Submissions

Author Guidelines

Huria Journal of the Open University of Tanzania

Guide to Authors

Scope

Huria Journal is an international journal that publishes original research papers of academic interest (theoretical, applied, and general), targeting tertiary institutions and researchers and is therefore hospitable to scholarly writing on a variety of academic topics ranging from distance education, humanities and social sciences and all cross-cutting issues related to societal transformation in developing countries. The types of contribution range from original research papers, review articles, and technical notes. Submitted papers are subject to peer review by reputable researchers who are experts in the relevant fields. Â Papers are evaluated for the quality of research as well as the relevance and accessibility for an international audience. The journal is published triennially in March July and December.

The Journal publishes Original research articles: Research articles that make a substantial original contribution to research practice or policy in any research area. Research articles are contributions that have the purpose of publication of original unpublished research which may be reproduced and generalized. They should be between 3000 and 5000 words. Excluding tables. Figures and references. The original research article should follow the conventional structure: Introduction, materials and methods, Results, and Discussion.

Short communication: Short communications are intended to provide preliminary research results or unpublished hypotheses of public relevance. Short communications may contain an abstract and can be organized either along the lines of a regular manuscript or without subdivisions. The accompanying abstract should not exceed 200 words. Authors may also consider combining the results and discussion sections. They should be up to 2500 words and include a table or figure and preferably not more than five references.

Letters to the editor: These include letters that seek to discuss recent articles published in Huria Journal or report on original research or significant findings. They should not exceed 600 words and five references.

Reviews: Huria Journal welcomes papers relating to any research themes. Reviews should emphasize the implication of reviewed literature for future practical applications and policy implications. A review paper should not exceed 8,000 words.

Submission of Manuscripts

Manuscripts must be submitted with a cover letter stating that all authors (in case of multiple authors) agree with the content and approve of its submission to the journal. Only materials that have never been published or are being submitted for publication elsewhere will be considered.  All submissions will be critically peer-reviewed by at least two anonymous reviewers who will be looking for originality, relevance, clarity, appropriateness of the methods, the validity of data, reasonability of the conclusion, and support from data.

Manuscripts that are written in clear and grammatical English should be submitted in both electronic and hard copy to:

Editor-in-Chief

Huria Journal

The Open University of Tanzania

P. O. Box 23409

Dar es Salaam

TANZANIA

 Tel: 255+ (022) 2668820 , (022) 2668445

Fax: 255+ (022) 2668759

 e-mail: huriajournal-editor@out.ac.tz

There are no submission fees or page charges.

The Editorial Board reserves the right to accept or reject any manuscript and also reserves the right to edit the manuscripts as it sees fit.  Authors may be contacted for clarification when necessary.

Manuscript Preparation

Page format

Page set-up of the manuscripts should be on A4 or 8.5mmx 11mm paper, typed double-spaced (24-26 lines per page), with margins of top 25mm, bottom 25mm left 40mm, and right 20mm.

Font

The font size of the main text shall be 12 in Times New Roman

Depending on the areas of specialization, manuscripts should be arranged in the order of title page, abstract (structured summary) including up to six keywords, main text, acknowledgments, references, tables figures, and figure legends.

In the case of science/experimental-based submissions, the order should be a title page, abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, acknowledgments, references, figure legends, tables, and illustrations. Under this category, results and discussion sections may be combined if appropriate.

Title Page

This page must include the following information:

• The title of the manuscript should be concise, specific, informative, and clear.
• Should be in bold, using font 14.
• The names (spelled out in full) of the author(s) of the manuscript including their corresponding affiliation(s) should be indicated immediately below the title.
• A complete mailing address (including the e-mail) of the person to whom all correspondence regarding the manuscript should be addressed and must also be indicated.

Abstract

The first page following the title page should contain an abstract.  Abstract should contain up to 250 words mainly of the object and main findings of the paper. Three to five keywords representing concepts of the paper may be written at the end of the abstract. The Abstract shall be in italics.

Main Text

In the main text:

Introduction: Should describe the objective of the reported work and provide relevant background information. 

Materials and methods (Where the study/research dictates): this part should identify the population, area of study, the procedure employed, and any other relevant input to the realization of the study.

Results: This section should explain all the important findings and provide information about the reliability of the results. Here, the use of tables and figures is allowed, but the use of text to emphasize important points is encouraged.

Discussion: it should describe the implications of the findings and any conclusions based on the findings.

Abbreviations in the body of the paper should be used after having been initially explained.  If statistical analysis is applicable, it is important that the procedure is carried out following appropriate methods.

Tables

Tables should be as close as possible to the text explaining the concept. Tables should be numbered in the order in which they are mentioned in the text. A Table caption must be presented in upper case at the top. Explain in footnotes all non-standard abbreviations used in each table.

Figures

Figures must be clearly drawn and placed as close as possible to the related text. All Figures must be numbered according to the order in which they appear in the text. A Figure caption should be typed in bold immediately below the Figure.

Pagination

The page numbers should appear at the center of the bottom edge of the page.

References

All references to books, monographs, articles, and statistical sources must be identified at the appropriate points in the text by the author's last name and publication year.  The use of the author's name, year of publication, and pagination in text citations remains optional, but not really encouraged.  When the author's name is in the text, cite (Williams, 2005).  References should be cited in the text using (name, Year) style, in the text. The list of references should be presented at end of the paper, in alphabetical order.

Journal papers:

Author(s), (year). Article title, Name of journal, Volume Number, Issue Number, page range.

With dual authorship, give both names; for three or more, use et al.  With more than one reference to an author in one year, distinguish them by use of letter (a, b) attached to the publication year (2006a).  For instance, (Agnes, 2000a; 2000b). Enclose a series of references within one pair of parenthesis, separated by semicolons, e.g., {Cornelia, 2001; Emmanuel, 2003; Juma et al., 2004; Pembe and Owino, 2005}.

On the page of references, list all the cited references alphabetically by author and, within the author, by publication year. Examples of common references follow.

Print, M. (2000), Curriculum Development and design.  Allen and Unwin, London;

Hellen, S., Joyce, K., and John, R. (2005), Schooling in Capitalist America.  New York: Basic Books. p. 99;

Holleran, E.A., Karki, S., Holzbaur, E.L.F. (1998),: The Role of the Dynactin Complex” in Intracellular Motility.  In Jeon, K.W. (Ed.) International Review of Cytology. Vol. 182. Academic Press, San Diego, pp. 69-109;

Gao, S., McGarry M., Latham, K.E., Wilmut, I. (2003), Cloning of Mice by Nuclear Transfer. Cloning stem Cells, 5: 287-294;

Tanzania Bureau of Statistics (2002), Country Census Data Book. Dar es Salaam: Government Printing Office.

Conference Proceedings:

Author(s), (year). Article title, Name of the conference, Location of the conference, page range.

Internet sources

Name of Author(s) or company or organization, (year), Title of article, URL, date found.

Footnotes

They should be kept to a minimum. Two or more consecutive references to the same source should, where possible, be grouped in the same note; the reader should be able to follow the article without referring to the notes.