Instructions to Authors

Submission Requirements
Covering Letter

Disclose all possible conflicts of interest (e.g., funding sources for consultancies or studies of products). Full contact details with postal address(es), phone numbers (mobile & landline), and email IDs (primary & secondary) of the corresponding author must be clearly mentioned. A list of potential reviewers (not exceeding 5) with their email IDs and preferably phone numbers may be included. The suggested reviewers must be working in the same area dealt with within the manuscript. Whether to use their services or not is the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.

Copyright undertaking is not required at the time of submission. The Copyright Form/ Consent to Publish Form is to be submitted only after the paper is accepted. 

Preprints Policy

Journal accepts articles submitted in preprint archives; sharing your preprints will not count as prior publication. The details of pre-prints/e-prints have to be mentioned in the cover letter, including DOI and licensing terms. The journal prefers that pre-print should have a Creative Common 4.0 Attribution Non-commercial-Share Alike licence (CC By-NC-SA 4.0). After a pre-print is published, it is the responsibility of the author(s) to update any previous pre-publication version with an URL link to the final published version of the article on the journal website.

Applicable to all Submissions

  • In each submission, the author(s) should also write on the first page the type of submission, i.e., whether the submitted manuscript is Research Article/ Review Paper/ Perspective Paper/ Research-in-Progress/ Commentary/ Policy Forum/ Book Review/ Webliography).
  • Authors should strictly follow the APA (American Psychological Association) citation style.
  • Research Article (Use same citation style for other categories of articles)

Example:  Liu Y, Rousseau, R. Ego Citation Networks Considered as Domination Networks. Journal of Data Science, Informetrics, and Citation Studies. 2019; 8 (1): 01-08.

  • In-text citation: In APA style, in-text citations typically include the author's last name and the publication year, enclosed in parentheses. If you are directly quoting, you should also include the page number.

  • Author(s) in Sentence:

    • According to Liu and Rousseau (2019), "Ego Citation Networks Considered as Domination Networks" (p. 3).

  • Author(s) in Parentheses:

    • "Ego Citation Networks Considered as Domination Networks" (Liu & Rousseau, 2019, p. 3) discuss...

  • Multiple Authors:

    • For sources with three or more authors, use et al. after the first author's name: (Smith et al., 2018).

Reference List:

References should be listed alphabetically by the author's last name.

  • Journal Article:

    • Liu, Y., & Rousseau, R. (2019). Ego Citation Networks Considered as Domination Networks. Journal of Data Science, Informetrics, and Citation Studies, 8(1), 01-08.

  • Book:

    • Smith, J. D. (2018). The Science of Data. Publisher.

APA style does not use a superscript number in the text for citations. Instead, it relies on the author's last name and publication year. When using APA style, make sure to format your entire manuscript, including the reference list, according to APA guidelines.

  • The manuscript will not be rejected if the initial submission is not as per the citation style. However, once a Manuscript is accepted, then authors have to strictly follow the above citation style.
  • Normal plain font (e.g., 12-Point Times New Roman) should be used. Line spacing should be 1.5. Only black font should be used in the text.
  • Tables and Figures should be originally drawn (not scanned). Tables should be made using the table function and they should not be given as images.
  • Authors should preferably submit one manuscript file containing full text and all graphs/images/tables, either inserted within the text or at the end of the text part.  Any supplementary data or results could be submitted as a separate file.  
  • The author/authors need to submit along with the revised manuscript, a response sheet to the reviewer's comments, which should indicate modifications done in the manuscript in response to comments made by the reviewer(s) or justification for not accepting the comment/ suggestions.
  • Revised manuscript submission: The author/authors need to submit two files; 
    (a) the Revised File in track change mode or highlighting with colour font the revisions done
    (b) response sheet to the reviewer's comments, which should indicate that all comments raised by the referee(s) have been addressed. Author(s) can choose to differ with the referee comment, however, the reason for doing so should be properly justified in the comment file.
    *The same form is also available on the author submission site. 

Research articles

The research articles are limited to 8000 words. The abstract should be structured and limited to 250 words. The abstract should preferably include these elements: objective, research design and methods, findings, implications and recommendations, contribution and value-added. Keywords (maximum six in numbers) are to be given, which properly specify the contribution; comma delimitation to be used for separation.
Each article should be structured appropriately.  Each article should preferably have the following sections: Introduction, Objectives and Scope of the study, Literature review, Conceptual framework, Methodology, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion. Sub-sections, as required, can be provided. It is expected that acknowledgements including funding support, if any, should be given by author(s) only after the acceptance of the manuscript, in a separate ‘Acknowledgement’ section to be placed before the References.

Review articles

Reviews covering topics of current interest are welcome and encouraged. Review articles (not exceeding 10,000 words, cited references to be limited to about 100 in number) are expected to survey and discuss current developments in a field. The review should be well focused and organized and avoid a general ‘textbook’ style. Review articles will follow the general guidelines of the Research Paper.

Perspective Paper

Perspective paper (up to 5000 words a maximum of two illustrations) invites reflective discussions on recent contemporary research/on tools and methods/new approaches, but do not primarily discuss the author's own work. They may provide a critical synoptic assessment of a research topic, including alternative viewpoints/approaches. Perspectives commenting on papers in J Data Sci. Info. Citation Studies should add a dimension to the research and not merely be a summary of the study covered in the paper.
The perspective paper will follow the general guidelines of Research papers. The authors may kindly note the other considerations required for publishing in this category. An abstract of up to 150 words should appear on the first page. There is no particular need for authors to include a separate section on methodology.

