Author's Guideline

Journal of Maritime Innovation and Sustainability an efficient online submission and tracking platform to streamline the process for authors. Manuscripts should be uploaded via the Open Journal Systems (OJS).

Before submission, authors are advised to prepare their manuscripts in full compliance with the guidelines given below to help ensure a swift review and publication process.

Important Notes for Authors

Before submitting a manuscript, authors should carefully review the Journal’s editorial, ethical, formatting, and submission requirements and ensure that the manuscript complies with all applicable guidelines. Submission of a manuscript confirms that all listed authors have reviewed and approved the final version of the work, agree with its contents, and have authorized its submission to the Journal.

Authors must ensure that the submitted manuscript represents original work and has not been published previously, either in whole or in substantial part. A manuscript submitted to the Journal must not be simultaneously under consideration by another journal, conference proceeding, publisher, or other publication platform. All manuscripts must be written in English and should use clear, precise, and academically appropriate language. Authors are encouraged to present their work in a manner that remains accessible to an international scholarly readership while maintaining the standards and terminology appropriate to the discipline.

Manuscripts may be submitted in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) or LaTeX format. Authors should ensure that the submitted file is complete, readable, and properly formatted before uploading it through the Journal’s submission system.

All references should be checked carefully to ensure that author names, article titles, publication details, page numbers, and other bibliographic information are accurate and complete. Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) should be provided whenever available. URLs and other persistent identifiers should likewise be included where appropriate to enable readers to locate and verify the cited sources.

Authors should ensure that all tables, figures, illustrations, and supplementary materials are clearly numbered and appropriately titled or captioned. Each item should be cited at the relevant point in the manuscript, and its placement and presentation should be clear to readers. Authors are responsible for obtaining any necessary permissions for the reproduction or adaptation of copyrighted material, including photographs, images, datasets, software components, previously published figures or tables, and other third-party content. Appropriate acknowledgement of permitted third-party material must also be provided in the manuscript.

Authors should submit files that are of sufficient quality for editorial assessment and production. Low-resolution images, unnecessarily large graphics, and files compressed using formats such as ZipIt or StuffIt should be avoided, as they may cause difficulties during online submission, file processing, or production. Where appropriate, large image files should be optimized without compromising their quality. When image conversion is necessary, authors may convert images to JPEG format at the highest practical resolution available, while ensuring that text, labels, fine details, and other essential elements remain clear and legible.

Authorship and Author Responsibilities

Authorship should be attributed only to individuals who have made meaningful and substantial intellectual contributions to the research and manuscript. Such contributions may include developing the research concept or study design, contributing to data collection, analysis, or interpretation, developing or applying research methods, drafting the manuscript, or providing substantive critical revisions that improve its intellectual content.

All listed authors share responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, and reliability of the work and should be able to account for their contributions to the research. Authors should cooperate with the Journal and provide reasonable clarification, documentation, or supporting information concerning any aspect of the study when requested.

For manuscripts with multiple authors, a Corresponding Author must be designated at the time of submission. The Corresponding Author serves as the principal contact between the authors and the Journal throughout submission, peer review, revision, production, and publication. The Corresponding Author is responsible for communicating with the Journal on behalf of the author group and ensuring that all co-authors are informed of important editorial decisions, revisions, publication requirements, and the final version of the manuscript.

Individuals who have contributed to the research but do not satisfy the criteria for authorship should not be listed as authors. Their contributions should instead be recognized appropriately in the Acknowledgements section, with their permission where applicable.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by Authors

The Journal permits the responsible use of AI and AI-assisted technologies for limited purposes such as improving grammar, spelling, language, readability, and clarity. AI tools must not replace authors’ intellectual contributions, scholarly judgment, critical analysis, research interpretation, or scientific reasoning. Generative AI must not be used to create original scholarly content, generate or manipulate research data, formulate scientific interpretations or conclusions, or produce substantial manuscript content without meaningful human authorship and oversight. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and authenticity of their submissions. Any use of AI beyond routine language editing must be transparently disclosed, including its purpose and extent, in the cover letter and, where appropriate, in the manuscript. AI systems cannot be listed as authors or co-authors because they cannot assume authorship responsibilities, approve the final manuscript, disclose conflicts of interest, or accept accountability for the work. Authors are therefore expected to exercise appropriate human oversight, maintain transparency, and ensure that all AI-assisted work complies with the Journal’s authorship, publication ethics, and research integrity standards.

