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ASEAN Journal on Science and Technology for Development

About the Journal

The ASEAN Journal on Science and Technology for Development (AJSTD) is an Open Access international, peer-reviewed journal publishing high-quality, original research. Please see the journal's Aims & Scope for information about its focus and peer-review policy. Open Access means you can publish your research so it is free to access online as soon as it is published, meaning anyone can read (and cite) your work. Please note that this journal only publishes manuscripts in English.

Language

Manuscripts must be written in English in a clear and concise manner. Manuscripts should be written either British or American English spelling and terminology, but only one convention should be used and followed consistently throughout your text. Every effort should be made to ensure that the language is corrected before submission. Any author who is not fluent in idiomatic English is urged to seek assistance with manuscript preparation prior to submission. Reviewers are not expected to correct grammatical errors and any deficiency in this area may detract from the scientific content of the paper and result in acceptance delays or rejection.

Types of Articles

The journal seeks to publish contributions in the following forms:

  • Original Study: Original Studies are in-depth research articles that explore a specific topic within a scientific discipline. These articles present comprehensive findings and contribute valuable insights to their respective fields. A maximum of 80 references is allowed for original research articles.
  • Editorial: Editorials are concise articles typically written by experts or journal editors (including guest editors). They offer commentary, analysis, opinions on current issues, research trends, important developments within the field or introductions to a special issue. The maximum number of references for editorials is 80 references.
  • Review: Review articles provide a comprehensive overview of a particular subject, summarizing existing research, current knowledge, and recent advances. They serve as valuable resources for researchers and practitioners. The maximum number of references for reviews is 120 to maintain readability.
  • Rapid Communication: Rapid communications are short but significant manuscripts that convey important findings quickly. They are intended for research that demands immediate attention due to its timeliness and importance. Rapid communications have a maximum of 5 citations and should not exceed 4 pages in length.
  • Commentary: Commentary articles provide expert opinions, analysis, or perspectives on various topics within the scientific community. They may offer unique insights or provoke discussions. Commentaries have a maximum of 10 citations and should not exceed 4 pages in length.
  • Letter to the Editor: Letters to the Editor are brief articles that allow readers to share their thoughts, opinions, or reactions to content published in the journal. They often provide critical commentary or additional insights. Letters to the Editor have a maximum of 10 citations and should not exceed 4 pages in length.
  • Annual Meeting Abstract: Annual meeting abstracts are concise summaries of research presented at annual meetings or conferences. These abstracts offer a glimpse into the research presented and serve as a valuable resource for conference attendees and researchers interested in the field. Annual Meeting Abstracts have a maximum of 5 citations and should be limited to a maximum of 300 words.

Before Submission

Manuscripts must be submitted on the understanding that they have not been published elsewhere and are only being considered by this journal. The submitting author is responsible for ensuring that the article’s publication has been approved by all the other coauthors. It is also the submitting author’s responsibility to ensure that the article has all necessary institutional approvals. Only an acknowledgment from the editorial office officially establishes the date of receipt. Further correspondence and proofs will be sent to the author(s) before publication, unless otherwise indicated. It is a condition of submission that the authors permit editing of the manuscript for readability.

Submission Requirements and Checklist

When preparing your manuscript for submission to our journal, it is important to ensure that all necessary items are included and that your submission adheres to our guidelines. To help you with this process, we have compiled a checklist of items to include in your submission package:

Cover Letter

Write a cover letter that briefly introduces your manuscript, explains its significance and contribution to the field, and highlights any special considerations for the editorial team.

Manuscript Text

  • Title:Provide a clear and concise title that accurately reflects the content of your article. The title should be brief, concise, and descriptive. It should not contain any literature references or compound numbers or non-standardized abbreviations.
  • Author Information: Include the names, affiliations, and contact details (email addresses) of all authors.
  • Corresponding author: Should be indicated with an asterisk, and contact details (Tel., fax, and e-mail address) should be placed in a footnote. If available, the 16-digit ORCID of the corresponding author.
  • Abstract:

The abstract should be self-contained, citation-free, and should not exceed 300 words. The abstract should briefly describe the purpose of the study, how the investigation was performed, the most important results, and the principal conclusions that were drawn from the results, respectively. Nonstandard or uncommon abbreviations should be defined at first mention within the abstract.

