Instructions for Authors | The Plan Journal

The TPJ  Guide for Contributors

 

PROPOSALS

 

Prospective contributors are encouraged to discuss or send outlines or drafts to the Editors before making a formal submission. Such proposals, drafts or outlines (in .pdf or Word - .doc or .docx files) need not to comply with the instructions listed below for final submissions. Proposals for any call for submissions, whether for a themed issue or an open issue, must be submitted via our manuscript management portal Editorial Manager [red button to the right]. When submitting a proposal, from the “Article Type” scroll-down menu in Editorial Manager, please select “Abstract (only).” Any other proposal outside calls for submissions,  should be sent directly to:

 

Dr. Maurizio Sabini
Editor-in-Chief, THE PLAN Journal

msabini@theplanjournal.com

 

SUBMISSIONS

Submissions, whether without a previous submission of proposal or encouraged by a preliminary approval of their proposal or draft format, must be made in Word (.doc or .docx) file format. Submissions must be made through the dedicated portal on the TPJ  web-site.

It is assumed that a submitted article is unpublished and is not being considered for publication elsewhere. Once a manuscript is accepted, the author will be asked to assign copyright to the Publisher “MAGGIOLI Spa” (Permission to reproduce is not normally withheld.) Contributors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce any material (including illustrations) for which they do not hold copyright. In case of doubt, they should discuss this with the Editors. 

The TPJ assumes no responsibility for copyright of materials, including images.

The TPJ accepts only unpublished materials.

 

Length, style and format

The submissions will comprise the following items, in the order as shown below, following the prompts of our submission portal Editorial Manager:

 

1. Title and eventual sub-title.

 

2. Author’s name.and affiliations.

 

3. Keywords - Three to five pertinent keywords specific to the article, yet reasonably common within the field/discipline/area of inquiry, and appropriate for finding the article through an on-line search.

 

4. Abstract - (with NO name or affiliation) The abstract will range from 100 to 180 words (max). The abstract should be an objective representation of the article: it must not contain results or conclusions that are not presented and substantiated in the main text.

 

5. Text  (including Endnotes and an eventual list of References, and Credits for all figures or tables) – Manuscripts should be:

- in a not-justified text

- simply aligned to the left

- single-spaced

- in Helvetica, size 10

Manuscripts are expected to range between 4,000 and 7,000 words (1,000 to 3,000 words for book/exhibition reviews; min 1,500 words for a text supporting illustrations in a “Project” article type). Paragraphs should consist of 5 to 7 sentences and be divided by a blank line. We recommend that the text is divided into sections, with no more than three levels of hierarchy (see below on section headings). The text will include the title (and eventually a sub-title) with NO author’s name. The language must be English.

 

6. Figures and/or tables. Manuscripts without images are accepted, but the journal requires at least one image per manuscript for its online format. Size and resolution quality must follow the guidelines below.

 

7. Captions for figures and/or tables.

 

8. A brief biography, clearly indicating the author’s current affiliation/s, of no more than 80 words. This will include also a preferred corresponding contact information for publication (e.g. email).

Figures and/or tables and/or diagrams must be submitted in separate files (see below for more information). Illustrations are not to be inserted into the text.

 

If not otherwise indicated in these Guidelines, the TPJ  follows the guidelines of the The Chicago Manual of Style(link is external), 16th ed. (The Chicago University Press: Chicago, 2010). Authors are required to adhere to those guidelines.

For a quick, free, on-line citation guide, please check: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1.html

NB:  the TPJ  follows the “notes and bibliography” citation format in the above link.

 

Before submitting, please check that:

The text is a docx file NOT a pdf. Make sure the word count stays at about 7,000 words max.

The text does NOT have images embedded in it, but a simple reference such as [FIG. 6 here].

The references follow the “notes & bibliography” citation format, NOT the “author-date” format.

The images are uploaded as distinct and numbered jpeg files, NOT embedded into a docx file.

The captions are simple, plain text, numbered according to their corresponding figures, without embedding again the images.

 

It is recommended that authors who are not English native speakers have their manuscripts reviewed by a professional editor of translator for language. Our Editorial Office may advise prospective contributors regarding language editing and/or translation. Language editing and/or translation are at the author’s own expense. The TPJ  reserves the right to approve such editing and/or translation, which do not automatically guarantee publication.

