Instructions and Advices for Authors

Before the decision

Before you submit the manuscript to European Countryside, please try to answer the following questions:

Why the international public should read and cite your paper? An article published in an international journal is NOT a national paper translated into English!

How could your article contribute to a solution of rural problems?

Is the topic of your article focused on the countryside in Europe?

Only upon satisfactory answers of the mentioned questions would you be able to submit your manuscript to European Countryside.

We do not have any strict manuscript length limit. However, the recommended maximum length is ca. 60,000 characters that are readable and understandable as a research paper. Enclosures (preferably coloured ones) with maximum size A4 are accepted with no additional charge.

Manuscripts in English have to be complete, which means it should include abstracts, key words, graphics (ordered in the paper) and references. Do not enclose separate files with graphic figures. As the European Countryside does not have a printed version, it is not necessary to provide graphs, tables and figures in very high resolution. Tables should be sent in a Word format – not as pictures! The manuscripts should be s ubmitted in an electronic form only.

Manuscripts must be in English, and authors are urged to aim for clarity, brevity, and accuracy of information and language. Authors whose native language is not English should have their manuscripts checked for linguistic accuracy by a native English speaker. It is recommended to enclose the confirmation from the proof-reading agency/individual or an affidavit that the manuscript has been checked by the experienced English speaker.

In case the manuscript exceeds 15 MB, please compress the graphics. The most convenient way to send oversized files is by uschovna.cz service (up to 300 MB, 14 days and 30 downloads for free).

The manuscripts should be submitted in MS Word. Text should not be formatted. Paragraphs should be separated by the key enter. The interspace between two words is formed by exactly one keystroke. Bullets and remarks below the line are accepted when they are created electronically. The hyphenation should be avoided. Please, do not number the references.

The headings should have the following structure: the title of the paper, the author(s) name(s) without titles. Abstract(s) (maximum 800 characters) and keywords (3-8).

Additional data about author(s) should be written at the end of the manuscript: name(s), academic and scientific title(s), ORCID number, affiliations, e-mails of authors.

The title should reflect the content of the paper. In the case of regionally focused papers, the respective country (region) should be mentioned in the title. The abstract should give a short overview of the problem solved, the methodology used and results gained. The abstract should not contain any undefined abbreviations or unspecified references. Do not put quotes in the abstract. The quality of the abstract often determines whether the paper will be sent for a review. The keywords should be provided to be used for indexing purposes. The quality of abstracts and key words may influence the length of the evaluation process. Inappropriate selected key words may delay searches for reviewers as well as inconspicuous abstract may limit their willingness to evaluate the manuscript.

In order to strengthen not only the unity of Europe but also its diversity, abstracts in the native language of the author(s) or the country in which the investigation was made will be published. Author(s) are kindly asked to provide both English and the native language abstracts and key words. The author(s) are fully responsible for the language and content of the non-English abstracts.

Highlights will be presented at the beginning of each article in order to make it easier for readers to find their way around the article. Highlights are a short collection of bullet points that convey the core findings and provide readers with a quick textual overview of the article. These three to five bullet points (maximum 80 symbols each) describe the essence of the research (e.g. results or conclusions) and highlight what is distinctive about it. Authors should place Highlights behind abstracts.

The references should be divided into the following categories: Academic References and Other Sources. Academic references should contain (in English, alphabetic order according to the surname of the 1st author) papers in journals, books, chapters in books, unpublished materials as theses or research reports, thematic maps. Articles in proceedings should be quoted as book chapters (if the proceedings fulfil the book standards). In case the authors' names or publisher (in the case of books) are missing, the sources should be quoted among Other Sources. Academic quotations have to contain name(s) of author(s). Please cite all authors in References (the citation in the text should be cited as the first author and et al. when they exceed two authors). Institution(s), whether anonymous are not authors. Papers, books and reports downloaded from the internet should be quoted as Academic Sources when they contain respective data.

Please add the DOI index (digital object identifier), when available. It is supposed that academic references will be loaded into citation systems of Web of Science, SCOPUS and other databases. Such references have to be traceable. That is why sources should be quoted in the original language (if it uses Latin alphabet).

Other sources are not supposed to be a part of citation systems. Typical examples of other sources are the following: statistical data, basic maps, web pages, government and planning documents, laws and regulations, technical norms, conference papers in the case when the publication does not fulfil the standards (especially when the publisher is missing), conference presentations, oral information or interviews etc. These sources should be quoted in a form enabling their identification as much as possible.

