International Journal of Applied and Behavioral Sciences (IJABS)

The International Journal of Applied and Behavioral Sciences (IJABS) provides these guidelines to assist authors in understanding the journal’s expectations regarding authorship, ethical responsibilities, manuscript standards, and publication practices. Authors are expected to adhere to these guidelines to ensure integrity, transparency, and academic quality.

Scope Alignment

Authors should ensure that their manuscripts align with the Aims and Scope of IJABS. Submissions that fall outside the journal’s disciplinary focus or fail to demonstrate scholarly relevance may be declined at the editorial screening stage.

Originality and Exclusivity

• Manuscripts submitted to IJABS must be original, unpublished, and not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

• Substantial overlap with previously published work must be clearly disclosed and appropriately cited.

• Redundant or duplicate publication is not permitted.

Authorship Criteria

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial scholarly contributions to the work, including one or more of the following:

• Conception or design of the study

• Data collection, analysis, or interpretation

• Drafting or critically revising the manuscript

• Final approval of the version to be published

All listed authors must approve the final manuscript and agree to its submission.

Contributorship Statement

IJABS encourages transparency in author contributions. Authors may be asked to provide a contributorship statement describing the specific roles of each author (e.g., conceptualization, methodology, analysis, writing, supervision).

Corresponding Author Responsibilities

The corresponding author is responsible for:

• Ensuring that all eligible contributors are listed as authors

• Confirming that all authors approve the submission and final version

• Communicating with the editorial office on behalf of all authors

• Managing post-publication communication, if required

Changes in Authorship

Requests for changes in authorship (addition, removal, or reordering of authors) after submission must be justified in writing and approved by all authors. Changes after acceptance are permitted only in exceptional circumstances and at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief.

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

Authors are responsible for:

• Conducting research in accordance with recognized ethical standards

• Obtaining ethical approval where required

• Ensuring informed consent for studies involving human participants

• Declaring any potential conflicts of interest

Further guidance is available in the journal’s Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement.

Plagiarism and Research Integrity

• All submissions are subject to plagiarism screening.

• Plagiarism, self-plagiarism, data fabrication, and falsification are considered serious ethical violations.

• Manuscripts found to breach research integrity standards may be rejected or retracted.

Data Accuracy and Availability

Authors must ensure the accuracy of data presented in their manuscripts. Where appropriate, authors are encouraged to make underlying data available or to clearly state any data access limitations.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools

If AI-assisted tools are used in the preparation of a manuscript, their use must be clearly disclosed. AI tools may not be listed as authors and must not replace human intellectual responsibility.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors must disclose any financial or non-financial conflicts of interest that could influence the research or its interpretation. If no conflict exists, authors should explicitly state this.

Copyright and Licensing

• Authors retain copyright of their work.

• All accepted articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

• By submitting a manuscript, authors agree to the journal’s copyright and licensing terms.

Self-Archiving and Sharing

Authors are permitted to share and archive their published work in accordance with the journal’s Copyright and Licensing Policy, provided appropriate citation to the published article is included.

Submission Guidelines

Submit Your Manuscript

Please take the time to read and follow the style and guidelines as closely as possible, as doing so will ensure your paper matches the journal’s requirements, and your paper can move through peer review, production and publication smoothly.

Besides the below mentioned guidelines for research article, APA, MLA, and Chicago Manual of Style as per discipline is also accepted for publication.

Your paper should be written with the following elements in the following order:

1. Title: Title should be at the top of the first page, size 14, bold, not all letter in uppercase.
2. Abstract: It should contain 250-300 words including problem statement, sample, methodology and conclusion in brief. There must be 4-5 keywords (only keyword italic, but not bold, other words normal).
3. Main text: It must contain but not limited to introduction, materials/ tools and methods, results, discussion; acknowledgments (if any);, funder statement (if needed), ethical statement (if needed), references; appendices (as appropriate); table(s) with caption(s) (on individual pages); figures; figure captions (as a list).
4. All in text citation must be hyperlinked with the references (cross-reference).
5. Please use American/ British spelling style for English consistently throughout your manuscript.

The word length of the paper should be between 4000-20000, however for academic work like thesis and related it could be up to 40,000, and one column text paragraph.

Papers must be submitted in Word format/ Doc format, Paper size A4. Figures should be saved separately from the text, 1.5 space all text, 1-inch margins all around (top, bottom, left, right), recommended fonts: 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, 12-point Times New Roman.

Citation: APA Style

• In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Author Surname & Author Surname, Year)
• In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Author Surname & Author Surname, Year, page number)
• Author Name: Begin with the surname followed by the initials of the first and middle name. Place a comma after the surname. Place a period after each initial in the first and middle name. When a work has more than one author put an ampersand (&) before the last surname. End with a period.
• Jones, B.R., Van deWater, M.L., Anderson, K., & MacMillan, J.S.

1. Simran Mehta → Mehta, Simran/ Mehta, S.
2. Suman Bhukkal → Bhukkal, Suman/ Bhukkal, S.
3. Balwinder Kaur Gill → Gill, Balwinder Kaur/ Gill, B. K.

Figure caption: Font size- 10”, lower case and Write below the figure, position-center

Table Caption: Font- 10”, lower case and Top of the table, position-center

References: The reference number should follow the following format. For Journals Format: Authors Name (surname initials). Title of the article. Journal name, Volume number, Issue number, Year of publication, Pages number. APA Style 7th Edition

Journal Article: Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the article. Name of the Periodical, volume(issue), #–#. https://doi.org/xxxx

Book: Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Copyright Year). Title of the book (7th ed.). Publisher. DOI or URL

Chapters in Edited Book: Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Copyright Year). Title of the book chapter. In A. A. Editor & B. B. Editor (Eds.), Title of the book (2nd ed., pp. #–#). Publisher. DOI or URL

About Author: Submit a brief profile of the author in the word file/ doc file, should not exceed more than one page, try to keep it as brief as possible.

Impact Statement: Each article must be submitted with impact statement in not more than 150 words.

Compliance with Journal Policies

Submission of a manuscript implies that authors have read and agreed to comply with:

• Author Guidelines

• Peer Review Policy

• Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

• Copyright and Licensing Policy