A guide for authors

General requirements for publications

The journal publishes original, completed research in mass communication, reflecting current trends in this field in Ukraine and the world, patterns, processes, structures, and forms of mass communication relations. Priority is given to the study of mass communication trends in the development of technology, media, journalism, publishing, advertising, public relations, social informatics, document science, library science, etc., which is relevant for the Ukrainian and world audience.

Our journal has the following sections:

  1. Discussions (scholarly and journalistic addresses, columns, comments of the editorial board, editor-in-chief, members of the editorial board, results of research that have not been reviewed but are of interest. Such publications are not research articles. Materials are submitted in any form).
  2. Review articles (scientific literature reviews on a particular issue. Reviews are a kind of scientific article. Our journal publishes reviews that use the method of meta-analysis).
  3. Research articles (with results of research that correspond to the journal's profile have been reviewed and approved for publication as scientific articles). Such article should have relevant empirical data at its core. The editors consider relevant: (1) data that reflect the subject that lies in the context of the journal’s profile, (2) data was in fact collected and at the request of editors, the author can confirm the method of data collection, (3) data published in open access data repository, for example, Mendeley Data), (4) journal editors, like any researcher, can test hypotheses or research questions by analyzing a dataset using Microsoft Excel or statistical packages.
  4. Interdisciplinary research (peer-reviewed research articles) presents original research results but goes beyond the journal's scope, and their authors are scholars from other fields. However, such research articles should be at least partially related to mass communication.
  5. Reviews (reviews of various research publications in the field of mass communication, including reviews of scientific articles, reviews of opponents on the dissertation. Materials are submitted in any form).

Language of publications: Ukrainian, English. However, research articles (sections 2, 3 and 4) are published exclusively in English. A research article can also be submitted in Ukrainian for the review! After reviewing and accepting for publication, the author translates the article.

WARNING! Below, we will talk about the guidelines for research articles (sections 2, 3 and 4).

GUIDELINES FOR MANUSCRIPTS

Manuscript volume and formatting

The entire volume of the manuscript, including abstracts in both languages ​​(English, Ukrainian), appendices, tables, figures, references, should be 20-40 thousand characters, including spaces and punctuation.  

The manuscript must be submitted in a compatible format with Microsoft Word (.rtf, .doc, .docx). A4 page size; book orientation; fields from all edges - 2 cm; Times New Roman, font size 12; line spacing 1; author notes should be in italics, not underlining; all figures and tables are embedded directly in the text, where they should take place (and not at the end of the document).

Figures should also presented in separate files in the jpg format, resolution: 300 dpi. The number figures in total should not exceed five for one manuscript.

The list of authors and information about the authors is given in a separate file from the manuscript text.

All files must have titles in the Latin alphabet.

File name templates:

  • rudenko_AU - for the file in which the data on authors are stored in the order in which they should be (last name, name, and patronymic of the author/authors, place and address of work, position, scientific degree, academic title, contact phone number, and author's e-mail, ORCID); statement of possible conflicts of interest; a letter clearly stating the consent to publish the article in our journal and on its electronic resources.
  • do_pytannia_ART - the text of the article (without authors) after the first word of the title, plus ART.
  • table1_do_pytannia_ART - file for table 1 to 
  • fig1_do_pytannia_ART - file for illustration (image) 1 or diagram 1 to the article 

WARNING! The name of the files offered for journal sections 1, 5 includes only the first author's name. Example:

kovtun_AU - in the file information about the authors in the order in which they should be (surname, name and patronymic of the author / authors, place and address of work, position, degree, academic title, contact phone number and e-mail of the author, ORCID); statement in any form about possible conflicts of interest; consent in any form to the publication of material in the journal and on electronic resources and in the same file the material for publication is added.

 

Title page

The main text of the article should be preceded by the following information in two languages ​​(Ukrainian and English):

- UDC index (only for articles by Ukrainian authors);

- the title of the article;

- abstract (detailed guidelines - see below);

- 5 keywords.

 REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MAIN TEXT OF THE ARTICLE

The main text of the article should have the following structure (the following sections of the article should be highlighted in bold and placed on a separate line as subheadings):

Introduction (authors indicate the relevance of the topic, review existing literature and prior research on this or related issues, indicate the purpose and objectives of the article, and hypotheses and/or research questions). There may be subheadings in the Introduction. 

IMPORTANT: When reviewing the literature, we recommend that You use international databases that allow You to search for academic papers on topics, keywords, and other characteristics, such as ScienceDirect: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/search.  