 

For more information please address questions to:

 

Editors

tpj@theplanjournal.com

 

Section Headings

The section headings will be typed on separate lines, aligned to the left, and will follow the format below:

 

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo. Nullam dictum felis eu pede mollis pretium. Integer tincidunt. Cras dapibus.

 

FIRST LEVEL OF HEADING

 

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo. Nullam dictum felis eu pede mollis pretium. Integer tincidunt. Cras dapibus.

 

Second Level of Sub-Heading

 

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo. Nullam dictum felis eu pede mollis pretium. Integer tincidunt. Cras dapibus.

 

Third Level of Sub-Heading

 

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo. Nullam dictum felis eu pede mollis pretium. Integer tincidunt. Cras dapibus.

 

Block Quotes

Block quotes (normally, for quotes of four or more lines) need to be indented, without change of font size and in normal (roman) style, with a line space above and below, as per following example.

 

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo. Nullam dictum felis eu pede mollis pretium. Integer tincidunt. Cras dapibus.

 

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec,vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo. Nullam dictum felis eu pede mollis pretium. Integer tincidunt. Cras dapibus.10

 

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo. Nullam dictum felis eu pede mollis pretium. Integer tincidunt. Cras dapibus.

 

Notes

We ask authors to use “endnotes,” at the end of the text (Not “footnotes,” that is at the bottom of the digital page). Endnotes must be numbered in order of appearance, in the text. Endnotes must be “appended” at the end of the Word/docx file in normal text, as a continuation of the body of the manuscript, NOT “embedded” within the same using Word/docx note formatting. 

Endnote numbers are set as superior (superscript) Arabic numbers, e.g., 5, NOT in Roman numerals (e.g. v).

 

References
References (optional, per author’s preference and scholarship style) are listed AFTER the Notes and they appear per author’s last name alphabetical order, following the Chicago Manual of Style format. References MUST NOT repeat all the sources used for the Endnotes, but only the most important ones. For a quick reference to the Chicago Manual of Style, on how to edit Notes and References, please check: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1....

 

Acknowledgments

All sources of funding of the study should be disclosed. Grants received in support of research work pertinent to the article should be clearly indicated. Eventual funds for covering the costs to publish in open access should also be acknowledged.

 

Multiple Authors

For research articles with several authors, a short paragraph specifying their individual contributions must be provided. Authorship must be limited to those who have contributed substantially to the work reported.

 

Illustrations: Figures, Tables and Diagrams

Figures, tables and diagrams are not required, though encouraged. They should not exceed ten in total number (fifteen for "Project" article types), although exceptions may be allowed at the discretion of the editors. These materials must be submitted in separate files (as .jpg or .tiff), NOT embedded within the .docx file of the manuscript, at good resolution (MIN 300 dpi, with a base of 13 cm or 5", for halftones or MIN 1200 dpi, with a base of 13 cm or 5" width, for line artwork). The TPJ  reserves the right to make the final decision as to what images (and their layout) will illustrate an article.

All figures and tables should be cited in the main text as (Fig. 1), (Table 1), etc. and underlined, as shown below.

 

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. (Fig. 1) Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec (Table 1), vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo. Nullam dictum felis eu pede mollis pretium. Integer tincidunt. Cras dapibus.

 

Figure 1 . This is a figure, Diagrams follow the same formatting. If there are multiple panels, they should be listed as: (a) Description of what is contained in the first panel; (b) Description of what is contained in the second panel. 

 

Table 1. Tables should be placed in the main text near to the first time they are cited.


  Title 1 Title 2 Title 3

  entry 1 data data

  entry 2 data data 1

  1 Tables may have a footer.

 

Conflicts of Interest

Authors must identify and declare any personal circumstances or interest that may be perceived as inappropriately influencing the representation or interpretation of reported research results. If there is no conflict of interest, please state “The authors declare no conflict of interest.”

 

Permissions

Obtaining all necessary permissions or releases to reproduce, within the article, any third-party material (including, but not limited to, text, tables, photographs and line drawings, or excerpts thereof) will be the responsibility of the authors. The TPJ  is not liable for obtaining any of such permissions.

 

Last updated: January 11, 2023

 

 

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