Author Guidelines

Authors must strictly adhere to the format and style of the journal to avoid manuscript rejection. Hence, authors are encouraged to carefully read the instructions for authors before submitting their manuscripts.

Submission of Manuscripts

1. Manuscripts currently under the consideration by another journal or publisher should not be submitted.
2. Manuscripts should be submitted through the online portal of the RMRJ: https://rmrj.usjr.edu.ph/rmrj/index.php/RMRJ/about/submissions
3. To promote anonymous review, authors should not identify themselves directly or indirectly in the manuscript or in experimental test instruments included in the submission.
4. A title page will be submitted in a separate file containing the following:  title of the paper, ALL authors' names, email addresses, contact numbers, affiliations, and ORCID numbers.  It is not acceptable and ethical to add another author after the paper is accepted.
5. Author information must be provided in the metadata section of the RMRJ's online portal upon submission. The order of authors should match the order on the title page.
6. In compliance with the Declaration Agreement for original contribution and sole responsibility of the author vs. plagiarism, the hierarchy of authorship (in the case of multiple authors) must be declared.
7. Necessary supplement files or documentation (e.g., questionnaire, case, interview schedule) are attached as a separate file, and all information that might identify the author(s) must be deleted from the instruments. A copy of the research questionnaire or tools is encouraged for submission.  The editors and the reviewers need to refer to these tools.
8. Revisions must be submitted within the time frame set by the Editorial Board.

Formatting

1. The manuscript should be an editable doc./.docx file, including text, figures, and tables. A PDF is not an acceptable source file.
2. A continuous line number will be provided in the manuscript for easy review. Lay out the text in a single-column format.
3. Organize the manuscript following these major headings: Title, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, References, and Declarations – comprises seven sections: Author Contributions, Funding, Ethical Approval, Competing Interest, Data Availability, Declaration of Artificial Intelligence Use and Acknowledgement  (refer to RMRJ’s Article template).
4. The manuscript should be as concise as the subject and research method permit, generally 4,000 to 6,000 words.
5. Tables should be submitted as an editable text and not as images. Every table must have a descriptive title, and if numerical measurements are given, the units should be included in the column heading.
6. Figures must be of high quality, preferably not less than 600 dpi, and supplied in PNG, JPEG, and TIFF formats. All figures should be mentioned in the manuscript in a consecutive order with captions right below.
7. Units of measurement should be presented simply and concisely using the International System of Units (SI).
8. Equations should be labeled with consecutive numbers and mentioned by label in the text, for example, “Equation (1).” They should be provided in an editable format – use symbols or an equation editor – do not embed as graphics.
9. The References section should only include the works cited in the text. Entries should be accurate, complete, and formatted according to the latest APA edition. It is highly recommended to use sources from online databases.

Assurance of International Quality of Journal Articles

The titles of the submitted articles should have an international perspective; no inclusion of very specific location names (unless it has significant international impacts), the minimum is a region of a country or continent, and no specific cultural terms that cannot be understood globally (i.e., barangay, Sandiganbayan). The studies must bring in new information the global community needs to know and which novelty and relevance of findings contribute to new knowledge in the discipline.

Other Helpful Points

1. Strong email addresses. Works of researchers using Gmail addresses containing the full name or the webmail of their institutions are preferred over those that are not. Thus, it can help if the researcher submits the work using the webmail of his/her university or agency (i.e., [email protected]) or a Gmail account bearing his/her full name (i.e., [email protected].) Aliases in the email address are discouraged because scientists are transparent in their advocacy.
2. Get sources from a wide variety of geographic scopes of scientific sources. Have sources/references coming from various continents such as Asia, Europe, Africa, the USA, and Australia. This can be done by using this formula: topic + continent + year (within 3 years) and searching this in Google Scholar. Do this for five continents.
3. Provide a critique of the methodology and theoretical limitations. This should be addressed in the last paragraph in the results and discussion part, where the writer cautions the readers regarding the limitations of the methodology and theoretical underpinnings for proper guidance in the interpretation and appreciation of the findings presented.
4. Application of Ethics Protocol in Research. Studies involving humans and animals shall be cleared by an institutional ethics review board, and a paragraph description is included in the methodology. A copy of the ethics board clearance shall be attached to the submitted paper as proof of compliance with the ethics protocol.
1. In the case of ecological, floristic, and faunal studies, a gratuitous permit or its equivalent issued by a government agency must be attached, and a discussion of its ethics protocol must be included in the methodology for compliance. In the case of studies involving indigenous peoples and cultures, a certification from a published expert for that particular culture being studied must also be attached, indicating the correctness of information and ethics protocol. This must also be discussed in the methodology.
2. RMRJ publication is doing this to guarantee that it does not become a publisher of pseudosciences and poor-quality research that fails to meet internationally accepted standards.
5. Tables without theoretical support. The data in the table must be supported by the authors' statements to give it a scientific value. Without these authors, the paper is only an opinion essay.
6. Include only relevant tables. Tables that merely show very nominal and descriptive data shall be deleted along with the graphs and charts if these are already discussed in full in the text. Results of the hypothesis should be included, particularly if these contained significant values.
7. Have conclusions that answer the objectives of the study. Conclusions are judgments on the findings required to answer each objective of the study. There should be a close fit between the conclusions and objectives so readers would remember with finality what really was discovered in the study. Conclusions should validate or negate the theories used in the study so readers know whether the study affirmed or negated the theory. There should be minimal use of numbers since it is expected that the judgment of the numbers will be the one written.
8. Obtain data only from cited scientific sources. We may prefer sources that are taken only from scientific databases traceable from the web. After the customary bibliographic entry, paste the URL paste at the end of the bibliography.  Without these, it means that the source is only in print. By putting the URL/Digital Object Identifier (DOI), the editors and reviewers can click to access the original source.