Content and Method (not in general terms, but clearly describe the progress of the study, what methods, techniques and how they were used for this study, i.e., to reveal the mechanism of the study - how its results were obtained; what content was used, its description, reference to the study dataset which must be stored and published in the Mendeley Data repository or another repository). The link can be in a DOI or the URL under which the dataset is published. 

Results (authors describe the study's primary results, present them summarized in the form of figures and tables. This section may have subheadings).

Discussion (authors interpret the research results, what their findings mean, what contribution the research makes to the existing theories, practice, recommendations. There may be subheadings here, too).

Conclusions (author infers whether the initial hypotheses were confirmed or rejected, whether authors achieved the main objective(s)).

Acknowledgments (a brief thanks to the Higher Education Institutions and to the researchers who assisted in preparing the manuscript). 

Appendices (if there are Appendices, they must have headings and serial numbers; notes to the tables should be placed directly below the tables).

References (please, present them without numbers in alphabetical order by the last name of the (first) author, according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed., indicate the full details of the source. For the article: author, year of publication, article title, journal title, volume (issue) number, pages; for the book: author, year of publication, book title, publisher) (REQUIREMENTS FOR LISTING REFERENCES see below).  

Figures and tables must have headings and serial numbers; notes to tables should be placed directly below the tables.

REQUIREMENTS FOR SUMMARY

Abstract in Ukrainian

The abstract should be twice as large as the summary in English because, for Ukrainian readers, it will be the primary source of information about the entire publication and Your research.  

Abstract: about 250 words (2000 characters, including spaces and punctuation marks).

The abstract should be high quality, informative and concise. Its goal is to reflect the main content of the study briefly. Besides, please, avoid repeating the title of the article in the abstract and avoid general phrases. 

Abstract structure. The abstract should clearly state:

  • the purpose/objectives of the study (not the article, but the research);
  • methods (not in general phrases, but to clearly indicate how specific methods were used; i.e., to reveal the mechanism of the research - how the author obtained its results); 
  • main results and conclusions of the study, from which thesignificance for science, society, media studies should be specific (received new valuable facts; identified new relationships and patterns; confirmed or rejected specific hypotheses and theories).     

All these components of the abstract must be clearly identified. To this end, we recommend using the words in the abstract: purpose/objectives, methods, results, conclusion(s), significance.

If necessary, authors can indicate the study's relevance at the beginning of the abstract in one sentence if it is not evident from the title, purpose, results, or the study discussion.

Keywords

After the abstract, You need to specify 5 keywords, separated by a semicolon.

When choosing keywords, keep in mind that they should help other researchers find Your publication in electronic catalogs and scientometric databases. Therefore, we recommend that You analyze which keywords are commonly used in publications on the subject of Your research in critical global scientometric databases, such as Web of Science and ScienceDirect published by Elsevier (Scopus). Properly chosen keywords will make it easier for colleagues to find Your publication and increase its citation index.

Abstract in English (Abstract)

Abstract Volume: about 120 words (1000 characters, including articles and spaces)

The abstract must be written in correct American English, taking into account the peculiarities of spelling and grammar. We recommend that You use the spelling according to the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (Merriam-Webster. (2003). Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary (11th ed.); Or check the spelling at https://www.merriam-webster.com). It is not allowed to submit abstracts translated only using automated electronic systems (computer translators), e.g., Google Translate. 

 Structure Abstract. In the abstract, it is necessary to specify clearly:

  • the purpose/objectives of the study (not the article, but the research);
  • methods (not in general phrases, but to clearly indicate how specific methods were used; i.e., to reveal the mechanism of the research - how the author obtained its results); 
  • main results and conclusions of the study, from which thesignificance for science, society, media studies should be specific (received new valuable facts; identified new relationships and patterns; confirmed or rejected specific hypotheses and theories).          

All these components of the abstract must be clearly identified. To this end, we recommend using the words in the abstract: purpose/objectives, methods, results, conclusion/conclusions, significance.

If necessary, authors can indicate the study's relevance at the beginning of the abstract in one sentence if it is not evident from the title, purpose, results, or the study discussion.

Keywords

After the abstract, You need to specify 5 keywords, separated by a semicolon.

When choosing keywords, keep in mind that they should help other researchers find Your publication in electronic catalogs and scientometric databases. Therefore, we recommend that You analyze which keywords are commonly used in publications on Your research in critical global scientometric databases, such as Elsevier's ScienceDirect (Scopus): http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/search. Properly chosen keywords will help Your colleagues find Your post and increase its citation index. 

