SCIENCE COMMUNICATION
To promote multilingualism, manuscripts in Afrikaans or English can be submitted to the SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (hereafter the SATNT). In line with the vision of the South African Academy for Science and Arts (Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns), all manuscripts submitted in English must be translated (duplicated) into Afrikaans by the South African Academy for Science and Arts after they have been accepted for publication as an article. For greater exposure, manuscripts submitted in Afrikaans, and accepted for publication as an article, must be accompanied by an English summary (abstract).
CRITERIA FOR AUTHORSHIP
A person must meet all the following criteria to be considered for authorship of a scientific article:
- An author must make substantial contributions to the conception and execution of the research, or to the acquisition and analysis thereof, or to the interpretation of data for the research;
- An author must make significant contributions to the conceptualization of the research or to the critical revision of the research to provide it with significant intellectual content;
- An author must give final approval to the version of the research that is ultimately to be published; and
- An author must agree to be accountable for all aspects of the research to ensure that questions about the accuracy and integrity of any part of the research are properly investigated and resolved.
SELECTION OF MANUSCRIPTS
For the selection of manuscripts, the SATNT uses a double-blind review process to determine whether a manuscript is suitable for publication as an article. However, all manuscripts submitted will also be initially reviewed by the editorial board (editor) to ensure that they are acceptable to the journal. Manuscripts that are accepted are then sent to at least two independent expert reviewers (referees) who provide feedback on the scientific quality of the manuscript, and whether the manuscript can be considered for publication as an article. A manuscript may be returned to the authors for improvements. The editor is responsible for the final decision regarding the acceptance of a manuscript for publication as an article in the SATNT.
LAYOUT OF THE MANUSCRIPT OR ARTICLE
It is important that the manuscript is saved in the original format of the word processor used. Always use a single-column format, with 1.5 line spacing. Divide the manuscript into clearly defined subsections: for example title, authors, summary (abstract), text content and reference sources. Sections in the text must be provided with headings that are numbered (for example 1.1, 1.1.1, 1.1.2 or 1.2, 1.2.1, 1.2.2 etc.). Use the latter section numbers for content cross-referencing. To facilitate referencing in the selection process, the manuscript must contain page numbers as well as line numbers.
FONTS AND WRITE NOTATION
Use the following fonts:
- TITLE: Bold ARIAL font with a 28-point font size.
- AUTHOR NAMES: Bold ARIAL font with a 12-point font size. Indicate each author’s first and last name and make sure that all names are spelled correctly.
- AUTHOR AFFILIATIONS: Italic ARIAL font with a 12-point font size. Provide the authors’ affiliation addresses in a section directly below the AUTHOR NAMES. Indicate all affiliations in small superscript numbers immediately after an author’s name and also just before the author’s affiliation.
- ABSTRACT: Normal ARIAL font with a 12-point font size.
- CONTENT TEXT: Normal ARIAL font with a 12-point font size. Bold and italic letters, footers or superscripts may also be used in the text.
- TABLE AND FIGURE CAPTIONS: Bold and italic ARIAL font with a 12-point font size. Use the following notation: “Table 1: Content...”, “Table 2: Content...” or “Figure 1: Content...”, “Figure 2: Content...”.
- ABBREVIATIONS: Normal ARIAL font with a 12-point font size. Use the following notation to define an abbreviation: (1) At the beginning of a sentence (singular) – Sea surface temperature (SST); (2) Within a sentence (singular) – sea surface temperature (SST); (3) Within a sentence (prural) – sea surface temperatures (SSTs)
TABLES
Use only one grid for each individual table, and not separate grids or a grid for each row. Where a grid is not used, use tab stops, instead of spaces, to align columns. The table should be clearly legible, and each table should be provided with a well-descriptive header at the top of the table. If the contents of a table are not original in nature, a reference is required in the heading. Tables should be placed in the text where they are to appear in a published article, and not on separate pages.
FIGURES
Each figure must be clearly visible, and any text that may appear within a figure must be legible. Each figure must be provided with a well-descriptive caption at the bottom of the figure. If the content of a figure is not original in nature, a reference is required in the caption. Figures must be placed in the text where they should appear in a published article, and not on separate pages.
STRUCTURE
The following is an example of a structure commonly used in journal publications, and serves as a guideline:
- TITLE: The title of the manuscript should be concise, informative and interesting. The title should also be well-aligned with the research objective provided at the end of the INTRODUCTION. Keep in mind that titles are often used in information retrieval systems – so be selective about word choices. Avoid using abbreviations in the title.
