Guide for Authors

Research and Science Today (ISSN 2285-9632) is an international, multidisciplinary, open-access journal dedicated to the dissemination of original research that advances knowledge across disciplinary boundaries. The journal encourages dialogue between fields and promotes contributions that address contemporary scientific and societal challenges through innovative theoretical, methodological, or empirical approaches.
The journal welcomes submissions from natural sciences, medical and health sciences, engineering and technology, social sciences, humanities, environmental studies, data science and artificial intelligence, business and economics, and physical education and sports sciences. Interdisciplinary research and studies that generate new perspectives on established topics are particularly encouraged.

Open access and copyright
Research and Science Today is a fully open-access journal. All published articles are freely and permanently available online immediately upon publication.
The journal operates under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
This license allows users to:

• read, download, copy, distribute, and adapt the material
• use the content for non-commercial purposes

provided that:

• appropriate credit is given to the author and the journal
• a link to the license is provided
• any changes made are indicated

Authors retain the copyright of their work.

Editorial integrity screening
All submissions undergo an initial technical and integrity assessment performed through Ethical Shield – Editorial Integrity Tools before being sent to peer review.
This stage verifies:

• compliance with the journal’s formatting and submission requirements
• the presence of mandatory ethical statements
• possible prior versions of the manuscript
• overlapping publication patterns
• risks related to data reuse or salami slicing
• Ethical Shield is an evidence-based decision-support system. It does not evaluate scientific quality and does not replace peer review. Its role is to support transparent and consistent editorial decisions.

Manuscripts that do not meet the technical or integrity requirements may be returned to the authors for revision before entering the review process.

Manuscript preparation
Authors are kindly requested to prepare their manuscripts in strict accordance with the journal’s formatting requirements. Submissions that do not comply with these guidelines may be returned for technical revision prior to peer review.

Manuscript structure and front matter
Each manuscript must include the following elements, in this order:

• Section and issue information, article number and DOI (to be completed by the editorial team), title, author name(s), affiliation(s), submission dates, suggested citation (completed by the editorial team), abstract, keywords, main text, and references.
• The title must be written in English and should be concise, informative, and clearly reflect the content of the paper.
• Author information must include first name and last name, academic or professional position, institutional affiliation, country, and email address. Institutional affiliations and contact details must be accurate and complete.
• Dates of receipt, revision, acceptance, availability online, as well as the suggested citation, are completed by the editorial team and should not be filled in by the authors.

Abstract
The abstract must be written in English, in Times New Roman, 12-point font, single spacing, fully justified, and must not exceed 300 words.
It should function as a self-contained summary of the manuscript and clearly present:

• the research context and aim
• the methodological approach
• the most important results
• the main conclusions and their relevance

Citations and non-standard abbreviations should be avoided.

Keywords
Provide 3 to 6 keywords in Times New Roman, 10-point font, italicised, separated by semicolons.
Keywords should reflect the conceptual core, methodological approach, and thematic focus of the article and must be consistent with the terminology used in the title and abstract.

Main text
The main text must be written in Times New Roman, 12-point font, single spacing, fully justified.
Manuscripts must demonstrate:

• conceptual clarity
• methodological transparency
• analytical depth
• a clear contribution to the literature

Purely descriptive writing is discouraged.

Headings and subheadings
SECTION TITLES must be written in uppercase letters and bold.
Subsection titles must be written in lowercase letters and bold.
Sub-subsection titles must be written in lowercase letters, bold and italicised.

Tables
Tables must be written in Times New Roman, 10-point font and numbered consecutively.
Each table must include a clear title and, where necessary, a short explanatory description.

Figures
Figures must be numbered consecutively and must include captions in Times New Roman, 10-point font.
Figures must be readable, clearly labelled, and interpretable independently of the main text.

REFERENCES
All references must be formatted according to the IEEE citation style and listed in the order in which they appear in the text. Citations must be indicated using Arabic numerals in square brackets (e.g., [1], [2]) placed before punctuation.
The reference list must include only the works cited in the manuscript and must not be arranged alphabetically.

In-text citation
Each reference number must be inserted on the same line as the text, before punctuation.
Examples:
“The theory was first put forward in 1987 [1].”
“Scholtz [2] has argued that …”
“Several recent studies [3], [4], [15], [22] suggest that …”

Reference list requirements
Authors are fully responsible for the accuracy and completeness of all references.
Each reference must contain, where applicable:

• author name(s)
• full title of the work
• journal or publisher
• volume and issue
• page range
• year of publication
• DOI (mandatory where available)
• DOI links must be provided in the format: https://doi.org/xxxxx

Reference quality and relevance
As an international peer-reviewed journal, Research and Science Today requires references that reflect the current state of research in the field.
Authors are therefore expected to:

• prioritise recent scholarly literature
• cite relevant international publications
• ensure that the cited sources are directly related to the research topic
• avoid excessive reliance on non-peer-reviewed materials
• The use of predatory journals, non-scholarly websites, or unverifiable sources is not accepted.

Self-citation policy
Self-citations must be relevant and strictly justified by the content of the manuscript.
Excessive self-citation or citation stacking intended to artificially influence bibliometric indicators is considered unethical and may lead to rejection.

International visibility requirement
To ensure global relevance and indexability, authors are strongly encouraged to integrate:

• international peer-reviewed sources
• recent high-impact literature
• publications indexed in major scientific databases
• Manuscripts based predominantly on local or outdated literature may be returned for revision prior to peer review.

Use of reference management software
Authors are strongly encouraged to use reference management software (e.g., Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote) and to ensure that the final submitted manuscript contains fully formatted, field-independent references.

Reference integrity screening
All submissions undergo automated technical and integrity verification through the journal’s Ethical Shield system.
The reference list is checked for:

• completeness and formatting accuracy
• DOI availability and validity
• correspondence between in-text citations and reference list
• excessive self-citation patterns
• citation to non-scholarly or predatory sources

Manuscripts that do not meet these requirements will be returned to the authors for technical revision before being sent to peer review.

Ethical requirements
Research involving human participants, personal data, or identifiable material must comply with international ethical standards and must indicate:

• ethics committee or IRB approval (where applicable)
• informed consent procedure (where applicable)
• anonymisation of personal data (where applicable)

Medical research must follow the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. See more here.

Authorship
Authorship must reflect substantial contributions to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the study.
All authors must approve the final version of the manuscript.

Conflict of interest
Authors must declare any financial or non-financial conflicts of interest.

Funding statement
All sources of funding must be clearly acknowledged.

Data availability
A data availability statement is required for all submissions.

Originality
Submitted manuscripts must represent original work that has not been published previously and is not under consideration elsewhere.

Peer review
The journal applies a double-blind peer review process.
The final decision belongs to the editor.

Before submitting
Authors are requested to ensure that:

• the manuscript follows the journal template
• all ethical approvals are obtained
• all required statements are included
• the manuscript represents original work