Submissions

Author Guidelines

Guidelines for authors

Manuscript (prepared in Microsoft word) must be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief by online submission portal or postal system or in person. Any quarry regarding the preparation and submission of the manuscript to the journal should be addressed via the contact us form or through e-mail. The journal will accept articles written in both English and  Amharic languages. Original research Articles that were published and or are being considered for publication elsewhere will not be accepted in this journal. Corresponding authors must declare that the manuscript is submitted on behalf of all authors. Copyright belongs to the publisher upon acceptance of the manuscript. The rejected manuscript will not be returned to the authors. Submission of a manuscript signifies acceptance of the journal's guidelines for authors.

Manuscript Preparation

The uses APA Publication Manual Seventh Edition as its formatting and style guide with slight modifications. Accordingly,  papers written in English and Amharic languages should be prepared in A4 (8.27" X 11.69") page size with a single column, using standard Times New Roman fonts with the size of 12, with double-spacing, and margins of at least 1" (2.5cm) all around. Original research articles and review articles should not occupy more than 15 manuscript pages while brief reports, book reviews, and short communications should not occupy more than 6 manuscript pages. All pages are numbered starting from the title page. Times New Roman font must be used and remain uniform throughout the text. The authors must strictly adhere to the proper format of the Journal which is APA Manual Seventh Edition for all sections of the manuscript.

A research manuscript planned to be published in AMU-JCLS should include the following parts in order: Title, Byline (Author(s) names and affiliations), Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgements (if any), and References.

1. Title

The title should be concise, and precise and describe the contents of the paper. A short-running title of less than 150 characters or not more than twelve words will be accepted.

2. Byline: Author (s) names and affiliations

The given name(s) and family name(s) (first, middle and last names) of each author should be indicated and correctly spelled. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done which is usually an institution) below the names. The names of the authors should appear in the order of their contributions, centered between the side margins. For names with suffixes (e.g., Dr., PhD., Jr., and III), separate the suffix from the rest of the name with a space instead of a comma. The institutional affiliation should be centered under the author's name, on the next line.

Byline variation Examples

One author, no affiliation                                    Mary S. Haggerty

                                                                                Rochester, New York

Two authors (with suffixes), one affiliation      John O. Foster II and Roy R. Davis Jr.

                                                                         Educational Testing Service, Princeton, New Jersey

Three authors, one affiliation                   Juanita Fuentes, Paul Dykes, and Susan

                                                                Watanabe University of Colorado at Boulder

Two authors, two affiliations                   David Wolf

                                                            University of California, Berkeley

                                                                 Amanda Blue

                                                             Brandon University

Three authors, two affiliations    Mariah Meade and Sylvia Earleywine

                                                           Georgetown University

                                                               Jeffrey Coffee

                                                            Dartmouth College

3. Abstract

The abstract should be a brief comprehensive summary of the contents of the article. The abstract should state concisely the principal objectives, methods, results, discussion, conclusions, and recommendations of the article. It should be accurate in its presentation of the study, non-evaluative and coherent, and readable.  Use verbs rather than their noun equivalents and the active rather than the passive voice (e.g., ‘investigated’ rather than ‘an investigation on ‘The authors presented the results instead of ‘Results were presented). Use the present tense to describe conclusions drawn or results with continuing applicability; use the past tense to describe specific variables manipulated or outcomes measured. The abstract should not be longer than 250 words. About 3 to 6 keywords that will give indexing references should be listed in alphabetical order.  Avoid plural terms and multiple concepts. The label Abstract should appear in uppercase and lowercase letters, centered, at the top of the page. Type the abstract itself as a single paragraph without paragraph indentation. Key words should be presented at the end of the article starting with Key words followed by a colon. The key words then follow italicized and separated from each other by a semicolon.

4. Introduction

The introduction should engage the reader in the problem of interest and provide a context for the study at hand. In introducing the research concern, the writer should provide a clear rationale for why the problem deserves new research, placing the study in the context of current knowledge and prior theoretical and empirical work on the topic. The introduction should thus briefly state the background and justification or statement of the problem, the underlying hypothesis for conducting research or research questions, and a review of the literature pertinent to the problem. At the end of the introduction, an explicit and precise statement of the aim of the work together with a brief outline of the research design should be presented.

5. Materials and Method

A concise explanation of the state of affairs under which the study was carried out and the research design and methods used should be given. In addition, the data source, sampling, collection and analysis methods, and statistical models used should be clearly described.

6. Results and Discussion

The Results section should include a summary of the collected data and analyses often using tables and figures. Both descriptive statistics and tests of significance should be clearly described in this section. In the Discussion section, the writer evaluates and interprets the findings. Detailed interpretation of data should be discussed with reference to problems indicated in the introduction or stated as objectives with other earlier findings in the area of current research work. The credibility of evidence (result), comparison with already recorded observations and the possible practical implications should be discussed. Authors should avoid duplicate reporting of data but instead should decide on the most comprehensible ways of presenting the information, whether it is through text or through tabular or graphic form.

6.1 Tables

Tables are numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals (e.g., Table 1, Table 2) and should bear a short, yet adequately explanatory caption. Avoid using vertical and/or horizontal grid lines to separate columns and/or rows. Footnotes to tables are designated by lower case letters which appear as superscripts inappropriate entries. All tables should be referenced in the text. In full-length papers maximum 8 result tables can be considered whereas short communications should include less than 3 result tables.

