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1. Before Submission
EJSS publishes original Research Articles within its aims and scope. Submission confirms that the manuscript is original, is not under consideration elsewhere, has been approved by every author and relevant institutional authority, and will not be republished in substantially the same form without transparent permission and cross-reference.
Posting a genuine preprint does not normally constitute prior publication, but authors must disclose the preprint and provide its DOI or URL. Authors should update the preprint record with the published article DOI after publication.
2. Language and presentation
Manuscripts must be written in clear academic English. Either British or American spelling may be used, but usage must be consistent. Manuscripts that cannot be evaluated reliably because of language or presentation may be returned or rejected before peer review. Language editing does not guarantee acceptance.
Use A4 pages, one column, 12-point readable font, double spacing, 2.5 cm margins, continuous line numbering and consecutive page numbering. A Research Article should normally not exceed 20 manuscript pages, including tables and figures, and approximately 5,000–7,000 words. Longer manuscripts require clear scientific justification and editorial approval.
3. Files required at initial submission
Title page containing all author-identifying information
For revisions, also submit a point-by-point response, a marked manuscript and a clean manuscript.
4. Double-blind anonymisation
Remove author names, affiliations, acknowledgements and identifying document properties from the anonymised manuscript. Replace self-identifying wording with neutral phrasing where necessary without making citations inaccurate. Funding, contributions and other author-specific declarations may be supplied on the title page during review and restored after acceptance.
5. Manuscript organisation
Use the following order:
Results and Discussion may be combined only when this improves clarity. Section and subsection headings must not be numbered. Use no more than three heading levels. Main headings should be in title case and subordinate headings in sentence case.
6. Title page
Provide:
Academic titles and degrees should not appear in the byline. Telephone and fax numbers are not required for publication.
7. Abstract and keywords
The abstract must not exceed 300 words and should state the context or objective, essential methods, principal quantitative results and supported conclusion. It must stand alone and should not contain references, undefined abbreviations, tables or figures.
Provide up to six keywords in alphabetical order. Avoid repeating words already prominent in the title, overly broad terms and unexplained abbreviations.
8. Introduction
Explain the scientific context, identify the specific knowledge gap, establish the significance of the study and end with a clear objective, research question or hypothesis. Avoid an exhaustive literature review and do not state results in advance.
9. Material and Methods
Describe the study in enough detail to permit evaluation and replication. As applicable, report:
Clearly distinguish experimental units, subsamples, technical replicates and repeated measurements. Pseudoreplication is unacceptable. Established methods may be cited, but modifications must be described.
10. Statistical analysis
Identify the statistical model, factors, interactions, assumptions, diagnostic checks, multiple-comparison method and significance level. Report the number of independent biological or experimental replicates. Define whether variation is expressed as SD, SE or confidence interval and give the sample size. Do not report “±” values without identifying the statistic.
Report exact P values where practical; use P < 0.001 for smaller values. If asterisks indicate significance, define them in the relevant table or figure. Statistical grouping letters must be supported by a stated post-hoc procedure. Do not create or estimate variability, significance tests or grouping letters from assumed values.
11. Results
Present findings in a logical order and report effect sizes and uncertainty where relevant. Do not duplicate the same dataset in both a table and a figure. Summarise patterns in the text instead of repeating every value. Interpretation should be reserved principally for the Discussion.
12. Discussion
Interpret the results in relation to the objectives, mechanisms and relevant literature. Explain agreements and discrepancies with earlier work, address limitations and distinguish evidence from speculation. Avoid repeating the Introduction or Results. Claims must remain within the limits of the design and data.
13. Conclusion
State the main evidence-based conclusions and their scientific or practical implications. Do not introduce new results, citations or unsupported recommendations.
14. Required declarations
Author Contributions
Use the CRediT taxonomy as appropriate: Conceptualization; Methodology; Software; Validation; Formal analysis; Investigation; Resources; Data curation; Writing—original draft; Writing—review & editing; Visualization; Supervision; Project administration; Funding acquisition.
Example: Author Contributions: A.B.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Writing—original draft. C.D.: Formal analysis, Visualization, Writing—review & editing. E.F.: Supervision, Funding acquisition. All authors approved the final manuscript.
Funding
State the funder and grant number and describe any role of the funder. If none: Funding: This research received no external funding.
Data Availability Statement
Identify the repository and persistent link, explain a legitimate restriction, or state that data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. “Data available on request” should not be used when public deposition is ethically and legally possible.
Declaration of Competing Interest
Example: Declaration of Competing Interest: The authors declare that they have no known financial or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Ethics Approval
Where applicable, name the approving body and provide the approval number. If not applicable: Ethics Approval: Not applicable.
