Submissions

Author Guidelines

Manuscript submissions:

The Synergy: International Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies invites original and previously unpublished articles for its issues. There is no specific deadline for manuscript submissions for each issue, and authors may send their submissions anytime during the year. However, articles received before the following dates will be considered for the corresponding issues:

• 31st October - for the following March issue
• 31st January- for the following June issue
• 30th April- for the following September issue
• 31st July - for the following December issue

The abstract of the research paper should be 200-250 words, while the full paper should be up to 3000-10000 words.

Limit on Article Publication

• Authors (including co-authors) are limited to publishing one article per two consecutive issues. This means that if an article is published in a given issue (e.g., Issue 1), the same author(s) cannot have another article published in the immediately following two issues (e.g., Issue 2 and Issue 3).
• Authors can submit for publication again after a gap of two issues. For example, if an article is published in Issue 1, the author(s) would be eligible to submit again starting from Issue 4.

Font style for English: Font: Times New Roman, font size: 12, and line spacing: 1.5. The paper should be submitted in soft copy online or to the following email address: editor@sijmds.com

Note: Opinions expressed in the articles published in the SIJMDS are those of the contributors. The board may not necessarily agree with the contributor. The responsibility for the facts stated or opinions expressed is entirely of the author and not of the SIJMDS.

Synergy Int. J. Multidiscip. Stud. publishes the following manuscript types:

• Original Research Articles
• Review Articles

MANUSCRIPT STRUCTURE

A. RESEARCH ARTICLE FORMAT
The preferred format of all manuscripts are in MS Office (2003 or above). The manuscript should be concisely typewritten in 1.5 spaces on A4-sized sheets. The pages shall be numbered consequently. Only on one side, with a 2.5 cm margin on all sides. The manuscript shall be prepared in Times New Roman using a font size of 12, and the title shall be of font size 14, bold space capitals. All section titles in the manuscript shall be in font size 12, bold face capitals, and subtitles in each section shall be in font size 12, bold face lower case. Illustrations (Figures & Tables) must be inserted at appropriate places in the article. Standard International Units should be used throughout the text. There shall not be any decorative borders anywhere in the text, including the title page. The manuscript should start with the title page, and the text should be arranged in the following order:

• Title Page
• Abstract
• Keywords
• Introduction
• Materials and Methods
• Results and Discussion
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgements
• Funding Information
• Declaration of Conflict
• References

Title Page
The title should be as short as possible on the first page and provide precise information about the contents. The title should be followed by the full names of the author(s), affiliations of the author(s), and institutional addresses.

Authors and Co-Authors Details and Affiliations
Each author must provide their full name, including their forename and surname. The corresponding author(s) of the manuscript must be marked with an asterisk*. In addition, the corresponding author must include a telephone and email address. If any of the co-authors are from different organisations, their addresses too should be mentioned and indicated using numbers after their names. Maximum 10 authors should be allowed.

Abstract
Provide on a separate page an abstract of not more than 150-250 words. A concise and factual abstract is required. The abstract should be informative and completely self-explanatory, briefly present the topic, state the scope of the experiments, indicate significant data, and point out major findings and conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, standard nomenclature should be used, and abbreviations and references should be avoided. Graphical abstract is not allowed.

Keywords
Provide three to six appropriate keywords after the abstract.

Materials and Methods
It should be complete enough to allow experiments to be reproduced. All the procedures should be described in detail, previously published procedures should be cited, and important modifications of published procedures should be mentioned briefly. Capitalise trade names and include the manufacturer's name and address. Subheadings should be used. Methods in general use need not be described in detail.

Results
Results and their significance should be presented clearly and concisely, preferably in the form of graphs and tables, which should be self-explanatory.

Discussion
It should contain a critical review of the results in the light of relevant literature. Results and Discussion may be combined.

Conclusions
This should state clearly the main conclusions of the research and give a clear explanation of their importance and relevance. Summary illustrations may be included.