Avoiding Plagiarism

Authors must ensure that manuscripts are original and free from excessive plagiarism, including substantial copying of text, ideas, data, or other material without proper acknowledgment. All sources must be appropriately cited, and any directly reproduced wording must be clearly identified and referenced. Authors should avoid unnecessary repetition of previously published material and ensure that substantial portions of the manuscript are not derived from their own or others’ prior publications. Manuscripts may be screened for plagiarism, and significant or inappropriate similarity may result in revision, rejection, or further action in accordance with the Journal’s publication ethics policy.

Required Sections for Research Articles

  • Title
  • Authors’ names and affiliations
  • Corresponding author’s full contact details
  • Abstract
  • Keywords (6–8 relevant terms)
  • Introduction
  • Materials and Methods
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • Conflict of Interest
  • Authors’ contribution
  • Funding statement (if applicable)
  • List of Abbreviations (if applicable)
  • Acknowledgements (if any)
  • References
  • Figures and Tables
  • Appendices (if any)
  • Supplementary Material (if any)

Individual Sections’ details

Title

The manuscript title should be concise, informative, and specific, clearly conveying the central subject, focus, or contribution of the study. It should accurately reflect the content of the manuscript and avoid unnecessary words, vague expressions, excessive abbreviations, or overly broad descriptions. The title should not exceed 130 characters, including spaces.

Abstract

The abstract should provide a clear and self-contained overview of the manuscript, enabling readers to understand the purpose and significance of the study without referring to the main text. It should briefly communicate the research aim or problem, methodology or approach, principal findings, and main conclusions or implications, using precise and accessible academic language. The abstract should generally contain 250–300 words and should be presented as a single paragraph without subheadings. Authors should avoid including references, unnecessary background information, unexplained abbreviations, or claims that are not supported by the manuscript.

Keywords

Authors should provide six to eight carefully selected keywords or key phrases that accurately capture the principal subjects, concepts, methods, technologies, or research areas addressed in the manuscript. Keywords should be specific and relevant to the study and should complement, rather than simply duplicate, the wording of the title and abstract. Appropriate keywords improve the discoverability, indexing, and retrieval of published articles in scholarly databases and search engines. Authors should avoid overly broad, unrelated, or unnecessarily repetitive terms.

Introduction

The Introduction should clearly establish the background and context of the research and explain why the study is relevant and necessary. Authors should briefly engage with appropriate and current literature to demonstrate the existing state of knowledge, identify significant gaps, limitations, unresolved issues, or areas requiring further investigation, and establish the rationale for the present study. The Introduction should lead logically to a clear statement of the research objectives, questions, hypotheses, or intended contribution, as appropriate to the type of study. Authors should avoid extensive discussion of results or conclusions in this section. Any abbreviation used in the manuscript should be defined in full at its first occurrence and used consistently thereafter.

For review articles, the Introduction should establish the scope, purpose, and rationale of the review and provide sufficient context for understanding the topic. The review should go beyond a simple description or compilation of previous studies and should provide a critical, balanced, and analytical synthesis of the existing literature, identifying important patterns, areas of agreement or disagreement, methodological limitations, knowledge gaps, and directions for future research.

Materials and Methods

The Materials and Methods section should provide a clear and sufficiently detailed account of how the study was conducted so that other researchers can understand, evaluate, and, where appropriate, replicate the work. Authors should describe the research design, materials, data sources, participants or samples, procedures, instruments, and analytical, statistical, or experimental methods relevant to the study. Methodological choices should be explained where necessary, particularly when they affect the interpretation or reliability of the findings.

Research involving human participants, personal data, or other ethically sensitive procedures must comply with applicable ethical principles, institutional requirements, and relevant laws or regulations. Where ethical review is required, authors should identify the ethics committee, Institutional Review Board (IRB), or equivalent body that reviewed the study and provide the relevant approval or reference information. Where applicable, authors should also state that informed consent was obtained from participants before their involvement in the research. Any other relevant ethical safeguards should be described where necessary.

Results

The Results section should present the principal findings of the study clearly, accurately, and in a logical sequence corresponding to the research objectives or questions. Authors should report findings objectively and provide sufficient detail to allow readers to understand the evidence supporting the study's conclusions. Tables, figures, and other visual materials should be used where they improve clarity and should complement rather than unnecessarily repeat information presented in the text. Statistical or analytical results should be reported using appropriate measures and terminology.

Discussion

The Discussion should interpret and critically evaluate the findings in relation to the research objectives, questions, hypotheses, and relevant scholarly literature. Authors should explain the significance and implications of the results, identify important similarities or differences with previous research, and discuss possible explanations for the findings where appropriate. The Discussion should focus on interpretation rather than repeating the Results and should avoid excessive or unnecessary citation of previous studies.

Authors should also acknowledge the limitations of the study fairly and explain, where appropriate, how these limitations may affect the interpretation, generalizability, or applicability of the findings. The Discussion should remain proportionate to the Introduction and should maintain a clear focus on the study's principal contribution and implications.

