1. General Guidelines

Language and Spelling: Use American English spelling consistently throughout your manuscript. A notable distinction between British and American English is the preference for “-ize” over “-ise” as a suffix.

Quotations:

• Use double quotation marks for quotes, except when part of a quote includes another quote, in which case single quotation marks should be employed.
• Long quotations should be formatted as indented paragraphs without quotation marks.
• Use curly quotation marks (“ ”) instead of straight quotes (").
• If punctuation marks are present alongside quoted material, ensure that the punctuation is placed inside the quotation marks. For example, it should be “‘Less is more.’” rather than “‘Less is more’.” The same applies to commas.

2. Formatting

File Format: Manuscripts must be submitted in Microsoft Word format.

3. Author Information

3.1. Author Names

Format:

• Author names should be fully spelled out (surname followed by given name), with the format being “Firstname Lastname” (e.g., “John Smith”).
• Middle names can be abbreviated with a period following the initial (e.g., “John A. Smith”).
• Ensure normal spacing is present between initials (e.g., “John A. C. Smith”).

Consistency: The naming format should be consistent throughout the manuscript, especially for authors from the same country. For instance, Chinese authors can be listed as either “Minghui Jia” or “Ming-hui Jia.”

3.2. Affiliations:

• The affiliation must clearly identify the institution where the work was conducted, formatted as “Institution, City, Country.”
• If the address includes a university, it typically should also mention the department/school/faculty/campus, in the order from specific to general (e.g., “Department, University”).

3.3. Corresponding Author

Please clearly designate the name of the corresponding author and provide their email address.

3.4. ORCID ID

If any authors have an ORCID account, please provide the corresponding account link.

4. Abstract

The abstract should summarize the entire manuscript in a single paragraph, limited to 300 words. It may not contain images, tables, or separate headings, and should avoid continuous headings, website links, equations, or any graphic elements that require separation from the text.

5. Titles and Headings

You may use up to three levels of headings/subtitles. Chapter titles are numbered, with the first-level title denoted as 1.; the second-level title as 1.2.; and the third-level title as 1.2.3. Lower-level headings can utilize letters (A, B, C).

6. Abbreviations

Most acronyms should be spelled out fully on first use, with the abbreviation provided in parentheses. Each section (abstract, main text, figures/tables) handles abbreviations separately, meaning you might need to define the same abbreviation in each section.

Acceptable Latin abbreviations include:

• etc. (et cetera), indicating that the list is incomplete;
• i.e. (id est), meaning “that is,” for clarification;
• e.g. (exempli gratia), meaning “for example,” to introduce examples.
• Note that it is unnecessary to use “e.g.” and “etc.” in the same list. There is common confusion between “i.e.” and “e.g.” — use “i.e.” if your example list is complete, otherwise use “e.g.”. Both “e.g.” and “i.e.” should be followed by a comma and should not be italicized.

7. Punctuation

Periods: A space should follow the period at the end of sentences. Most abbreviations use a period to indicate omitted letters (excluding minor words such as “and,” “or,” and “but”).

Dashes: There are four types of dashes in written form:

• Hyphen (-): Connects two independent words into one concept.
• En dash (–): Medium-sized dash which indicates a connection or range between two concepts.
• Em dash (—): Used to introduce phrases or sections for clarification.
• Minus sign (−): Used in equations or to represent negative numbers.

8. Figures and Tables

Any graphs, supplementary information, etc., must be cited in the body of the text. For example:

• “The data are shown in Table 1.”
• “This case is depicted in Figure 2.”
• Alternatively, you can add the figure or table reference after the sentence, such as “The design of the UI primarily uses bright colors (Figure 5).”

Do not abbreviate tables and figures as “Tab.” or “Fig.” Referenced objects should appear after the citation at the end of the paragraph.

Figure names and table names should be concise and follow title case (capitalizing the first letter of each major word).

Source of Figures and Tables

If the figures or tables are created by the authors themselves, acknowledge this clearly in the figure or table caption: “Drawn by Author Names.”

If not, please obtain copyright permission from the original authors and refer to the guidelines below. Copyright permission is typically obtained via online forms or emails to the copyright holder. The author is responsible for securing necessary permissions.

Reprints: “Reprinted with permission from Author Names (Year of Publication). Copyright Year Copyright Owner’s Name.”

Adaptation: If you adapt or only use parts of charts, permissions are still required, with attribution similar to reprints but using “Adapted” instead: “Adapted from Author Names (Year of Publication).”

Figure Size: Supply figure files in the highest resolution possible. Avoid large file sizes and ensure no unnecessary elements remain, including excess space around the figures. Ensure that figure files do not contain layers or transparent objects.

Preferred Formats: For compatibility with our peer review systems, submit electronic artwork files in JPEG formats:

Recommended Figure Resolutions:

• 300 dpi (Color photographic figures)
• 600 dpi (Grayscale photographic figures, combination figures, photographs, and labeling)
• 1200 dpi (Line art or monochrome figures)

Captions: Do not include captions or figure titles with your image files. Provide these separately as part of the complete manuscript text, ensuring they are numbered correspondingly. Captions should be brief yet descriptive and include any necessary credit lines or acknowledgments for images used with permission. If the image belongs to the author, this should also be acknowledged in the caption.

File Naming Conventions

Name artwork files as Figure 1, 2, 3, etc., in the order they appear in the text. For multi-part figures, label each part accordingly (e.g., Figure 1(a), Figure 1(b)).

Tables: Lengthy lists of categorical data may be added as tables. Each table must have a title located above it.

9. Statements

Include sections for “Author Contributions” and “Conflict of Interest,” which are mandatory.

If there are no specific details to provide for “Funding” and “Acknowledgments,” please indicate “Not Applicable.”

Author Biographies: Provide brief biographies for each author, limited to 100 words, outlining their research interests. Ensure that these biographies include relevant details that connect their backgrounds to the study.

10. References

• Use the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) for bibliography entries when preparing your reference list. Please note to use the Bibliography entry as the reference format.
• Research papers should include no less than 20 references, while review articles should have at least 30 references.