Manuscript Preparation Rules

Every AI-JISR article is typeset automatically from your Word file, with one journal layout. If you follow these rules, your PDF looks exactly like every other article of the journal; if you do not, the converter may drop or garble content. The rules follow the manuscript instructions of leading journals and publishers (APA Publication Manual 7th edition, Elsevier, Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis, SAGE, PLOS ONE).

1. What the journal does for you

Do not format the page. The template adds the fonts, margins, header and footer, page numbers, the title block, authors and affiliations (taken from your submission form, not from the file), DOI, dates, licence, the abstract box, keywords and the “How to cite” line. Formatting you add by hand is ignored or removed.

2. The file

• One .docx file (Word 2010 or newer), at most 15 MB. No PDF, no .doc, no Google-Docs links.
• Accept all tracked changes and delete all comments before uploading.
• No identifying details: the file must contain no author names, affiliations, ORCID iDs, e-mail addresses, acknowledgements or funder names that identify you. Cite your own work in the third person (“Smith (2022) showed …”). In Word use File → Info → Check for Issues → Inspect Document to remove the author name from the file properties.
• The whole article is written in one language, English or Turkish. Turkish articles also supply an English abstract.

3. Length

Article type	Length (excluding abstract and references)
Research article	5,000 – 9,000 words
Review article	up to 10,000 words
Short communication	up to 3,000 words

4. Order of the content

1. Title (Word style Title), up to 20 words.
2. Abstract: one paragraph of 150–250 words under the heading “Abstract”. No citations, no abbreviations.
3. Keywords: a line that starts with the word Keywords: (Turkish: Anahtar kelimeler:), 3–6 terms separated by commas. This line is required. The system prints your title, abstract and keywords itself from the submission form, so everything in the file above and including this line is replaced; without it your title and abstract would appear twice.
4. Main text with numbered headings: Introduction, Literature review or Background, Method, Findings, Discussion, Conclusion (empirical articles). Reviews and essays may use their own headings.
5. Declarations, each under its own heading, before the references: Ethics approval (committee, date, number), Informed consent, Funding, Conflict of interest, Data availability, Use of AI tools (see the AI policy) and Author contributions (CRediT roles).
6. References, last.

5. Headings

• Use Word’s built-in Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3 styles. At most three levels. Do not make headings by hand with bold or capital letters.
• Numbering such as “1.” and “1.1” may be typed into the heading text.

6. Text

• Use the Normal style, any standard 11–12 pt font, single column, single line spacing. The template sets the fonts and justifies the text.
• One paragraph is one block of text. Do not use empty paragraphs, repeated spaces or tabs to position text, manual line breaks inside a paragraph, or page and section breaks.
• Do not use text boxes, columns, headers or footers, page numbers, watermarks or drop caps.
• Make lists with Word’s bullet and numbering buttons.
• Avoid footnotes. If a note is essential, use at most five endnotes.
• Insert links with Word’s hyperlink function and give the full address.
• Write out an abbreviation at its first use, use SI units, and write numbers consistently.

7. Tables

• Build tables with Insert → Table. A picture of a table, or text lined up with tabs, is not accepted.
• Caption above the table, in a paragraph that starts Table 1. Refer to every table in the text.
• Keep tables simple: at most eight columns, no vertical lines, no merged cells where avoidable. Put notes in a paragraph below the table.

8. Figures and images

• Insert each figure as a picture In Line with Text (not floating, not wrapped, not grouped). Word charts, SmartArt and drawn shapes must be pasted as a picture.
• PNG or JPEG, at least 1,500 pixels wide for a full-width figure (about 300 dpi), no more than 2 MB each.
• Caption below the figure, in a paragraph that starts Figure 1. Give every figure alt text, and use colours that stay readable in black and white and for colour-blind readers.
• Reproduce third-party material only with permission and name the source in the caption.

9. Mathematics and symbols

Keep formulas simple and write them in plain text with Unicode symbols (α, ≤, ±). Word’s equation objects are not converted yet: insert a complex equation as a picture, in line with the text, with alt text.

10. Citations and references (APA 7th edition)

• In the text use author–date citations: (Author, 2020); (Author & Author, 2020); three or more authors: (Author et al., 2020). Quotations carry a page number.
• List all cited sources under the heading References, alphabetically, one entry per paragraph, with the DOI as a full link (https://doi.org/…). Every in-text citation appears in the list and every entry in the list is cited.
• For a source in another language, keep its original title and add an English translation in square brackets.
• Similarity: at most 15% excluding references (see the publication policies).

11. Checklist before you upload

1. One .docx file, changes accepted, comments deleted, file properties cleaned.
2. No names or other identifying details.
3. Title, Abstract, a Keywords: line, then the main text.
4. Headings use Heading 1–3; no empty paragraphs, text boxes, columns or footnotes.
5. Tables are real Word tables with captions above; figures are in-line pictures with captions below and alt text.
6. References in APA 7th style with DOIs; declarations present.

Questions: [email protected].