Submissions

Author Guidelines

Preparation

Please note the following requirements:

1. Your manuscript should be in Word or RTF format. The journal does not accept PDF files. Articles should be no more than 8000 words, including citations. 
2. A separate file should be submitted as your title page, containing the manuscript title, names, and affiliations and countries of all contributing authors, and contact details for the Corresponding Author. For titles and headings, the first letter and proper nouns should be capitalized; all other words should appear in lower case. In order to meet your funding requirements authors are required to name their funding sources and to enable double-anonymised peer review, this information be placed at the bottom of the title page.
3. For the purposes of double-blind review, you must suitably anonymise your manuscript and remove any self-identifying information including references to specific grants and projects (this can be inserted/adapted at a post-review stage). If authors refer to their own work, they should do so only in the third person. (This can be revised following the peer review process.)
4. Include an abstract of 150 words as part of your manuscript main document. 
5. Pages must be numbered.
6. To aid the reviewing process, figures and tables should be placed within the main body of the manuscript as near as possible to where they would normally be expected to appear in print. Do not place them at the end of the manuscript, and do not use placeholder text such as “Figure 1 about here.” If the manuscript is eventually accepted, you will be asked to submit these items as separate files (please see 4. Tables and Figures for more information).
7. Please avoid extensive use of footnotes. Endnotes are not accepted.
8. Two levels of subheadings are used: the first in bold and the second in italic. Subheadings are not numbered or lettered. The first letter of the subheading and all key words in the subheading should be capitalized.
9. Quotations longer than two lines are indented. Where quotation marks are required, these should be single not double.
10. References should confirm to the journal’s style (please see 5. References below).
11. Because of the dynamic nature of research in the field of refugee, displacement and forced migration, minorities and gender studies, authors are requested, when relevant, to indicate clearly in the text when data collection/fieldwork was carried out.
12. Language Editing: Before submitting your manuscript, you may wish to have it edited for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. This is not required but may aid in ensuring that your contribution is fully understood by reviewers and editors. Please note that pre-submission language editing does not guarantee acceptance of a manuscript; authors are responsible for all costs associated with language editing.
13. Additional information about your manuscript may be included in a cover letter.

Tables and Figures

These should be self-contained and comprehensible without reference to the text. To aid the reviewing process, they should appear within the main body of the manuscript as closely as possible to their first mention in the text. They should not be submitted at the end of the manuscript: accordingly, do not use placeholder text such as “Table 1 about here” within the manuscript.

If the manuscript is eventually accepted, you will be asked to submit these items within separate electronic files, one for tables and one for figures.

If colour figures are provided, they will only appear in colour in the online version; if different colours are used to make distinctions, these distinctions may not show up in the black and white printed version.

Figure accessibility and alternative text

Incorporating alt text (alternative text) when submitting your paper helps to foster inclusivity and accessibility. Good alt text ensures that individuals with visual impairments or those using screen readers can comprehend the content and context of your figures. The aim of alt text is to provide concise and informative descriptions of your figure so that all readers have access to the same level of information and understanding, and that all can engage with and benefit from the visual elements integral to scholarly content. Including alt text demonstrates a commitment to accessibility and enhances the overall impact and reach of your work.

Good alt text should be objective and:

• Concise: Given the time-consuming nature of screen reader use, strive for alt text under 100 words, and preferably around 25 to 30 words.
• Consistent: Maintain language consistency with the main body of text.
• Unique: Avoid repeating information found in captions or surrounding text. For images entirely explained by captions or text, consider labeling them as decorative indicating that their purpose is primarily ornamental rather than conveying additional information.
• Clear: Spell out contractions, abbreviations, numbers, and non-Latin characters. Present information in a logical and consistent sequence.
• Relevant: Align descriptions with the image's context, intent, and the focus of the text, and title. Different purposes within a work may warrant distinct alt text descriptions.
• Simple: Because screen readers don't interpret formatting, refrain from using formatting (e.g., bullet points) in alt text.
• Inclusive: Ensure your text doesn't contain additional information that a sighted person would miss.
• Standalone: Screen readers indicate that alt text replaces an image, so avoid phrases like "Image of..." or "Graphic of..."
• Complete: Conclude alt text with a full stop/period, allowing for a pause before the screen reader continues.

