For final acceptance and publication in MGDR, these style, typesetting and layout requirements are mandatory. In fact, even at the initial manuscript submission stage, while not mandatory, MGDR strongly encourages authors to adhere to this style guide. The final accepted manuscript will not be published until these style requirements are met. Here is a link to downloadable sample documents, in Word and PDF formats, showing the required style and format.

Formatting Requirements

Do:

• Submit your article in English, with English (US) as spellcheck style, and using good grammar and writing style (see “Additional Information and Recommendations” section)
• Copyedit your manuscript; MGDR does not provide copyedit assistance
• Use a single column layout with both margins justified
• Single space your text
• Utilize the following fonts:
  1. Main body - 12 pt. Arial
  2. Footnotes (to be avoided, but if you must...) - 10 pt. Arial
• Set page size to 8.5 x 11-inches (USA ‘Letter’ size)
• Single space your text.
• Set all margins (left, right, top and bottom) to 1.5 inches (3.8 cm)
• Indent (½ inch) all paragraphs except those following a section heading
• Use black font color for all text.
• If needed, use color in the production of figures, maps, etc.; however, colors must translate well when printed in black and white.
• If figures are included, use high-resolution figures, preferably encoded as encapsulated PostScript (eps)
• Submit your manuscript - including tables, figures, appendices, etc. - as a single file in Word or RTF format

Do NOT:

• Include a title page or author names
• Include headers or footers
• Include an abstract (it is uploaded separately at the submission site)
• Number the article's pages
• Insert extra space between paragraphs of text with the exception of paragraphs preceding headings, long quotations, theorems, propositions, special remarks, etc. (Use 6-point before/after spacing in such cases)
• "Widow" or "orphan" text, i.e. ending a page with the first line of a paragraph or beginning a page with the last line of a paragraph
• Have pages where more than a quarter of the page is empty space (when possible)

Additional Information and Recommendations

Style and References

Authors are required to provide complete references with all the necessary bibliographic information (see examples in the sample document). MGDR also requires the inclusion of a properly formatted DOI link (see guidelines here https://www.crossref.org/display-guidelines/) at the end of all references that contain a DOI identifier. Here are guidelines for references for the list of references:

Books:
Smith, Jane R. and John Q. Public (2013), Reference List Style Guidelines. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Edited books:
DuPont, Jean, ed. (2013), Handbook of Reference List Style Guidelines. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Periodicals:
Horval, Ivan (2013), “An Analysis of Reference Style Guidelines,” Journal of Guidelines, 31 (2), 2-7.

Excerpts from books or proceedings:
Normalverbraucher, Otto (2013), “Be Sure You Proofread Your Submission,” in Reference Style Guidelines, Jean P. DuPont, ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 155-62.

Unpublished works, such as dissertations, presented papers, research reports, and working papers:
Doe, John S. (2013), “A History of Reference Style Guidelines,” doctoral dissertation, Royal Holloway University of London.
Kowalski, Jan V. (2013), “A Citation for Every Reference, and a Reference for Every Citation,” paper presented at the 2011 meeting of the Reference Guidelines Association, London, UK (January 6-9).
Meier, Hans (2013), “Toward the Standardization of Reference Style Guidelines,” research report, Austrian Reference Guidelines Association (March 4).
Pérez, Juan C. (2013), “Reference Style Guidelines in Latin America,” Working Paper No. 9, Office of the Americas, Reference Guidelines Association.

Online:
Witkowski, Terrence H. (2013), “Guide for Submission of Manuscripts,” (accessed June 1, 2013), [available at http://jmk.sagepub.com].

Other reference list guidelines:

• If an author has two or more entries in the reference list, list them chronologically, earliest first.
• If two or more works by the same author(s) have the same publication date, letters should differentiate them after the date (e.g. 2013a, 2013b).
• The author's name is repeated in full for each entry.

All references should be listed at the end of the paper, as well as cited in the text, in the forms indicated in the examples above, as well as in the sample document. After the last sentence of your submission, please insert a page break and begin your references. References should have margins that are both left and right-justified (see sample document). You may choose not to right-justify the margin of one or more references if the spacing looks too awkward.

Article Length

Because this journal publishes electronically, page limits are relatively flexible. The following are recommended lengths for various categories (including tables, figures, appendices, and references):

• Articles: 8000 to 12000 words
• Commentaries: 3000 to 5000 words
• Media/Book Reviews: 1000 to 3000 words

Emphasized Text

Use italics to indicate text you with to emphasize rather than underlining it. Do not use color to emphasize text.

Language & Grammar

All submissions must be in English. Set the language and spellcheck style to ‘English (US)’. The use of foreign words and phrases should be avoided, unless the topic requires such use. Foreign terms that appear on a rare and occasional bases should be set in italics.

Authors should use proper, standard English grammar. The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White is an excellent guide. The Chicago Manual of Style, University of Chicago Press, is another good resource.

Headings

The major heading is in Calibri 16-point font, left justified, single spaced, with 6-point space before the heading, but no space after the heading. The first letters of the words in the headings are capitalized. The secondary heading – if required – is in Calibri 14-point font, left justified, single spaced. The first letters of the words in the secondary headings are capitalized. The text in the first normal paragraph after the secondary heading has no indentation. Of course, the Arial-12 point continues throughout, for normal text.

MGDR discourages very strongly the use of a sub-heading level lower than the ‘secondary heading’ level. Contributors should either start new secondary or major headings to facilitate categorization of their narrative, or use some convenient schema that uses numbering or bullet points if lower level categorization of the narrative is required.

Fonts

Except when special symbols or graphic elements are needed, use Arial-12 font.

Footnotes are generally to be avoided in MGDR, but if you must use footnotes, make sure they are in Arial-10 font. Caution: Word does not automatically change the footnote fonts when you change to font in the rest of the document! To change the font of the footnote to Arial-10, please follow the instructions at this link.

Tables and Figures

To the extent possible, tables and figures should appear in the document near where they are referenced in the text. See the sample document to see the recommended style for tables and figures. Large tables or figures should be put on separate pages, by themselves. Avoid the use of overly small font in tables. All tables and figures must fit within 1.5" margins on all sides (top, bottom, left and right) in both portrait and landscape view.