Instructions for Authors
Thank you for deciding to submit your paper to SPACE International Journal of Space Studies in Architecture and Urban Design. Please read the instructions below, which detail everything you need to submit your paper to this journal, and please follow them closely in order to ensure your paper matches all the requirements of the journal.
About the Journal
SPACE International Journal of Space Studies in Architecture and Urban Design is an interdisciplinary international academic, refereed journal which is published once a year by SPACE Studies Publications. All submitted articles in this journal have undergone rigorous double blind peer review by at least two referees, based on initial editor’s screening.
Optional Open Access Publication
You can select to publish open access in our journal via our Optional Open Access Publication. If you choose to publish open access, your article will be accessible online immediately after publication which will increase the visibility and impact of your research.
Please remember that you can choose to publish open access only after your paper is accepted. At that stage, you will be asked to select either standard publication or open access publication. You can read Open Access Publication Policy for more detailed information.
If you select to publish open access, then an article publishing charge (APC) applies in order to make your article open access and you will be asked to pay this APC if you choose to publish open access. Payments are collected via our OA-APC Payment (Open Access Article Processing Charge Payment).
Open Access Article Processing Charges (OA-APC) are as follows;
For members (paid members) | £675 |
For non-members & free members | £750 |
Peer Review
All articles published in SPACE International Journal of Space Studies in Architecture and Urban Design undergo a rigorous double-blind peer review. Please find more about Peer Review Policy, Peer Review Process and Peer Review Statement and Publication Ethics for Authors.
Types of Contribution
SPACE International Journal of Space Studies in Architecture and Urban Design accepts
- Original Articles,
- Policy Review Articles,
- Book Reviews.
Structure of the Paper
Original articles and policy review articles need to have an order of as follows:
- Title: The title of the manuscript should be ideally 10-15 words but no more than 20 and should be informative.
- Abstract: There should be an abstract of no more than 200 words. It should include the problem and aim of the article, originality of the research, research question, research method and the main conclusion.
- Keywords: There should be between 4 and 6 keywords which make the article more discoverable.
- Main text: The main text should include the following information and/or sections.
o Introduction: Introduction should include a literature background related to the aim of the research. A detailed literature background more than needed and the summary of the research should be avoided.
o Materials and methods: Sufficient detail should be provided in order to allow the work to be reproduced. If methods already published are used, then it should be indicated by a reference and only modifications done during the research should be described.
o Results: Results should be clear.
o Discussion: discussion should be about the results of the research and should underline the significance of the results of the research. Results and Discussion sections can be combined as well.
o Conclusion: The main conclusions of the research should be stated in this section. Avoiding unnecessary extension of Conclusion section will help it stand alone - Acknowledgments (including funding): All the acknowledgements including funding and funders should be given in this section after the main text. Therefore, there should be no footnotes which are not allowed about the funding and funders of the research in the article. Acknowledgement should include any type of contribution such as conducting research, data analysing, writing assistance, technical editing, language editing, and proofreading etc as well as funding. So, the ones who do not qualify to be authors but still contributed to the research should be acknowledged.
- Declaration of interest statement: This competing interest is also known as conflict of interest. An author or his/her employer or sponsor may have relation that can be financial, commercial, legal, or professional with the organisations, and/or with the employees of them, which could influence the author’s research. Therefore, full disclosure is required. Please read Conflict of Interest for more information.
- Biographical notes on authors: Each author should provide a short biographical note which is brief and no more than 150 words.
- ORCID numbers of authors: All authors and co-authors should have an ORCID number in order to submit a manuscript. If you do not have, please obtain your ORCID Number.
- Endnotes (footnotes are not allowed): Endnotes should include additional comments and/or related information but should not include the reference or source of the information. Footnotes are not allowed in this journal. Therefore, please use endnotes if and when necessary.
- References: All manuscripts should be formatted using the American Psychological Association (APA) citation style. For more information about how to cite references in the article, please refer to Guidelines for references.
- Appendices: If there are more than one appendix, they should be identified as Appendix I, Appendix II, etc. Formulas and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (I.A), Eq. (II.A), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, Eq. (I.B) and so on. Tables and figures should be done in a similar way: Table I.A; Fig. I.A, etc. Appendices should come after References.
Word Limits
Word count of a paper in this journal should be as follows.
- An original article should be between 5000 and 8,500 words including main text, tables, references, captions, endnotes, figures, graphics, photos, but excluding the abstract, acknowledgements and notes for author/s.
- A policy review article should be between 3000 and 6000 words including main text, tables, references, captions, endnotes, figures, graphics, photos, but excluding the abstract, acknowledgements and notes for author/s.
- A book review should be between 900 and 1250 words.
Manuscript Layout and Formatting Guidelines
File format
Articles should be submitted as a Word file.
Language and spelling
The language of the journal is English, and spelling should be for British English.
