Author Guidelines

1. General Submission Requirements

Authors should ensure that the manuscript:

falls within the scope of AJSE;
presents original and academically significant work;
has not been formally published elsewhere;
is not simultaneously under consideration by another journal;
contains sufficient methodological information to support evaluation and, where applicable, reproducibility;
uses clear and professional academic English;
follows the AJSE manuscript template;
includes complete and accurate author information;
follows the required citation and reference style;
complies with applicable research, publication, copyright, and ethical requirements.

The manuscript should be submitted through the journal's online submission system in the file format specified by AJSE.

AJSE currently requires manuscripts to be prepared using a word-processing file such as DOC or DOCX and encourages authors to use the journal template.

2. Recommended Manuscript Structure

Unless a different structure is justified by the article type, manuscripts should follow a logical scientific structure such as:

Title
Authors and Affiliations
Abstract
Keywords
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods / Methodology
3. Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Acknowledgments
Funding
Author Contributions
Data Availability
Declaration of Competing Interests
Declaration of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies
References
Supplementary Materials, where applicable.

The exact section structure may be adapted for theoretical, review, computational, or interdisciplinary studies, provided that the manuscript remains sufficiently clear and logically organized.

3. Manuscript Preparation

3.1 Title

The title should:

accurately represent the principal subject of the study;
be specific and informative;
avoid unnecessary abbreviations;
avoid excessive wording;
reflect the primary research contribution where possible.

Authors should avoid titles that make unsupported claims regarding superiority, effectiveness, novelty, or general applicability.

3.2 Authors and Affiliations

The submitted manuscript must contain the full names of all authors and their institutional affiliations.

For each author, provide:

full name;
institutional affiliation;
department or research unit, where applicable;
city;
country;
institutional or professional email address, where appropriate;
ORCID iD, preferably for all authors.

The author list should represent the actual contributors to the work. Every listed author should have made a meaningful intellectual or scholarly contribution and should have approved the submitted manuscript.

The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal and should ensure that all authors have reviewed and approved the manuscript before submission.

Changes to the author list after submission should be requested formally and must be supported by an explanation and the agreement of all affected authors.

AJSE may request additional documentation where questions arise concerning authorship.

3.3 Abstract

The abstract should provide a concise and informative overview of the manuscript.

For research articles, the abstract should normally communicate:

the research background or problem;
the principal objective;
the methodology or approach;
the main findings;
the principal interpretation or significance of the findings.

The abstract should be understandable without requiring the reader to consult the main text.

Avoid:

unnecessary citations;
unexplained abbreviations;
excessive methodological detail;
unsupported claims;
references to tables or figures that appear only in the manuscript.

Proposed limit: approximately 150–250 words, unless the article type requires otherwise.

3.4 Keywords

Authors should provide keywords that represent the main concepts of the manuscript.

Keywords should:

be specific to the topic;
reflect important concepts, methods, materials, technologies, or applications;
avoid unnecessarily broad terms;
avoid repeating words already used excessively in the title.

AJSE currently requests a maximum of six keywords.

4. Main Text

4.1 Introduction

The Introduction should establish the context and rationale of the study.

A strong Introduction should normally:

explain the broader scientific or engineering context;
identify the specific problem or knowledge gap;
summarize relevant previous research;
explain why the problem is important;
identify the limitations or unresolved issues in previous studies;
state the objective or research question;
explain the principal contribution of the work.

The Introduction should not become an extensive literature review unless the article type specifically requires one.

Authors should use recent and relevant scholarly literature while retaining seminal references where they are necessary to establish foundational concepts.

4.2 Literature Review / Related Work

Where appropriate, authors should organize previous research critically rather than merely listing studies.

The literature review should demonstrate:

knowledge of the current state of the field;
relationships and differences among previous studies;
methodological or theoretical limitations in the existing literature;
the position of the submitted work relative to previous research.

Authors should avoid excessive citation of irrelevant papers or citations intended primarily to increase citation counts.

4.3 Materials and Methods / Methodology

The methodology must contain enough information for readers to understand how the study was conducted and, where reasonably possible, reproduce or independently assess the work.

Depending on the study, this section may describe:

research design;
theoretical framework;
materials and equipment;
datasets;
participants or samples;
experimental conditions;
algorithms or computational procedures;
software and hardware environments;
mathematical models;
measurement procedures;
statistical methods;
validation procedures;
evaluation metrics;
assumptions and boundary conditions.

Authors should provide appropriate references for established methods and clearly distinguish established procedures from methods newly developed for the study.

Where software, datasets, instruments, or external resources materially affect the results, sufficient information should be provided to identify them.

4.4 Results

The Results section should present findings clearly and objectively.

Authors should:

report results in a logical order;
present sufficient quantitative information;
distinguish observed results from interpretation;
avoid repeating the same information unnecessarily in text, tables, and figures;
explain the significance of relevant findings through appropriate statistics or validation measures.

Results should not be selectively reported to create a misleading impression.

4.5 Discussion

The Discussion should interpret the findings rather than simply repeat them.

