Author Guidelines
Submission to MTR proceeds totally online and you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of your files. As part of the Your Paper Your Way service, you may choose to submit your manuscript as a single file to be used in the refereeing process. Only the Doc. file is accepted. Your submission can be in any format or layout that can be used by referees to evaluate your manuscript. The submission does not need to be formatted to conform to MTR's style, as long as it is in a standard structure of a regular journal article. The accepted manuscript will be copy-edited by our editorial officer. It should contain high enough quality figures for refereeing. If you prefer to do so, you may still provide all or some of the source files at the initial submission. Please note that individual figure files larger than 10 MB must be uploaded separately.
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Highlights
Highlights are mandatory for MTR, as they help increase the discoverability of your article via search engines. Authors will increase their chances of being discovered and cited. They consist of a short collection of bullet points that capture the novel results of your research as well as new methods that were used during the study (if any).
Please use 'Highlights' in the file name and include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including spaces, per bullet point).
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Formatting requirements
There are no strict formatting requirements but all manuscripts must contain the essential elements needed to convey your manuscript, for example Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgements, References, Artwork and Tables with Captions.
Divide the article into clearly defined sections. The submission does not need to be formatted to conform MTR's style, as long as it is in a standard structure of a regular journal article. The accepted manuscript will be copy-editted by our editorial officer
Please ensure all figures and tables are included in the single file, and placed next to the relevant text in the manuscript, rather than at the bottom or the top of the file. The corresponding caption should be placed directly below the figure or table.
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Article structure
Subdivision - numbered sections
Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ...), 1.2, etc. (the abstract is not included in section numbering). Use this numbering also for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to "the text". Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line. To facilitate the reviewers and the later manuscript production process, it is recommended to use page numbers and line numbers.
Introduction
The Introduction must contain extensive literature reviews. Gaps in the literature must be identified and the study's objective must be clearly set to fulfill such gaps.
Methodology
Provide sufficient details to allow the work to be reproduced by an independent researcher. Methods that are already published should be summarized, and indicated by a reference. If quoting directly from a previously published method, use quotation marks and also cite the source. Any modifications to existing methods should also be described.
Results
Results should clearly present the findings. This should explore the significance of the results of the work.
Discussion
Discussion should be clear and concise. It should compare the findings with existing literature. How the findings can promote advancements of a particular field of studies.
Conclusions
The main conclusions of the study must be presented and separated from the discussion. The conclusion provides a concluding remark of the article.
Appendices
If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, Eq. (B.1) and so on. Similarly for tables and figures: Table A.1; Figure A.1, etc.
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Essential title page information
• Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
• Author names and affiliations. Please clearly indicate the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author and check that all names are accurately spelled. You can add your name between parentheses in your own script behind the English transliteration. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.
• Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. This responsibility includes answering any future queries about Methodology and Results. Ensure that the e-mail address is given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author.
• Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a 'Present address' (or 'Permanent address') may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.
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Abstract
A concise and factual abstract is required. The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, References should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.
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Abbreviations
Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field in a footnote to be placed on the first page of the article. Such abbreviations that are unavoidable in the abstract must be defined at their first mention there, as well as in the footnote. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.
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Acknowledgements
Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc.).
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Formatting of funding sources
List funding sources in this standard way to facilitate compliance to funder's requirements. If no funding has been provided for the research, please include the following sentence:
“This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors”.
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Units
Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI). If other units are mentioned, please give their equivalent in SI. Large numbers must be represented as groups of three digits separated by narrow spaces, but commas or any other grouping marks other than narrow spaces are not allowed.
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Footnotes
Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article. Many word processors build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Should this not be the case, indicate the position of footnotes in the text and present the footnotes themselves separately at the end of the article.
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Artwork
Electronic artwork
General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Preferred fonts: Times New Roman (or Times), Symbol,
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Indicate per figure if it is a single, 1.5 or 2-column fitting image.
• For Word submissions only, you may still provide figures and their captions, and tables within a single file at the revision stage.
• Please note that individual figure files larger than 2 MB must be provided in separate source files.
Formats
Regardless of the application used, when your electronic artwork is finalized, please 'save as' or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):
EPS (or PDF): Vector drawings. Embed the font or save the text as 'graphics'.
TIFF (or JPG): Color or grayscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF (or JPG): Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF (or JPG): Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required.
Please do not:
• Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low.
• Supply files that are too low in resolution.
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.
Color artwork
Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF (or JPEG), EPS (or PDF), or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution.
Figure captions
Ensure that each illustration has a caption. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.
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Tables
Please submit tables as editable text and not as images. Tables can be placed either next to the relevant text in the article, or on separate page(s) at the end. Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text and place any table notes below the table body. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in them do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article. Please avoid using vertical rules and shading in table cells.
Table captions
Ensure that each table has a caption. A caption should comprise a brief title and a description of the table. Keep text in the table caption to a minimum but explain all abbreviations used.
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References (APA edition 6 style)
Example of references style: https://libguides.library.usyd.edu.au/c.php?g=508212&p=3476096
We require authors to provide a DOI for every reference (where possible).
Citation in text
Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either 'Unpublished results' or 'Personal communication'. Citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication.
Reference formatting
There are no strict requirements on reference formatting at submission. References can be in any style or format as long as the style is consistent. Where applicable, author(s) name(s), journal title/book title, chapter title/article title, year of publication, volume number/book chapter and the pagination must be present. Use of DOI is highly encouraged. Note that missing data will be highlighted at proof stage for the author to correct. If you do wish to format the references yourself they should be arranged according to the following examples:
Reference style
Text: All citations in the text should refer to:
1. Single author: the author's name (without initials, unless there is ambiguity) and the year of publication;
2. Two authors: both authors' names and the year of publication;
3. Three or more authors: first author's name followed by 'et al.' and the year of publication.
Citations may be made directly (or parenthetically). Groups of references should be listed first alphabetically, then chronologically.
Examples: 'as demonstrated (Allan, 2000a, 2000b, 1999; Allan & Jones, 1999). Kramer et al. (2010) have recently shown ....'
List: References should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters 'a', 'b', 'c', etc., placed after the year of publication.
Examples:
Reference to a journal publication:
Tanakitkorn, K. (2019). A review of unmanned surface vehicle development. Maritime Technology and Research, 1(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.33175/mtr.2019.140730
Prukpitikul, S., Kaewpoo, N., & Ariffin, E. H. (2019). An evaluation of a new offshore breakwater at Sattahip Port, Thailand. Maritime Technology and Research, 1(1), 15-22. https://doi.org/10.33175/mtr.2019.139185
Reference to a book:
Strunk Jr., W., & White, E. B. (2000). The elements of style. ed. New York, USA: Longman.
Reference to a chapter in book:
Mettam, G. R., & Adams, L. B. (2009). How to prepare an electronic version of your article. In Jones, B. S., & Smith, R. Z. (Eds.). Introduction to the electronic age (pp. 281-304). New York, USA: E-Publishing.
Reference to a website:
Cancer Research UK. (1975). Cancer statistics reports for the UK. Retrieved from https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/aboutcancer/statistics/cancerstatsreport
