pages, total number of photographs and word counts separately for abstract and for the text (excluding the references, tables and abstract), word counts for introduction + discussion in case of an original article;
3. If the manuscript was presented as part at a meeting, the organization, place, and exact date on which it was read. A full statement to the editor about all submissions and previous reports that might be regarded as redundant publication of the same or very similar work. Any such work should be referred to specifically and referenced in the new paper. Copies of such material should be included with the submitted paper, to help the editor decide how to handle the matter.
4. Registration number in case of a clinical trial and where it is registered (name of the registry and its URL)
5. A statement that the manuscript has been read and approved by all the authors, that the requirements for authorship as stated earlier in this document have been met, and that each author believes that the manuscript represents honest work, if that information is not provided in another form (see below)
6. The name, address, e-mail, and telephone number of the corresponding author, who is responsible for communicating with the other authors about revisions and final approval of the proofs, if that information is not included on the manuscript itself.

[2] Blinded Article file: The main text of the article, beginning from Abstract till References (including tables) should be in this file. The file must not contain any mention of the authors' names or initials or the institution at which the study was done or acknowledgements. Page headers/running title can include the title but not the authors' names. Manuscripts not in compliance with the Journal's blinding policy will be returned to the corresponding author. Use rtf/doc files. Do not zip the files. Limit the file size to 1 MB. Do not incorporate images in the file. If file size is large, graphs can be submitted as images separately without incorporating them in the article file to reduce the size of the file. The pages should be numbered consecutively, beginning with the first page of the blinded article file.

[3] Images: Submit good quality colour images. Each image should be less than 2 MB in size. Size of the image can be reduced by decreasing the actual height and width of the images (keep up to 1600 x 1200 pixels or 5-6 inches). Images can be submitted as jpeg files. Do not zip the files. Legends for the figures/images should be included at the end of the article file.

[4] The contributors' / copyright transfer form (template provided below) has to be submitted in original with the signatures of all the contributors within two weeks of submission via courier, fax or email as a scanned image.

Contributors' form / copyright transfer form can be submitted online from the authors' area on http://www.journalonweb.com/

Preparation of Manuscripts

Manuscripts must be prepared in accordance with "Uniform requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals" developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (October 2008). The uniform requirements and specific requirement of  Journal of Applied Consciousness Studies are summarized below. Before submitting a manuscript, contributors are requested to check for the latest instructions available. Instructions are also available from the website of the journal (http://www.jacsonline.in) and from the manuscript submission site https://review.jow.medknow.com/jacs).

Journal of Applied Consciousness Studies accepts manuscripts written in British English.

Referencing: APA style

Journal of Applied Consciousness Studies follows the American Psychological Association (APA) style of referencing for in-text citations as well as the Reference list. According to this style, the Reference list should be in alphabetical order with hanging indent. Information from manuscripts submitted but not accepted should be cited in the text as "unpublished observations" with written permission from the source. Avoid citing a "personal communication" unless it provides essential information not available from a public source, in which case the name of the person and date of communication should be cited in parentheses in the text. The types of references commonly cited are illustrated below and are to be followed exactly as per the relevant citation format.

Following are the descriptions of the words used:

Hanging Indent: The first line of the paragraph or reference appears as if hanging. Please see references below for illustrations.

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): An entry that appears in the body of your research paper when you refer to and express the ideas of another researcher or author using your own words. 

In-Text Citation (Quotation): An entry that appears in the body of your research paper after a direct quote of another researcher or author.

Reference: An entry that appears at the end of your paper giving all possible details of the source referred to.

Journal article with one author

General Format

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Author Surname, Year)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Author Surname, Year, page number)

Reference:
Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year). Article title: Subtitle. Journal Title, Volume(issue), page range.doi:xx.xxxxxxxxxx
       OR Retrieved from URL of journal home page [if available].

Example

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Pettigrew, 2009)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Pettigrew, 2009, p. 61)

Reference:
Pettigrew, T. F. (2009). Secondary transfer effect of contact: Do intergroup contact effects spread to noncontacted outgroups?
       Social Psychology, 40(2), 55-65. doi:10.1027/1864-9335.40.2.55

Note: The commas, full-stops, italics wherever indicated, etc., are to be followed exactly for the reference.

Helpful Tips:

If a journal article has a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) listed, you will always include this identifier in your reference. You will not have to include the URL of the journal's home page or of the database from which you retrieved the article if a DOI is available.

The DOI is often found on the first page of an article. A DOI is a unique alphanumeric string that is used to identify a certain source (typically journal articles). Example: doi:10.1080/14622200410001676305

If you need more information about how to find a DOI, please refer to the APA tutorial on DOI at https://apastyle.apa.org/learn/faqs/what-is-doi?

