Author Guidelines

Instruction to Authors for MEJ Journal
 
Submit electronic manuscripts to PNU-Mindanao Publications and Materials Development Office (PMDO) at pnum.pmdo@pnu.edu.ph. Manuscripts should be in MS Word format, typeset in 11-point Times New Roman and double-spaced. Figures and tables should be embedded and not supplied separately. To avoid unnecessary errors, you are strongly advised to use the ‘spell checker’ function of MS Word. Papers will be submitted for plagiarism test. Text similarity below 15% is acceptable. Moreover, authors must agree to make revisions of the article based on the results of the plagiarism test and peer review.​
 
 
AUTHOR’S GUIDELINES
 
Articles should be prepared in the following order:​​
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Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information‐retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible. The title is not more than 12 substantive words and is written with 14 font size and centered. The rest of the details in the title page should be in 10-point Times New Roman.
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The title page should include: A concise and informative title
 
The name(s) of the author(s)

The affiliation(s) and address(es) of the author(s)

The email address and contact number of the corresponding author
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Abstract. The abstract summarizes the purpose, methods, results, and conclusions of the paper. It should be no more than 250 words and one paragraph only which should include these elements: Purpose, Methods, Results, Conclusion and Recommendations.
 
Abstract Writing Style
  • Use specific words, phrases, concepts, and keywords from your paper.
  • Use precise, clear, descriptive language.
  • The abstract should be written with correct English‐language grammar and spelling.
  • Write from an objective, rather than evaluative, point of view.
  • Define unique terms and acronyms the first time used.
  • Write one paragraph, from 150 to 250 words in length and be written with 10 font size.
  • Use complete sentences and use verbs in an active voice.
  • The first line must not be indented from the rest of the text.
  • Use two lines, 10-point Times New Roman, to separate the abstract, the affiliation, and
  • the first section of the article.
  • Avoid quotation and citing references in your abstract.
  • It should be fully-justified italicized text and single-spaced type. • Leave two blank lines after the abstract then begin the keywords.
Keywords: Immediately after the abstract, provide 3-5 keywords to be written with 10 font size in alphabetical order.
       
Key Elements of an Article
 
1. Introduction
  • This section includes the background of the study and the purposes of the research. The background of the study encompasses the theoretical ground, related research, the practical applications and the nature, rationale of the study, and purpose(s) of the research. Cited literature must be within a decade range.
2. Methods
  • Method section that describes the participants (e.g., demographics, selection criteria, and group assignment), the materials (e.g., task[s], equipment, instruments, including a discussion of their validity and reliability, if appropriate), and the procedures employed in the study such as treatment(s) and data analysis. Describe in this section the role of the researcher and ethical considerations, if applicable.
3. Results (findings) and Discussion
  • Results should be clear and concise. Discussion should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Further, discussion of the results must be supported with related literature and/or previous studies. However, extensive citations and discussion of published literature are discouraged.
4. Conclusion and Recommendations
  • The first paragraph of this section presents the main objective of the study. The 2nd paragraph discusses the summary of finding, the 3rd paragraph and succeeding paragraph presents the authors inferences based on the findings of the study, implications to theoretical grounds of the study, and insights from the study. The last paragraph focuses on the future direction of the study and the study limitations and how these limitations may be addressed in the future studies or study replication.
(Authors may deviate from the aforecited key elements as subsections when doing/ writing qualitative research. But, in principle, the four elements are still in this article.)
 
Acknowledgements (when appropriate): Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not 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.) and the research sponsors.
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Author’s Bio-note
Author’s vitae must be included in the submission. It should be brief three or five sentences at most and should include the author's institutional position or affiliation, full address for speedy correspondence.