It is also strongly recommended to refer to journals indexed in international scientometric databases Scopus and/or Web of Science. Based on experience, including at least 3 such publications in the list of sources significantly increases the chances that Your article will be easily found and cited by foreign authors.

REQUIREMENTS FOR LISTING REFERENCES

All citations and statistics in the text should have correctly listed references. Only references to reliable sources are acceptable.

We recommended that You refer directly to the original source rather than to reproducing this source in some other work (e.g., manual, review article). We also recommend that You refer to the original source, published in the original language, and not to its translation (except when it is impossible to access the source in the original language).

Authors should minimize links to web sources (to sources on the Internet), except in the case of links to publications that are permanently available on the web resources of international scientometric databases.

Self-citation is allowed only when absolutely necessary and only with a proper reference to one’s work when it comes to the results of prior research or the methodology described in previous studies. 

In the manuscript text, references are indicated by the author's name(s) in the original language in parentheses. Then, through comma, the year of publication is indicated, through сomma - the page number (if any). If the author refers to several different sources - You should separate them with a semicolon. E.g.: (Smith, 2007, p. 44; 2009, p. 35).

The reference list in the article is compiled in alphabetical order without the numbering of sources.

For a list that contains references to sources published exclusively in Romance languages (English, German, French, etc.), one reference list is sufficient.

For articles that link to sources in non-Romance languages (Cyrillic, Arabic, Chinese, etc.) or combine references in Romance and non-Romance languages (e.g., some links are in English and some in Ukrainian), you should provide two versions of the reference list:    

  1. References in the original language (all sources are given in the language they were published, there may be sources in the Cyrillic and Romance alphabet, etc.). 
  2. References (the same list of references, but in Romance alphabet - the rules of translation and transliteration, see below). 

 Reference list

The list of references must be provided in alphabetical order, indicating the full details of the source in accordance with the requirements of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed. (Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), 7th Edition) on each reference entry: for the article - author, year of publication, article title, journal title, journal number, page, DOI; for a book - author, year of publication, the title of the book, name of the publisher.

The general rules are:

  • first, the author's last name, through comma – his (her) initials; all authors are indicated, a period is placed after the last one;
  • after the author's last name and initials, the year of publication is indicated in parentheses, e.g.: (2014). A period is placed after the parentheses;
  • after the publication year, the title of the article or "Title of the section" is indicated if it is a reference to the section of the collective monograph;
  • then the Name of the Journalor the Title of the monographis indicated (all significant words of the journal title should be capitalized; all significant words of the book/monograph title should not be capitalized);
  • then the volume of the journal, in parentheses - the issue (if any), and through comma pages of the article. Through a period - DOI. For books after the title through a period - publishing house.

Examples:

Rizun, V.V., & Skotnykova, T.V. (2008). Methods of scientific research in journalism: Textbook. Manual. Press of Ukraine.

Rizun, V.V. (2011). Essays on the methodology of social communication research. World of Social Communications: Science. Journal, 2, 7-11.

Yakhno, О.М. (2006). Ukraine in the modern geopolitical space (political-media aspect) (Candidate's dissertation). Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Institute of Journalism.

Production output in Ukraine in 2013, 9 months. (2013). Ivan Fedorov Book Chamber of Ukraine State Scientific Institution. http://www.ukrbook.net/statistika_2013_9_mis.htm#zag_dani 

In the manuscript text, the reference is as follows: in parentheses, the author's last name, after which the publication year. If the source page is specified, it is indicated by a comma after the year of publication and after the abbreviation "c." or "p." (abbreviation of the word "page" in the original language). And after the page number, the brackets are closed.

Suppose it is necessary to refer to several sources at a time. In this case, they should appear with a semicolon between them in alphabetical order by the first letter of the author's last name of each source. For example, researchers have studied a specific problem (Lang, 2009; Smith; 2007; Zeta, 2008).

Note that references to Ukrainian-language sources (books and articles) in manuscripts should be provided in Ukrainian. In contrast, references to English-language or foreign-language sources should be presented in the original language. In the manuscript text, only the last name without initials should be mentioned. 

For example, «as Smith notes, "an important prerequisite for successful development"» (Smith, 2007, p. 232).

Source numbers are not given in the original and English language source lists.

WARNING! If the citation contains up to 39 words, it should be integrated into the manuscript text, marking its beginning and end with quotation marks. If the quote contains 40 or more words, it should be made in a separate text block without quotation marks in Times New Roman, font size 11, line spacing 1, and an indentation of 1 cm to the left.

Reference design in Ukrainian is the same as in English, examples of which are available below.

References

The publication of the reference list in the Romance alphabet is also taken from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed. (Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th Edition).