Policy on Retraction

Retraction is an act of the journal publisher to remove a published article from the digital file due to post-publication discovery of fraudulent claims by the research, plagiarism, or serious errors of methodology, which escaped detection in the quality assurance process. Complaints by third-party researchers on any of the grounds and validated by the editorial office trigger the retraction, but only after the writer has been notified and allowed to present his side in compliance with due process.

Policy on Digital Preservation

Digital Preservation is the process of systematically storing electronic files in multiple formats such as compact discs, cloud computing, Google Drive, email accounts, and external hard drives, among others. This is to guarantee that in conditions where the website crashes, there is a natural calamity, fire, other man-made destructions, or virus invasions, the files are preserved.

Policy on Handling Complaints

If the Journal receives a complaint that any contribution to the Journal infringes the copyright or other intellectual property rights or contains material inaccuracies, libelous materials, or otherwise unlawful materials, the Journal will investigate the complaint. The investigation may include a request that the parties involved substantiate their claims. The Journal will make a good-faith distribution whether to remove the allegedly wrongful material. A decision not to remove material should represent the Journal's belief that the complaint is without sufficient foundation, or if well-founded, that a legal defense or exemption may apply, such as fair use in the case of copyright infringement or truthfulness of a statement in the case of libel. Journal should document its investigation and decision.  After investigation, if an author is found guilty, the article shall be subjected to the retraction policy.

Policy on Use of Human Subjects in Research

The Journal will only publish research articles involving human subjects after the author(s) have verified that they have followed all laws and regulations concerning the protections afforded human subjects in research studies within the jurisdiction in which a research study they describe was conducted. The research protocol must have been approved by the appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB). In the case of exempt research, the IRB must have deemed the research protocol exempt. A Certificate of Approval by the IRB must be submitted along with the manuscript.

Research Authorization or Permit Requirement

When applicable, the following authorization or permit shall be submitted as an attachment to the manuscript for consideration:

• For Studies that involved human subjects: Ethics Clearance and, if applicable, a National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) permit
• For studies that used biological materials where genetic manipulation is involved or the introduction of exotic or imported plants, microorganisms, or animals, Biosafety permit
• For studies conducted on animals: Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) Clearance/Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) authorization
• For studies that covered the protected areas of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR): Gratuitous Permit

Policy on Conflicts of Interest

 The Journal will only publish articles after the author(s) have confirmed that they have disclosed all potential conflicts of interest.

Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice

The RECOLETOS MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH JOURNAL (RMRJ) is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and takes all possible measures against any publication malpractices. All authors submitting their works to the RMRJ for publication as original articles attest that the submitted works represent their authors' contributions and have not been copied or plagiarized in whole or in part from other works. The authors acknowledge that they have disclosed all and any actual or potential conflicts of interest with their work or partial benefits associated with it.

In the same manner, the RMRJ commits itself to objective and fair double-blind peer-review of the submitted for publication works and to prevent any actual or potential conflict of interests between the editorial and review personnel and the reviewed material. Any departures from the above-defined rules should be reported directly to the Editor-in-Chief, who is unequivocally committed to providing swift resolutions to any of such types of problems. Reviewers and editors are responsible for providing a constructive and prompt evaluation of submitted research papers based on the significance of their contribution and on the rigors of analysis and presentation.