Declarations

• Acknowledgement
  For research articles with several authors, a short paragraph specifying their individual contributions must be provided. The following statements should be used “Conceptualization, X.X. and Y.Y.; methodology, X.X.; software, X.X.; validation, X.X., Y.Y. and Z.Z.; formal analysis, X.X.; investigation, X.X.; resources, X.X.; data curation, X.X.; writing—original draft preparation, X.X.; writing—review and editing, X.X.; visualization, X.X.; supervision, X.X.; project administration, X.X.; funding acquisition, Y.Y. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.”
• Funding Information
  If external funding has been obtained for the study, then that should be mentioned under a separate header "Funding" after the acknowledgements. If no funding information is applicable, the authors shall use the below sentence:
  “This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.”
• Availability of Data and Materials
  The data supporting the findings of this study are available upon request. The data is stored in [data storage method, e.g., Google Form], and access can be provided to interested parties upon request.
• Declaration of Conflict
  Authors shall declare the conflicts after the ‘Funding Information’. In case of no conflicts of interest, the authors shall use the below sentence:
  “The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.”
• Clinical Trial Number 
  If applicable, write number.
• Human Ethics and Consent to Participate
  The study did not involve any clinical interventions or experiments requiring formal ethical approval. 

References
The authors are responsible for the accuracy of the bibliographic information. The list must be in alphabetical order (A→Z) and numbered. The list of references should be included on separate 1.5-spaced pages at the end of the text. The style and punctuation of the references should confirm the APA version or must be confined to the following examples:

• Journal references:

1st author last name, 1st author first name initial. 1st author middle name initial. 2nd author last name, 2nd author first name initial. 2nd author middle name initial., … (year). Article title: subtitle. Journal name, volume (issue), page range.

Asagar, M. S. (2024). The Benefits and Challenges of Flipped Learning: A Study on Students’ Perception. Synergy: International Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 1(3), 41–50. Retrieved from https://sijmds.com/index.php/pub/article/view/25

singh, D., Alam, M. Q., & Singh, P. (2024). Leather Waste Management and Possibilities of Employment Generation in India. Synergy: International Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 1(1), 30–35. Retrieved from https://sijmds.com/index.php/pub/article/view/10

• Book with one author:

Author, A. A. (2005). Title of work. Publisher.

• Book with two authors:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (2005). Title of work. Publisher.

• Book with more than two authors:

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (2005). Title of work. Publisher.

• A publication in press:

Junho, S. (in press). Roadmap for e-commerce standardization in Korea. International Journal of IT Standards and Standardization Research.

• A publication in a language other than English:

Amano, N., & Kondo, H. (2000). Nihongo no goi tokusei [Lexical characteristics of Japanese language]. Sansei-do.

• Edited book:

Zhao, F. (Ed.). (2006). Maximize business profits through e-partnerships. IRM Press.

• Chapter in an edited book:

Asagar, M. S. (2024). Exploring Gender Disparities in Higher Secondary Enrollment in Haryana State. In Suman Taneja, Anjusha Srivastava, & Dharmveer Singh (Eds.), Haryana Chronicles: A Collective Exploration of Culture, Heritage and Progress (pp. 39-45). Redshine India Publication House.

• Published proceedings:

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1991). A motivational approach to self: Integration in personality. In Proceedings of Nebraska Symposium on Motivation (vol. 38, pp. 237-288). University of Nebraska Press.

• Unpublished doctoral dissertation or master’s thesis:

Wilfley, D. (1989). Interpersonal analyses of bulimia: Normal-weight and obese [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, United States.

• A presented paper:

Lanktree, C., & Briere, J. (1991, January). Early data on the trauma symptom checklist for children (TSC-C) [Paper presentation]. The meeting of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, San Diego, CA, United States.

• Website:

VandenBos, G., Knapp, S., & Doe, J. (2001). Role of reference elements in the selection of resources by psychology undergraduates. http://jbr.org/articles.html; Accessed on 15 June 2019

In-Text Citations
When writing academically, it is very important to properly cite and reference the materials used in your writing. Proper citation allows your readers to further explore your particular subject matter. Citing also protects you against plagiarism by clearly indicating and differentiating which information comes from other sources and which is your own work and writing. In-text citations are used to show where you retrieved the information that you are using to make specific arguments in your writing. Below are some general rules to follow when using in-text citations.

