Notes to Authors
PUPJST adheres to the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
1. Submitting a manuscript to PUPJST signifies that all authors have reviewed and approved its content and that the manuscript complies with the journal’s policies.
2. Intending authors should submit only original manuscripts that are free of plagiarism, including self-plagiarism, and are not under consideration elsewhere. Manuscripts submitted to PUPJST are considered exclusive during the review process. Submission to other publications is prohibited unless the manuscript is formally declined by one of our journals following peer review.
3. PUPJST, through the Managing Editors (ME), reserves the right to accept or reject any submitted material.
4. Works in our journals do not reflect the views of the editors.
5. PUPJST has the right to retract works that breach research and publication ethics after publication.
Submission Preparation Checklist
Manuscripts should be accompanied by a cover letter which should include the following information:
Ø A full statement to the editor about all submissions and previous reports that might be regarded as redundant publications of the same or very similar work. Any such work should be referred to specifically and referenced in the new paper. Copies of such material should be included with the submitted paper to help the editor address the situation. See also Section III.D.2 https://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf.
Ø A statement of financial or other relationships and activities that might lead to a conflict of interest, if that information is not included in the manuscript itself or in an author’s form. See also Section II.B.
Ø A statement on authorship. Journals that do not use contribution declarations for all authors may require that the submission letter includes a statement that the manuscript has been read and approved by all the authors, that the requirements for authorship as stated earlier in this document have been met, and that each author believes that the manuscript represents honest work if that information is not provided in another form. See also Section II.A.
Ø Contact information of all the authors (email and affiliations). Specify the corresponding author who will be responsible for communicating with other authors about revisions and final approval of the proofs, if that information is not included in the manuscript itself.
Ø The letter or form should inform editors if concerns have been raised (e.g., via institutional and/or regulatory bodies) regarding the conduct of the research or if corrective action has been recommended. The letter or form should give any additional information that may be helpful to the editor, such as the type or format of the article in the particular journal that the manuscript represents. If the manuscript has been submitted previously to another journal, it is helpful to include the previous editors' and reviewers’ comments with the submitted manuscript, along with the authors’ responses to those comments. Editors encourage authors to submit these previous communications. Doing so may expedite the review process and encourage transparency and sharing of expertise.
Ø The manuscript must be accompanied by permission to reproduce previously published material, use previously published illustrations, report information about identifiable people, or acknowledge people for their contributions.
Ø Authors should obtain permission from authors for copyright figures and tables before submitting to PUPJST.
As part of the submission process, authors must confirm that their submission complies with all the following requirements. Submissions that do not meet these guidelines may be returned for revisions.
Affiliation
✓ Authors must list all relevant affiliations where the research was approved, supported, and conducted, including your current affiliation.
✓ If you move to a different institution before publication, list the affiliation where the work was completed.
✓ If you do not have a current relevant institutional affiliation, state your independent status.
Manuscript template: Click here
Writing Rules:
Below are the mandatory criteria to be considered in manuscript submission to PUPJST. Failure to adhere to these criteria will result in rejection of the article by the editorial team.
Ø The article adheres to the submission preparation checklist.
Ø Article should be in Microsoft Word format only.
Ø Articles should be written in single-column format, using Arial font, 11-point font size; paragraph spacing defaulted to 1.08. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible.
Ø Equations and formulas should be readable, preferably written using equation editing software's (E.g. Math Type). Alternatively, authors have to provide the fonts used for creating the equations/formulae.
Ø All figures provided are of high resolution, minimum of 300dpi. The captions should describe the figure yet short (having 10-15 words in sentence case style).
Ø All abbreviations should be defined on first use in the text along with the abbreviation in parenthesis. E.g. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
Ø Symbols should be used while referring to alpha, beta, mu, etc (Ex: α, β, μ, etc). All units should follow the International System of Units (SI units).
Ø File size should not exceed 20 MB.
Ø References and citations should be in APA style, no hyperlinks.
Citations:
All submissions, regardless of their nature (research articles or non-research articles), are expected to adhere to rigorous citation practices.
