All manuscripts must be prepared with 2.5 cm (1 inch) margins on all sides. This margin requirement applies to both portrait and landscape orientations. The manuscript should be typed in Times New Roman, 12-point font size, with 1.5 line spacing, justified alignment, and standard (non-bold, non-italic) text. The first line of each paragraph should be indented by 1.25 cm, and spacing before and after each paragraph should be set to 6 pt.
Direct quotations containing fewer than 40 words must be enclosed in double quotation marks (“ ”) and incorporated within the text. Quotations of 40 words or more must be presented as block quotations: they should start on a new line, indented 1.25 cm from both left and right margins, written in 10-point italic font, and preceded and followed by a single line space. All quotations must be properly cited in-text and listed in the references section.
Italics may be used to emphasise specific points or terms within the text.
Primary section headings such as Introduction, Theoretical/Conceptual Background, Materials and Methods, Findings and Discussion, Conclusion and Recommendations, References, and Appendices (if any) should be considered first-level headings and written in bold, all capital letters. Page numbering begins on the first page and continues consecutively. Subsections may be structured up to four levels deep, numbered as follows: 1., 1.1., 1.1.1., and 1.1.1.1. Lower-level headings should be in bold, with only the first letter of each major word capitalised. Headings should align with the paragraph indent level. Headings of the fifth level and beyond should not be numbered or included in the table of contents. References and appendices are not numbered. Page numbers should be right-aligned in the footer.
When introducing an abbreviation, write the full term followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Thereafter, only the abbreviation should be used.
Equations, formulae, chemical reactions, and similar elements should not be inserted as images. They must be prepared using a compatible equation editor or software and numbered consecutively within the text.
Table titles must appear above the table; figure captions must appear below the figure. Both must be centre-aligned and written in 10-point font. If the caption exceeds two lines, the font size may be reduced to 8 points. The format should be as follows: the table or figure number in bold, followed by a period, one space, and the caption with sentence case capitalisation. If a table or figure is reproduced from another source, the citation must be included in parentheses at the end of the caption. Tables may continue onto subsequent pages if they do not fit on one.
All sources cited in the text must be listed in the reference section, and all entries in the reference list must be cited in the text. The reference list should be presented as a single, alphabetically ordered list without subdivisions. The heading REFERENCES should be centred, bold, in all caps, and 12-point font. This section is not numbered. References must be formatted with single spacing and no spacing before or after (0 pt). Each entry should align with the left margin, and lines beyond the first line of each reference must be indented by 1.25 cm.
APA 7th edition referencing style must be used. For complete guidance, please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.) or visit http://www.apastyle.org. All in-text citations and footnotes must include the authors’ surnames and the year of publication. For direct quotations from printed sources, page numbers must also be included. Latin abbreviations such as ibid., op. cit., infra, and supra should not be used.
If the author's name appears in the narrative, include the year in parentheses. If not, provide the surname, a comma, and the year in parentheses. For direct quotations, include the page number preceded by “p.” after the year. For works with two authors, always cite both names; use “and” in the text and “&” in parentheses and tables. For three or more authors, use only the first author's surname followed by “et al.” (not italicised and followed by a period). If ambiguity arises from the same first author and identical shortened citations, additional surnames must be added to distinguish them. If a single author differs by only one name from another source, “et al.” should not be used, and all names must be listed.
Multiple works by the same author(s) in the same year should be distinguished by adding letters (e.g., 2020a, 2020b). These designations are assigned based on the alphabetical order of the titles in the reference list. In-text citations listing multiple sources should be ordered alphabetically by the first author's surname and separated by semicolons.
Group authors (e.g., government agencies, universities) should be written in full in the first citation. If appropriate, abbreviated forms may be used in subsequent citations. If no author is provided, cite the first few words of the reference list entry (typically the title), using quotation marks for article or chapter titles and italics for journal or book titles.
Personal communications are not included in the reference list; they must be cited in the text only, with the name and date of communication.
The reference list should be alphabetised by the surname of the first author. All author names should begin with capital letters followed by lowercase letters. Repetition marks such as dashes or ditto signs should not be used. List up to 20 authors in full. For sources with 21 or more authors, list the first 19 authors, insert an ellipsis (…), and then add the final author. When ordering names, nothing should precede a surname. Suffixes such as Jr. or II should be retained. Sources by a single author are listed before those with multiple authors beginning with the same name. When multiple works have the same author(s), sort by publication year. Journal details (volume, issue, pages, publisher, etc.) must be complete and not abbreviated. Access dates for online sources are not required, except for unarchived or continuously updated content (e.g., wikis, dictionaries, databases). Include DOI links where available, regardless of whether the print or online version was used.