If you viewed a journal article in an online database and it does not have a DOI, you will need to do a quick search outside of the database to locate the URL for the journal's home page. This information must be included in the reference. If the journal is no longer being published and it does not have a home page, then include the URL for the home page of the database from which you retrieved the article.

If you viewed a journal article in its print format, be sure to check if it has a DOI listed. If it does not, your reference to the article would end after you provide the page range of the article.

Journal article with two authors

General Format

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (First Author Surname & Second Author Surname, Year)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (First Author Surname & Second Author Surname, Year, page number)

Reference:
Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial., & Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year). Article title: Subtitle.Journal
        Title, Volume(issue), page range. doi:xx.xxxxxxxxxx OR Retrieved from URL of journal home page [if available].

Example 1

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Paterson & Thorne, 2003)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Paterson & Thorne, 2003, p. 30)

Reference:
Paterson, B. L., & Thorne, S. (2003). Enhancing the evaluation of nursing care effectiveness. Canadian Journal of Nursing
       Research, 35(3), 26-38.

Example 2

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Sillick & Schutte, 2006)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Sillick & Schutte, 2006, p. 43)

Reference:
Sillick, T. J., & Schutte, N. S. (2006). Emotional intelligence and self-esteem mediate between perceived early parental love and
        adult happiness. E-Journal of Applied Psychology, 2(2), 38-48. Retrieved from http://ojs.lib.swin.edu.au/index.php/ejap

Journal article with three-five authors

General Format

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Author Surname, Author Surname, & Author Surname, Year)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Author Surname, Author Surname, & Author Surname, Year, page number)

Note: Only the first in-text citation for a work with three to five authors/editors includes all of the names of the authors/editors. Subsequent in-text citations include only the first author's/editor's surname, followed by et al. and the year.

Reference:
Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial., Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial., & Author Surname, First Initial.
        Second Initial. (Year). Article title: Subtitle. Journal Title, Volume(issue), page range. doi:xx.xxxxxxxxxx OR Retrieved
        from URL of journal home page [if available].

Example 1

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Westhues, Lafrance, & Schmidt, 2001)

Note: A subsequent in-text citation would appear as (Westhues et al., 2001)
 

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Westhues, Lafrance, & Schmidt, 2001, p. 40)

Note: If quoting from the same page, a subsequent in-text citation would appear as (Westhues et al., 2001, p. 40)

Reference:
Westhues, A., Lafrance, J., & Schmidt, G. (2001). A SWOT analysis of social work education in Canada. Social Work Education,
        20(1), 35- 56. doi:10.1080/02615470020028364

Example 2

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Brinkworth, Noakes, Buckley, Keogh, & Clifton, 2009)

Note: A subsequent in-text citation would appear as (Brinkworth et al., 2009)
 

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Brinkworth, Noakes, Buckley, Keogh, & Clifton, 2009, p. 27)

Note: If quoting from the same page, a subsequent in-text citation would appear as (Brinkworth et al., 2009, p. 27)

Reference:
Brinkworth, G. D., Noakes, M., Buckley, J. D., Keogh, J. B., & Clifton, P. M. (2009). Long-term effects of a very-low-carbohydrate
       weight loss diet compared with an isocaloric low-fat diet after 12 mo. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 90(1),23-32.
        doi:10.3945/ajcn.2008.27326

Journal article with six or more authors

General Format

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Author Surname et al., Year)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Author Surname et al., Year, page number)

Reference:
Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial., Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial., Author Surname, First Initial. Second
       Initial., Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial., Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial., & Author Surname, First Initial.
       Second Initial. (Year). Article title: Subtitle. Journal Title, Volume(issue), page range. doi:xx.xxxxxxxxxx [if available] OR
       Retrieved from URL of journal home page[if available].

Note: If an article has eight or more authors, list the names of the first six authors followed by ellipses (i.e. 3 dots OR . . .) and then the last author's name in the Reference list

Example

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Dietz et al., 2007)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Dietz et al., 2007, p. 1517)

Reference:
Dietz, P. M., Williams, S. B., Callaghan, W. M., Bachman, D. J., Whitlock, E. P., & Hornbrook, M. C. (2007).Clinically identified
        maternal depression before, during, and after pregnancies ending in live births. American Journal of Psychiatry, 164(10), 1515-
       1520. Retrieved from http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/

If the article has eight or more authors:

Dietz, P. M., Williams, S. B., Callaghan, W. M., Bachman, D. J., Whitlock, E. P., & Hornbrook, M. C., … Stanley, D. (2007).
       Clinically identified maternal depression before, during, and after pregnancies ending in live births. American Journal of
       Psychiatry, 164(10), 1515-1520. Retrieved from http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/

Book with one author/editor

General Format

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Author Surname, Year)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Author Surname, Year, page number)

Reference:
Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year). Book title: Subtitle. Place of Publication: Publisher.

