UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Guidelines for the preparation of
Working Papers for submission in
the Institute for Sustainable
Development Working Paper
Series
AUGUST 2010
Overview
The objectives of the Institute for Sustainable Development Working Paper Series are to:
i)
ii)
iii)
disseminate academic work that represents work-in-progress in the fields
related to sustainability, information technology, quality of life and
interdisciplinary research;
provides academics with the possibility of a means of publication within a
short period of time prior to the development of further work; and
provides academics with a peer review to help them improve their work in
order to publish the work in academic journals.
The Working Paper Series publishes work exploring issues in sustainability through the
application of inter disciplinarity and use of technology tools to achieve sustainable
development. Papers in this series can tackle important issues current to the local scene
as well as broader international policy related to any area of sustainability. Papers that
review academic literature on particularly current subjects or deal with methodological
themes are also welcome.
Editor: Dr Maria Attard (maria.attard@um.edu.mt)
The Editor is supported by a team of local and foreign reviewers.
Note for authors
The author must guarantee that he/she is the sole author of the work and any work
carried by others (supervisors, partners, etc.) must be acknowledged as co-authors or
otherwise. The author must also guarantee that the work is original.
Articles shall not be simultaneously submitted to another Working Paper Series or
similar publication (online or otherwise). However authors may submit their article
simultaneously or at a later date either to a peer-reviewed journal or as a chapter in an
edited book.
It is the author’s responsibility to obtain permission for all copyrighted materials by
writing to the publishers of books/journals/newspapers in which the material first
appeared. This includes photographs, figures and maps. The Institute for Sustainable
Development declines any responsibilities for authors’ failure to comply with this
obligation.
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Review Process
All work submitted to the Institute will be anonymously and confidentially peer-reviewed
at least once. The work can be accepted, rejected or returned to the author with
recommendations, revisions both in terms of style and content.
Copyright and Reserved Rights
The copyright of the work will be in the name of the author. Formal errors and opinions
expressed in the working paper are the responsibility of the authors. Authors accept that
the Institute for Sustainable Development reserves the right to publish and distribute
their article for free as an online publication in Portable Document Format (pdf).
Publication
The work will be published as a Working Paper in the Institute for Sustainable
Development’s Working Paper Series. The Institute will endeavour to assign an ISSN
number to each published paper and publish for free on the Institute website. The
Institute may use the authors’ names and biographical information to advertise and
promote the author’s work and that of the Institute.
Submission Guidelines and Typescript
Authors are asked to follow these style guidelines in the preparation of their manuscript
and submit an electronic copy in MS Word file format by email to the Editor on
isd@um.edu.mt adding ‘Submission to ISD Working Paper Series’ as email Subject
reference. Upon submission the working paper will be assigned an ID which is to reflect
in the acknowledgment of receipt and is to be used as the paper reference number by
the author every time he wishes to enquire with the Editor about the progress of his/her
working paper.
The manuscript shall contain a title page which includes:
i)
title of paper and sub-title (if any)
ii)
Author/s’ names; institutional affiliations; contact details (address, email,
telephone number)
iii)
Abstract not longer than 200 words
iv)
Up to five (5) key words
The second page will contain the title of the paper and any sub-title, the abstract and the
rest of the text. No reference to the author/s is to be made in the paper with the
exception of the title page.
Authors are required to follow these style rules before submitting their manuscript to
minimise the need for review once paper is accepted.
Typescript
Page format: A4 format
Margins:
Top, bottom, left and right, 2.5 cm; header and footer, 1.7 cm.
Font:
Times New Roman, 12 points (Main Text, Appendices and
References); Times New Roman, 10 points (Footnotes).
Text alignment:
Justified without indentation or hyphenation.
Line spacing:
Single line spacing; paragraphs should be separated by a single
return.
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Page numbers:
Times New Roman, 10 points, right hand bottom of page starting
with 1 on title page.
Section Headings
1st level: Left aligned, font bold, 12 points and all caps. 1.0 FIRST LEVEL EXAMPLE
2nd level: Left aligned, font bold, 12 points and with a capital letter starting every new
word. 1.1 Second Level Example
3rd level: Left aligned, font italics (not bold), 12 points and with a capital letter starting
every new word. 1.1.1 Third Level Example
Each section is to be numbered for ease of reference.
Quotation marks
Always use single quotation marks for dialogue and quoted material in the text. Reserve
the use of double quotation marks for quotes within quotes.
Spelling
Spellings should conform to the new edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary.