See below for detailed rules for referring to different types of sources.

Link to an article in a print journal

The general reference design to the research article looks as follows:

Author, A.A. (2013). Title of article. Title of Journal, 10(2), 49-53. DOI: xxxxxxx

First, the author's last name is indicated, through comma – his (her) initials (with no spaces between initials), then in parentheses - a year of publication, through a period – the article title, through a period - the title of the journal (all significant words should be capitalized); through a comma - the volume (issue) of the journal, through a comma - pages of the publication. If the publication has the DOI number, it should be indicated after the publication pages through a period. You do not need to place a period after the DOI.

If there are 2 or more authors, the last name of the last of them, except for the comma, is preceded by an &-sign (and):

Author, A.A., Author, B.B., & Author, C.C. (2014). Title of article. Title of Journal, 11(3), 85-94. DOI: xxxxxxxxx

Examples:

Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J.A.J., & Lupton, R.A. (2010). The art of writing a scientific article. Journal of Scientific Communications, 163(2), 51–59.

Baron, R.M., & Kenny, D.A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173-1182. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.51.6.1173

Link to an article in an electronic journal

The design is almost the same as a reference to an article in a printed journal, with the difference that the page numbers of the publication may be missing. At the end of the reference, through a period, the web link is indicated.

Example:

Clay, R. (2008, June). Science Vs. ideology: Psychologists fight back about the misuse of research. Monitor on Psychology, 39(6). http://www.apa.org/monitor/ 

References in Ukrainian alphabet to Ukrainian-language articles

A transliteration should transmit the author's last name following the Transliteration Table of the Ukrainian alphabet in Latin, approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine №55 of 27.01.2010 (http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/55-2010-p). Authors can perform this transliteration automatically on the web resource: http://translit.kh.ua/#lat/passport (in the drop-down list should be selected Standard Passport CMU 2010).

The article title goes first by transliteration from the original language and then in square brackets translation into English. Then through a period - the journal's name in the original English transliteration, in square brackets - English translation, volume (issue) number and through comma - page numbers.

We recommend using the transliteration standard developed by the Terminological Commission for Natural Sciences (TCNS) of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in 1994, as it has high reversibility and maximum compatibility with computer coding (URL compatibility). This transliteration can be done automatically on the web resource: http://translit.kh.ua/?iso9#lat/tkpn (in the drop-down menu, the TCNS Standard (ТКПН Стандарт) should be selected ).

After the journal title in transliteration, the journal title translated into English should be given in square brackets (all significant words of the journal title should be capitalized).

Example:

Rizun, V.V. (2011). Nacherky do metodologhiji doslidzhenj socialjnykh komunikacij [Outlines of the methodology of social communication studies]. Svit Socialjnykh Komunikacij [World of Social Communications], 2, 7-11.

Reference to the book/monograph

The general design for referring to books/monographs is as follows:

Author, A.A., Author, B.B., & Author, C.C. (2014). Title of book. Publisher Name. DOI: xxxxxx

First, the author's last name is indicated, followed by his initials (with no spaces between initials), then through a period in parentheses - a year of publication, after the period – the book/monograph title, in parentheses - publication number (if republished several times, and if it is no longer first edition), after a period - the publisher name. Then, if there are two or more authors, before the last author's last name, after comma &-sign (and) should appear.

If the source is Cyrillic, then:

  • the author's last name is transmitted by transliteration according to the CMU standard 2010 (http://translit.kh.ua/#lat/passport);
  • the title of the book/monograph goes in transliteration, which can be done automatically on the web resource: http://translit.kh.ua/?iso9#lat/tkpn(in the drop-down menu, the TCNS Standard (ТКПН Стандарт) should be selected). Then, in square brackets, the English translation is given in italics;
  • the publisher name should be set out by transliteration according to the TCNS Standard (http://translit.kh.ua/?iso9#lat/tkpn).

Example:

Rizun, V.V., & Skotnykova, T.V. (2008). Metody naukovykh doslidzhenj u zhurnalistykoznavstvi: Navch. posibnyk [Research methods in journalism studies: A textbook], (2nd ed.). Press of Ukraine.

Reference to the collective monograph

The general reference design to a collective monograph is almost the same as to author's monograph (see above), with the difference that at the beginning of the reference, instead of the author's last name and initials, the editor's last name and initials are provided:

Editor, E.E. (Ed.) (2014). Title of book. Publisher.