Example

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Franks, 2005)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Franks, 2005, p. 148)

Reference:
Franks, A. (2005). Margaret Sanger's eugenic legacy: The control of female fertility. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company.

Note: If you are dealing with one editor instead of one author, you would simply insert the editor's name in the place where the author's name is now, followed by "(Ed.)" without the quotation marks. The rest of the format would remain the same. For example:

Franks, A. (Ed.) (2005). Margaret Sanger's eugenic legacy: The control of female fertility. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company.

Book with two authors/editors

General Format

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Author Surname & Author Surname, Year)

In-Text Citation (Direct Quote): (Author Surname & Author Surname, Year, page number)

Reference:
Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial., & Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year). Book title: Subtitle. Place of
       Publication: Publisher.

Example

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Burley & Harris, 2002)

In-Text Citation (Direct Quote): (Burley & Harris, 2002, p. 153)

Reference:
Burley, J., & Harris, J. (2002). A companion to genethics. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

For an edited book:

Burley, J., & Harris, J. (Eds.). (2002). A companion to genethics. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Book with three to five authors/editors

General Format

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase):(Author Surname, Author Surname, & Author Surname, Year)

In-Text Citation (Direct Quote): (Author Surname, Author Surname, & Author Surname, Year, page number)

Note: Although the first in-text citation for a work with three to five authors/editors includes all of the names of the authors/editors, subsequent citations include only the first author's/editor's surname, followed by et al. and the year.

Reference:
Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial., Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial., & Author Surname, First Initial.
       Second Initial. (Year). Book title: Subtitle. Place of Publication: Publisher.

Example

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Johnson, Roberts, & Worell, 1999)

Note: A subsequent in-text citation would appear as (Johnson et al., 1999)

In-Text Citation (Direct Quote): (Johnson, Roberts, & Worell, 1999, p. 72)

Note: If quoting from the same page, a subsequent in-text citation would appear as (Johnson et al., 1999, p. 72)

Reference:
Johnson, N. G., Roberts, M. C., & Worell, J. (1999). Beyond appearance: A new look at adolescent girls. Washington, DC:
       American Psychological Association.

For an edited book:  

Johnson, N. G., Roberts, M. C., & Worell, J. (Eds.). (1999). Beyond appearance: A new look at adolescent girls. Washington, DC:
       American Psychological Association.

Book edition other than the first

Second edition = 2nd ed.
Third edition = 3rd ed.
Fourth edition = 4th ed.
Revised edition = Rev. ed.

General Format

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Author Surname, Year)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Author Surname, Year, page number)

Reference:
Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year). Book title: Subtitle (edition). Place of Publication: Publisher.

Example

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase):(Harris, 2001)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Harris, 2001, p. 50)

Reference:
Harris, L. A. (2001). Canadian copyright law (3rd ed.). Toronto, ON: McGraw Hill Ryerson.

Article/chapter in an edited book

General Format

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Author Surname [of Chapter or Article], Year)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Author Surname [of Chapter or Article], Year, page number)

Reference:

Author Surname [of Chapter or Article], First Initial. Second Initial. (Year). Article or chapter title. In Editor First Initial. Second
       Initial. Surname (Ed.), Book title: Subtitle (pp. page range of article or chapter). Place of Publication: Publisher.

Example 1: One editor

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Lawrence, 2003)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Lawrence, 2003, p. 526)

Reference:
Lawrence, J. A. (2003). Goal-directed activities and life-span development. In J. Valsiner (Ed.), Handbook of developmental
       psychology (pp. 517-533). London, England: Sage Publications.

Example 2: More than one editor

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Lawrence & Dodds, 2003)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Lawrence & Dodds, 2003, p. 526)

Reference:

Lawrence, J. A., & Dodds, A. E. (2003). Goal-directed activities and life-span development. In J. Valsiner & K. Connolly (Eds.),
       Handbook of developmental psychology (pp. 517-533). London, England: Sage Publications.

Book with no author

General Format

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Book title [usually shortened], Year)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Book title [usually shortened], Year, page number)

Reference:
Book title: Subtitle. (Year). Place of Publication: Publisher.

Example

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Merriam-Webster's, 2005)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Merriam-Webster's, 2005, p. 3)

Reference:
Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary (11th ed.). (2005). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster.

