Author Guidelines

6. Authors' Guidelines

6.1. Guideline to Authors

When submitting a paper, authors will be prompted as to whether they have read and agree to these guidelines before proceeding further with their submission. They will be asked specifically for an assurance that the paper contains no element of data fabrication, data falsification or plagiarism (including unacknowledged self-plagiarism). Authors are reminded that, where they draw upon material from another source, they must either put that material in the form of a quote, OR write it entirely in their own words (i.e. there is no 'middle way'). In both cases, they must explicitly cite the source, including the specific page number in the case of a quote or a particular point.

6.1.1. Types of Manuscripts

As a peer reviewed publication, Ethiop J Nat Comp Sci aims to serve as a forum for the dissemination of ideas that researchers found and improve the life of the society. The journal is committed to fostering productive dialogue amongst researchers, policymakers, legislators, and academics. The types of publications are different in different fields. The Ethiop J Nat Comp Sci welcomes submission of original research article, review article, book review, and short or rapid communication. When it strengthens its services, the journal will expand the types of manuscripts it can publish. These different types of manuscripts can have different contents and different ways of reviewing.

Therefore, Ethiop J Nat Comp Sci provides prospective authors with accurate and specific guidelines for the different articles they planned to publish. General descriptions about the types of articles the journal will published are described below and the detailed will be available in its website the journal will designed.

Original research: These are detailed studies reporting original research and are classified as primary literature. They include hypothesis, background study, methods, results, interpretation of findings, and a discussion of possible implications. The maximum length of original research articles shall be 25 pages in A4 paper and shall have 1.5 lines space and normal or 2.5 cm margins in four sides.

Review article: Review article provides a critical and constructive analysis of existing published literature in a field, through summary, analysis, and comparison, often identifying specific gaps or problems and providing recommendations for future research on a certain topic and a perspective on the state of the field. These are considered as secondary literature since they generally do not present new data from the author's experimental work. Review articles can be literature reviews, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses. They are often written by leaders in a particular discipline after invitation from the editors of a journal. If an author would like to write a Review but have not been invited by a journal, the author should first send a pre-submission enquiry letter to the Ethiop J Nat Comp Sci. EiC editor to propose your Review manuscript before you spend time writing it. Review articles can be of varying lengths depending upon the subject area.

Short or rapid communication: These papers communicate findings that editors believe will be interesting to many researchers, and that will likely stimulate further research in the field. Sometimes these types of manuscripts are referred as a Letter.  Short/ Rapid Communications are usually published soon after submission to the journal, so this format is useful for scientists with results that are time sensitive, for example, those in highly competitive or quickly-changing disciplines. This format often has strict length limits, so some experimental details may not be published until the authors write a full Original Research manuscript.

Book chapter review: The aim of a book review is to provide insight and opinion on recently published scholarly books. Book reviews are also relatively short articles and less time-consuming. Book reviews are a good publication option for early career researchers as it allows the researcher to stay abreast of new literature in the field, while at the same time, adding to his/her publication list.

Case report: Case studies play a crucial role across various domains (natural sciences, computational sciences and technology), providing valuable insights into specific subjects, systems, and technological applications. The subject scope can be individuals, groups, organizations, events or phenomena with the research design of be quantitative or qualitative method. The goals of case studies can be description, comparison, evaluation, or understanding targeting problem solving by studying real world cases or exploration by opening avenues for future research directions.

Technical report: In the field of natural sciences, a technical report refers to a detailed document that presents research findings, experimental data, or observations related to natural phenomena based on content and purpose, for example a geologist might write a technical report detailing the geological features of a specific region or an ecologist could publish a report on the impact of climate change on local ecosystems. In computational sciences a technical report focuses on computational methods, research algorithms, software development, and validation and performance, for example a computer scientist might write a technical report on a new machine learning algorithm or an astrophysicist could document the performance of a simulation code for galaxy formation.

Briefing report: In the context of natural and computational sciences briefing report is a concise document that summarizes key findings, research progress, or significant events related to scientific investigation, computational methods, software, or data analysis. For example, on research updates, policy implications, emergency situations, successful implementation of a parallel computing framework, and a summary of machine learning model briefing to colleagues, decision-makers and stakeholders. For example, a briefing report on climatic change might outline the latest data on the amount of rainfall and its implication for farmers.

