Journal Writing Guidelines

1 Overview

What this guide covers and why it exists.

This page sets out the house style used to prepare a manuscript, covering structure, typography, citation mechanics, and the doctrinal content expected of every submission. Each rule below mirrors the formatting already applied to the reference article, UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLES OF CAPITAL MARKETS, MONETARY POLICY AND CROSS BORDER INVESTMENT DISCIPLINE, so that future submissions remain visually and intellectually consistent with it. The guide is organised so that a contributor may read it from beginning to end, or jump directly to the section that concerns a specific stage of drafting through the table of contents on the left. A live checklist at the end of the page allows a contributor to confirm compliance item by item before a manuscript is sent for review.

2 Title Formatting

How the title and subtitle should be set.

• The title is rendered entirely in capital letters, bold, and centred.
• Only the comma is permitted as internal punctuation; colons, semicolons, dashes, and question marks are avoided.
• A subtitle, if used, sits beneath the title in italics and sentence case, separated by a blank line rather than punctuation.

3 Abstract & Keywords

Length, style, and keyword conventions.

The abstract is set entirely in italics as a single unbroken paragraph of approximately one hundred and fifty to two hundred words, summarising the purpose, method, principal argument, and conclusion of the article without citing sources directly within it. It should read as a self-contained statement that a reader could understand without consulting the rest of the manuscript, and it must avoid footnote markers, direct quotations, and DOI links entirely. Immediately beneath the abstract, a bolded Keywords label introduces between five and seven terms separated by semicolons, ordered from the broadest concept to the most specific.

4 Typography & Page Layout

Font, size, spacing, and pagination.

• Body font: Georgia, 12 pt, justified alignment, 1.5 line spacing.
• Headings: bold, numbered consecutively (1., 2., 3. …), left-aligned.
• Page numbers are centred at the bottom of every page, including the title page.
• Page size: A4, with a 1-inch margin on all sides.
• Foreign and Latin terms are italicised — see Section 7.

5 Paragraph & Sentence Rules

Density, rhythm, and sentence construction.

Every body paragraph, in every section, contains a minimum of eight complete sentences, allowing an argument sufficient room to develop, qualify itself, and connect to the doctrine or adage that supports it before the paragraph closes. Sentences should be built additively or causally rather than through contrast, so a contributor should avoid compound sentences joined by but, however, although, or whereas, and should instead let two ideas stand as separate sentences or be joined by and, since, or given that. Filler transitions common in looser prose, such as therefore, in practice, overall, often, and perspective, are avoided throughout, since the argument should carry its own weight without relying on stock connective phrases.

6 Citations & Footnotes

How a source is marked in the body text.

A citation is marked in the body text with a superscript numeral placed immediately after the relevant clause, and the corresponding footnote at the bottom of the page carries a short author-year reference rather than a full bibliographic entry. Footnotes never contain a DOI link, since a DOI belongs exclusively to the bibliography described in Section 9. Numbering runs consecutively from the first citation in the introduction to the final citation in the conclusion, without restarting at the beginning of each section.

7 Foreign & Latin Terms

Italicisation of non-English vocabulary.

Every Latin adage, every classical or foreign-language term, and every non-English word retained deliberately for its precision, such as fomo or uang tunggu, is italicised at first mention and at every later occurrence within the manuscript. A short English gloss follows the first use of a Latin phrase so a reader unfamiliar with Latin can still follow the argument without consulting an external source. This rule applies equally to single words and to full phrases, and it is never relaxed for the sake of typographic convenience.

8 Doctrinal Content

What every manuscript in this series must argue.

• At least one Latin economic adage is woven into each major section, used to illuminate rather than decorate the argument.
• Doctrine is drawn from philosophers, economists, investors, and traders spanning different eras, from classical antiquity to contemporary finance.
• Trading guidance is limited to one per cent of total equity, undertaken only when the issuer and the national index are in a confirmed uptrend or visibly approaching one.
• Investing guidance commits ninety-nine per cent of equity to issuers offering a dividend yield above seven per cent, priced at a six- to twelve-month low, provided the low reflects market inefficiency rather than genuine deterioration.
• Dividends are described as waiting money, and capital gain is described as the reward reserved for patience.
• The manuscript explicitly discourages fomo-driven entry and recommends contrarian timing, buying during correction rather than during a rally.

9 References & DOI Style

Bibliography formatting and DOI placement.

Every reference cited within the manuscript is traceable to a genuine book or a peer-reviewed journal article, and no source is invented or approximated for convenience. The bibliography is arranged alphabetically by author surname, set with a hanging indent, and formatted consistently in either the Harvard or the APA style for the entire document. A DOI, where one exists, is written as a full resolvable link placed at the end of the corresponding entry, and it never appears inside a footnote or inline within the body text.

10 Language Restrictions

Spelling and phrasing conventions.

Spelling follows British English conventions throughout, including colour, favour, recognise, and analyse, and a manuscript is not accepted if American spelling appears inconsistently alongside it. Beyond the contrast-connector rule already described in Section 5, a contributor should read the finished draft aloud once before submission, since a sentence that sounds laboured when spoken aloud is usually the sentence carrying an unnecessary filler phrase.