The Results and Discussion may be presented as separate sections or combined into a single section, provided that the findings and their interpretation remain clearly distinguishable and logically organized.

Conclusion

The Conclusion should provide a concise and focused closing statement that brings together the principal findings and overall contribution of the study. Rather than repeating the Results or Discussion, authors should explain what the findings demonstrate and why they are relevant to the research problem, field, or practical context. Where appropriate, the Conclusion may identify implications arising from the findings and indicate specific areas in which further research is needed. Authors should ensure that conclusions remain consistent with the evidence presented in the manuscript and do not introduce claims that have not been supported by the study.

Conflicts of Interest

Authors must disclose any financial, professional, personal, institutional, or other interests or relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research, its interpretation, or the publication decision. Where a potential conflict exists, authors should describe it clearly and explain any relevant relationship or interest.

If the authors have no conflicts of interest to declare, this should be stated explicitly.

Examples

When no conflict of Interest exists:

“The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest that could have influenced the research or its interpretation.”

When there is some conflict to be disclosed:

“Author A has received research funding from [Organization Name]. The authors declare that this relationship did not influence the design, conduct, analysis, or reporting of the study.”

Funding statement

Authors must provide a transparent Funding Statement identifying all financial support received for the research, manuscript preparation, or publication. Funding information should include the name of the funding organization or sponsor and, where applicable, the grant, award, project, or contract number.

Example

This research received financial support from the National Research Foundation under Grant No. NRF-2026-XXXX.

References

Authors should prepare the References section in accordance with the Vancouver referencing style and ensure that every source cited in the manuscript is accurately and consistently documented. References should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they are first cited in the text, rather than alphabetically. Once a reference has been assigned a number, the same number should be used for all subsequent citations of that source throughout the manuscript.

For journal articles, authors should use the standard journal abbreviations recognized by Index Medicus/MEDLINE wherever applicable rather than creating or shortening journal titles themselves.. References should also be checked against the original source before submission to minimize bibliographic errors and ensure reliable citation tracking. The reference entry should provide sufficient bibliographic information to allow readers to identify and locate the cited source. Authors should list all authors of a cited work, followed by the title of the article, abbreviated journal title, year of publication, volume number, and page range. Where available, the DOI or other persistent identifier should also be included. When a DOI is available, it should be verified and reported accurately.

Authors are responsible for checking every reference carefully for accuracy, completeness, consistency, and correspondence with the citations in the main text. All works cited in the manuscript should appear in the reference list, and every reference listed should be cited in the text. Authors should give particular attention to author names, article titles, journal titles, publication year, volume, issue where applicable, page numbers, and DOI information.

Figures & Tables

Figures: Figures should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Each figure must have a clear, concise, and informative caption that enables readers to understand its content without referring extensively to the main text. Figures should be submitted as separate files in high-quality TIFF or JPEG format at a minimum resolution of 300 dpi, or in EPS format at a minimum resolution of 800 dpi. Authors should ensure that all labels, legends, symbols, and other visual elements remain clear and readable at the intended publication size.

Tables: Tables should be numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals and cited in the text in the same order. Each table should have a brief, descriptive caption and should present information clearly and without unnecessary duplication of the text. Cell borders should be visible, and table headings, units, and footnotes should be sufficiently clear for accurate interpretation. Authors should ensure that all tables are appropriately formatted and cited within the manuscript.

Technical Requirements

Units: The International System of Units (SI) should be used consistently throughout the manuscript. Where non-standard or commonly used alternative units are necessary, their SI equivalents or appropriate conversions should also be provided.

Special Symbols: Unusual or discipline-specific symbols should be clearly defined when they first appear. Where a manuscript contains numerous specialized symbols, authors should provide a separate list or appendix explaining their meanings.

Abbreviations: Abbreviations should be defined in full at their first occurrence in the main text, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Authors should avoid unnecessary abbreviations and, where extensive use is unavoidable, may provide a separate list of abbreviations.

Appendices: Appendices should contain essential supplementary material that is useful for understanding or reproducing the study but is too detailed or lengthy for inclusion in the main text. Each appendix should be clearly identified (as Appendix A, Appendix B, and so on) and referred to at the appropriate point in the manuscript.

Article Processing Charges

Journal of Maritime Innovation and Sustainability follows an Open Access publication policy, allowing all published articles to be freely available to readers immediately upon release. There is no fee for manuscript submission, however, an Article Processing Charge (APC) of AUD 450 is applicable for accepted papers after successful peer review to cover publication costs. The payment can be made via Debit/Credit Card or Bank Transfer (AUD 480 including bank charges).