6.1.2. Manuscript Preparation and Submission

The manuscript for the Ethiop J Nat Comp Sci must be prepared with quality English Language. The manuscript should be written with Times New Roman, 12 font size (main heading with 14 font size), 1.5 spaced on A4 size paper with 1 inch margins, and line numbers. In general the written part of the manuscript should not exceed 25 pages for research article, 35 pages for reviews, 10 pages for short communications and 10 pages for book review, including legends for Tables and Figures. The page numbers should be numbered consecutively starting with the title page. 

A specific order for the main body of the text is not compulsory and, in some cases, it may be appropriate to combine sections such as result and discussion. As a guideline references should be limited to 45 although it would not strictly be enforced. Footnotes should not be used. The Ethiop J Nat Comp Sci suggests that Articles contain not more than 8 displayed figures and/or tables. To enable typesetting of papers, the number of display items should be commensurate with the word length or page number. Therefore, the Ethiop J Nat Comp Sci suggests that 4 or less than 4 figures and/or tables for articles with less than 3,000 word or less than 8 pages. 

Internationally recognized ways of naming and authority specific to the subject matter (such as biological and chemical) nomenclatures shall be used in the manuscript and publication wherever appropriate. Similarly, authors should follow internationally agreed units of measurements (SI) and rules of abbreviations and acronyms. Mathematical equations should be described in the manuscript clearly and numbered.

Submissions should include a cover letter, a manuscript text file, individual figure files and optional supplementary information files. For first submissions (i.e. not revised manuscripts), authors may incorporate the manuscript text and figures into a single file up to 2 MB in size. EJNCS cannot accept figures emended in Microsoft Word files, Microsoft Power Point files and figures prepared in Microsoft Word or Power Point that have been converted to other formats. The Tables and Figures should be inserted in the text at the appropriate positions, or might be grouped at the end. Supplementary information should be combined and supplied as a single separate file in PDF format.

Until the Ethiop J Nat Comp Sci facilitates its online submission system, the following format should be used to submit manuscripts through email: txt, doc, docx, and tex for both first and revised submissions of manuscripts.

Although a shared basic knowledge of science may be assumed, authors should bear in mind that the language and concepts that are standard in one field may be unfamiliar to non-specialists. Thus, technical jargon should be avoided and clearly explained where its use is unavoidable. The Ethiop J Nat Comp Sci advises authors to use either British or American English Spelling but not in mixed way. Abbreviations, particularly those that are not standard, should also be kept to a minimum. Where unavoidable, abbreviations should be defined in the text or legends at their first occurrence, and abbreviations should be used thereafter.

6.1.3. Manuscript Content

From its first to the last pages, a manuscript should contain logically and predictably ordered of contents. Like other reputable journals do, the Ethiop J Nat Comp Sci decided research articles, review articles, short communications, and book reviews to have the contents described below under each of them.

6.1.3.1. Original Research Article

Authors should plan the following contents as part of their manuscript when they prepare their research articles before submitting their manuscript to Ethiop J Nat Comp Sci:

