Submissions

Author Guidelines

Submission Guidelines

Theoretical, philosophical and research manuscripts must not exceed 7,500 words. Commentaries and responses to published articles must not exceed 3,000 words. Manuscripts and the cover letter should be submitted through the online portal (OJS Platform). Any further questions should be submitted to aporia@uottawa.ca.

Cover Letter

Papers are accepted for publication in the Journal on the understanding that the content has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. This must be stated in the cover letter, which must be uploaded with the manuscript. The cover letter must contain an acknowledgement that all authors have contributed significantly, and that all authors agree with the content of the manuscript. When applicable, it should be stated that the protocol for the research project has been approved by a suitable and relevant Research Ethics Board. All investigations involving human subjects must include a statement that participants provided informed consent and anonymity must be preserved. Authors must declare financial support or relationships that may cause conflicts of interest. If the manuscript is submitted towards a Special Issue, it must be specified in the cover letter.

Authorship Credit

Each author must have participated sufficiently in the work. Authorship credit is based on substantial contributions to:

1. conception and design, or analysis and interpretation of data;
2. drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and
3. final approval of the version to be published.

Copyright

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2. Authors can enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).

Peer Review

Aporia uses a double-blind peer review process.

Preparation of the Manuscript

Research manuscripts, theoretical and philosophical pieces must not exceed 7,500 words. Commentaries and responses related to published articles must not exceed 3,000 words. Submissions should be prepared in word-processing software using a standard font. The text file should be double-spaced and set with top, bottom and side margins of 2.5 cm or 1 inch.

Style

• Manuscripts must follow APA guidelines. Manuscripts that do not follow the APA format will be returned to the author prior to peer review.
• The journal uses UK spelling for English articles and authors should therefore follow the latest edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary.
• All measurements must be given in metric units.
• Abbreviations should be used sparingly and only where they alleviate the text. Initially use the word in full, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Thereafter use the abbreviation.
• Drugs should be referred to by their generic names, rather than trade names.

Parts of the Manuscript

Manuscripts should be organised in the following order: (i) title page, (ii) abstract and key words (max of 5), (iii) text, (iv) acknowledgements, (v) references, (vi) appendices, (vii) figure legends, (viii) tables (each table complete with title and footnotes) and (ix) figures. Footnotes to the text are not allowed and any such material should be incorporated into the text in parentheses.

• Title page

The title page should contain (i) the title of the paper, (ii) the full names of the authors, (iii) the addresses of their respective institutions and (iv) the full postal and email address, facsimile and telephone numbers of the corresponding author.

• Abstract and key words

All articles must have a brief abstract that states in 200 words or less the problem, the theoretical framework, the purpose, the methodology, findings and conclusions of the study. The abstract should not contain abbreviations or references. A maximum of five key words should be supplied in alphabetical order below the abstract.

• Text

Authors should use subheadings to divide the sections of their manuscript. e.g. Introduction, Theoretical Framework, Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements, Sources of funding and/or Conflicts of interest, References.

• Acknowledgements

The source of financial grants and other funding must be acknowledged, including a frank declaration of authors' industrial links and affiliations. The contribution of colleagues, communities, or institutions must also be acknowledged.

• Citations and References

The most recent APA system of referencing must be used.

• Use of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools

When a generative artificial intelligence (AI) model is used in the drafting of the manuscript, the use of AI must be disclosed in the most appropriate section of the manuscript and cited. For example, if it was used to generate the literature review, this should appear in the relevant section of the manuscript, with prompts provided. If AI was used to support data analysis (e.g., coding), this use must be detailed in the methodology section.

• Appendices

Appendices should be placed at the end of the paper, numbered in Roman numerals and referred to in the text.

• Tables

Tables should be self-contained and complement, but not duplicate, information contained in the text. Tables should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals. A comprehensive but concise legend should be included.