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Guidelines for the Preparation of Contributions

Tomaž PERME

Abstract: A common question by authors of contributions is in what format the contributions should be prepared. Simple instructions are offered for easier and faster preparation and design of texts. These instructions simplify the work for authors as well as for the editing board. The instructions include only the most basic recommendations and are also written in the format recommended by the instructions.

Keywords: instructions, terminology, design, figures, graphs, tables

1 Introduction

Authors often wonder how they should prepare text and graphic material for magazine publishing format. Taking a look at the magazine itself or at published contributions does not say much. In wishing for a well-prepared contribution, some authors also try to format their contributions, but instead only create a lot on unnecessary work for themselves and for the editorial board.

The formatting of articles in scientific and professional magazines is set by the SIST ISO 215 [1] standard, but these contain only the simplest instructions to help authors achieve faster and easier preparation of the material. Since the magazine contains a lot of different contributions, from scientific and professional ones, to reports and news, the instructions specify only a general format for the preparation of material but not the content as well, which is left up to the author.

2 Description of Formatting Preparation

Among the basic guidelines are the instructions for the preparation of the page, font style and paragraph, title design, naming of the figures and tables, footnotes and sources, design of the equations and also the recommendations about the length and structure of the text.

2.1 Preparation of the page, fond and paragraph

A basic page for contributions is in portrait style, paper size A4, with 2.5 cm borders. The style of the entire contribution should be simple: font style is Times New Roman font size 12, the paragraph is set in block alignment (without indentation), and uses single line spacing. Other settings can be of your own choosing; however we recommend the presets in the text editor (as in MS Word).

2.2 Formatting titles of the Contribution, Chapters, and Sub-chapters

At the beginning the material should have a title, written in bold. The titles of chapters and sub-chapters are written in bold as well, and numbered. Numbering should be manual, meaning the style should be same as for the text, only before the text of the title should a number be added. We recommend three-level numbering at most. The fourth level of sub- chapters is not numbered any more, and the titles are only in bold.

2.3 Formatting Figures and Tables

Figures and tables have three elements; the quotation, subtitle, and figure or table itself. Every figure or table is named and given a subtitle (i.e., Figure 1, Table 1), and inside the paragraph it is cited. In the first citation the text is in italics, though with all the following ones the text is normal. Figures can be in different formats (Figure 1 and Figure 2). With photographs .TIFF format is the best, but it can also be .JPG, and for both the resolution has to be at least 300 DPI (dots per inch). Figures made with a computer program should be sent in the original, which means in the format of the program in which they were made. They can be sent also in EPS program, but letters have to be transformed into curved lines.

Slika 1. Photograph in the .JPG format

With graphs or diagrams it is necessary to also take into account the standards on measurement units and distribution of units. In the case of the graph in Figure 2, which is made with MS Excel, it is necessary to also attach to the contribution the original, which means the graph in the XLS format.

Tables have titles before the table, e.g. at the beginning (Table 1), and the cells can be separated by lines.

Table 1. Summary of the contributions in the magazine Ventil by typology for the year 2005 [3]

Typology	Number of articles
1.01 – Scientific article	9
1.04 – Expert/technical article	11
1.05 – Popular article	9
1.20 – Preface, prologue	4
1.22 – Interview	1
1.25 – Other articles or papers	16
Non-categorized (contributions by foreign authors)	1
Summary	51

Figure 2. Graph imported from the MS Excel program for graphs

2.4 The marking of Citations and Writing Sources

Citations are marked within the paragraph with a number in the square parenthesis, which points to the used source. Sources are described in the list according to exactly defined rule. Each of the sources have a consecutive number in the square parenthesis, followed by the author, title of the article or book, the magazine in which the article was published, the publisher, year of publishing, and pages. After the author name is the colon, and between other information are comas. Examples are in the section Sources.

2.5 Formatting Equations

Equations should be placed in separated lines in the text and marked at right edge with the consequential number in round parenthesis, such as for instance the equation (1).

2.6 Extent/volume

Scientific and expert or technical contributions should be approximately 4 to 6 magazine pages. The total number of characters or pages made by these guidelines also depends on the number and size of figures. The approximate estimation stands that the limit for the publishing of a contribution in one piece is approximately 10 – 20 pages, including figures and taking into account these guidelines. Longer contributions are to be already as prepared as possible for publishing (at the beginning) in two or more pieces.

Reports and news usually do not exceed two pages in the magazine, which means approximately three to four pages including figures. News should be limited to a half a page in the magazine, including one figure.

2.7 Structure of the Contribution

Structure-wise, the contributions are divided roughly into two parts: scientific and expert/ technical, and reports, news, novelties, and others.

2.7.1 Structure of the Scientific and Technical/expert Contribution

Scientific and technical/expert contributions have an exactly specified structure, composed of the title, authors, abstract, key words, chapters and sub chapters, list of sources or literature, information on authors, and if necessary the title, abstract and key words also in English.

2.7.2 Structure of Other Contributions

Other contributions such as reports and news have mainly the title, text and at the end the information on author or source of the contribution. If the contribution also contains figures or tables, the authors should also take into account the guidelines for formatting figures and tables (chapter 2.3).

2.8 Terminology and Grammar

Contributions must be written in terminologically and linguistically [3] proper Slovene.

3 Conclusions

The instructions present only basic recommendations on how the text, meant for publishing in the magazine Ventil, should be designed. The instructions are written in the form of a professional/expert/technical contribution, which is recommended by these instructions. The instructions are available also on the magazine web page in PDF [4] format.

