Editorial requirementsInstructions to Authors Guidelines for authors We ask authors to follow these guidelines on style and format as far possible when preparing papers for submission to Journal of Financial Sciences. This will help us to produce the journal more speedily and efficiently. Articles being considered for publication will be submitted to two referees for blind review. Submission of papers 1. Information On a separate page, please provide the following details in full:
2. Submission Please submit your paper via e-mail (using MSWord only) to marxj@unisa.ac.za Use your surname to label your file(s), eg 'Mpofu.doc' and 'Mpofu tables.doc'. 3. Tables and figures Submit all tables and figures (graphs, diagrams, maps) in a separate file from the text file. Mark in the text the places where these are to go, thus [INSERT TABLE 1 ABOUT HERE] Supply an appropriate caption for each table and figure. Captions for figures must be outside, not inside, the text box containing the figure. Use the basic MSWord table function to create tables. Do not use tabs or the space bar to align wording or figures in the table. Please send graphs and diagrams in MSWord. Maps should contain essential information only and be as clear as possible. Details and features should not be cramped or too small. Use only high resolution jpeg files. 4. Copyright Your paper must be accompanied by a signed statement by the author(s) that publication in the Journal of Financial Sciences would not contravene any copyright or other contractual relevant to the paper or the research upon which it is based. It is a condition of publication that authors assign copyright or license the publication rights in their articles, including abstracts, to the University of South Africa (Unisa). This enables us to ensure full copyright protection and to disseminate the article, and of course the journal, to the widest possible readership in print and electronic formats as appropriate. 5. Quality control Articles must be edited and proofread prior to submission. 6. Editor's queries Any queries the copy editor may have will be e-mailed to the author. Please reply to these promptly (within 5 days). Be clear and specific in your responses and eliminate guesswork. Length and layout
1. Abstract Provide a brief abstract of not more than 200 words. Type this in italics under the title of the paper. 2. Keywords Provide three to five keywords after the abstract, eg: 3. Style Your general style of writing should neither overestimate nor underestimate the comprehension of the readers. Do not use italics, underlining or bold to emphasize important words or phrases. Rather achieve the required emphasis with an effective style of writing. 4. Concepts Bear in mind that certain concepts are self-evident to people in your field, but JFS has many readers from other disciplines. Therefore, consider including a brief definition or descriptions of concepts early on in the paper in order to provide clarity of concepts and contextualize the topic. 5. Abbreviations and acronyms Give the names of organisations, institutions, etc in full the first time you use them, followed by the abbreviated form in brackets. Thereafter use the abbreviated form. 6. Sources Acknowledge all sources of ideas, statements, tables, graphs, etc that are not your own. Cite only sources that are relevant to your discussion. Do not cite for the sake of citing. 7. Footnotes Use footnotes only when absolutely necessary and keep them short (no more than 50 words). Do not use footnotes to elaborate on the text. Do not use endnotes Spelling, punctuation and referencing style 1. Spelling JFS uses UK English conventions and spelling rules. 2. Foreign words and phrases Do not italicise common Latin and French terms such as ad hoc, per capita, inter alia, vis-ŕ-vis, laissez faire. Italicise words and phrases from other languages, eg isiZulu, Sesotho. Please provide a translation of foreign words and phrases in other languages and state which language it is, eg boer (farmer, Afrikaans). 3. Quote marks Use single quote marks. Use double quote marks only for quotations within quotations. For long quotations, double indent the text in a separate paragraph and omit the quote marks. 4. Spacing between sentences Leave a single space after a full stop in the text, not a double space. 5. Full stops Authors need not use full stops for abbreviations such as eg, ie, et al, etc Do not use a full stop when the abbreviation ends on the same letter as the full word, eg Dr, Mr, Ms, Prof Do not use a full stop after a person's initials, eg D Coetzee, AB Smith. 6. Percentages Use the % sign throughout, and not ‘per cent', except where the percentage occurs at the beginning of a sentence, eg ‘Seventy per cent of the respondents. 7. Capital letters Use lower case as far as possible (eg parliament, government, state, president, director-general, regional council), except in specific, direct references such as 'Patrick Mabena, Deputy Director-General and President of XYZ, said that. Use lower case for the first letter of a generic ethnic group (eg black, white, coloured) but upper case for the first letter of a specific group (eg African, Asian, Indian, Swedish). 8. Numbers and dates Write numbers one to nine in words, and thereafter use figures, eg 10, 12, 55. For numbers in the thousands use the space style, not the comma style : 1000, 10 000, 100 000, 1 000 000 etc. Note that the four-digit figure does not have a space, except in tables where alignment is necessary. Write dates as 2 June 2011. Not as 2nd etc (Do not use superscripts.) 9. Section headings Please number the sections of your paper, beginning with 1. Introduction. Use JFS heading styles (sentence case, bold), thus: 4. The manufacturing sector 4.1 The market for manufactured goods Please number the sections manually. Do not use the auto numbering function. 10. References Use the Harvard system of referencing, i.e. citations give the author's name and the year of publication. Important: include in the reference list ONLY the sources you cite in the text. Ensure that all the sources you cite are listed and that all the sources you list are cited. Supply full details for each reference in your list. Remember to give the date and place of publication, the name of the printer or publisher, the volume and issue numbers of journals and the page range of articles, and the dates (day and month) of seminars, workshops, conferences, etc. If a publication by more than two authors is referred to in the text, write 'et al.' from the start, eg (Makina et al., 2009:14), but provide the names of all the authors in the reference list. References to more than one publication by an author in the same year must be distinguished alphabetically, for example (Strydom, 2008a,b). The following are fictitious references to illustrate the required referencing technique: Book: Kapp, CA & Mpofu, RT. 2011. Research methods for business: a skill building approach. 2nd edition. Pretoria: Van Schaik. Journal article: Young, J. 2010. The use and limitations of checklists for assessing risk appetite. Corporate Ownership and Control Journal. 10(2): 16-32. Conference paper: Bothma, C & Du Toit, M, 2010. The effectiveness of social media for marketing purposes. Proceedings of the 12th International Marketing Conference, 12-16 August, Las Vegas, California. Official document: Council for Higher Education (CHE), 2010. Community engagement in South African Higher Education. Jacana Media, Johannesburg. Newspaper or magazine article: Ngambi, H. 2011. Leadership – applying the RARE acronym at Unisa. City Press, 29 May, p. 6. Thesis: Kasozi, J. 2011. Improving the efficiency of coffee manufacturers in Uganda. PhD thesis, Makerere University, Uganda. Internet resources: University of Queensland. 2010. Writing a good research proposal in management sciences. www.uq.edu.au/student-services/phdwriting/phfaq01.html (accessed 17 July 2010). Please note that website references should include the date the site was accessed. |
Journal of Financial Sciences