1. Cover Letter: The letter is far from just a formality and should be written with the same care by authors as their manuscript’s text. Ultimately, their cover letter is designed to influence the decision of the editor to send their manuscript out for peer review. The letter will argue that their manuscript is a good fit for the journal they are submitting it to and highlight their most important findings. The cover letter authors submit to Ethiop J Nat Comp Sci accompanying their submission is their chance to lobby on behalf of their manuscript. The Ethiop J Nat Comp Sci will provide standardized cover letter template to its authors.
2. Title page: Title of the paper should be short, informative and must reflect the nature of the work. Below the title full name(s) of the author(s) and affiliation(s), complete address with emails, clearly indicating the author to whom correspondence should be addressed. If author(s) has/have, including ORCID number is advisable. All listed authors should be with certain contribution to the manuscript. The title of the manuscript must be written in 14 font size, bold and each main word with capital initial letters, except scientific name. Otherwise it will be adjusted and edited by the EiC or ME of the Journal.
3. Abstract: Abstract should be concise, factual, and written in new page with maximum of 250 words. The abstract should state briefly the statement of the problem, the purpose of the research, methodology used, the principal results, major conclusions, and recommendation (if any) in one paragraph. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, references and non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first site mentioned in the abstract itself.
4. Keywords/phrases: Next to abstract key words not more than 7 words or phrases useful for indexing the publication should be mentioned.
5. Introduction: Introduction should be start on a new page and should clearly indicate research gap based on the literature review and aim of the study. State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results. The introduction should also justify why the topic of the paper is important and that the content is original.
6. Materials and Methods: Materials and methods should be continued after introduction on the same or different page. All the important materials used along with their source shall be mentioned appropriately. The standard or already published methods followed for the experiment should be described briefly by providing the references. If the experimental procedure is new or modified, the experimental procedure shall be described with sufficient details for further utilization. The appropriate statistical methods need to be followed for statistical analysis and the statistical software or application should be cited. The reader needs to know that the empirical data and/or other material are relevant, reliable and capable of supporting robust conclusions, and that the methodology is appropriate, systematic and rigorous.
7. Results: The results section should be started after materials and methods continuously. The research findings may be presented in tables, figures or graphs and equations. Units of measures should follow SI nomenclature or the nomenclature common to a particular field. The statistical tools used to analyse data should be appropriate to the subject matter. The significant research findings should be explained adequately. All tables and figures must include self-explanatory title or caption, and abbreviate “Figure” as “Fig.”. Photographs and electron micrographs should be submitted in Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) file format and drawings should be submitted in Tag Image File (TIF) format. Ethiop J Nat Comp Sci requests that authors avoid "data not shown" statements and instead make their data available via deposition in a public repository or submit supplementary materials for the information. Equations and mathematical expressions should be provided in the main text of the paper. Equations that are referred to in the text should be identified by parenthetical numbers, such as (1), and are referred to in the manuscript as "equation (1)". All Tables, Figures and Supplementary Materials should be numbered. Number Supplementary Tables and Figures as, for example, "Supplementary Table S1" and Supplementary Figures as for example, Supplementary Fig.S1. This numbering should be separate from that used in tables and figures appearing in the main article. Other Supplementary Note or Methods may not be numbered; titles for these are optional.
8. Discussion: The discussion should explore the significance of the results of the work and discuss adequately with appropriate justification by using own interpretation with supporting literature. This section should also make clear what is the original contribution of the paper, discuss the policy or management implications of the findings, provide a critical assessment of the limitations of study, and outline possible fruitful lines for further research. The unsupported hypothesis should be avoided in discussion part. The discussion part shall end with brief conclusion and recommendation. Recommendation is optional (may not be necessary). A combined Results and Discussion section may be used as it is appropriate for the subject. In this case the main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of discussion on or results and discussion section. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.
9. Acknowledgements: Individuals, communities or organisations have direct contribution for the completion of the work should be described in one paragraph directly preceding the reference section.
10. Statement of ethical clearance: This is the section of the journal where authors should describe compliance with ethical standards and/or conflict of interest. The main reason Ethiop J Nat Comp Sci requires statement of ethical clearance is to ensure the research is conducted in a responsible and ethically accountable way; minimise the risk of harm to humans (and animals) and any endanger organism; substances dangerous for life and environment; and ultimately ensure that the research leads to beneficial outcomes. This section can also be used to describe conflict of interest.
11. Reference: Although there are no strict requirements on reference formatting at submission, the Ethiop J Nat Comp Sci shall accept manuscripts submitted with specified referencing style consistently. Depend on authors explore to refer relevant information the sources of information could be many in type. The major source/references are journal publications, books, chapters in an edited book. Authors preparing manuscript to submit Ethiop J Nat Comp Sci should follow the styles as described under 6.1.5 reference list style. 
12. Legends to table and figure: Put at the end of the submission of table and figures in the order they appeared in the text when necessary. Each table and figure should have clearly and fully described captions.

