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Submission Guidelines

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU SUBMIT

In order to have an article considered for review and publication in RURALS, the article

  • must have undergraduate* student(s) as the lead author(s)
  • must be submitted as a Microsoft Word Document in Times New Roman 12pt font
  • should not exceed 15 double-spaced pages (excluding tables, figures, illustrations, and references)
  • should be submitted electronically via the Submit Page with names, e-mails, and affiliations of all authors entered in the appropriate fields
  • must be supported by a cover letter from a faculty sponsor if the article is not co-authored by a faculty
  • must be supported by a cover letter from the co-author(s) if the co-authors(s) is faculty

The cover letter should be on university or college letterhead, signed, scanned, and emailed to the RURALS Managing Editor at aazzam1@unl.edu. The letter should include statements

  • explaining the faculty sponsor’s or the faculty author(s)’s association with the undergraduate student (advisor, reviewer, etc…) and contribution to the research reported in the article
  • assessing the content and accuracy of the submission if not co-authored by a faculty
  • verifying that the lead author(s) did the research as an undergraduate(s)
  • confirming that all the co-authors of the manuscript have agreed to be included in the manuscript and, to the best of the signatory’s knowledge, no MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR has been excluded.

Initial submissions must conform to the following requirements:

  • Major headings should be consecutively numbered and, regardless of discipline, should start with Introduction and end with Results and Discussion, Implications (optional), and References. Headings in-between should be customized to your discipline. References should be listed in alphabetical order.
  • Do not include a title page or abstract in the main body of the paper. (The main body of the paper should begin the introduction. A title page, including the abstract, will be added automatically to your paper based on the information you provided through the Submit Page)
  • Do not include page numbers, headers, or footers. (The appropriate header with page numbers will be added automatically)
  • Acknowledgements should be entered into the appropriate field in the Submit Page, and not in the main body of the paper. The Acknowledgements should include a short bio of the author(s), and the name, rank, affiliation, e-mail address, and telephone number of the faculty sponsor.
  • Page size should be 8.5 x 11-inches
  • Margins: 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) all around
  • Single column layout

Accepted submissions must conform to the Final Manuscript Preparation Guidelines for RURALS before final publication. The Guidelines and instructions on how to upload the final manuscript will be provided in the acceptance letter.

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*Articles by graduate students will be considered if the work has been completed as undergraduates. An Undergraduate student is anyone "who is undertaking a first-level degree programme of study, normally a bachelor's degree or equivalent.” Source: Harvey, L., 2004-5, Analytic Quality Glossary, Quality Research International.