Acknowledgements
Acknowledge contributors who do not qualify for authorship, with their permission. Identify non-financial assistance and write institutional and funding names in full. Do not include anonymous peer-reviewers in the acknowledgements.
15. Generative AI disclosure
AI tools must not be listed as authors. Authors remain responsible for accuracy, originality, citations, confidentiality and all submitted content. Disclose substantive AI use by naming the tool, version, purpose and human verification. Routine spelling or grammar checking that does not generate substantive content need not be declared. Do not use generative AI to fabricate, alter or enhance research data or evidentiary images.
16. References and in-text citations
EJSS uses an author–date system. Cite one author as (Shein, 2010), two authors as (Kizilkaya and Bayrakli, 2005), and three or more authors as (Karaca et al., 2002). For narrative citations use Shein (2010). Distinguish works by the same author and year as 2026a, 2026b. Separate multiple citations with semicolons and list them chronologically.
Every in-text citation must have a matching reference-list entry and every reference-list entry must be cited in the text. List references alphabetically without numbering. Give full journal titles. Include a DOI whenever available and display it as a clickable full link in the form https://doi.org/.... Do not append a full-stop to the DOI link.
Journal article
Shein, E.V., 2010. Soil hydrology: Stages of development, current state, and nearest prospects. Eurasian Soil Science 43(2): 158–167. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229310020055
Kizilkaya, R., Bayrakli, B., 2005. Effects of N-enriched sewage sludge on soil enzyme activities. Applied Soil Ecology 30: 192–202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2005.02.009
Book
Edwards, C.A., Bohlen, P.J., 1996. Biology and Ecology of Earthworms. 3rd ed. Chapman & Hall, London, UK.
Book chapter
Kizilkaya, R., Karaca, A., Turgay, O.C., Cetin, S.C., 2011. Earthworm interactions with soil enzymes. In: Karaca, A. (Ed.), Biology of Earthworms, Soil Biology, Vol. 24. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp. 141–158.
Thesis
Author, A.A., Year. Title of thesis. PhD thesis, University, City, Country.
Dataset
Author(s), Year. Title of dataset [dataset]. Repository, version. https://doi.org/...
Web sources must identify the author or organisation, year, page title, stable URL and access date. Personal communications and unpublished data may be cited in the text only with permission and should not appear in the reference list.
17. Figures
Number figures consecutively and cite each one in the text. Use lowercase panel labels (a), (b), (c). Captions must be concise, self-contained and written in sentence case. Explain symbols, abbreviations, error bars, statistical tests and sample sizes.
Submit figures both in the manuscript and as separate files. Preferred formats are TIFF or high-quality JPEG for photographs and PDF, EPS or an editable source format for line art and graphs. Use the following minimum effective resolutions at final size:
Use two-dimensional charts unless a third dimension represents actual data. Avoid decorative effects, heavy backgrounds, tiny labels and colour combinations that are inaccessible or indistinguishable in grayscale. Do not manipulate images in a way that changes scientific meaning. Authors must obtain permission for reused material and identify the permission in the caption.
18. Tables
Create tables with Word’s table function, not tabs, spaces or images. Number and cite tables consecutively. Place the caption above the table and explanatory notes below it. Use sentence case. Do not use vertical rules; use horizontal rules sparingly. Keep cell backgrounds white in submitted manuscripts unless shading is essential to the data.
Headings must include units where relevant. Define all abbreviations and statistical symbols below the table. Use superscript lowercase letters for comparison groups and asterisks only when clearly defined. Tables must remain editable and understandable independently of the main text.
19. Units, symbols and nomenclature
Use SI units and a space between the number and unit (3 kg, 25 °C, 6 kg P ha⁻¹, mg L⁻¹), except before % (45%). Use L for litre, × for multiplication, a true minus sign where appropriate and superscripts for unit exponents. Prefer mg kg⁻¹ and µg kg⁻¹ to ppm and ppb. Define abbreviations at first use and use them sparingly. Provide EC numbers for enzymes at first mention when applicable. Scientific names must follow accepted nomenclature and genus/species names should be italicised.
20. Supplementary material
Supplementary files should contain material that supports but is not essential to understanding the article. Cite every file in the manuscript, use stable labels such as Table S1 and Figure S1, and provide titles or legends. Supplementary material is published substantially as supplied and must not contain tracked changes, confidential information or undocumented personal data.
21. Proofs and publication
The corresponding author receives the proof and must return corrections within the period stated by the editorial office. Proofs are for correcting production errors, not rewriting accepted content, changing authorship or introducing new analyses. Substantive changes require editorial approval.
Each published article receives a DOI and a “Cite as” statement. Author names, title, journal name, year, volume, issue, page range or article number, and DOI must be consistent across the PDF, article landing page and deposited metadata.
22. Final submission checklist
The manuscript fits the aims and scope and reports original research.
EJSS is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 International License