  • Keywords:

Authors are asked to provide (4 to 6) keywords, separated with semicolons,  that represent the main topics of your research, which will aid in indexing and discoverability.

  • Main Text:

Organize your manuscript into the following sections:

  • Introduction: This section should be succinct, with no subheadings. The author(s) should strive to define the significance of the work and the justification for its publication. Any background discussion should be brief and restricted to pertinent material.
  • Material and methods: (Experimental or Methodology) :This part should contain sufficient detail that would enable all procedures to be repeated. It can be divided into subsections if several methods are described. Authors should be as concise as possible in experimental descriptions. The experimental section must contain all of the information necessary to guarantee reproducibility. Previously published methods should be indicated by a reference and only relevant modifications should be described. All vendor details, including company, city, and country, should be mentioned for chemicals, reagents, strains, etc. For statistical analysis, please state the appropriate test(s) in addition to a hypothesized p-value or significant level (for example 0.05).
  • Results: The study results should be clear and concise. Restrict the use of tables and figures to depict data that is essential to the message and interpretation of the study. The results should be presented in a logical sequence in the text, tables and illustrations.
  • Discussion: The discussion should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. Include in the discussion the implications of the findings and their limitations, how the findings fit into the context of other relevant work, and directions for future research.
  • Conclusion(s): The main conclusion(s) of the study should be presented in a short conclusion statement highlighting the goals of the study and its importance. State new hypotheses when warranted. Include recommendations when appropriate.
  • Acknowledgment(s): All acknowledgments (if any) should be included at the very end of the text. Anyone who made a contribution to the research or manuscript, but who is not a listed author, should be acknowledged (with their permission).
  • Statements of ethical approval:

Manuscripts reporting studies involving human participants, human data or human tissue must:

  • include a statement on ethics approval and consent (even where the need for approval was waived)
  • include the name of the ethics committee that approved the study and the committee’s reference number if appropriate

Studies involving animals must include a statement on ethics approval and for experimental studies involving client-owned animals, authors must also include a statement on informed consent from the client or owner.

  • Conflict of Interest: 

Authors must declare all potential interests in a ‘Conflicts of interest’ section, which should explain why the interest may be a conflict. If there are none, the authors should state “The author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper.” Submitting authors are responsible for co-authors declaring their interests.

Authors must declare current or recent funding (including for article processing charges) and other payments, goods, or services that might influence the work. All funding, whether a conflict or not, must be declared in the ‘Acknowledgments’.

The involvement of anyone other than the authors who:1) has an interest in the outcome of the work; 2) is affiliated with an organization with such an interest; or 3) was employed or paid by a funder, in the commissioning, conception, planning, design, conduct, or analysis of the work, the preparation or editing of the manuscript or the decision to publish must be declared.

  • Funding Information: 

Disclose all sources of funding that supported your research.

  • Declaration of AI Technology usage: 

Declare any use of AI in the writing process of your article. Declaration should state the specific AI technologies or tools used, the purpose of their usage, and the extent to which AI was employed in the writing process. If no AI was used in the writing process please state “We declare that no Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies or AI-assisted tools were utilized in any capacity during the writing and preparation of this article.”

  • References:

Ensure that your references are formatted according to our citation style guidelines. Be mindful of the maximum reference limits specified for each article type.

Figures and Tables

Figures: Include all figures and illustrations in the appropriate file formats with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi. Number figures sequentially and provide clear captions. Ensure your figures are of acceptable quality and uploaded as separate files.

Tables: Include tables that are well-structured, labeled, and with concise titles. Ensure that tables are editable and not embedded as images.

Supplementary Materials

Authors can publish online supplementary files along with their articles. Each supplementary file should include the article title, authors' names, affiliations, and email address of the corresponding author. Supplementary files will be published as received from the authors without any conversion, editing, or reforming.

Submissions that don't adhere to these guidelines will be rejected or returned to the Author prior to the peer review process.