Font (throughout all manuscript)
- Times New Roman,
- size 12
- double-line spacing
Margins
A4 size page, 2.5 cm from all sides
Title
- Times New Roman, size 12 with double-line spacing, bold, initial capital letter for each proper noun.
- A title should be accurate and informative which will enable reader to understand the subject of the article.
- It is better to have one or two keywords in the tittle which will increase the discoverability of the article.
- A good research title is generally between 10 and 12 words. Please try to stay in the limits where possible as longer titles lose the attention of the reader.
Abstract
- Abstract should be no more than 250 words.
- Abstracts may be really short, but they are very important as they tell the reader what they might learn. Therefore, an abstract should cover what the research is about, what is the methodology of the research, and what has been found out. While writing your abstract, do remember that every abstract should stand on its own as it should be a concise summary of the research.
- Do not use abbreviations, footnotes (forbidden in the whole manuscript), endnotes and references as well as images, background information and/or technical terms that will need further explanation to be understood.
- Additionally, be aware that there is a difference between research abstract and policy review abstract. In a research abstract you need to tell the methods of the research. On the other hand, in a policy review abstract, the primary objective of the review should be stated initially together with the reasons of this choice, the main outcomes and results of your review, and the conclusions which should also show their implications for further research.
- In both article types, do not forget to include the keywords.
Keywords
Keywords are vital to help readers to find your article. There should be between 4 and 6 keywords. Remember that selecting the right keywords will enable you to have an effective title and an abstract.
Headings
- There are three heading levels to be used in this journal which are 1., 1.1., 1.1.1.
- All the headings should be written with an initial capital letter for all proper nouns.
- First level headings (1., 2. etc) such as introduction, conclusion should be written in bold. Second level headings (1.1., 2.2. etc) should be written in bold italics and the third level headings (1.1.1., 1.2.1. etc) should be written in italics.
Tables and figures
- Tables and figures should be saved as separate files and should not be included in the article, instead the author/s should show clearly where the tables and figures would appear in the article by writing [Table 1 near here] or [Table 2 below this paragraph]
- The information on the tables should not be duplicating the information given in the text. The table should be understood easily and clearly, and author/s should refer to each table in the text.
- The text of the table should be written in Times New Roman like the rest of the article.
- If tables are reproduced from another source, then please be sure you follow the Using Third-Party Material rules.
- Tables, graphics etc should be submitted as editable files such as word, excel.
- Be sure, you number your tables correspondingly. The table numbers will be Table 1, table 2, etc.
- While preparing a table, think that the size of the page is A4 (210×297 mm) and the margins are 2.5 from all sides. Thus, you prepare your table with the sizes which it will fit on a page and will let it have its title.
- If there are abbreviations on the table, and if you haven’t used it before in your text please do explain it while you are referring to the table in your text.
- The referencing style should be consistent with the rest of the article.
- Figures should be prepared with image resolutions given below.
Colour photographic images:
300dpi
Grayscale photographic images:
600dpi
Line art or monochrome images:
1200dpi
Combination images (photographs and labelling):
600dpi
- Authors should avoid large file sizes. Therefore, for more information on image size and resolution please check Adobe Photoshop.
- File formats accepted are JPEG and EPS.
- While creating jpeg file be sure that you are exporting JPEG at a maximum quality.
- Be sure that you have been given permission to use any tables or figures you are using and/or reproducing from another source before you submit.
- Figures must be saved separately to text and should not be embed in the manuscript file as well as tables.
- Captions and figure titles should not be included in the figure files.
- Be sure that you number your figures correspondingly. The figures will be numbered as Figure 1, Figure 2 etc. If there are parts in your figures then Figure 1a, Figure 2b etc.
Guidelines for References
Reference style
American Psychological Association (APA) citation style should be used in all the manuscripts submitted to SPACE International Journal of Space Studies in Architecture and Urban Design. Please refer to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition (2020), ISBN 978-1-4338-3217-8 (spiral-bound); ISBN 978-1-4338-3215-4 (hardcover); ISBN 978-1-4338-3216-1 (paperback) which can be found at https://apastyle.apa.org/products/publication-manual-7th-edition. Please do use DOI where applicable.
Citing references in the text
References and examples
SPACE Proofreading Services
SPACE Proofreading Services are mainly established for academic documents such as articles, journal papers, literature reviews, research papers, essays, thesis, reports, dissertations, academic books and so forth which are written in English. We offer some pre-submission manuscript preparation services to help academics and students increase the impact of their research by improving the quality of the manuscript in terms of proofreading and editing, plagiarism check, manuscript formatting, artwork formatting and pre-review service.
For more information, including pricing, please check SPACE Proofreading Services.
Checklist before Submission
Please be sure that you have all you need which is listed below before submitting your paper.