6.2 Figures

Figures should be restricted to the display of results where a large number of values are presented and interpretation would be more difficult in Tables. Figures may not reproduce the same data as Tables. Figures should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals (e.g., Figure 1, Figure 2), and refer to all figures in the text. Originals of figures should preferably be A4 size, of good quality, drawn or produced on the good quality printer, and saved in a separate file. Vertical and horizontal axes should be labeled consequently.

6.3 Photographs

Photos should be original and suitable for reproduction. It is essential that these images be submitted at appropriate levels of resolution. Photographs must be of professional quality and should be presented as black and white images unless they include color-specific information relevant to the study. If you photograph a person, obtain a signed release from that person to use the photograph. If you use a photograph from another source, try to obtain the original photograph because photographs of photographs do not print clearly. Obtain written permission for reuse (in both print and electronic form) from the copyright holder, and acknowledge the author and the copyright holder in the figure caption. Photographs should be unmounted with lettering clearly indicated on overlays or photocopies. For composites, photographs should be unmounted and softcopy enclosed to indicate the required measurement. Magnification should be given in the legend or indicated by a scale or bar. They should be numbered as part of the sequence of Figures.

7. Conclusions

The conclusions section should come next to the results and discussions section of the article. Conclusions can be stated in a few sentences. Authors are encouraged to forward a conclusion (two to three brief statements) from the study summarizing the main findings, showing research gaps for future research undertaking, and indicating the practical implications of the findings. Author(s) are also privileged to state recommendations if interested.

8. Conflict of interest

All authors are requested to unveil any concrete or potential conflict of interest within two years after publication including any financial, personal or other affairs with other people or organizations work that could improperly influence, or be perceived to influence their work.

9. In-text citation

Follow APA Manual Seventh edition for all types of in-text citation. Either make your citation part of the sentence by mentioning the author’s surname followed by the year in a bracket and the page number at the end of the quoted text in bracket or open a bracket at the end of a sentence citing ideas from another author and write the surname (first name in case of Ethiopian authors)  of the author separated by a comma followed by year then comma and page number, close the bracket and end the sentence with a period. Examples: (James, 2003, p.3); If more than one page (James, 2003, pp.3-5); If two authors ( James and Gebru, 2004, pp. 118-123); if more than two authors, cite the surnames of all the authors the first time as (James, Gebru, and Chandra, 2011, p.45) and use the first authors surname and et al. (not italicized and with a period after al ) in all subsequent references to the same authors as (James et al., 2011, p.57).

10. References

Start the reference list on a new page. The word References should appear in uppercase and lowercase letters, centered. Double-space all reference entries. AMU-JCLS, following the APA standard, publishes references in a hanging indent format, meaning that the first line of each reference is set flush left and subsequent lines are indented seven letter spaces. Choose references judiciously and include only the sources that you used in the research and preparation of the article. Arrange entries in alphabetical order by the surname (first name in case of Ethiopian authors)   of the first author followed by initials of the author's given name.

Reference entries are in the following order: Author’s names. (Publication date). Title. Jounal name/Book publisher and place/.

Examples

Journal Article

Janet, P . (1906). The pathogenesis of some impulsions. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1, 1-17.

And for an article that is retrievable online indicate its doi number.

Shigeta, M. (1990). Folk in-situ conservation of Ensete [ensete ventricosum ]: Toward the interpretation of            indigenous agricultural science of the Ari, southwestern Ethiopia. African Study Monographs, 10(3), 93-107. doi:10.14989/68056.

Book

Simmons, I.G. (1993). Interpreting nature: Cultural constructions of the environment. London and New York: Routledge.

Williams, M. & May, T. (1996). Introduction to the philosophy of social research. London: UCL Press Limited.

Bloom. H., DeMan, P., Derrida, J., Hartman, G.H., and Miller, J.H. (1979). Deconstruction and

criticism. London and Henley: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Chapter in a Book

Palumbo-Liu, D. (2011). Method and congruity: The odious business of comparative literature. In Behdad, A. & Thomas, D. (Eds),  A companion to comparative literature (pp. 46-59). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Format references to technical and research reports as you would a book.

 Entry in an online reference work

Graham, G. (2005). Behaviorism. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Fall 2007 ed.). Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries /behaviorism/30.

Entry in an online reference work with no date, author or editor

Heuristic.(n.d.). In Merriam-Webster's online dictionary (11th ed). Retrieved from http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/heuristic

 Paper in Proceedings

Herculano-Houzel, S., Collins, C. E., Wong, R, Kaas, J. H., & Lent R. (2008). The basic nonuniformity of the cerebral cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105, 12593—12598.

And if the paper in the proceeding is retrievable online add the doi number

Herculano-Houzel, S., Collins, C. E., Wong, R, Kaas, J. H., & Lent R. (2008). The basic nonuniformity of the cerebral cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105, 12593—12598. doi:1 0. 1 073/pnas.Q80541 7105.

Theses

For a doctoral dissertation or master's thesis available from a database service, use the following reference template:

Author, A. A. (2003). Title of doctoral dissertation or master's thesis (Doctoral dissertation or master's thesis). Retrieved from Name of database. (Accession or Order No.)

For an unpublished dissertation or thesis, use the following template:

Author, A. A. (1978). Title of doctoral dissertation or master's thesis (Unpublished doctoral dissertation or master's thesis). Name of Institution, Location.

For more details on referencing and style, refer to APA Publication Manual Seventh Edition