Author Guidelines
Editorial Policy
The International Journal of Cedar (IJC) is an online, open-access, double-blind, multidisciplinary journal focusing on Education. Articles must be cohesively written in a manner and style that is intelligible to specialists and non-specialists. Contributions should therefore be written clearly and simply so that they are accessible to readers in other disciplines and those for whom English is not the first language. The language used must be clear and concise, not colloquial/conversational. Formatting and references should align with the latest APA style. UK spelling is required.
Articles are evaluated through double-blind peer reviewing and published at the editor's discretion. Book reviews and letters are published at the discretion of the editor.
IJC publishes original research articles reporting on research that fulfils the criteria of an accepted research paradigm within a Christian framework; reviews articles intended for the professional scientist and that critically evaluate the research done in a specific field in Education; and letters about the articles that appeared in this Journal.
Book reviews differ from book reports in providing a critical analysis. The book review must consist of an analysis (an evaluation of the quality, prose, and construction), basic bibliographical information such as title, author's name, publisher, and date of publishment, and a high-resolution image of the book cover as well as a summary of the book's subject and primary themes, including details about the main points and characters where applicable. For book reviews, the guideline word limit is 400 words.
Letters to the editor must be less than 250 words, without emotive language, and in coherence with the style and nature of the Journal. Letters must contain their viewpoints/arguments and should encourage constructive debate on various themes published within the Journal and concerning the article(s).
The submitting author must provide an Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) via the online submission system (see www.orgid.org). Provision of ORCIDs by co-authors is encouraged but not mandatory.
Each author must provide a professional photo and a short biography of 30 words. The biography must include the current position, qualifications, and research interests.
Online publishment of articles, book reviews, and letters to the editor are continuous, with the expected feedback waiting time for authors up to 30 days. All articles will be submitted to reviewers (national and international), who hold documented expertise in the article area. When reviews are received, an editorial decision will be made to either accept the article, reject the article, request a revision (in some cases for a second or third round of peer review), or request arbitration in the case of conflicting reviews.
Authors bear full responsibility for the accuracy of the factual content of their contributions. Named authors must consent to publication. Authorship should be based on: (i) substantial contribution to conceptualisation, design, analysis, and interpretation of data; (ii) drafting or critical revision of important scientific content; or (iii) approval of the version to be published. On submission of the manuscript, the author(s) must also present a written undertaking that the article has not been published or is not being presented for publication elsewhere.
All submissions will be put through a plagiarism checker upon receipt of the manuscript. Using standard methodological terms and scientific concepts does not necessarily imply plagiarism, yet repeating other work in sections focusing on content and new knowledge will not be allowed. Word-for-word copying of the work of others should be indicated using double quotation marks and reference to the author, year of publication, and relevant page number, in line with the latest APA referencing principles. Redundancy/self-plagiarism is also unacceptable, where authors reproduce sections of their own previously published work without quotation marks or where authors create several papers slightly differing from each other and then submit them to different journals without acknowledging this.
The author (s) must ensure that the manuscript's language is professionally edited. Upon submission, the name and email address of the language editor must be provided. Copyright of all published material remains vested with the authors.
Preparation and Structure of Manuscripts
Manuscripts should be typed in Microsoft Word format with text in Arial font, 11-point, and double line spacing. The manuscript, including abstract, figure captions, tables, etc. should be typed on A4 paper and the pages numbered consecutively. All margins should be 2.50 cm. The total word count should be 6 000 - 8 000 (including the abstract and reference list).
Title Page
The title of the manuscript should be brief (maximum 15 words). The title should be followed by the author(s) name(s), affiliation(s) (Department and University), ORCID number, and an email address for the corresponding author. The title page must be submitted as a separate document during the submission.
An abstract in English (approximately 250 words) must be provided, followed by up to 8 keywords, presented alphabetically. The abstract should contain i) the reason for writing, ii) the problem, iii) the methodology, iv) the results, and v) the implications of the findings. The abstract should be complete, accurate, and clear while containing no references.
The text of the article should be structured according to the following unnumbered sections, which may include sub-sections:
- Introduction and/or background / theoretical framework: why the study is being done and how it relates to a research gap. You need to introduce the topic and provide your own voice, contextualising your argument in the broader academic field.
- Objectives: what this study tries to accomplish
- Methodology: must include the study design, number of participations, description of the intervention (where applicable), outcomes, and data analysis.
- Results/findings: first sentence to provide a brief population/sample description; outline results according to the methods.
- Discussion: should include a statement of principal findings, strengths and weaknesses of the study, contribution to the body of knowledge, meaning of the study, and recommendation to research further.
- Conclusion: must be supported by data provided and contain a summary of the main findings, which also lead to possible limitations of the study and recommendations for further study/actions.
- Ethics approval statement
- Acknowledgments
- Conflict of interest
- References should be balanced, current, and relevant.
Tables/figures should include a heading/caption and be numbered consecutively. The captions of all tables must be above the table. The table must be in text and not picture format. Figures should be clear, with black/white originals embedded in the text. TIFF or JPEG images are acceptable. Image resolutions should be at least 300 dpi. Colour figures are encouraged. All figures must contain a caption at the bottom of the figure. Tables/figures from other sources should be fully acknowledged in the caption.
References
References must be according to the latest APA style (refer to the APA Website). Only sources cited in the text must be alphabetically listed in the list of references. Particular attention should be paid to the required punctuation.