Example:

Perepelytsia, H.M. (Ed.) (2014). Zovnishnja polityka Ukrajiny — 2015: strateghichni ocinky, proghnozy ta priorytety [Foreign policy of Ukraine – 2013: Strategic assessments, forecasts, and priorities]. Stylos.

Reference to a section or chapter in a collective monograph or a book

The general design of referring to the section or chapter in the collective monograph looks as follows:

Author, A.A., & Author, B.B. (2014). Title of chapter or entry. In A. Editor, B. Editor, & C. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pp. xxx – xxx). Publisher Name.

First, goes the author's last name, followed by his initials (with no spaces between initials), then the year of publication in parentheses, after a period the section title, through period - the word In and the editor's first initial, and editor's last name. Then, after a period (Ed.) or (Eds.) for several editors, separated by commas. After a comma - the title of the monograph or book, in parentheses - (pp. xxx – xxx) - page numbers in the publication, followed by a period. At the end - the publisher name.

Example:

Mettam, G.R., & Adams, L.B. (2009). How to prepare an electronic version of Your article. In B. Jones, & R. Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the electronic age (pp. 281–304). E-Publishing Inc.

References to the dissertation and dissertation abstract

The reference layout is about the same as in the book/monograph. With the difference that the words Ph.D. diss. should go after the title of the work (for the text of the PhD dissertation), D.Sc. diss. (for the text of the doctoral dissertation), Abstract of the Ph.D. diss. (for the abstract of the PhD dissertation), Abstract of the D.Sc. diss. (for the abstract of the doctoral dissertation). After that, the abbreviated field of science on which the dissertation was defended in parentheses. Then comes the name of the institution where the dissertation was defended, followed by the city (if it is not evident from the name of the educational institution), then the number of pages.

Examples:

Yakhno, O.M. (2006). Ukraine in contemporary geopolitical space (political and media aspects), Ph.D. diss. (polit. sci.), Institute of Journalism, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, 189 p.

Yakhno, O.M. (2006). Ukraine in contemporary geopolitical space (political and media aspects), Abstract of the Ph.D. diss. (polit. sci.), Institute of Journalism, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, 20 p.

Links to conference papers

The general scheme of registration of the bibliographic reference to conference papers looks as follows:

Contributor, A. A., Contributor, B. B., Contributor, C. C., & Contributor, D. D. (Year, Month 5-7). Title of contribution. [Conference presentation]. Title of Conference, 123-125. Location. DOI or URL

First, the author's last name is indicated, followed by his (her) initials (with no spaces between initials), then the date of the conference goes in parentheses, the title of the presentation or abstract, through a period in square brackets the words [Conference presentation] for the presentations, or [Conference abstract] for conference abstracts. Through a period - Full Conference Title, through a comma – pages of the abstract, through a period - the location of the conference.

Example:

Khylko, M.M. (2014, April 10). Modern social and communication technologies: international experience and Ukrainian prospects. All-Ukrainian Scientific Conference "Criteria of Diagnostic and Methods of Estimation of the Media Impact", 89-91. Institute of Journalism, Kyiv, Ukraine.

References to content from the Internet

The general design of referring to media content on the Internet looks as follows:

Author, A.A. (2014, January 22). Title of article. Website Name. URL

Links to blogs and other content from the Internet

The general design of referring to blogs and other materials on the Internet is as follows:

Author, A.A. (2014, January 22). Title of article. Website Name. URL

First, the author's last name appears, through a comma - his (her) initials (with no spaces between initials). Then, through a period in parentheses - the year, if any, month and day of publication. After which through a period – the article’s title, after which through a period - the Name of the Website, and at the end, through a period a URL-link to the source.

Example:

Myers, P.Z. (2007, January 22). The unfortunate prerequisites and consequences of partitioning your mind. Scienceblogs. http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/01/the_unfortunate_prerequisites.php 

References to content on the Internet, the author of which is not specified

The general design for setting out the reference to articles or messages on the Internet without the author looks as follows:

Title of article. (2014, January 22). Website Name. URL

Example:

Ukraine profile (2014, December). BBC News. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-18018002

Ex-national security adviser 'lied' on security clearance. (2017, May 23). BBC News. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40004300 

References to laws, resolutions, decisions, etc.

General design for referring to laws, resolutions, decisions, etc., should look as follows:

Title of Document. Organization Name (2014). URL

First, the author should indicate the Document's Name (capitalized each significant word), then through a period comes the Name of the Body or Organization - the author of the Document (capitalized each significant word), then in parentheses - the date of the document or year. Then, in the end, through a period - URL.

Example:

Council Conclusions on Ukraine. Council of the European Union (2014, October 20). http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/145211.pdf