Preparation of Manuscripts

Authors should submit their manuscripts to the editorial office as word files (word 2007 or higher) via the online Editorial Manager. Manuscripts with mathematical content can also be submitted in Latex 

The original manuscript should be formatted with double line spacing using Times New Roman fonts (10 pt) and fully justified right and left.

The text must be in a single-column format with justified margins. Use bold face, italics, subscripts, and superscripts where appropriate.

To avoid unnecessary errors, the authors are strongly advised to use the "spell-check" and "grammar-check" functions of their word processing software.

Use continuous line numbering throughout the text and all manuscript pages must be numbered.

Formatting Requirements

  • Authors should submit their manuscripts to the editorial office as word files (word 2007 or higher). Manuscripts with mathematical content can also be submitted in Latex Figures should be submitted as separate files.
  • Page size should be A4 size. All margins (left, right, top and bottom) should be 1.5 inches (3.8 cm).
  • The original manuscript should be formatted with double line spacing using Times New Roman fonts (12 pt) and fully justified.
  • Set the font color to blackfor the majority of the text. Whenever possible use italics to indicate text you wish to emphasize rather than underlining it. The use of color to emphasize text is discouraged.
  • The text must be in a single-column format with justified margins. Use bold face, italics, subscripts, and superscripts where appropriate.
  • Headings(e.g., start of sections) should be distinguished from the main body text by their fonts.
  • Footnotesshould appear at the bottom of the page on which they are referenced rather than at the end of the paper. Footnotes should be in 10 pt. Times or closest comparable font available, they should be single spaced, and there should be a footnote separator rule (line). Footnote numbers or symbols in the text must follow, rather than precede, punctuation. Excessively long footnotes are probably better handled in an appendix. All footnotes should be left and right-justified (i.e., flush with the right margin), unless this creates awkward spacing.
  • To avoid unnecessary errors, the authors are strongly advised to use the "spell-check" and "grammar-check" functions of their word processing software.
  • Use continuous line numbering throughout the text and all manuscript pages must be numbered.
  • When possible, there should be no pages where more than a quarter of the page is empty space.

Online Submission

Manuscripts should be submitted by one of the authors of the manuscript through the online Editorial Manager(EM) following the instructions given on the screen. Submissions by anyone other than one of the authors will not be accepted. The corresponding author takes responsibility for the manuscript during submission and peer review. If for some technical reason, submission through the EM is not possible, the author can contact to ajstd@ubd.edu.bn for support.

Initial evaluation

All submitted manuscripts will be checked by the Editorial Office to determine whether they are properly prepared and whether they follow the ethical policies of the journal. All submitted manuscripts are screened for potential plagiarism via Turnitin software. Manuscripts that do not fit the journal's ethics policy or do not meet the standards of the journal will be rejected before peer review. Incomplete manuscripts not prepared in the advised style will be sent back to authors without scientific review. After these checks, the Editorial Office will consult the journal’s Editor-in-Chief to determine whether the manuscript fits the scope of the journal and whether it is scientifically sound. Manuscripts with insufficient priority for publication will be rejected promptly. Please write your text in good English (American or British usage are accepted). The Editor reserves the right to reject a manuscript on the grounds of insufficient language quality. Reject decisions at this stage will be verified by the Editor-in-Chief.

References

Discoverability of research and high quality peer review are ensured by online links to the sources cited. Please ensure that data provided in the references are correct. Please note that incorrect surnames, journal/book titles, publication year and pagination may prevent the link creation. When copying references, please be careful as they may already contain an error. Use of the DOI is encouraged.

There are no strict requirements on reference formatting at submission. References can be in any style or format as long as the style is consistent. Author(s) name(s), journal title/book title, chapter title/article title, year of publication, volume and issue/book chapter and the pagination must be present. Use of DOI is highly encouraged. The reference style used by the journal will be applied to the accepted article by Elsevier at the proof stage. Note that incorrect or missing data will be highlighted at proof stage for the author to correct.

Citation in text:  Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list but may be mentioned in the text. Citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication.

Web references: The full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired or can be included in the reference list.

