Originality & exclusive submission
Confirmation that the work is original, has not been published elsewhere in whole or substantial part, and is not under consideration by another journal.
1. Manuscript structure
Original research and short communications must follow IMRaD structure. Review articles must state a search strategy and inclusion criteria in place of a Methods section.
| Element | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Title | Specific and descriptive; maximum 20 words. No abbreviations, no question marks, no promotional adjectives ("novel", "revolutionary"). |
| Abstract | Maximum 250 words, single paragraph, unstructured, no citations, no undefined abbreviations. Must state objective, method, principal results, and conclusion. |
| Keywords | 4–6 keywords, alphabetically ordered, separated by semicolons. Terms must not repeat words in the title. |
| Introduction | Problem statement, prior work, explicit research gap, and stated objective or hypothesis. Ends with a one-sentence contribution statement. |
| Methods | Sufficient detail for independent replication: materials, instruments with model and manufacturer, sample size justification, software versions, and statistical or analytical procedures. |
| Results | Findings only, with measures of uncertainty. No interpretation. Data must not be duplicated between text, tables, and figures. |
| Discussion | Interpretation against prior literature, mechanisms, and a mandatory limitations paragraph. Claims must not exceed the evidence presented. |
| Conclusion | Maximum 200 words. No new results, no unsupported forward-looking claims. |
| Declarations | All six declarations in section 4, placed after the Conclusion and before the References. |
| References | IEEE numeric style, cited in order of appearance. Minimum 20 references for original research, of which at least half from the last five years. DOIs required where they exist. |
2. Formatting rules
- A4 page, single column, 2.5 cm margins, line spacing 1.5.
- Times New Roman 12 pt body; 10 pt for table and figure captions.
- Continuous line numbering and page numbering throughout.
- Numbered headings to a maximum of three levels (1, 1.1, 1.1.1).
- SI units throughout; equations numbered consecutively in parentheses.
- Figures at minimum 300 dpi (TIFF, PNG, or vector PDF/EPS); no embedded screenshots of text.
- Tables as editable text, never as images; captions above tables, below figures.
- Submit as .docx
3. Length, figure, and table limits
| Article type | Words (excl. references) | Figures + tables | Abstract |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original research | 4,000–8,000 | max 10 combined | ≤250 words |
| Review article | 6,000–10,000 | max 12 combined | ≤250 words |
| Short communication | 2,000–3,500 | max 4 combined | ≤150 words |
| Technical note | 1,500–3,000 | max 4 combined | ≤150 words |
Supplementary material is not counted in these limits but is not copyedited and is published as supplied.
4. Mandatory declarations
All six statements must appear in the manuscript. "Not applicable" is an acceptable answer only where genuinely true.
Conflict of interest
All financial and non-financial competing interests for every author, including employment, consultancy, patents, and personal relationships.
Funding
Funder names with grant numbers, and the role of the funder in the study design, analysis, or decision to publish.
Data availability
Where the underlying data and code reside, with a repository name and accession or DOI, or a documented reason for restricted access.
Author contributions
A CRediT-style statement assigning conceptualisation, methodology, analysis, writing, and supervision to named authors.
Ethics approval & consent
Approving committee and reference number for research involving human participants or animals, and a statement of informed consent.
5. Plagiarism and similarity screening
Every submission is screened with iThenticate or Turnitin twice: once at desk check, and again on the final revised file before acceptance. The report is read by an editor, never applied as a bare number.
5.1 Thresholds
| Measure | Limit | Outcome if exceeded |
|---|---|---|
| Overall similarity index | below 15% | Returned for rewriting before review |
| Any single source | ≤ 5% | Returned even where the overall index passes |
| Overlap with the authors' own published work | ≤ 10% | Treated as redundant publication; must be disclosed and cited |
| Verbatim text with no attribution | none permitted | Rejected under the ethics policy, regardless of percentage |
Excluded from the count
- —The reference list
- —Correctly quoted and attributed material
- —Standard method descriptions, instrument names, and equations
- —Matches of fewer than eight consecutive words
Counted in full
- —Paraphrase that follows a source sentence by sentence
- —Translated text reused without attribution
- —Reused text from the authors' own theses, preprints, or conference papers
- —Introduction and literature-review text drawn from a single source
5.2 How the result is acted on
-
1
Below threshold
The manuscript proceeds to editorial appraisal. No action is required from the authors.