E-book

General Format

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Author Surname, Year)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Author Surname, Year, page number)

Reference:
Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year). Book title: Subtitle [Version]. doi:xx.xxxxxxxxx [OR] Retrieved from URL of
       the home page of the e-book provider.

Example

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Ochs, 2004)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Ochs, 2004, p. 55)

Reference:

Ochs, S. (2004). A history of nerve functions: From animal spirits to molecular mechanisms [ebrary Reader version]. Retrieved
       from http://www.ebrary.com/corp/

Translated book

General Format

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Original Author Surname, Year Originally Published/Year of Translation)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Original Author Surname, Year Originally Published/Year of Translation, page number)

Reference:
Original Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year). Book title: Subtitle (Translator's First Initial. Second Initial. Surname, Trans.). Place of Publication: Publisher. (Original work published Year).

Example

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Laplace, 1814/1951)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Laplace, 1814/1951, p. 148)

Reference:
Laplace, P. S. (1951). A philosophical essay on probabilities (F. W. Truscott & F. L. Emory, Trans.). New York, NY: Dover.
       (Original work published 1814).

Unpublished and/or handwritten manuscripts with no date and/or no author

APA Citation Style does not have a separate category for unpublished and/or handwritten manuscripts. However, some helpful tips and suggestions are given below to provide maximum reference information.

Format for no date

Lastname, First Initial. Second Initial. [if available] (n.d.).Title of the manuscript (Unpublished manuscript). Retrieved from Name of
       Institution, Location. (Accession or Order No. [number])

Example

Kapālakuraṇṭaka. (n.d.). Āsanayoga (Unpublished Sanskrit manuscript). Retrieved from Kaivalyadhama Library, Lonavala, MH.
       (Accession No. 29126)

Format for no date and no author

Title of the manuscript (Unpublished manuscript). (n.d.). Retrieved from Name of Institution, Location. (Accession or Order No.
       [number])

Example

Siddhāntamuktāvalī  (Unpublished manuscript). (n.d.). Retrieved from Kaivalyadhama Library, Lonavala, MH. (Accession No.
       15787)

Government publication

APA Citation Style does not have a separate category for government publications. However, some helpful tips and suggestions are given below.

Helpful Tips:

• Treat a government document as a book, report, or brochure.
• If a person is named on the title page, use her or him as author.
• If no person is named, use the government agency, department, or branch as a group author.
• Give the name of the group author exactly as it appears on the title page. If the branch or agency is not well known, include its higher department first.
• If the group author is also the publisher, just use the word “Author” after the location.
• If there is a series or report number, include it after the title.

General Format

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Author Surname OR Name of Government Organization, Year)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Author Surname OR Name of Government Organization, Year, page number)

Reference:
Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. [OR] Government Name. [OR] Name of Government Agency. (Year). Title: Subtitle
       (Report No. xxx [if available]). Place of Publication: Publisher.

Example 1

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Gilmore et al., 1999)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Gilmore et al., 1999, p. 5)

Reference:
Gilmore, J., Woollam, P., Campbell, T., McLean, B., Roch, J., & Stephens, T. (1999). Statistical report on the health of
       Canadians: Prepared by the Federal, Provincial and Territorial Advisory Committee on Population Health. Charlottetown, PEI:
       Health Canada, Statistics Canada, Canadian Institute for Health Information.

Example 2

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Edwards, Sims-Jones, Hotz, & Cushman, 1997)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Edwards, Sims-Jones, Hotz, & Cushman, 1997, p. 2)

Reference:
Edwards, N., Sims-Jones, N., Hotz, S., & Cushman, R. (1997). Development and testing components of a multifaceted intervention
        program to reduce the incidence of smoking relapse during pregnancy and post-partum of both women and their partners.
        Report prepared for Health Canada at the Community Health Research Unit, University of Ottawa, Canada.

Example 3

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Ontario Ministry of Health, 1994)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Ontario Ministry of Health, 1994, p. 7)

Reference:
Ontario Ministry of Health. (1994). Selected findings from the mental health supplement of the Ontario Health Survey. Ottawa,
       ON: Queen's Printer for Ontario.

Example 4

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (U. S. Food and Drug Administration, 2004)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (U. S. Food and Drug Administration, 2004, p. 8)

Reference:
U. S. Food and Drug Administration/Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. (2004). Worsening depression and suicidality in
       patients being treated with antidepressant medications: FDA public health advisory. Washington, DC: Author.

An Entry in an Encyclopedia

General Format

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Author Surname, Year)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Author Surname, Year, page number)

Reference:

Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year). Article title. In Book title. (Vol. no., pp. page range of article).  Place of
       Publication: Publisher.

