Submission of Manuscripts

1. The authors must submit their typewritten single-spaced manuscripts through the online portal of the RIJLL: rijll.usjr.edu.ph However, it is also recommended that a “copy” submission be sent to the editor-in-chief’s email address at [email protected]. The text must be in Microsoft Word format in Calibri style with a 12-point font.
2. Authors’ names, titles, and affiliations, as well as email addresses and contact numbers, should be indicated in the manuscripts upon submission through the said email address.
3. The authors must expressly convey that their manuscripts have not been published nor currently awaiting publication in another journal.
4. Then, the editorial board shall screen the manuscripts for their appropriateness, relevance to RIJLL’s Aims and Scope, scientific merit and accuracy, quality of writing., concise, clear, coherent, bearing lexical maturity, etc. and compliance with the ethical standards and protocols.
5. Apart from merit, the manuscripts are subjected to the Grammarly test by the editor-in-chief. The Turnitin test shall be done in cooperation with the Center for Policy, Research, and Development Studies (CPRDS). The manuscripts should pass the plagiarism detection test with a score of at most 10% or less Similarity Index and a Grammarly text score of 90 % or higher. 
6. If the test results are admissible, the copies of such shall form as attachments to the manuscripts and shall be sent to the local and/or international reviewers for their evaluation. The authors shall be informed at once of the positive feedback. Otherwise, if the test results indicate deficiencies, the manuscripts shall be returned to the authors.
7. It is advised then that authors check thoroughly the quality of writing and the readability of their manuscripts prior to submitting them for screening.
8. As for the structure of the paper, the authors should organize it in the IMRaD format.
   1. The manuscript should have at most 15 pages beginning from the abstract to the introduction, methodology, results and discussion, conclusion, and acknowledgment, up to the Works Cited.
   2. The manuscript should be clear, concise, and relevant to the RIJLL’s aims and scope. To achieve conciseness, write no more than 19 words per sentence and eight sentences in a paragraph. Readability of your paper should be paramount as the local and international reviewers are prolific writers and veteran researchers.
   3. The manuscript title, expressed in not more than 15 words, should reflect the purpose of the study.
   4. The abstract with no more than 250 words should reflect the content of the manuscript.
   5. The introduction should be reflective of theoretical or conceptual framework, the statement of purpose of the study, and the relevant papers that led to the study. As for the purpose of the study, there should be no more than two problem statements. The brief literature review should be explained clearly. All these could be written in four pages. Disregard the significance of study, definition of terms, and scope, and limitations.
   6. The research method, which can be written on one page, should be relevant, appropriate, and adequately detailed. It can be explained more clearly by referring to research methods books.
   7. Results and discussion, which can be written in eight pages, should be based on the research questions.
   8. Conclusion and Acknowledgment can be written on one page and the Works Cited on the last, 15^th page.
   9. Tables, graphs, figures, photos, and other appendices presented should be necessary.
9. Deadline is non-negotiable; hence, the authors must submit their manuscripts on or before the deadline to be indicated in the RIJLL portal or through email at [email protected].
10. If the manuscripts are finally selected for peer review, the authors will be rightly informed via email.  Conversely, if the manuscripts lack merit, the authors will likewise be informed.

Style Guide

1. Organize the paper following these major headings: Title, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods (for experimental study) or Methodology for non-experimental study, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, and Works Cited. The latter should substantially consist of articles published in current content-covered or peer-reviewed journals.
2. References, Acknowledgments, Table Titles, and Figure Legends should be typed single-spaced or numbered consecutively on all pages including title page, figures, and tables.
3. Leave two spaces before and after the major headings and two spaces before and after the sub-headings. Do not use footnotes rather use endnotes if required by the discipline.
4. Spell out acronyms or unfamiliar abbreviations when these are mentioned for the first time in the text.
5. Write the scientific names of species completely with author(s) when it is first mentioned in the text and without an author in succeeding references. Scientific names should be written in italics or boldface.
6. Do not spell out numbers unless they are used to start a sentence.
7. Use the metric system only or the International System of Units. Use abbreviations of units only beside numerals (e.g. 6 m); otherwise, spell out the units (e.g. kilometers from here). Do not use plural forms or periods for abbreviations of units. Use the bar for compound units (e.g. 1 kg/ha/yr). Place a zero before the decimal in numbers less than 1 (e.g. 0.25).
8. When preparing Tables and Figures, titles of Tables should be found on top of the table itself while Captions of Figures should be found right below the figure itself. It has to be as short as possible and understandable without referring to the text. Figures should consist only of simple line drawings, computer-generated graphics, or good quality original photographs in a jpeg or png file format that are not enhanced electronically. The label of figures should be of such a size so that these are still legible even after reducing the size by as much as 50%. Use preferably Adobe Photoshop CS, Adobe InDesign CC, and or PDF computer-generated graphics.
9. As regards the in-text citation and reference styles, follow the current MLA Format 7^th Needless to say, in-text citations and list of works cited should match.
10. The manuscript should be as concise as the subject and research method permit, generally, 4,000 to 6,000 words, single-spaced.
11. Regarding pagination, all pages, including tables, appendices, and references, should be serially numbered. Major sections should be numbered, but subsections should not be.
12. Concerning numbers, spell out numbers from one to ten, except when used in tables and lists, and when used with mathematical, statistical, scientific, or technical units and quantities, such as distances, weights, and measures.
13. With the use of percentage and decimal fractions, use the word percent in the text in nontechnical copy.
14. Use a hyphen to join unit modifiers or to clarify usage. e.g., ‘a cross-sectional-equation’ and ‘re-form.’ See Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary for correct usage.
15. As for the keywords in the abstract, there must be at least four keywords to assist in indexing the paper and identifying qualified reviewers. Keywords must contain four parts: the discipline of the study, concepts investigated, method/process, and geographic location of study, country, continent.