EXAMPLES

Journal paper [journals usually have a ISSN number; cite author(s), year, title, name of the journal, volume, number, pages, DOI; when the publication has both ISSN and ISBN numbers, the citation as a book is recommended]: Printsmann, A., Kruse, A. & Roth, M. (2012). Introduction for living in agricultural landscapes: practice, heritage and identity. European Countryside 4(2), 89-100. DOI: 10.2478/v10091-012-0016-5.

Book [book usually has a ISBN number; cite author(s), year, title, place of publication, the publisher; the relevant data can be found in imprint - not in layout]: Basile, E. & Cecchi, C. (2001). La Trasformazione Post-Industriale della Campagna. Torino: Rosenberg & Sellier.

Chapter in a book or proceedings [cite author(s), year, title, editor(s), name of the book, pages, place of the publication, the Publisher; in the case of the proceeding, do not cite redundant data like place and locality of conference (if they are not a part of the title), but cite the Publisher which is usually the university, academic institute or scientific society, but rarely faculty and in fact, never the department]: Vaattovaara, M., Schulman, H. & Kortteinen, M. (2011). A Nordic Welfare model at a turning point? Social housing and segregation in Finland. In Driant, J.-C. & Houard, N., eds., Social housing across the Europe (pp.49-70). Paris: La documentation Francaise.

Theses, Research Reports [cite author, year, specification of the cited source, the publisher]: Schnaitl, C. (2012). Offentlicher Leerstand in strukturschwachen Gemeinden - was tun? [Master thesis]. Wien: Universitat für Bodenkultur.

Reference linking is the most significant benefit of electronic publishing. It allows readers to extend their reading experience immensely. That is why it is important to pay close attention to the references. They should be cited completely, correctly and be properly structured. Quotations of web documents especially papers in journals have to contain the DOI INDEX, if available!

Graphical enclosures (maps, cartograms, schemes) should be delivered in .jpg, .bmp, .tif or .eps formats. Graphs should be delivered in MS Excel, including the source table. Tables should be provided in Word or MS Excel. Coloured photographs are expected in the electronic form with resolution suitable for web publishing. Landscape format is preferred over upright format for figures smaller than A4. All enclosures have to be numbered, described and introducing the source.

European Countryside publishes the following types of contributions: Research Papers, Editorials, Research Notes, Short Communications.

Editorials are defined as introductory papers of special numbers. They usually contain an introduction of the number topic, basic theoretical anchoring and the overview of the number papers.

Research notes discuss new trends or aspects of a specific rural problem. They usually do not contain any empiric research.

Short communications are characterized as articles that are usually not sufficiently based on international literature or lack their own research. However, they are interesting and/or have some quotation potential from a specific viewpoint (e.g. problems of a specific region or a specific field of study not sufficiently covered by scientific literature or some application innovations - best practices)

The authors should suggest the type of paper together with its submission. Nevertheless, the Executive Board could change it.

The recommended minimum structure of a Research Paper is as follows:

Introduction

• basic context of theme including precise place of concerned area in European (and national) framework (see the three questions at the beginning)
• clearly defined research objectives, possibly hypotheses,
• basic argumentation to support the hypotheses.

Theoretical background

• This part is mainly based on a critical literature review (regional and foreign authors) including one's own evaluation and interpretation.

Theoretical part, research objectives and empirical part (Results) have to be linked.

Methodology

• description and justification of the applied methods,
• data sources, monitored period, etc.

Results

• research results with comments,
• explanation of causal relations,
• case study (if suitable).

Conclusion and discussion

• summary of research findings
• comparison with other region/in European context/other research of authors/other methodological approach etc..
• comment of the research objectives and a hypotheses

It is recommended to divide the manuscript by subtitles in a common structure (introduction, theoretical and methodological background based on an international literature, empirical knowledge, conclusion and discussion, acknowledgements, references). The paper should contain a unifying idea from the introduction to the conclusions).

Each paper will pass through an initial evaluation. It involves being checked by the anti-plagiarism program and an initial evaluation from viewpoints of coincidence with the aim and scope of the journal, clear definition of the aim and research question(s) of the paper and its sufficient embedding in the international literature (defined as papers in journals covered by Web of Knowledge or SCOPUS). In the case of a positive initial evaluation, the manuscript is forwarded to the external review process. The journal follows a double-blind reviewing procedure. Manuscripts are evaluated by at least two independent reviewers from different countries. Authors may propose two to three reviewers who are experts in the field, have at least a Ph.D. level and have no conflict of interest with the authors. The reviewers can recommend the acceptance of the manuscript in the original version, with minor or major changes or its rejection. The author(s) obtain the reviews with a standpoint or instructions of the Executive Board after the review process is completed.