Example

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Bergmann, 1993)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Bergmann, 1993, p. 148)

Reference:

Bergmann, P. G. (1993). Relativity. In The New Encyclopedia Britannica. (Vol. 26, pp. 501-508). Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia
       Britannica.

Basic web page

Helpful Tips:

• When citing sources that you find on the Internet you need to include a retrieval date only if the information you viewed is likely to change over time. If you reference an article from Wikipedia, for example, you would include a retrieval date because information in a wiki can be subject to a lot of change.
• Sometimes websites have missing pieces of information that you would typically use when citing them, like an author or a date. You can use the following link for more help:
  https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/nonrecoverable-sources

General Format

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Author Surname, Year)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Author Surname, Year, page or paragraph number [if available])

Reference:
Personal or Corporate Author. (Last update or copyright date). Title of specific document. Retrieved from URL of specific
       document

Note: If the last update or copyright date is not known, put “n.d.” This stands for no date.

Example

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Browning, 1993)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Browning, 1993, para. 12)

Reference:
Browning, T. (1993). A brief historical survey of women writers of science fiction. Retrieved from
       http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~tonya/Tonya/sf/history.html

For date of last update or copyright not known:

Browning, T. (n.d.). A brief historical survey of women writers of science fiction. Retrieved from
       http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~tonya/Tonya/sf/history.html

Website document with no author and/or no date

Helpful Tips:

• When citing sources that you find on the Internet you need to include a retrieval date only if the information you viewed is likely to change over time.  If you reference an article from Wikipedia, for example, you would want to include a retrieval date because information in a wiki can be subject to a lot of change.

• Sometimes websites have missing pieces of information that you would typically use when citing them, like an author or a date. You can use the following link for more help:
  https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/nonrecoverable-sources

General Format 

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Title of specific document, Year)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Title of specific document, Year, page or paragraph number [if available])

Note: If the title of a document is long, use a shortened version for the in-text citations.

Reference:

Title of specific document. (Last update or copyright date; if not known, put n.d.). In Title of website. Retrieved from URL of
       specific document

Example 1

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Neurology, n.d.)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Neurology, n.d.)

Reference:

Neurology. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved August 8, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurology

Example 2

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (New France, 2013)

In-Text Citation (Quotation): (New France, 2013, para. 3)

Reference:

New France. (2013). In Canada History. Retrieved April 8, 2014, from http://www.canadahistory.com

Conference proceedings

General Format

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Author Surname & Author Surname, Year)

In-Text Citation (Direct Quote): (Author Surname & Author Surname, Year, page number)

Reference:
Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial., & Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. (Eds.). (Year). Proceedings from
       The name of the conference/symposium. Place of Publication: Publisher.

Example

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Schnase & Cunnius, 1995)

In-Text Citation (Direct Quote): (Schnase & Cunnius, 1995, p. 153)

Reference:

Schnase, J. L., & Cunnius, E. L. (Eds.). (1995). Proceedings from The First International Conference on Computer Support for
       Collaborative Learning. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Dissertations/theses

Dissertation, Published:

Format

Lastname, F. N. (Year). Title of doctoral dissertation/master’s thesis (Doctoral dissertation/Master’s thesis). Retrieved from
       Name of database/URL. (Accession or Order No. [number]) [if available]

Examples

Mitchell, J. D. (2010). National debt facts and their impact on the Indiana state budget (Master's thesis). Retrieved from
       ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. 1434728)

Andrews, B. R. (2011). National debt facts and their impact on the Indiana state budget (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from
       http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/

Dissertation, Unpublished:

Format

Lastname, F. N. (Year). Title of doctoral dissertation/master’s thesis (Unpublished doctoral dissertation/master’s thesis). Name
       of Institution, Location.

Example

Bucket, F. M. (2011). Effects of the national debt on the budget for the state of Indiana (Unpublished master's thesis). Ball State
       University, Muncie, IN.

For more information about citing other types of print and electronic sources such as newspaper items, magazines, blogs, etc., in APA style, please refer to http://rdc.libguides.com/apa and/or https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/.

Tables

• Tables should be self-explanatory and should not duplicate textual material.

• Tables with more than 10 columns and 25 rows are not acceptable.

• Number tables, in Arabic numerals, consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text and supply a brief title for each.

• Place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading.

• Explain in footnotes all non-standard abbreviations that are used in each table.

• Obtain permission for all fully borrowed, adapted, and modified tables and provide a credit line in the footnote.