Ø All claims within the manuscript must be supported by relevant, recent, and credible literature, primarily from peer-reviewed sources.
Ø Avoid excessive self-citation or agreements to cite each other's work, as this is considered citation manipulation. Refer to COPE (citation manipulation) guidance on this issue.
Ø For non-research articles, ensure that the cited references are relevant to the article's topic and provide a balanced and unbiased overview of the current state of knowledge. Avoid displaying any undue bias towards specific research groups, organizations, or journals.
In case of any difficulty with the manuscript submission process or concern regarding the suitability of your files, please contact us at pupjst@pup.edu.ph.
Authorship of the Paper
Authorship should be limited to those who have contributed significantly to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made substantial contributions should be listed as co-authors.
Individuals who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the paper (e.g., language editing or medical writing) should be recognized in the acknowledgments section.
The lead author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.
See the Authorship Criteria.
Appeals and Complaints
PUPJST upholds the ethical guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) for appeals and peer review management. We encourage legitimate appeals and post-publication concerns, which should be formally submitted to the Editor-in-Chief (EIC) through the Managing Editor. The EIC will conduct a thorough investigation by gathering information from all relevant parties and propose a resolution aligned with academic integrity principles. Review or publication processes may be temporarily halted during the investigation to ensure a fair and just resolution. In cases where the EIC is directly involved in the complaint, the Editorial Board, under the guidance of its senior member, will assume responsibility for the investigation and resolution.
Reporting Standards
Authors of research reports should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. The underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable. Review and professional publication articles should also be accurate and objective, and editorial ‘opinion’ works should be clearly identified as such.
Multiple, Redundant, Or Concurrent Publication
An author should not generally publish manuscripts describing the same research in multiple journals or primary publications. Submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.
Competing Interests
All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could be viewed as inappropriately influencing (bias) their work.
All sources of financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article should be disclosed, as should the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement, then this should be stated.
Examples of potential conflicts of interest that should be disclosed include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. Potential conflicts of interest should be disclosed at the earliest possible stage.
Funding
All authors should disclose all sources of financial support received for their research. This disclosure requirement encompasses:
Ø Financial support originating from internal sources such as institutional funds, grants, and support from the authors' employers or affiliated organizations
Ø Financial support received from external sources, including but not limited to charities, private foundations, for-profit entities (e.g., technology companies, pharmaceutical companies), think tanks, political groups, trade associations, research organizations, and government agencies
Ø External funds from charities, private foundations, for-profit companies (like tech or pharmaceutical companies), think tanks, political groups, trade associations, research organizations, and government agencies.
Corrections, Expressions of Concerns, and Retractions
Corrections to a published article require the approval of the Editor-in-Chief. Minor corrections are made directly to the original article, with a post-publication notice (erratum) added to the journal issue. For major corrections, the original article remains unchanged, and a corrected version is published. Both versions will be linked, and a statement explaining the major change will be included. A correction notice should be written and approved by all the original article’s authors whenever possible. In rare cases, the journal might need to issue a correction without the authors’ direct input. If this happens, the journal will try to notify the authors. Articles may be retracted following COPE retraction guidelines, if necessary. These corrections ensure the journal’s integrity and are not meant to punish authors.
Misconduct including fabrication and falsification
PUPJST takes misconduct seriously and will act according to COPE guidelines to protect the integrity of scholarly work. Examples of misconduct include (but are not limited to):
Ø Affiliation misrepresentation
Ø Breaches in copyright/use of third-party material without appropriate permissions
Ø Citation manipulation
Ø Duplicate submission/publication
Ø “Ethics dumping”
Ø Image or data manipulation/fabrication
Ø Peer review manipulation
Ø Plagiarism
Ø Text-recycling/self-plagiarism
Ø Undisclosed competing interests
Ø Unethical research
Acknowledgments
People who contributed to the work but do not fit the criteria for authors should be listed in the Acknowledgments, along with their contributions. Authors are requested to ensure that anyone named in the Acknowledgments agrees to being so named.
