Submission Guide

  1. Initial proposal submission (between 500-700 word).
  2. Abstract Initial proposals review and selection of the top 15 to 20 ranked proposals.
  3. In case the initial proposal is accepted, authors will be invited to submit a first draft of their paper.
  4. All accepted papers pass through a peer-review process.
  5. Author(s) whose papers are accepted will be invited to a writing workshop (either online or in-person) with experts in the field, to guide them in developing their second draft based on feedback from editors and peers.
  6. Final accepted papers are published in an ANDD paper series publication by Qatar University Press.
  7. Authors of the final papers may be invited to present their proposals and experience at selected UN-ESCWA events or conferences (e.g.: Arab Forum for Sustainable Development) and ANDD annual event.

Submissions should be sent to the following email addresses: info@anddnetwork.org & dds@un.org

Submission Conditions

  1. The research must be original and not published previously, in part or in full, and should not be submitted for publication elsewhere.
  2. The research must be original and offer a valid scientific contribution in its respective field. All research submissions are screened through iThenticate plagiarism software.
  3. The research shall be based on recent data and scholarly resources that foster the specialization’s research developments.
  4. The researcher shall comply with the intellectual property, research integrity, scientific honesty, principles and ethics of scientific research.
  5. The publication states the following disclaimer: “The contents and opinions appearing in the article herein are the sole responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of QU Press nor the ANDD Paper Series editors.”
  6. The research must adhere to the research and linguistic guidelines of the specialization, and in terms of clarity of writing, language and expression, as well as value, novelty and diversity of scientific references.
  7. The author undertakes to perform the required amendments provided by peer-reviewers, in line with the journal’s peer review process, mentioned on the website.
  8. Sources and references in Arabic that are not translated into English must be Romanized and included in the list of foreign references and arranged alphabetically. The Arabic reference data used in Romanization must be arranged in the same order as the source information.
  9. The word count should range between around 5000 words, including tables, charts, references and appendices.
  10. Papers that are extracted from a masters or doctoral thesis may be accepted as long as this is disclosed upon submission in the “Author Declaration” and acknowledged accordingly in the published paper.

Author’s Submission Checklist:

Please visit our “Submission” page for more information on the required submission documents.

Paper Template

Title page:

  • Full title of the research paper (not more than fifteen words, including headlines and subheadings)
  • Principal author’s full name
  • Author’s scientific rank, specialization and affiliation, country
  • Email address
  • ORCID number of the author/s (to open an account visit https://orcid.org/register)

Note: The names of co-authors should be arranged sequentially according to the research contribution and efforts and in line with international scholarly publishing ethics.

Paper Structure

The structure of a policy paper can vary depending on the purpose, audience, and content of the paper, but the following is a general structure that can be adapted to suit different needs:

-  Abstract (in English and Arabic): Should not exceed 250 words. The abstract briefly discusses the research problem, objectives, and importance of study. It then briefly explain the research methods, tools and methodologies, and most important analysis and statistics. It also gives a glimpse on the most important conclusions, recommendations or scientific value.

-  Introduction: This section provides background information on the policy issue and explains why it is important. It should include a clear statement of the problem, the context in which the problem exists, and an explanation of why action is needed.

-  Analysis: This section provides a detailed analysis of the policy issue, including the causes of the problem, the current state of affairs, and potential consequences of inaction. It may also include a discussion of relevant laws, regulations, and policies.

-  Policy Recommendations: This section outlines the specific policies that should be implemented to address the problem. Each recommendation should be accompanied by a detailed explanation of how it will work, what resources are required, and how it will be implemented.

-  Conclusion: This section summarizes the key points of the paper and restates the recommendations. It should also include a call to action, urging the reader to take the recommended steps.

-  References: This section includes a list of sources used in the paper, such as reports, articles, and books. It should be formatted according to the APA citation style.

<p<Approved style guide

The writing of citations and reference list should be standardized according to the seventh edition of the American Psychological Association (APA) style, which can be viewed on the link: https://apastyle.apa.org .

The author should set a bibliography of sources and references at the end of the research paper, in the same style of citing footnotes, but arranged in alphabetical order by the author’s family name.

Submission Format

Authors should ensure that their research paper adheres to the following guidelines:

  • The research should be written correctly with proper use of the language and grammatical structure, and correct spelling and punctuation.
  • Citations and references should be recent.
  • The research paper should be formatted in an editable Word format document, where Times New Roman font size 12 is used, and paragraph spacing is set at 1.5.
  • Use bold font style for main headlines and sub-headlines instead of underline and organize the research papers by numbering its sections.
  • Use font size 10 points for the tables’ titles and content as well as for the illustrations.
  • Use of bold should be limited in the text and may only be used for scientific indication.
  • The page numbers should appear in the middle of the bottom of the research pages.

Illustrations, figures and tables

  • The numbering of all illustrations, tables and figures should be consecutive (for example: Table No. 1, Figure No. 1). In case of multiple numbering divisions, each division should be classified (for example Figure 1 (A), Figure 1 (B).
  • The captions of the figures should be descriptive and written in bold, such as: Figure 1, Figure 2.
  • Each illustration, figure or table should be provided as a separate file named and numbered according to the research and in high resolution that is suitable for design.
  • Note: The author must obtain permission from the copyright holder to reproduce figures in the journal published elsewhere. Failure to provide this permission can result in images not being included.

Supplying Digital Images

Most images sourced on the internet will not be of a sufficiently high resolution and cannot be used. If you locate an image on the internet, you will need to find its original source and request a high-resolution version. You will need to check and ensure permission of usage, as necessary.

Photographs

Scan at a minimum of 300 dpi and save as a TIFF or JPG image for PC. Final size of scan to be approximately 250 x 200 mm.

Line illustrations (maps, graphs, etc.)

Scan at a minimum of 1200 dpi and save as a TIFF or JPG image for PC. Final size of the scan to be approximately 250 x 200 mm.

Tints

Tints used on computer-generated illustrations should be no lighter than 15% and no darker than 70%. Do not use pattern fills. Do not use color fills.

Line weights Bearing in mind that line illustrations supplied at approximately 250 x 200 mm will be reduced in size to fit comfortably on an average page size of 234 x 156 mm, the line weights will be reduced correspondingly. Do not, therefore, use a line weight of less than 1 point/pixel in illustrations.

Illustration file types TIFF

Save files as TIFF or JPG images for PC. We would prefer you not to compress TIFF files; if you need to compress them, use a lossless compression software package such as LZW.

EPS

Images can also be supplied as EPS files, with a laser print for identification. EPS files cannot be altered; if we are required to edit these files, the original application files should be supplied with all fonts used.

Other digital formats

JPGs and images downloaded from the internet are normally low resolution (72 dpi) and are not usually suitable for reproduction by conventional printing methods.

Unacceptable file types: MS Word and Excel.

Print images

If you are supplying print images, mark each illustration very lightly on the back (in the corner) in a soft pencil with its number (e.g. Figure 4.1).