• For footnotes use the following symbols, in this sequence: *, †, ‡, §, ||,¶ , **, ††, ‡‡

• Tables with their legends should be provided at the end of the text after the references. The tables along with their number should be cited at the relevant place in the text

Illustrations (Figures)

• Upload the images in JPEG format. The file size should be within 1024 kb in size while uploading.

• Figures should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text.

• Labels, numbers, and symbols should be clear and of uniform size. The lettering for figures should be large enough to be legible after reduction to fit the width of a printed column.

• Symbols, arrows, or letters used in photomicrographs should contrast with the background and should be marked neatly with transfer type or by tissue overlay and not by pen.

• Titles and detailed explanations belong in the legends for illustrations not on the illustrations themselves.

• When graphs, scatter-grams or histograms are submitted the numerical data on which they are based should also be supplied.

• The photographs and figures should be trimmed to remove all the unwanted areas.

• If photographs of individuals are used, their pictures must be accompanied by written permission to use the photograph.

• If a figure has been published elsewhere, acknowledge the original source and submit written permission from the copyright holder to reproduce the material. A credit line should appear in the legend for such figures.

• Legends for illustrations: Type or print out legends (maximum 40 words, excluding the credit line) for illustrations using double spacing, with Arabic numerals corresponding to the illustrations. When symbols, arrows, numbers, or letters are used to identify parts of the illustrations, identify and explain each one in the legend. Explain the internal scale (magnification) and identify the method of staining in photomicrographs.

• Final figures for print production: Send sharp, glossy, un-mounted, color photographic prints, with height of 4 inches and width of 6 inches at the time of submitting the revised manuscript. Print outs of digital photographs are not acceptable. If digital images are the only source of images, ensure that the image has minimum resolution of 300 dpi or 1800 x 1600 pixels in TIFF format. Send the images on a CD. Each figure should have a label pasted (avoid use of liquid gum for pasting) on its back indicating the number of the figure, the running title, top of the figure and the legends of the figure. Do not write the contributor/s' name/s. Do not write on the back of figures, scratch, or mark them by using paper clips.

• The Journal reserves the right to crop, rotate, reduce, or enlarge the photographs to an acceptable size.

Copies of any permission(s)

It is the responsibility of authors/ contributors to obtain permissions for reproducing any copyrighted material. A copy of the permission obtained must accompany the manuscript. Copies of any and all published articles or other manuscripts in preparation or submitted elsewhere that are related to the manuscript must also accompany the manuscript.

Types of Manuscripts

The authors are required to use the downloadable word document templates provided at the end of this page to prepare the manuscripts. The reporting guidelines checklist is provided in these templates which must be duly followed. The authors can also choose the reporting guidelines for the specific study design from the web links provided in the table below and upload it along with the manuscript.

Original articles:

These include randomized controlled trials, intervention studies, studies of screening and diagnostic test, outcome studies, cost effectiveness analyses, case-control series, and surveys with high response rate. The text of original articles amounting to up to 2500 - 3000 words (excluding Abstract, references and Tables) should be divided into sections with the headings Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion, References, Tables and Figure legends.

Introduction: State the purpose and summarize the rationale for the study or observation.  

Materials and Methods: It should include and describe the following aspects:

Ethics: When reporting studies on human beings, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (available at https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/). For prospective studies involving human participants, authors are expected to mention about approval of (regional/ national/ institutional or independent Ethics Committee or Review Board, obtaining informed consent from adult research participants and obtaining assent for children aged over 7 years participating in the trial. The age beyond which assent would be required could vary as per regional and/ or national guidelines. Ensure confidentiality of subjects by desisting from mentioning participants' names, initials or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material. When reporting experiments on animals, indicate whether the institution's or a national research council's guide for, or any national law on the care and use of laboratory animals was followed. Evidence for approval by a local Ethics Committee (for both human as well as animal studies) must be supplied by the authors on demand. Animal experimental procedures should be as humane as possible, and the details of anaesthetics and analgesics used should be clearly stated. The ethical standards of experiments must be in accordance with the guidelines provided by the CPCSEA and World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki on Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Humans for studies involving experimental animals and human beings, respectively). The journal will not consider any paper which is ethically unacceptable. A statement on ethics committee permission and ethical practices must be included in all research articles under the 'Materials and Methods' section.

Study design:

Selection and Description of Participants: Describe your selection of the observational or experimental participants (patients or laboratory animals, including controls) clearly, including eligibility and exclusion criteria and a description of the source population. Technical information: Identify the methods, apparatus (give the manufacturer's name and address in parentheses), and procedures in sufficient detail to allow other workers to reproduce the results. Give references to established methods, including statistical methods (see below); provide references and brief descriptions for methods that have been published but are not well known; describe new or substantially modified methods, give reasons for using them, and evaluate their limitations. Identify precisely all drugs and chemicals used, including generic name(s), dose(s), and route(s) of administration.