Additional considerations:

• Grouped images and multi-panel figures: When images are grouped, provide alt text for individual figures rather than a collective description.
• Punctuation: Screen readers are unable to interpret all types of punctuation, so only use the following: periods, commas, semi-colons, colons, parentheses, brackets, quotation mark, and sashes
• Art works: Although starting with a generic "picture of" or "image of" is redundant, it can be beneficial to specify a particular type of image in art works (sculpture, painting, drawing, etc.).
• Graphs: Summarize the graph by emphasizing key details, trends, and relationships in the data. If significant, explicitly list underlying values in a logical order. Avoid redundancy if key values have already been discussed in the text. Use full units like "kilometers" for accurate pronunciation by screen readers.

To submit alt text with your article, include it alongside figure captions as in the example below:

References

Before submission, we urge authors to check their referencing practices so that their manuscripts properly acknowledge equally rigorous scholarship from under-represented and disadvantaged groups—including along lines of gender, race, and professional standing, as well as from scholars based at institutions in low- and middle-income countries.

All references must be listed alphabetically at the end of the paper. The first letter of the title and all key words in the title should be capitalized. Please ensure that all citations in the text appear in the list of references and vice versa.

Leong, F. T. L. and Lau, A. S. L. (2001) 'Barriers to Providing Effective Mental Health Services to Asian Americans'. Mental Health Services Research 3(4): 201-214.

Levy, S. (1999) 'Containment and Validation: Psychodynamic Insights into Refugees' Experience of Torture'. In Ager, A. (ed.) Refugees: Perspectives on the Experience of Forced Migration. London: Pinter, pp. 237-257.

Roter, D. L. and Hall, J. A. (1992) Doctors Talking with Patients/Patients Talking with Doctors: Improving Communication in Medical Visits. Westport: Auburn House.

For online references please add the website details as follows: Available at <...> (accessed DATE).

Proofs

When a final version has been accepted for publication, authors will receive proofs for correction. No changes to content are permitted at this stage and alterations are restricted to correction of typographic errors.

Copy Rights

Manuscripts submitted will be expected to contain original work and should not have been published in abridged or other form elsewhere. Upon receipt of accepted manuscripts at IJRMGS authors will be invited to complete an online copyright license to publish form.

Please note that by submitting an article for publication you confirm that you are the corresponding/submitting author, and that IJRMGS may retain your email address for the purpose of communicating with you about the article. You agree to notify IJRMGS immediately if your details change. If your article is accepted for publication IJRMGS will contact you using the email address you have used in the registration process. Please note that IJRMGS does not retain copies of rejected articles.

Data policy

Availability of Data and Materials

Where ethically feasible, the International Journal for Refugee, Minority and Gender Studies (IJRMGS) strongly encourages authors working with quantitative datasets to make all data and software code on which the conclusions of the paper rely available to readers. Authors working with quantitative data are required to include a Data Availability Statement in their article. This policy applies to all papers submitted to the journal.

Where quantitative data cannot be shared, a reasoned justification should be provided in the text or in an appendix, explaining the ethical, legal or methodological limitations that preclude free, public access to the dataset. For all submissions involving human subjects (quantitative or qualitative), authors should discuss key ethical practices related to human participants in the study.

We suggest that data be presented in the main manuscript or additional supporting files or deposited in a public repository whenever possible. 

Data Availability Statement

The inclusion of a Data Availability Statement is a requirement for articles using quantitative data published in the International Journal for Refugee, Minority and Gender Studies (IJRMGS). Data Availability Statements provide a standardized format for readers to understand the availability of data underlying the research results described in the article. The statement may refer to original data generated during the study or to third-party data analyzed in the article. The statement should describe and provide means of access, where possible, by linking to the data or providing the required unique identifier.

The Data Availability Statement should be included in the end matter of your article under the heading ‘Data availability’.