Congosciences Author Guidelines

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Instructions for Authors of the CongoSciences Journal in DOCX Format (Template)

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Overview

The CongoSciences journal is published by the Centre de Documentation de l’Enseignement Supérieur Universitaire et Recherche à Kinshasa (CEDESURK) and the Association Congolaise pour l’Avancement de la Science, de la Technologie et de l’Industrie (ACASTI). CongoSciences is an interdisciplinary journal devoted to all aspects of scientific and technological research.

The journal is fully open access.

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Types of Manuscripts

CongoSciences publishes articles, notes, reviews, discussions, and replies.

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Peer Review Roles

In this journal:

• The editorial team reviews original submissions and makes decisions.
• Reviewers are selected from the editorial board, user database, and the broader research community.
• Upon submission, authors must list preferred (required) and non-preferred (optional) reviewers. However, the editorial team is not obliged to use or avoid them.
• The journal operates under a double-anonymized peer review process.

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Submission Policy and Ethics

CongoSciences only considers manuscripts approved by all co-authors that have not been published or submitted elsewhere. Authors are encouraged to consult the Committee on Publishing Ethics (COPE): http://publicationethics.org.

Non-compliance results in immediate rejection.

Research involving animals or humans must have prior approval by the appropriate ethics committee. The Materials and Methods section must include the protocol number and the name of the approving ethics board.

The editorial board considers all complaints and resolves conflicts among readers, authors, and the journal.

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Confidentiality

Names and emails entered on the CongoSciences site will be used solely for the purposes stated and not shared with any third party.

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Copyright

Authors retain ownership of their work and may reuse it freely. However, they are encouraged to cite the original publication in CongoSciences.

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License Policy: CC BY-SA

CongoSciences content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. Authors retain copyright. Third-party content is covered unless stated otherwise.

Public domain or legally permitted uses are exempt from this license. For details, see: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Declaration of Originality and No Plagiarism

Authors must ensure originality and proper citation. Manuscripts must not be under consideration elsewhere.

The journal has zero tolerance for plagiarism and copyright infringement. Text similarity must be below 20%. Text with extended copied segments will be considered significant plagiarism.

Common phrases or standard methodology are not considered plagiarism.

All sources must be cited in-text and listed in the references. Text similarity over 25% is considered excessive and may lead to rejection at any stage. Fraudulent data and duplicate publications are also grounds for rejection.

CongoSciences uses Grammarly for plagiarism detection.

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Publication Fees and Waivers

For details, see the Publication Fees page.

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Affiliations

CongoSciences is published by CEDESURK and ACASTI.

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Archiving

The journal is hosted at CEDESURK.

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Preparing Your Manuscript

Format and Style

Text must:

• Be in English or French
• Be double-spaced
• Be single-column
• Include page numbers
• Include continuous line numbering (before acceptance)
• Use 8.5 x 11 inch or ISO A4 paper format

Order of Sections: Title page, Abstract, Keywords, Main Text (Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion), Acknowledgments, References, Tables, Figure Captions, Figures, Appendices

Abbreviations and Acronyms Define all at first mention.

Footnotes Avoid in the main text if possible. If used, number them consecutively with superscript Arabic numerals and place them at the bottom of the same page.

In tables, use symbols (*, †, ‡, §, ||, ¶, #) or italic superscript letters (a, b, c).

Mathematical Expressions Number equations on the left margin. Use consistent symbols. Clearly define all variables. Use MathType for complex equations. Use Word’s symbol palette for simple in-line equations.

Spelling Use Webster’s Third New International Dictionary or Oxford English Dictionary. Authors are responsible for consistent spelling.

Statistical Analyses State assumptions or models clearly.

Units of Measure Use SI units. If non-SI units are used, provide SI equivalents at first mention.

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Manuscript Components

Title Page

Title: Must be accurate, informative, and concise. Include keywords for search optimization.

Author List: List all authors’ names and affiliations. Format: first name (or initial), middle initial, last name. Indicate institution, city, state/province, country. New affiliations can be listed in a footnote.

Corresponding Author: Clearly identify, with email. ORCID IDs may be submitted but not required on the title page.

Abstract

Include both English and French abstracts. Summarize the purpose, goals, methods, results, and significance in one paragraph. Do not include headings, references, figures, or acronyms.

Keywords

List keywords after the abstract. Use terms common in your field. Optimize for discoverability.

Graphical Abstract (optional)

Encouraged: an informative visual (image, diagram, or equation) summarizing the paper’s message. Max size: 40 mm x 85 mm (150 x 320 pixels).

References in Text

Use author-year format: (Smith, 2002); according to Smith (2002); (Smith and Davies, 2002; Davies, 2003; Smith, 2005; Smith et al., 2007). All must be cited in-text.

Reference List Format

Journals: Romero E, Gens A, Lloret A, 1999. Water permeability, water retention and microstructure of unsaturated compacted Boom clay. Engineering Geology 54: 117–127.

Books: Steinberg M, 1998. Geomembranes and the Control of Expansive Soils in Construction, McGraw-Hill, New York.

Web Resources: AuthorAID Resource Library. Available from http://www.authoraid.info/resource-library (last consult: 2013/03/23).

Tables

Cite as: “There are twenty different varieties (Tab. 2).” Number consecutively (Table 1, Table 2, etc.) and provide brief bilingual captions (English and French) below each table. One table per page.

Figures

When reproducing from another source, cite it and obtain permission. Cite as: “There are twenty different varieties (Fig. 2).” Each figure should have a bilingual caption (French and English) directly beneath it. Use color, but ensure figures remain legible in grayscale for print.

Article Withdrawal / Retraction

An article may be withdrawn after submission, provided a letter explains the reason. Reusing peer-reviewed content in another journal violates editorial ethics.

Appeals

Authors may appeal editorial decisions. The journal reserves the right to accept or deny appeals.