Reports of randomized clinical trials should present information on all major study elements, including the protocol, assignment of interventions (methods of randomization, concealment of allocation to treatment groups), and the method of masking (blinding), based on the CONSORT Statement (http://www.consort-statement.org).

The authors are required to use the downloadable word document templates provided at the end of this page to prepare the manuscripts. The reporting guidelines checklist is provided in these templates which must be duly followed. The authors can also choose the reporting guidelines for the specific study design from the web links provided in the table below and upload it along with the manuscript. Manuscripts with the incomplete checklist will be sent back to the authors.

Reporting Guidelines for Specific Study Designs

The reporting guidelines for other type of studies can be found at https://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/.

Statistics: Whenever possible quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals). Authors should report losses to observation (such as, dropouts from a clinical trial). When data are summarized in the Results section, specify the statistical methods used to analyse them. Avoid non-technical uses of technical terms in statistics, such as 'random' (which implies a randomizing device), 'normal', 'significant', 'correlations', and 'sample'. Define statistical terms, abbreviations, and most symbols. Specify the computer software used. Use upper italics (P 0.048). For all P values include the exact value and not less than 0.05 or 0.001. Mean differences in continuous variables, proportions in categorical variables and relative risks including odds ratios and hazard ratios should be accompanied by their confidence intervals.

Results: Present your results in a logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations, giving the main or most important findings first. Do not repeat in the text all the data in the tables or illustrations; emphasize or summarize only important observations. Extra- or supplementary materials and technical detail can be placed in an appendix where it will be accessible but will not interrupt the flow of the text; alternatively, it can be published only in the electronic version of the journal.

When data are summarized in the Results section, give numeric results not only as derivatives (for example, percentages) but also as the absolute numbers from which the derivatives were calculated, and specify the statistical methods used to analyse them. Restrict tables and figures to those needed to explain the argument of the paper and to assess its support. Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not duplicate data in graphs and tables. Where scientifically appropriate, analyses of the data by variables such as age and sex should be included.

Discussion: Include summary of key findings (primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, results as they relate to a prior hypothesis); Strengths and limitations of the study (study question, study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation); Interpretation and implications in the context of the totality of evidence (is there a systematic review to refer to, if not, could one be reasonably done here and now?, what this study adds to the available evidence, effects on patient care and health policy, possible mechanisms); Controversies raised by this study; and Future research directions (for this particular research collaboration, underlying mechanisms, clinical research).

Do not repeat in detail data or other material given in the Introduction or the Results section. In particular, contributors should avoid making statements on economic benefits and costs unless their manuscript includes economic data and analyses. Avoid claiming priority and alluding to work that has not been completed. New hypotheses may be stated if needed, however they should be clearly labelled as such. About 30 references can be included. These articles generally should not have more than six authors.

Review Articles:

It is expected that these articles would be written by individuals who have done substantial work on the subject or are considered experts in the field. A short summary of the work done by the contributor(s) in the field of review should accompany the manuscript.

The prescribed word count is up to 3000 - 3500 words excluding tables, references and abstract. The manuscript may have about 90 references. The manuscript should have an unstructured Abstract (250 words) representing an accurate summary of the article. The section titles would depend upon the topic reviewed. Authors submitting review article should include a section describing the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting, and synthesizing data. These methods should also be summarized in the abstract.

The journal expects the contributors to give post-publication updates on the subject of review. The update should be brief, covering the advances in the field after the publication of the article and should be sent as a letter to editor, as and when major development occurs in the field.

The Journal prefers systematic reviews that have been registered in PROSPERO https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/. The PROSPERO registry number should be provided in the review article under the 'œmethodology' section.

Case reports:

New, interesting and rare cases can be reported. They should be unique, describing a great diagnostic or therapeutic challenge and providing a learning point for the readers. Cases with clinical significance or implications will be given priority. These communications could be of up to 2000 words (excluding Abstract and references) and should have the following headings: Abstract (unstructured), Keywords, Introduction, Case report, Discussion, Reference, Tables and Legends in that order.

The manuscript could be of up to 1000 - 1200 words (excluding references and abstract) and could be supported with up to 10 references. Case Reports could be authored by up to six authors.

Letter to the Editor:

These should be short and decisive observations. They should preferably be related to articles previously published in the Journal or views expressed in the journal. They should not be preliminary observations that need a later paper for validation. The letter could have up to 500 words and 5 references. It could be generally authored by not more than six authors.