Authors are encouraged to explain:

what the findings mean;
how the findings relate to the research objective;
how the findings compare with previous studies;
possible explanations for similarities or differences;
theoretical or practical implications;
limitations of the study;
appropriate directions for future research.

Claims should remain proportionate to the evidence provided.

4.6 Conclusions

The Conclusions should directly answer the research objective or research questions.

A conclusion should summarize the principal contribution and the most important findings without introducing substantial new evidence.

Where appropriate, authors may also state implications, limitations, or future research directions.

AJSE's current guideline requests a conclusion of approximately five sentences; however, the Editorial Board may wish to replace this rigid requirement with a concise, evidence-based conclusion of appropriate length.

5. Equations, Symbols, Units, and Mathematical Notation

Mathematical expressions should be submitted as editable text or equation objects, not as screenshots or images.

All equations should be numbered sequentially when they are referred to elsewhere in the manuscript.

Use internationally recognized mathematical notation consistently throughout the article.

The International System of Units (SI) should be used unless another unit system is standard and necessary for the subject area.

Define symbols and variables when they are first introduced.

Authors should maintain consistent notation in the text, equations, tables, figures, and supplementary materials.

6. Tables

Tables must be:

editable;
numbered consecutively;
cited in the manuscript;
accompanied by concise and informative titles or captions;
understandable without excessive reference to the main text.

Do not reproduce the same information simultaneously in a table and a figure unless there is a clear reason.

Tables should not be submitted as screenshots or image files when the underlying information can be provided in editable form.

Statistical information should include sufficient definitions, units, sample sizes, or explanatory notes where appropriate.

7. Figures, Graphs, and Illustrations

Figures must be of sufficient quality for editorial assessment and publication.

Authors should ensure that figures:

are numbered sequentially;
are cited in the main text;
contain clear labels and legends;
use readable fonts and symbols;
include appropriate units;
present quantitative information accurately;
remain understandable when reduced to publication size.

Avoid excessive decorative elements that do not contribute to scientific communication.

Authors should not manipulate images in a manner that changes or obscures the scientific meaning of the underlying data.

Where appropriate, graphs should remain interpretable when reproduced in grayscale and should not depend solely on color to communicate essential information.

Vector graphics should be used when practical, particularly for diagrams and line-based illustrations.

For raster graphics, authors should submit sufficiently high-resolution originals. As a general benchmark, high-resolution scientific images should normally be prepared at approximately 300 dpi or higher, while detailed line artwork may require approximately 600 dpi or higher, depending on the production requirements.

8. Previously Published Material and Permissions

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reuse copyrighted material where permission is required.

This includes, where applicable:

figures;
photographs;
tables;
diagrams;
questionnaires or instruments;
substantial excerpts;
graphical elements obtained from third parties.

Reused or adapted material must be properly attributed, and the relevant permission or license information should be supplied to the journal.

9. Research Data, Code, and Supplementary Materials

AJSE encourages authors to make research data, code, protocols, instruments, and other supporting materials available when doing so is ethically, legally, and practically appropriate.

Authors should consider depositing datasets or code in a suitable trusted repository and providing a persistent identifier or link in the manuscript.

Where complete public sharing is not possible because of privacy, confidentiality, intellectual property, security, contractual, or other legitimate restrictions, authors should explain the limitation and describe how the underlying materials may be accessed, where appropriate.

A data availability statement should be included for research articles.

Examples include:

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

The datasets generated during this study are publicly available in [repository name] at [persistent identifier].

Data sharing does not apply to this article because no datasets were generated or analyzed.

Where software or code is essential for reproducing the findings, authors are encouraged to provide the relevant version information and repository location.

10. Supplementary Materials

Additional information that substantially supports the article but is not essential to the main narrative may be submitted as supplementary material.

Examples include:

extended datasets;
additional figures or tables;
detailed mathematical derivations;
source code;
supplementary experiments;
questionnaires or instruments;
additional validation results;
multimedia files.

Supplementary files should be clearly identified, referenced in the manuscript, and submitted in a stable and readable format.

11. References and Citation Style

AJSE uses the IEEE reference and citation style. Authors must ensure that all sources cited in the manuscript are accurately and consistently formatted according to IEEE conventions. References should be cited in the text using Arabic numerals enclosed in square brackets, for example, [1], [2], or [3]–[5]. Citation numbers are assigned according to the order in which references first appear in the manuscript and remain unchanged throughout the article. The same reference must use the same citation number each time it is cited.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that:

every source cited in the manuscript is included in the reference list;
every item in the reference list is cited in the manuscript;
bibliographic information is complete and accurate;
author names, article titles, journal titles, volume, issue, page numbers, publication year, and other relevant metadata are correctly reported;
DOI information is included whenever a valid DOI is available;
URLs are provided only when they are necessary or appropriate for the cited source;
references to websites include sufficient information to identify the source and, where relevant, the access date;
the formatting of all references is consistent with IEEE style.

Authors are strongly encouraged to use reliable reference-management software, such as Zotero, Mendeley, or EndNote, configured for IEEE style. However, authors remain responsible for manually checking the final reference list because automated citation tools may introduce bibliographic or formatting errors.

12. Research Ethics

Authors must comply with all applicable ethical requirements associated with their research.