6.1.3.2. Review Article

The submission of a review article should follow the Ethiop J Nat Comp Sci format described below and should contain the stated contents:

1. Title page: the title which reflects topic of review; author name; and date.
2. Abstract: An abstract should be with maximum of 250 words. Provide a brief summary of the review question being addressed or rationale for the review, the major studies reviewed, and conclusions drawn.
3. Introduction: Introduce the topic and rationale for addressing the review topic focusing on why this topic is important. Clearly define exactly what the article will discuss, outline the order in which the author will discuss each subtopic to give the reader any background information needed to understand the coming sections.
4. Body (subtopics being addressed): Divide the body of the article into sections based in the sub-topics or review questions being addresses. For example, if the author is reviewing four different methodologies, s/he might divide the body of the article into four sections, each discussing one of the methods. In these sections, be sure to describe the research methods and evaluate how studies were conducted focusing on the study design and analysis, for example compare studies, and discuss their implications.
5. Conclusions: The author should develop the conclusion by briefly restating the rationale for his/her review and the purpose of the article, then discussing the conclusions s/he has drawn. S/he should also discuss the implications of his/herreview findings and where s/he thinks research in this field should go from here.
6. Literature Citation: Authors shall follow the referencing system outlined for original research articles by Ethiop J Nat Comp Sci under section 6.1.4.

6.1.3.3. Book review 

Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with the journals’ general guideline for authors. The following sections are essential:

1. Bibliographic Details: The first section of the book review provides full bibliographic details of the book including author(s), title, edition, publisher, place of publication, year of publication, and doi.
2. Author(s) and Contents of the Book: This section highlights who the author(s) are and what particular credentials and expertise they have to publish the book. Further, this section provides an overview of the book. This may include the thesis of the book, the intended audience of the book, the scope and objectives of the book, the structure of the book, and a summary of the contents (chapter by chapter or in other units).
3. Evaluation: This section evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the book. This may include the subject matter, writing style, achievement of objectives, contribution to the field, particular features, and practical implications.
4. Summary Statement: The final section includes a final assessment of the book and recommendations where the book can be used best.
5. References: Citations in the text shall follow the referencing style used by journal.

6.1.4. Citation Style

Citation is a way of giving credit to individuals for their creative and intellectual works that authors utilized to support their research. A citation style dictates the information necessary for a citation and how the information is ordered, as well as punctuation and other formatting, and combats plagiarism. The Ethiop J Nat Comp Sci uses author- publication date style that is the author's last name and date of publication of the work (e.g. Jonson, 2019) must always appear, and these items must match exactly the corresponding entry in the references list. This citation style is known as Harvard citation style. So that Ethiop J Nat Comp Sci follows Harvard citation and referencing style in its publications. Since we Ethiopians do not have sir name, most of the time confusions are arising when readers try to recognise whether the author is the person they know or not, even their friends. Therefore, for authors with Ethiopian name as especial case, the Ethiop J Nat Comp Sci recommends Ethiopian author/s name to be written in the order of their first name, the initial letter of their father’s name and then their grand father’s name like Bekele M. Jemal  in the title page and list of the references. For citation in body writing the first name of the author/s and publication date only is recommended. Associating each author’s name with ORCID number is advisable.

6.1.5. Reference List Style

Although the journal follows the Harvard citation style, still there are different ways of citation based on the number of authors and date of publication from which the quoted idea or fact is taken. The three format for: (1) single author (X, 2012), (2) two authors (X and Y, 2021), and (3) three or more authors (X et al., 2021) shall be followed. When information quoted from two or more literatures published by the same author/s and have the same publication date, citation of these materials shall be identified by using “a”, “b” and “c” suffix from the publication date (X, 2017a) and (X, 2017b) or (X and Y, 2017a) and (X and Y, 2017b) etc. In the reference section the suffix should have similar alphabetic order. If the same fact is quoted from several literatures but they have one publication date, the order of the literatures in the citation shall follow either “solo author first” or “alphabetical order” principle; for the literatures with different publication dates following chronological order would be appropriate.

A quoted fact or information can be referred from journal article, printed or e-book, book chapter, proceeding, websites, and from other forms of resources and documents. Authors for their submissions to the Ethiop J Nat Comp Sci should follow the following referencing styles based on the type of resource material. The order of listing should follow alphabetic order of authors’ name. If two and more than two resource materials are authored by the same author(s), their order will be based on their publication dates. Journals abbreviation should be followed the standard style of abbreviation for the journal. May be authors can find the correct abbreviation of the journal in the “Web of Science Journal Title Abbreviations”.

From Printed Journal Articles: Last name, First initial. (Year of publication). Article title. Journal, Volume (Issue), Page(s). Issue number is optional.