Sources

[1] SIST ISO 215:1996: Documentation – Design of Articles in Periodical and other Serial Publications. [2] Perme, T., Kirn, B., Skok, I.: Prenova strežnih in montažnih robotov, Ventil 11/2005/4, pg.: 249 – 257. [3] Toporišič, J.: Slovenski pravopis, ZRC SAZU, Ljubljana, 2001. [4] Instructions for the preparation of the contributions, (www.fs.uni-lj.si/ventil/navodila.pdf).

Data on Author: Tomaž Perme, Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za strojništvo, Uredništvo revije Ventil

Guidelines for authors

Abstract: The most frequently asked question from the authors is how to prepare the contribution. The present guidelines for the authors are prepared to help authors to format the paper in simple and easy way. The guidelines specify just basic recommendations and are prepared in the format recommended by these guidelines.

Keywords: guidelines, terminology, formatting, pictures, graphs, tables

Review process

All scientific and professional articles published in the journal Ventil are peer-reviewed. All contributions received for publication are first reviewed by the editor, who also checks them for possible plagiarism. If deficiencies are discovered, the authors are asked for corrections. After that, the contribution is sent for review (single blind review). The reviewer receives the article with the author’s name and affiliation, and the author receives the review without the reviewer’s name. If the reviewer requests corrections or additions, the editorial office returns the contribution to the author to eliminate the deficiencies. Contributions where major corrections are proposed are subject to re-review. The editor-in-chief has the right to propose content additions and technical improvements and may, at his own discretion or at the suggestion of the reviewer, refuse to publish the contribution.

Repository policy

Authors are permitted to deposit the final published version, VoR, (publisher’s PDF) in any repository of their choice, with no embargo. All deposits must include a full citation of the original publication, including the article DOI,
and should link to the version of the article as published on Journal Website. The journal is also permanently archived at The Digital Library of Slovenia (dLib.si) and at Repository of the University of Ljubljana (RUL) – sample https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/IzpisGradiva.php?id=169193

Research data management (notes for authors)

The journal Ventil supports open access to research data, which form the basis of modern scientific research.

About research data

Research data are data obtained through various methods to understand, test or confirm hypotheses and draw conclusions, and are generated or processed during research. Data can be in various formats: notes, interviews, photographs, transcripts, numerical research data, software code, etc. If data are not recorded or stored in digital form, it is advisable to consider whether this material can be digitized to facilitate its storage in a data repository. A data repository enables storage and access to different types of data (e.g. research data, public sector data, etc.) and associated documentation.

The availability of data increases the transparency and verifiability of research results and improves their usability in future studies, thereby increasing the investment in already collected data. Data sharing can also promote the professional development of researchers by increasing the visibility of their work and facilitating collaboration with new partners.

Policy on the mandatory citation of research data

According to the Decree on the implementation of scientific research work in accordance with the principles of open science (Decree), the journal’s co-funder (Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency) requires the editorial board to provide open access to the research data used in the article prior to publication. The data must be prepared according to the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable).

Exceptions to open access to research data

If data cannot be fully shared for legal, ethical or other valid reasons, the authors must provide justification – for example, in cases involving the protection of personal data (see the EU General Data Protection Regulation), material containing trade secrets or other commercially sensitive information regulated by legislation, or data involving security risks. The Decree requires authors to provide open access to research data and other results from co-funded research according to the principle “as open as possible, as closed as necessary”.

List of trusted repositories

Authors must deposit research data in trusted data repositories, archives or centers that provide appropriate access arrangements. The trusted repositories recommended by the journal’s co-funder are listed here.

The editorial board recommends that Slovenian researchers deposit their research data in trusted national repositories, such as:

Authors can also search for a suitable repository using tools such as https://fairsharing.org or https://www.re3data.org.

We recommend using the Creative Commons licenses CC BY 4.0 or CC0 1.0 (or equivalent) when publishing research data.

Data Availability Statement

All manuscripts must include a Data Availability Statement. This statement should specify:

Where the data can be accessed (repository name and persistent identifier), or
Conditions under which the data are available, or
Reasons why the data are not publicly available.

The Data Availability Statement will be published as part of the article. See more in Article Template.

Examples of Data Availability Statements
Authors may use one of the standard formulations below or adapt them as appropriate.

Open research data. “The research data supporting the findings of this study are openly available in the [name of repository] at [DOI or persistent URL].”
Restricted access to data. “The research data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request due to [state reason, e.g., intellectual property protection or contractual obligations].”
Data not publicly available. “The research data are not publicly available due to [state reason, e.g., confidentiality, legal restrictions, or protection of personal data].”
Data included in the article. “All relevant data are included within the article and/or its supplementary materials.”
Partially available data. (optional, advanced case) “Some of the research data are available in the [name of repository] at [DOI], while other data are not publicly available due to [state reason].”

Citation of research data

Research data used or generated in the study must be properly cited in the reference list, in the same way as other scholarly outputs. Data citations should include:

Author(s).
Title of the dataset.
Repository name.
Year of publication.
Persistent identifier (e.g., DOI).

Proper data citation ensures credit to data creators and supports data traceability.
Example:
[XX] Surname, N., Surname, N., Surname. N. Dataset: Manuscript title. Repositoy Name (yyyy) DOI:link.

Responsibilities of authors, editors and reviewers

The data must be available to the editors and reviewers at the time of submission of the manuscript and to the public at the latest when the article is published. An embargo on data access is only permitted in exceptional cases and must be accompanied by appropriate embargo conditions and a reasoned explanation. It is the editors’ responsibility to assess whether the article is based on research data (either the author’s own data or third-party data). If the editors determine that such data exist and have not been properly cited, they must ask the author to revise the article. The same applies to the journal’s reviewers.

Additional information

For further clarification, authors can contact the data steward at their institution or the journal’s editorial office ventil@fs.uni-lj.si or contact relevant support institutions for research data management.