INSTRUCTION FOR AUTHORS

SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS

Authors should submit their papers in a Microsoft Word document electronically to the Editor @ joc@asocsa.org. Authors will be sent a Clearing Permissions Form for completion. Manuscripts must be submitted in English and must be original, unpublished work not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Manuscripts are blind peer reviewed by acknowledged experts. Revisions may be required before a decision is made to accept or reject the paper. If an author is uncertain about whether a paper is suitable for publication in JoC, it is acceptable to submit a synopsis first.

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

The paper should be written and arranged in a style that is succinct and easily followed. An informative but short title, a concise abstract and keywords of no more than 150 words and a well written introduction will help achieve this. Simple language, short sentences and a good use of headings all help to communicate information more effectively. Discursive treatments of the subject matter are discouraged. Figures should be used to aid the clarity of the paper. The reader should be carefully guided through the paper.

PUBLICATION FEES

The Journal of Construction is an Open Access Journal, and all accepted articles carry a publication fee.

PREPARATION OF THE MANUSCRIPT

Length:

The manuscript should be a maximum of 30 pages in length, roughly 15,000 words maximum.

Layout:

The manuscript must be in English, typed and 1.5 line-spaced 10-pt Arial font type on one side of A4 paper only, with a 3cm margin on the left-hand side. All other margins to be 2cm. All text should be linked to the left and right margins i.e., paragraphs should not be indented, and the text should be justified. One-line spacing should be between paragraphs and double line spacing before a new heading. Leave one line space between a heading and the following paragraphs. All headings should be 12-pt Arial Bold Capitals. Paragraphs and sub-paragraphs should not be numbered.

The pages should be numbered consecutively. There should be no loose addendum or notes or other explanatory material. The manuscript should be arranged under the headings and subheadings.

Title Page (Page 1):

The first page of the manuscript must contain a concise and informative title, the name(s), the affiliation(s) and the address(es) of the author(s) and the name, address, telephone and email of the author who will be responsible for the correspondence and corrections. The title should be in 12-pt bold capitals, the name(s) of the author(s) in 10-pt bold upper and lower case with a single line spacing between each.

Abstract and Keywords:

To produce a structured abstract, complete the following fields about the paper. There are four fields which are obligatory (Purpose, Design, Findings and Value); the other two (Research limitations / implications and practical implications) may be omitted if they are not applicable to the paper. Abstracts should contain no more than 150 words. Write concisely and clearly. The abstract should reflect only what appears in the original paper. Provide no more than 5 keywords.

Purpose of the Paper

What are the reasons for writing the paper or the aims of the research?

Design / Methodology / Approach

How are the objectives achieved? Include the main method(s) used for the research. What is the approach to the topic and what is the theoretical or subject scope of the paper?

Findings

What was found in the course of the work? This will refer to analysis, discussion, or results.

Research Limitations / Implications (if applicable)

If research is reported on in the paper this section must be completed and should include suggestions for future research and any identified limitations in the research process.

Practical Implications (if applicable)

What outcomes and implications for practice, applications and consequences are identified? Not all papers will have practical implications, but most will. What changes to practice should be made because of this research/paper?

What is the Original / Value of the Paper?

What is new in the paper? State the value of the paper and to whom. All headings and subheadings should be in 10-pt bold capitals and the keywords themselves should be in 10-pt bold upper and lower case.

Introduction:

The introduction should clearly state the purpose (aims and objectives) of the paper. It should include key references to appropriate work but is NOT the place for a comprehensive historical or literature review.

Discussion:

The discussion should emphasize the implications and practical significance of research findings, their limitations and relevance to previous studies.

Acknowledgements:

A short acknowledgement section of one paragraph is permissible at the end of the text.

Conclusions:

Conclusions should state concisely the most important propositions of the paper, as well as the recommendations of the authors based on the propositions.

Illustrations:

Illustrations must accompany the manuscript and should be included in the text. Photographs, standard forms, and charts must be referred to as Figure 1, Figure 2, etc. They should be numbered in the order in which they are referred to in the text. The figure identification and accompanying description and any reference should be one line space immediately below the figure and linked to the left margin.

Illustrations should be submitted in a form ready for reproduction, preferably as high-resolution jpg files. Diagrams and drawings should be drawn in black ink on white background. Alternatively, it should be high quality laser computer printouts from a reputable computer software drawing package.

Drawings and diagrams must not exceed 140mm in width and all dimensions must be in mm. Annotation must be in upper- and lower-case lettering, the capital of which must be 3mm high. Figures will normally be reduced in size on reproduction and authors should draw this with this in mind. With a reduction of 2:1 in mind the authors should use the lines not less than 0.25mm thick and upper- and lower-case lettering, the capitals of which should be 4mm high. Typewritten annotations are not acceptable.

Tables:

Tables must be located close to the first reference to them in the text and must be referred to as Table 1, Table 2, etc. and be numbered in the order in which they are referred to in the text. The table identification and accompanying informative description on and any reference should be one line space immediately above the table and linked to the left margin. The table identification should be in bold. Identify all statistical methods and sources of data.

Tables should only have horizontal lines, the heading and the bottom lines being in bold, all words should be in upper and lower case lettering. The headings should be aligned to the left of their column, start with an initial capital and be in bold. Units should be included in the heading. Any explanations should be given at the foot of the table, not within the table itself.

Symbols, Abbreviations and Conventions:

Symbols, abbreviations, and conventions in papers must follow the recommended SI units. Where non-standard abbreviations are used, the word(s) to be abbreviated should be written out in full on the first mention in the text, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses.

References:

The numbered superscript intext reference system must be used. References in the text should be numbered consecutively ⁽¹⁾ , etc. It is incorrect to cite as follows:

• According to ¹
• ¹ states …

Any similar forms are unacceptable and will be returned for correction. References should be collected at the end of the paper as they appeared in the manuscript. The style should follow the examples below:

[1] Bon, R. (1997) “The future of international construction.” Building Research and Information 25, 137-41.
[2] Stone, P.A. (1980) Building Design Evaluation: Costs-in-use. E & FN Spon, London.
[3] Barre, S. (1981) “Implementation of public policy.” In Policy and Action, Barre, S. and Fudge, C. (eds), Chapman & Hall, London, 1-33.

If no person is named as the author the body should be used (for example: Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (1980) Report on Urban Planning Methods, London.)

End Notes:

A limited number of explanatory notes is permissible. These should be numbered 1, 2, 3, consecutively in the text and denoted by superscripts. They should be typed on a separate sheet of paper at the end of the. Endnotes should not be used for academic or project citations.

Copyright:

Submission of a paper to JOC is taken to imply that it represents original, unpublished work, not under consideration for publication elsewhere. The Journal of Construction is committed to open access for academic work and is, therefore, an open access journal, which means that all articles are available on the internet to all users immediately from the date of publication. This allows for the reproduction of all articles, free of charge, for non-commercial use only and with the appropriate citation information. All authors publishing in the Journal of Construction accept these as terms of publication and will have to complete a copyright agreement before the paper is published.

Permission to publish illustrations must be obtained by the author before submission and any acknowledgements should be included in the figure captions. Should the author wish to have the paper published elsewhere, such as in an anthology, the author must write and seek consent from the publisher which will normally be given provided acknowledgement of the original source is provided.

Copyright of the content of all articles and reviews remains with the designated author of the article or review. Copyright of the layout and design of the Journal of Construction on articles and reviews remains with the Journal of Construction and cannot be used in other publications.

Benefits of open access for authors, include:

• Free access for all users worldwide
• Authors retain copyright to their work
• Increased visibility and readership
• Rapid publication
• No spatial constraints