Alternatives are accepted on condition that they are consistent.
Italic
Authors should use italic for titles of books, newspapers, journals (but not for articles in
journals). Italic type for emphasis should be used only sparingly. Authors should avoid
using bold for emphasis.
Abbreviations
Full stops should be used after abbreviations (p., Ch.) but not after contractions or in
acronyms: Dr, St, Mr, BBC, UNESCO, USA.
Note especially: ed. eds ; vol. vols ; Ch. Chs but the exception: no. nos.
Numerals
Spell out numbers under 10. Use numerals for measurements. You should use numerals
for percentages in the text but spell out ‘per cent’. The percentage sign (%) should be
used only in brackets, tables and figures. Insert a comma for thousands.
Notes and References
Where notes are necessary place all notes at the end of the article, after the reference
list. Begin numbering the notes from 1. Restrict notes to explanatory statements that
develop an idea or expand a quotation.
When giving references authors are required to use the Harvard (author/date) system.
To use the Harvard system, one has to cite the author's surname, the year of publication
and the page reference immediately after the quoted material, e.g. (Borg 2009: 56). With
this system it is essential that the reference lists every work cited in the text.
Where there are two or more works by one author in the same year, distinguish them by
using for example 2009a, 2009b, etc.
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Citations in the text for online material should include the surname(s) of the author(s), or
the name of the ‘authoring’ organization, and the document date or date of last revision
(which may require the date and month as well as the year).
Reference List
Type the references in the following style:
Clarke, E. (2008) Getting Started with Geographic Information Systems, 5th edn,
London: Prentice Hall
Each entry must contain full publication details; do not use op. cit. or short titles referring
to other entries in the reference list. Make sure the reference list is in strict alphabetical
order. Authors should ensure that dates are consistent with text references. Do not use
bold to highlight any elements of the entry.
Authors using law reports, parliamentary papers, and other government/official
documents should be careful to make them consistent.
Electronic references should appear in the main reference list and should include
additional details as outlined here.
A book, part of a book, a journal, or a journal article which has been published and is
also available on the Internet should contain the usual reference details followed by the
medium (e.g. Online), what it is available through (e.g. HTTP, e-mail) and then the actual
electronic address (URL) in angled brackets. Always include the date on which you
accessed the information in brackets. For example:
Blunt, A. and Souch, C. (2008) Publishing in Geography A new Guide for New
Researchers, London: Royal Geographical Society with IBG. Online. Available
HTTP: <http://www.rgs.org/GettingPublished> (accessed 4 June 2010).
If the reference is to a book, part of a book, journal or journal article but was published
only on the Internet then the entry should be as above but without the place name and
publisher.
If the reference is to a message on a discussion board the entry should be: Author (year)
‘Subject of message’, Title of Discussion List. Online posting. Available e-mail:
listserv@isd.um.edu (21 June 2013).
If the reference is to a personal e-mail message, do not give the e-mail address:
Author (year) ‘Subject of message’. E-mail (30 January 2000).
Example of a reference list
Attard, M. (2005) ‘Developing undergraduate GIS study-units – the experience of Malta’,
in Donert, K. and Charzynski, P. (eds) Changing Horizons in Geography Education,
Herodot Thematic Network for Geography in Higher Education.
Attard, M., Ison, S.G. (2010) ‘The implementation of a road user charge – the case of
Valletta, Malta’, Journal of Transport Geography, 18:14-22.
Ciantar, T. (2003) ‘Exploring the relationship between accessibility and residential
location choice’, unpublished thesis, University of Malta.
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Ciantar, T. and Attard, M. (2004) ‘Life-Saving Devices’, in The Times of Malta, 23rd
November.
Lanfranco, S. (2008) ‘A preliminary spatial analysis of the population of Limonium
etruscum at Parco dell’Uccellina, Tuscany, Italy’, in Proceedings of the WADI
International Conference, November.
Soldati, M., Buhagiar, S., Coratza, P., Pasuto, A. and Schembri, J.A. (2008)
‘Proceedings of the Italo-Maltese Workshop on Integration of the geomorphological
environment and cultural heritage for tourism promotion and hazard prevention – Malta,
24-27 April 2007’, Geogr. Fis. Dinam. Quat., 31: 2
Zammit, S. (2006) ‘ICT in support of ATMOSNET’ ATMOSNET WP1 Meeting – Malta,
14-16 December. Online. Available
HTTP: <http://staff.um.edu.mt/szam1/ICTinSupportofATMOSNET.pdf (accessed 21
January 2010).
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