- AUTHOR NAMES AND AFFILIATIONS: Provide the names, affiliations and contact details of the authors. Provide the full address of each affiliation, the name of the country, and where available, the author’s email address. Clearly indicate which author will handle all correspondence – in this case an email address is essential.
- ABSTRACT: A concise and factual summary should be provided. The purpose of the research, main results and the most important conclusions should be briefly summarized. An abstract is often presented separately from the article and should therefore provide a good overview of the content of the article. Literature references in the abstract should be avoided. Unusual abbreviations should be avoided but, if necessary, they should be defined the first time they appear in the abstract.
- INTRODUCTION: Provide a thorough background of what prompted the research, with the necessary literature references. State the research questions or hypothesis (where applicable) and give a BRIEF overview of how the latter was investigated. Avoid a detailed summary of the results. State the objective of the research clearly at the end of this section.
- METHODS: Provide a full explanation of the scientific methods used to address the objective of the research, with literature references. Advantages of, and shortcomings in, the methods (experiments, statistics, mathematics, etc.) should be clearly stated. If any materials were used, they should be well described. Sufficient detail about the methods used should be provided so that they can be easily replicated in follow-up research.
- RESULTS: The results should be presented objectively scientifically and supported with the necessary tables and figures.
- DISCUSSION / CONCLUSIONS: The discussion should clarify the significance of the results and place them within the context of previous research. Do not be overly speculative or repeat the results. The conclusion should summarize the significance or impact of the research results, with reference to any new contributions to scientific knowledge. Future follow-up research may also be suggested here.
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- REFERENCES
ACRONYMS
All abbreviations should be defined when first used, after which only the abbreviation is used in the rest of the text. The latter should be applied separately in the summary and the main text. If abbreviations are used in the headings or captions of a table or figure, they should be redefined in each heading or caption. Ensure that all abbreviations are used consistently throughout the manuscript.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Place acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article, just before the list of references. Acknowledge individuals and institutions who provided assistance during the research (for example, in conducting the research, or in writing, proofreading, and editing the manuscript), but who do not meet the requirements for authorship. Also acknowledge all funding sources.
LITERARURE REFERENCES
CITATIONS IN THE TEXT
Make sure that every reference cited in the text also appears in the reference list (and vice versa). All items in the reference list must come from scientifically published sources. Unpublished results and personal discussions should not be included in the reference list but can be mentioned in the text as “unpublished results” or “personal communication”. If a reference is cited as “in press”, this implies that this item has already been accepted for publication.
INTERNET REFERENCES:
A minimum requirement is that the full source address (“URL”) is provided, as well as the date on which the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to another source publication, etc.) must also be indicated. Internet references should preferably be listed separately under the formal reference list – under the heading “Internet references”.
REFERENCE STYLE IN THE TEXT
All literature references in the text must be cited in the following style:
(4) SINGLE AUTHOR: The author’s surname, without initials, followed by a comma and the year of publication. For example (Reygaert, 2018).
TWO AUTHORS: Both authors’ surnames, separated by an “&”, followed by a comma and the year of publication. For example (Sadig & Smit, 2018).
THREE OR MORE AUTHORS: The first author’s surname, followed by “et al.”, followed by a comma and the year of publication. For example (Sadiq et al., 2018).
(5) Group references must be listed first alphabetically and then chronologically. More than one reference by the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters “a”, “b”, “c” etc., placed after the year of publication. For example (Allan, 1996a, 1996b, 1999; Allan and Jones, 1995)
(6) References may be cited in parentheses or in context within the text. For example “Kramer et al. (2000) recently demonstrated …”
REFERENCE STYLE IN THE REFERENCE LIST
The following style should be used for paper references in the reference list:
Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J.A.J., Lupton, R.A., 2000, The art of writing a scientific article. Journal of Science Communication 163, 51-59.
The following style should be used for references to edited books in the reference list:
Strunk W., White E.B., 1979, The Elements of Style, third edition, Macmillan, New York.
The following style should be used for references to a chapter in an edited book in the reference list:
Mettam G.R., Adams L.B., 1999, How to prepare an electronic version of your article, in: Jones BS, Smith RZ (Eds.). Introduction to the Electronic Age. E-Publishing Inc., New York, pp. 281–304.
A DOI link should be provided at the end of each literature reference, where possible:
Savatt, J.M., Myers, S.M., 2021, Genetic testing in neurodevelopmental disorders,
Front Pediatr 9, 526779. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2021.526779.
PLAGIARISM AND THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)
The authors must ensure that the plagiarism and artificial intelligence policy of the SATNT is followed.