Other:

Editorial, Guest Editorial, Commentary and Opinion are solicited by the editorial board.

Protection of Patients' Rights to Privacy

Identifying information should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, sonograms, CT scans, etc., and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian, wherever applicable) gives informed consent for publication. Authors should remove patients' names from figures even if they have obtained informed consent from the patients in order to protect patient privacy. The journal abides by ICMJE guidelines:

1. Authors, not the journals nor the publisher, need to obtain the patient consent form before the publication and have the form properly archived. The consent forms are not to be uploaded with the cover letter or sent through email to editorial or publisher offices.
2. If the manuscript contains patient images that preclude anonymity, or a description that has obvious indication to the identity of the patient, a statement about obtaining informed patient consent should be indicated in the manuscript.
3. In order to protect the patient's identity, the recognizable facial features not related to the study should be digitally blurred
4. Written informed consent is the preferred method for obtaining consent. If verbal consent is obtained, the authors must ensure that the verbal consent is recorded in the medical case record of the patient and duly signed by witness.

Sending a revised manuscript

The revised version of the manuscript should be submitted online in a manner similar to that used for submission of the manuscript for the first time. However, there is no need to submit the 'First Page' or 'Covering Letter' file while submitting a revised version. When submitting a revised manuscript, contributors are requested to include, the referees' remarks along with point to point clarification at the beginning in the revised file itself. In addition, they are expected to mark the changes as underlined or coloured text in the article.

Reprints and proofs

Journal provides no free printed reprints. Authors can purchase reprints, payment for which should be done at the time of submitting the proofs.

Publication schedule

The journal publishes articles on its website with a biannual frequency.

Manuscript submission, processing and publication charges

Journal does not charge the authors or authors’ institutions for the submission, processing and/or publications of manuscripts.

Copyrights

The entire contents of the Journal of Applied Consciousness Studies are protected under Indian and international copyrights. The Journal, however, grants to all users a free, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual right of access to, and a license to copy, use, distribute, perform and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works in any digital medium for any reasonable non-commercial purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship and ownership of the rights. The journal also grants the right to make small numbers of printed copies for their personal non-commercial use under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International Public License.

Checklist

Covering letter

• Signed by all contributors
• Previous publication / presentations mentioned
• Source of funding mentioned
• Conflicts of interest disclosed

Authors

• Last name and given name provided along with Middle name initials (where applicable)
• Author for correspondence, with e-mail address provided
• Number of contributors restricted as per the instructions
• Identity not revealed in paper except title page (e.g. name of the institute in Methods, citing previous study as 'our study', names on figure labels, name of institute in photographs, etc.)

Presentation and format

• Double spacing
• Margins 2.5 cm from all four sides
• Page numbers included at bottom
• Title page contains all the desired information
• Running title provided (not more than 50 characters)
• Abstract page contains the full title of the manuscript
• Abstract provided (structured abstract of 250 words for original articles, unstructured abstracts of 250 words for review articles and unstructured abstracts of about 150 words for all other manuscripts excluding letters to the Editor)
• Key words provided (three or more)
• Introduction of 75-100 words
• Headings in title case (not ALL CAPITALS)
• The references cited in the text should be after punctuation marks, in superscript with square bracket.
• References according to the journal's instructions, punctuation marks checked
• Send the article file without Track Changes

Language and grammar

• British English
• Write the full term for each abbreviation at its first use in the title, abstract, keywords and text separately unless it is a standard unit of measure. Numerals from 1 to 10 spelt out
• Numerals at the beginning of the sentence spelt out
• Check the manuscript for spelling, grammar and punctuation errors
• If a brand name is cited, supply the manufacturer's name and address (city and state/country).
• Species names should be in italics

Tables and figures

• No repetition of data in tables and graphs and in text
• Actual numbers from which graphs drawn, provided
• Figures necessary and of good quality (colour)
• Table and figure numbers in Arabic letters (not Roman)
• Labels pasted on back of the photographs (no names written)
• Figure legends provided (not more than 40 words)
• Patients' privacy maintained (if not permission taken)
• Credit note for borrowed figures/tables provided
• Write the full term for each abbreviation used in the table as a footnote

Contributors' form

Click here to download instructions

Click here to download copyright form

These ready to use templates are made to help the contributors write as per the requirements of the Journal.

Save the templates on your computer and use them with a word processor program. 
Click open the file and save as the manuscript file.

In the program keep 'Document Map' and 'Comments' on from 'View' menu to navigate through the file. 


Download Template for Original Articles/ABSTRACT Reports.

Download Template for Case Reports.

Download Template for Review Articles.

Download Template for Letter to the Editor.