For studies involving human participants, identifiable human data, biological materials, or other ethically sensitive materials, the manuscript should state:

the relevant ethics approval or exemption;
the name of the approving institution or committee, where applicable;
the approval/reference number, where applicable;
the procedure used to obtain informed consent, when required.

For animal research, authors should identify the relevant ethical approval and confirm compliance with applicable regulations and institutional requirements.

Where no ethical approval is required, authors should state this clearly where appropriate.

13. Authorship and Contributor Responsibilities

AJSE recognizes authorship as a scholarly responsibility rather than merely a recognition of participation.

Authors should have made substantial contributions to the research and to the development or intellectual revision of the manuscript, and all authors should approve the final version submitted for publication.

Honorary, guest, or gift authorship should be avoided.

Individuals who contributed to the work but do not satisfy the journal's authorship requirements may be recognized in the Acknowledgments section where appropriate.

AJSE recommends using the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) to describe individual contributions.

Possible contributor roles include:

Conceptualization
Methodology
Software
Validation
Formal Analysis
Investigation
Resources
Data Curation
Writing – Original Draft
Writing – Review & Editing
Visualization
Supervision
Project Administration
Funding Acquisition

Author contributions should reflect the actual work performed.

14. Funding Statement

Authors must disclose all financial support relevant to the research.

The statement should identify:

the funding organization;
grant or project number, where applicable;
the recipient of the funding, where appropriate.

If no specific funding was received, authors should state this clearly.

Example:

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Funding information should be accurate and should not imply endorsement by the funding organization unless such endorsement exists.

15. Declaration of Competing Interests

All authors must disclose any financial or non-financial interests that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research or its interpretation.

Potential conflicts may include, but are not limited to:

employment relationships;
consultancies;
financial interests;
intellectual property;
patents;
personal or professional relationships;
institutional interests.

Where no relevant competing interests exist, the manuscript should contain a statement such as:

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

16. Use of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies

AJSE recognizes that AI-assisted technologies may be used in research and manuscript preparation, provided that their use does not compromise research integrity, confidentiality, originality, or human accountability.

AI tools must not be listed as authors or co-authors.

Authors remain fully responsible for:

the accuracy and integrity of the manuscript;
verification of AI-generated statements;
verification of references and citations;
originality of the work;
the integrity of data and results;
compliance with copyright and confidentiality requirements.

Authors should not rely on generative AI to fabricate or alter data, results, citations, references, research evidence, or scientific conclusions.

Where AI tools materially contribute to manuscript preparation, authors should disclose the use of the tool, its purpose, and the general nature of the assistance.

A suitable declaration may be written as:

During the preparation of this manuscript, the authors used [name of AI tool/service] for [describe purpose]. The authors subsequently reviewed, verified, and edited the resulting content and remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of the published work.

When AI tools are used as part of the research methodology, such as for data analysis, coding, model development, image processing, or other research procedures, the use should be described in the relevant methodological section with sufficient detail for readers to understand its role.

Basic spelling, punctuation, or conventional language-correction tools that do not generate substantive content generally do not require a separate declaration; however, authors remain responsible for the final manuscript.

AI-generated or AI-manipulated images must not be used to fabricate, alter, or misrepresent research evidence. Any AI-assisted visual material must comply with applicable copyright, research-integrity, and journal policies.

17. Editorial Screening

After submission, the manuscript may undergo an initial editorial and technical assessment.

The screening may consider:

relevance to the journal's scope;
manuscript completeness;
scientific or scholarly quality;
originality;
methodological adequacy;
language and presentation;
reference quality and formatting;
ethical compliance;
plagiarism or text-similarity concerns;
availability of necessary declarations;
compliance with submission requirements.

A manuscript that does not satisfy the journal's basic requirements may be returned to the authors before peer review or may be declined at the editorial stage.

18. Author Submission Checklist

Before submitting a manuscript to AJSE, authors should confirm that:

☐ The manuscript falls within the journal's scope.
☐ The manuscript is original and is not under consideration elsewhere.
☐ All authors have approved the submitted version.
☐ The author order and corresponding author have been agreed upon.
☐ Author affiliations and contact information are complete and accurate.
☐ ORCID identifiers have been provided where available.
☐ The manuscript follows the AJSE template.
☐ The abstract accurately represents the study.
☐ No more than six keywords are provided.
☐ All figures and tables are cited and appropriately prepared.
☐ Equations are editable and consistently numbered where necessary.
☐ SI units and consistent scientific notation are used.
☐ All cited sources appear in the reference list and vice versa.
☐ References have been checked for accuracy and DOI information has been added where available.
☐ Relevant ethics approval or exemption information is included.
☐ Funding information is disclosed.
☐ Competing interests are disclosed.
☐ Author contributions are provided.
☐ Relevant AI use is disclosed.

Important Note

Submission of a manuscript to AJSE indicates that the authors have read and agree to comply with the journal's relevant editorial, ethical, copyright, and submission policies.

The Editorial Board reserves the right to update these guidelines to reflect developments in scholarly publishing, research integrity, indexing requirements, and applicable international standards.