• Citing a work/article by single author: (Asagar, 2024)
• A work by two authors: (Yadav & Khullar, 2024)
• A work by more than two authors: (Singh et al., 2024)
• Two or more works cited at the same time: (Berndt, 2002; Harlow, 2012)
• Authors with the same last name: (G. Johnson, 2018; P. Johnson, 2014)
• Two or more works by the same author in the same year: Allen, 2013b
• Integrated/direct citations: The work of Jones (2018) has been used……; Jones and Collymore (2016) showed in their previous work that….; Park et al. (2003) discuss the….; Dalglish (2006), Jones (2018), Jones and Collymore (2002), and Park et al. (2011) discuss in their research……

Tables
These should be numbered with Arabic numerals. Each table should be typed using a table format (i.e., each variable must be typed into a separate cell in the table) with only horizontal lines above and below the table column headers and at the bottom of the table. No vertical lines should be included in any table. The title should be typed at the top of the table in the sentence case format, i.e., only the first name should be in capital letters; as appropriate. Any footnote should be typed at the bottom of the table in italic.

Illustrations and Figures
Figures must be numbered independently of tables, multimedia, and 3D models and cited as the relevant point in the manuscript text, e.g. "Fig. 1", "Fig. 2", etc. All figures including photographs should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals in the order of their appearance in the text and bear a brief title in lowercase bold face letters below the figure. Do not duplicate data by presenting it both in the text and in a figure. For any figure directly extracted from previously published materials, you must have written permission from the publisher of that figure for reprint use. A copy of that permission release must be submitted with your article.

B. REVIEW ARTICLES
Review articles should not be more than 18 pages and contain comprehensive coverage of relevant literature. Review articles should preferably be written by scientists who have in-depth knowledge of the topic. All format requirements are similar to those applicable to Research papers. Review articles need not be divided into sections such as Materials and Methods and Results and Discussion, but should definitely have an abstract, introduction, conclusion, funding information, declaration of conflict, and references.

Evaluation procedure:

When a manuscript is submitted, the editors screen the manuscripts to make sure that all the files have no identifying information on the authors and that the article has not been published elsewhere. Then, in a time period of 20-25 days maximum from the date of reception of the article, the journal editor will assign it to two external evaluators that will carry out a blind review of the article (double-blind peer review). Over the review period of the article, both the names of the authors as well as the evaluators’ will be anonymous.

Peer reviewers are identified by editors of the journal, who are experienced researchers in their fields. The most suitable reviewers are selected according to the submission received and the reviewer’s expertise; also, authors are welcome to suggest suitable reviewers and/or request the exclusion of certain individuals when they submit their manuscripts. When suggesting reviewers, authors should make sure they are totally independent and not connected to the work in any way. It is strongly recommended to suggest a mix of reviewers from different countries and different institutions. When suggesting reviewers, the authors must provide an institutional email address for each suggested reviewer. Please note that the editors may not use the suggestions, but suggestions are appreciated and may help facilitate the peer review process.

The editors are in charge of exploring the reviewer’s reports and exchanging opinions with some members of the editorial board in order to make a proper decision about whether an article could be publishable or not. The decision is reached through the reviewers’ reports.

Editors check all the reviews done and contrast the reviewers’ notes with the content of the article before sending decisions and reviewers comments to authors. If reviewers do not carry out their duty correctly, editors will delete them from the list and send the article to another reviewer or to a member of the editorial board to carry out a fast-track review of the manuscript.

In cases where editors have doubts after the process of review, they double-check the evaluation with some members of the editorial board, according to their field of specialisation, in order to reach an agreement and a decision on the manuscript.

The result of the evaluation will be sent to the authors in a maximum period of 3 months from the date of reception.