-
2
Above threshold, no evidence of intent
Returned with the flagged passages marked. Authors may rewrite and resubmit once, within 21 days, keeping the same manuscript reference.
-
3
Substantial or deliberate copying
Rejected and handled under the Publishing Ethics policy, following COPE flowcharts. The authors' institution may be notified.
-
4
Detected after publication
Investigated and, where upheld, corrected or retracted under Corrections & Retractions. The notice stays permanently linked to the article.
Figures and images
Figures are checked for duplication, splicing, and undisclosed enhancement. Original, uncropped image files and raw instrument output may be requested at any point up to publication; inability to supply them is grounds for rejection.
6. Citing and referencing
IJKR uses IEEE numeric style. Sources are numbered in order of first appearance and cited in square brackets — [1], [3], [5]–[7] — with the reference list in citation order, not alphabetical.
6.1 Reference formats
| Source type | Pattern |
|---|---|
| Journal article | [1] A. B. Author and C. D. Author, "Title of the paper," Journal Name, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 145–158, 2025, doi: 10.xxxx/yyyy. |
| Book | [2] E. F. Author, Title of the Book, 3rd ed. City, Country: Publisher, 2023, pp. 88–104. |
| Conference paper | [3] G. H. Author, "Title of the paper," in Proc. Conference Name, City, Country, 2024, pp. 21–27, doi: 10.xxxx/yyyy. |
| Thesis | [4] I. J. Author, "Title of the thesis," Ph.D. dissertation, Dept., University, City, Country, 2022. |
| Standard | [5] Title of Standard, ISO 9001:2015, 2015. |
| Dataset or code | [6] K. L. Author, "Title of dataset," Repository Name, 2025, doi: 10.xxxx/yyyy. |
| Preprint | [7] M. N. Author, "Title of the paper," arXiv:2501.01234, 2025. (Preprints must be labelled as such.) |
| Web page | [8] Organisation Name, "Page title," 2026. [Online]. Available: https://… [Accessed: 14 Mar. 2026]. |
6.2 Citation rules
- Minimum 20 references for original research; at least half published in the last five years.
- Include a DOI wherever one exists. Broken or absent DOIs are queried at copyediting.
- Cite only sources you have read. Do not copy reference lists from other papers.
- Every reference must be cited in the text, and every in-text citation must appear in the list.
- Do not cite retracted work as valid evidence; if it must be discussed, label it as retracted.
- Under double-blind review, refer to your own prior work in the third person.
Citation manipulation is prohibited
References added only to inflate an author's or a journal's citation count are treated as misconduct. Excessive self-citation is queried at review, and coercive citation by editors or reviewers — asking authors to add references that are not needed to support the argument — is grounds for removal from the board or reviewer panel.
6.3 How to cite an IJKR article
IEEE
A. B. Author, C. D. Author, and E. F. Author, "Title of the paper," Int. J. Knowl. Res., vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 1–12, 2026, doi: 10.xxxxx/ijkr.2026.1.1.001.
APA 7
Author, A. B., Author, C. D., & Author, E. F. (2026). Title of the paper. International Journal of Knowledge and Research, 1(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.xxxxx/ijkr.2026.1.1.001
Every published article page carries a copyable citation in IEEE, APA, and BibTeX form.
7. Disclosure of generative AI use
Use of generative AI or AI-assisted tools must be disclosed in a named subsection of the declarations, stating the tool, version, and the specific purpose of use (for example language editing, code generation, or figure preparation).
- AI tools cannot be listed as authors and cannot hold accountability for any part of the work.
- AI-generated text presented as the authors' own scholarly reasoning, or AI-fabricated references, data, or images, constitute misconduct.
- Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of all submitted content, including any AI-assisted portion.
- Reviewers may not upload manuscripts to AI services, as this breaches confidentiality.
8. ORCID requirement
iD
A valid ORCID iD is mandatory for every author, including all co-authors — not only the corresponding author. Submissions with a missing or invalid iD are returned unreviewed.
- Format:
0000-0000-0000-0000(the final character may be X). - Registration at orcid.org is free and takes a few minutes.
- iDs are published with the article metadata and deposited with the DOI record.