Data references: You may cite underlying or relevant datasets in your manuscript by citing them in your text and including a data reference in your reference list. Data references should include the following elements: author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add [dataset] immediately before the reference so we can properly identify it as a data reference. The [dataset] identifier will not appear in your published article.

Preprint references: Please use the formal publication the reference instead of a preprint if the latter has subsequently become available as a peer-reviewed publication. Preprints, which may be critical for your work but are not yet formally published, may be referenced provided that they are clearly marked as such, for example by including the word preprint, or the name of the preprint server, as part of the reference. The preprint DOI should also be provided.

Reference style
Text: Citations in the text should follow the referencing style used by the American Psychological Association. You are referred to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition, ISBN 978-1-4338-3215-4, copies of which may be ordered online.


List: references should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters 'a', 'b', 'c', etc., placed after the year of publication.


Examples:
Reference to a journal publication:
Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J. A. J., & Lupton, R. A. (2010). The art of writing a scientific article. Journal of Scientific Communications, 163, 51–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sc.2010.00372.
Reference to a journal publication with an article number:
Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J. A. J., & Lupton, R. A. (2018). The art of writing a scientific article. Heliyon, 19, Article e00205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e00205.
Reference to a book:
Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B. (2000). The elements of style (4th ed.). Longman (Chapter 4).
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
Mettam, G. R., & Adams, L. B. (2009). How to prepare an electronic version of your article. In B. S. Jones, & R. Z. Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the electronic age (pp. 281–304). E-Publishing Inc.
Reference to a website:
Powertech Systems. (2015). Lithium-ion vs lead-acid cost analysis. Retrieved from http://www.powertechsystems.eu/home/tech-corner/lithium-ion-vs-lead-acid-cost-analysis/. Accessed January 6, 2016
Reference to a dataset:
[dataset] Oguro, M., Imahiro, S., Saito, S., & Nakashizuka, T. (2015). Mortality data for Japanese oak wilt disease and surrounding forest compositions. Mendeley Data, v1. https://doi.org/10.17632/xwj98nb39r.1.
Reference to a conference paper or poster presentation:
Engle, E.K., Cash, T.F., & Jarry, J.L. (2009, November). The Body Image Behaviours Inventory-3: Development and validation of the Body Image Compulsive Actions and Body Image Avoidance Scales. Poster session presentation at the meeting of the Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies, New York, NY.
Reference to software:
Coon, E., Berndt, M., Jan, A., Svyatsky, D., Atchley, A., Kikinzon, E., Harp, D., Manzini, G., Shelef, E., Lipnikov, K., Garimella, R., Xu, C., Moulton, D., Karra, S., Painter, S., Jafarov, E., & Molins, S. (2020, March 25). Advanced Terrestrial Simulator (ATS) v0.88 (Version 0.88). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3727209.

 

Figures

Figures and tables should be submitted in separate files. If the article is accepted, authors will be asked to provide the source files of the figures. Each figure should be supplied in a separate electronic file. All figures should be cited in the manuscript in consecutive order. Figures should be supplied in either vector art formats (Illustrator, EPS, WMF, FreeHand,

CorelDraw, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.) or bitmap formats (Photoshop, TIFF, GIF, JPEG, etc.). Bitmap images should be of 300 dpi resolution at least unless the resolution is intentionally set to a lower level for scientific reasons. If a bitmap image has labels, the image and labels should be embedded in separate layers. Figures should be referred to as Fig. 1, Figs. 2, 3-5, using Arabic numerals. Ensure that all tables, figures, and schemes are cited in the text in numerical order. Figure panels should be denoted by lowercase letters (e.g. Fig. 1a or Fig. 3a,b).

Tables

Tables should be cited consecutively in the text. Every table must have a descriptive title and if numerical measurements are given, the units should be included in the column heading. Please use SI units in the Tables and throughout the text. Vertical rules should not be used. Figure and table captions should be 9-point Times New Roman, boldface, and non-italic. Initially capitalize only the first word of the caption. Figure captions are to be below the figures and Table titles are to be fully justified right and left above the table.