Assurance for International Quality of Journal Articles

The titles of the submitted articles should have an international perspective; no inclusion of very specific location names (unless it has significant international impacts), the minimum is the region of a country or continent, no specific cultural terms which cannot be understood globally (i.e barangay, Sandiganbayan). The studies must bring in new information the global community needs to know and which novelty and relevance of findings contribute to new knowledge in the discipline.

 Other Helpful Points 

1. Precise and Specific Title. Title by result rather than title by the scope is preferred. The most important discovery in the conclusions/results shall be drafted as the title of the paper so readers will know immediately whether the content is what they need.
2. Strong email addresses. Works of researchers using Gmail address containing the full name or the webmail of their institutions are preferred over those that are not. Thus, it can help if the researcher submits the work using the webmail of his/her university or agency (e.g., faye_abellana @usjr.edu.ph) or a Gmail account bearing his/her full name (e.g., abellanafaye @gmail.com.) Aliases in email addresses are discouraged because scientists are transparent in their advocacy.
3. ORCID membership. Researchers are encouraged to have ORCID membership for them to be affiliated with those who have deposited their research publications in one global database called orcid.org and track their publication online.
4. Get sources from a wide variety of geographic scope of scientific sources. Have sources/references coming from various continents such as Asia, Europe, Africa, USA, and Australia. This can be done using this formula: topic + continent + year and search this in Google Scholar. Do this for five continents. For purpose of continuity, citation of RIJLL articles is highly encouraged but not required. Obtain data only from cited scientific sources. Sources taken only from scientific databases traceable from the web are preferred.  After the customary bibliographic entry, paste the URL paste at the end of the bibliography.  Without these, it takes to mean that the source is only in print. By putting the URL, the editors and reviewers can click to access the original source. If the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is given, include it also.  A URL shortener may be used. 
5. Include only relevant tables. Tables that merely show very nominal and descriptive data shall be deleted along with the graphs and charts if these are already discussed in full in the text. Results of the hypothesis should be included particularly if these contained significant values.

Policy on Retraction

Retraction is an act of the journal publisher to remove a published article from the digital file due to post-publication discovery of fraudulent claims by the research, plagiarism, or serious errors of methodology which escaped detection in the quality assurance process. Complaints by third-party researchers on any of the grounds and validated by the editorial office trigger the retraction but only after the writer has been notified and allowed to present his side in compliance to due process.

Policy on Digital Preservation

Digital Preservation is the process of storing systematically electronic files in multiple formats such as compact discs; cloud computing, Google drive, email accounts, external hard drives, among others. This is to guarantee that in conditions where the website crashes, there is a natural calamity, fire, and other man-made destructions, virus invasions, the files are preserved.

Policy on Handling Complaints

If RIJLL receives a complaint that any contribution to the Journal infringes the copyright or contains libelous materials, it will investigate the complaint. The investigation may include a request that the parties involved substantiate their claims. The Journal will make a good-faith distribution whether to remove the allegedly wrongful material. A decision not to remove material should represent the Journal’s belief that the complaint is without sufficient foundation. Or if well-founded, that a legal defense or exemption may apply, such as fair use in the case of copyright infringement or truthfulness of a statement in the case of libel. The Journal shall document its investigation and decision.  If an author is found guilty after investigation, the article shall be subjected to the retraction policy.