- Cover letter (refer Submitting Paper for details)
- Author/s Details Page: Authors’ full names and affiliations should be listed on this page. Affiliation refers to the Institution where the author was working during the research of the Manuscript. If any of the authors or co-authors change their affiliation after the research phase, this will be written as an endnote. ORCID numbers of the authors should be given too. Additionally, corresponding author should be identified with his/her email address. Please write Biographical notes on authors in this file. Please use the template for authors details page.
- Main file should not include authors information. Please use the template.
- Tables list (please list all the tables which you will separately upload in a word file). Please use this tables list template.
- Figures list (please list all the tables which you will separately upload in a word file) Please use this figures list template.
- All the tables of your manuscript has to be saved and uploaded separately. Each file has to be named as it is numbered in the paper such as Table 1 or Table 2. Please upload editable files.
- All the figures of your manuscript has to be saved and uploaded separately. Each file has to be named as it is numbered in the paper such as Figure 1 or Figure 2a.
- Copyright Transfer Agreement: Please download and fill the form. After you sign the agreement, please upload the scanned copy of the agreement .
- Declaration of interest statement: Please download and fill the form. After you sign the statement, please upload the scanned copy of the statement.
Using Third-Party Material
According to the Copyright Transfer Agreement you make with us, you should have all the written permission/s of the material/s you used or reproduced in your article which are owned by a third party in terms of copyright. These materials can be– but not limited to –texts, images, illustrations, graphics, tables, or other materials that includes any kind of data such as audio, video, film stills, screenshots, etc.
In academic publishing, the reproduction of some material including texts without having written permission can be allowed but on a very limited basis. This can be done only if:
- It is necessary to use a quotation and that it can be evidenced that it is used scholarly for criticism or review,
- the quotation is reproduced properly, which means it is reproduced either within quotation marks or as displayed text,
- full attribution is given.
Still, any kind of quotation from a poem or a novel, does always require written permission from the copyright holder.
With our Copyright Transfer Agreement which you sign while submitting your paper, you admit that you have already obtained written permission/s from the third parties (if any) for the reproduction of any content including image/s in your article. Additionally, you need to acknowledge and attribute the third party in your article properly even if the content is not copyrighted and it is held in the public domain.
To reproduce and/or use content from any type of third-party material, please remember that;
- You need non-exclusive rights. While asking permission for that, you need to name the Journal you target and its readership.
- You need to have print and electronic rights for the full term of copyright along with any extensions of copyright. We cannot and will not publish a third-party material which has a time-limited license.
- if it is an image, 300 dpi minimum resolution.
If you need further information, please refer to Publisher Association Permission Guidelines and The Copyright Hub.
Submitting Paper
This journal uses its own online system to manage the peer-review process. If you have not submitted a paper to either this journal or to SPACE International Conferences before or haven’t signed up yet, you will need to create an account in SPACE Studies website by signing up. Please be sure that you have everything ready listed in the checklist before you submit your paper.
The cover letter (maximum 300 words) is expected to point out the contribution that the paper is making to the space studies in architecture and urban design. If the paper has a precursor publication (check Originality Expectations), it should be specified in the cover letter and the difference of the paper you are submitting and how it was developed extensively should be given in details.
Publication Charges
This journal does not have any publication charges unless you want to publish your article Open Access. For Open Access publication and its charges please refer to Optional Open Access Publication and Open Access Publication Policy.
Originality Check
SPACE International Journal of Space Studies in Architecture and Urban Design uses Crossref Similarity Check to check the originality of the papers. By submitting your article, you are agreeing that we do originality checks during the peer-review and production processes in this Journal.
This check reveals whether the existing material duplicated in the manuscript or not and if, where. It underlines the content properly cited as well as the ones that were not.
Authorship Changes During Peer Review Process
The manuscript authors must agree on the names and sequence of the authors before the submission.
Any kind of authorship changes after submission creates an undesirable situation. If there needs to be such kind of change/s after the submission, you need to send an email which includes your request of change to space@spacestudies.co.uk with the following information;
- the reason for the change you request,
- written confirmation of all authors including the one/s removed and/or changed
- if the request is about re-arranging the sequence of the authors, the new sequence.
If the request of change is done after acceptance, the publication date will be postponed until the Managing Editors investigate and approve request.
If the request of change reaches the Managing Editors after the publication, and if the Managing Editors approve the request, there will be addendum and/or corrigendum.
Copyright and Licensing Options
SPACE International Journal of Space Studies in Architecture and Urban Design is a Subscription-based (non-OA) Journal. Publisher own the rights of the articles in this journal. The articles can be read by subscribing to the Journal either individually or institutionally. In order to use the articles in any way, permission from the publisher must be obtained.
Optional Open Access publication is available in this journal. The licenses SPACE Studies Publications offers for open access articles are
CC BY 4.0 | Others can distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. | |
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 | Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. | This license is allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially. |
See Optional Open Access publication if you are interested in OAP. SPACE Studies Publications’ Open Access article processing charges vary according to the membership level. Details can be found on OA – APC Payment (Open Access Article Processing Charge Payment).