Funding Statement

Authors must state how the research and publication of their article were funded, by naming financially supporting body(s) (written out in full) followed by associated grant number(s) in square brackets (if applicable), for example: “This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; and the National Science Foundation [grant number zzzz”. If the research did not receive specific funding but was performed as part of the employment of the authors, please name this employer. If the funder was involved in the manuscript writing, editing, approval, or decision to publish, please declare this.

Nomenclature and Units

All measurements and data should be given in SI units where possible. Illustrations and Tables should use conventional units, with conversion factors given in legends or footnotes.

Proofs

One set of page proofs (as PDF files) will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness, and correctness of the text, tables, and figures. We will do our best to get your article published quickly and accurately. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are sent back in one communication within 48 h. proofreading is solely your responsibility. Note that the publisher may proceed with the publication of an article if no response is received.

Revised manuscripts

When you revise your manuscript, upload your revised submissions including the following files:

Revised manuscript:

Clarifying the changes you have made since the original submission by using the "Track Changes" option in Microsoft Word. Upload this as a "Revised Article with Changes Highlighted" file.

Response to reviewers:

Type the specific points made by each reviewer. Include your responses to all the reviewers' and editors' comments and list the changes you have made to the manuscript. Upload this document as a "Response to reviewers" file.

Revised manuscript (clean copy):

Upload a clean copy of your revised manuscript with names, which does not show your changes. Upload this as your "Clean Manuscript" file.

Revision does not mean that the manuscript will be accepted for publication, as the amended submissions could be sent out for reevaluation.

After acceptance

Upon acceptance, your article will be exported to production to undergo typesetting. once the typesetting is complete, you will receive the proofs.

Peer Review

All manuscripts are subjected to peer review and are expected to meet the standards of academic excellence. If approved by the editor, submissions will be considered by peer reviewers, whose identities will remain anonymous to the authors (Single-blind peer review). The decision regarding the acceptance or rejection of a manuscript is the responsibility of the editorial board and is based on the recommendations of the reviewers (peer-reviewed process).

Our Research Integrity team will occasionally seek advice outside standard peer review, for example, on submissions with serious ethical, security, biosecurity, or societal implications. We may consult experts and the academic editor before deciding on appropriate actions, including but not limited to recruiting reviewers with specific expertise, assessment by additional editors, and declining to further consider a submission.

Ethical Guidelines

In any study on human or animal subjects, the following ethical guidelines must be observed. For any experiments on humans, all work must be conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (1964). Manuscripts describing experimental work which carries a risk of harm to human subjects must include a statement that the experiment was conducted with the human subjects’ understanding and consent, as well as a statement that the responsible Ethical Committee has approved the experiments. In the case of any animal experiments, the authors must provide a full description of any anesthetic or surgical procedure used, as well as evidence that all possible steps were taken to avoid animal suffering at each stage of the experiment.

Complying with Ethics of Experimentation

Please ensure that all research reported in submitted papers has been conducted in an ethical and responsible manner, and is in full compliance with all relevant codes of experimentation and legislation. All original research papers involving humans, animals, plants, biological material, protected or non-public datasets, collections or sites, must include a written statement under an Ethics Approval section including the following:

  • The name of the ethics committee(s) or institutional review board(s) involved.
  • The number or ID of the ethics approval(s).
  • A statement that human participants have provided informed consent before taking part in the research.
  • Research involving animals must adhere to ethical standards concerning animal welfare. All original research papers involving animals must:
    • Follow international, national, and institutional guidelines for the humane treatment of animals.
    • Receive approval by the ethics review committee at the institution or practice at which the research was conducted and provide details on the approval process, names of the ethics committee(s) or institutional review board(s) involved, and the number or ID of the ethics approval(s) in the Ethics Approval section.
    • Provide justification for use of animals and the species selected.
    • Provide information about housing, feeding, and environmental enrichment, and steps taken to minimize suffering.
    • Provide mode of anesthesia and euthanasia.

Article Publishing Charge

Currently, AJSTD does not impose any Article Processing Charges (APC) until December 31, 2024. However, starting January 1, 2025, the Editorial Office will begin applying APC to accepted articles.