Research-in-Progress
Aims to encourage and promote research of students/young researchers. This section also provides a platform for established researchers who would like to submit their ‘works in progress. Contributions go through a standard double-blind review. Authors can directly submit as ‘research-in-progress’. However, if reviewers find a paper submitted as an original article has not been sufficiently developed but has promising merit, then the editors take a decision for the paper to be placed as ‘research-in-progress’. The final decision is with the authors of that article, whether they would like their paper to be in ‘research-in-progress’.
The paper limit should be within 3000 words with maximum permissible three illustrations (figure/table). The items of the manuscript should include: (1) Abstracts limited to 200 words; (2) have the choice of including a Methodology section. However, the article must properly inform about the key methods/ procedures in the introduction; (3) Results and Discussion may be combined into a single section. The research in Progress section will follow the general guidelines of Research papers.

Commentary
Opinion articles relevant to newer developments/issues that would be of significance to the field. Commentary has to be sharp and not descriptive. Abstract, Keywords and Methodology are not required for publishing in this category. The commentary section will follow the general guidelines of Research papers. It has to be within 2000 words.

Research Notes

Encourages submission that draws attention to new tools & techniques, databases, a new methodological approach, new indicators, etc. Papers are expected to use well-constructed case studies for proper demonstration/proof-of-concept of the aspect that is the key focus of their research note. The paper should not be a summary of say tools & techniques; it has to show, for example, how new insights are revealed by using them. The research note should be within 4000 words. Stylized figures, boxes or figures that improve the readability and impact are encouraged.  The journal will follow the double-blind peer review and other norms as applicable to the research article.  

Policy Forum

This section is rooted in contributions that reach out to the policy community at large. It also attempts to emerge as a platform for cross-disciplinary interaction between quantitative and qualitative studies on science-technology innovation. Thus, papers that apply qualitative and quantitative indicators of STI, including hybrid indicators, engagement of scientometrics in developing a conceptual and methodological approach for science studies, etc. will be encouraged. There is an engaging discourse on open-science, patenting per se that challenges ethical issues, scientific misconduct and other areas within science and innovation studies that have implications for publication and patenting activity. This section also encourages papers that can address these areas. It will also be of interest that the paper opens up the debate for future discourse on the topic discussed.
Submission should be within 3500 words. Stylized figures, boxes or figures that improve the readability and impact are encouraged. The journal will follow the double-blind peer review and other norms as applicable to the research article.                                      

Book/Databases/Website Reviews

Submission under this section should be between 1200-1500 words. We welcome a review of books/websites on request to be sent to the Book Review Editor, Dr Anup Kumar Das (editor@jcitation.org). Two copies of the Book are to be sent to the Book Review Editor for the book review.

Book Reviews
Book Reviews should have a critical assessment of the book, drawing attention to its salient aspects, value to the community at large, among others. Additionally, the review should see whether the book properly addresses the intended audience, the general scope and subject area, the presentation, clarity, etc. The book review should not be a summary of the book; however, it should have sufficient details and be well organized so that readers can have a fair assessment of the book, its merit and drawbacks.

Database/Website reviews should also follow the above criteria.

Instructions for Database Review

The Layout of Review:
Title of Database or Service, Publisher’s name and address, name of the reviewer, position, organization, email address, Body of Review, general product description, authority of publication; Scope, content, currency, and intended audience; Bibliographic record format; Search capability: search capability and functionality; Interface: display and navigation, appearance, ease of use, searching options, help screens and output; Search features: basic and advanced search, keyword searching, natural language queries, sorting, pattern matchers, limits, and browsing; Search Results: quality and quantity of records, search history, display of results, and manipulation of search results; Added features: links to full text and URLs, ability to obtain statistics, links to library's OPAC/holdings, thesaurus capability, graphs and image capabilities, and document delivery; Authentication, General limitations; Technical requirements, Suggestions for improvement, Vendor's support, Pricing Options, Contract provisions/options, Comparison with other vendors, Comparison with other databases; Length of Review, -- no specific limits but probably within the range of 2500-3000 words would be ideal. Feel free to use examples from the text to support your evaluation.

Webliography
Webliography is broadly defined as a list of electronic documents, websites, or other resources available on the worldwide web, especially those related to a particular subject. The journal, through webliography, intends to create a resource base for researchers in scientometrics and related fields. Submission of paper as webliography should be unique or substantially different from prior bibliographies on the topic, and it should be of interest to specific research domains within the scientometrics community, including those who are interested in this area of research.
Webliography should be on a particular theme and should be comprehensive in terms of the varied important sources related to the theme that is available on the web.
It is not a research paper and thus should not follow its structure. An introduction should make the readers understand what the webliography is about. Well-defined heading with a proper description in highlighting the resources are expected. The link to the resources should be checked so that they are available to the readers.

Scientific Correspondence

Welcome comment on research published in J Data Sci. Info. Citation Studies and will also include correspondence drawing attention to present academic discourse/issues. As these are meant to express a personal viewpoint, with rare exceptions, preferably should have not more than two authors. Ideally, it should be restricted to 500-600 words and are subject to copyediting.

Conference/Meeting Reports

J Data Sci. Info. Citation Studies will also cover reports of the conferences and meetings organized by Associations /Societies. The Journal will be interested in considering reports that may be of interest to the readers. These will usually be within 1000 words in length and must be submitted within six weeks of the date of the meeting or conference.