Submissions

Author Guidelines

Instructions for Authors

Patchwork, an open-access academic journal, publishes research (original and review) articles and professional articles, and in specific situations, other types of articles as well. Research articles and professional articles are published after positive (double, triple or multiple) reviews, while the final decision on other types of articles is made by the Editorial Board.

Contributions are accepted exclusively through the OJS platform. Authors retain the copyright for articles published in the Journal, but by providing their consent to publication, they grant the Journal the right of first publication. The Editorial Board accepts only those articles that have not been previously published, nor are they in the peer review process at another journal. Articles are accepted and published in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian/Montenegrin or English.

Authors are obliged to anonymise their manuscript before electronic submission. An anonymised manuscript must not contain information about the author(s). Any information that could indicate the identity of the author should be removed from the manuscript. This also includes information about the institution or project under which the article was produced. Identifying information is removed from the article and from the system data on the file.

The first page of the anonymised manuscript should contain:

• Title of the article,
• Summary of up to 250 words,
• Up to five keywords,
• The summary and key words should be written in English and B/C/S/M.

The following instructions should be followed in the articles:

• The article should be language edited.
• The article should be written with single spacing (Times New Roman, 12).
• Headings and subheadings should be numbered.
• Research articles should not exceed 8000 words, professional articles 6000 words, other articles 3000 words.
• APA citation style applies (6th edition, 2010). For more information see: American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (sixth edition).
• Tables, graphs, graphic figures or images should be numbered with Arabic numerals, in the order in which they appear in the text. The title of such insertions with numbering should be placed above (Times New Roman, 12, centred above the insertion) and the source below the insertion.
• Footnotes/notes should generally be avoided. When necessary (for digressions or explanations), they should be written in a continuous sequence starting with 1 (Times New Roman, 10, justified, spacing 1.0).
• The bibliography comes at the end (APA, 2010, sixth edition) and should include the author’s reference list.
• The author should anonymise the manuscript before submission on the OJS platform. Any data pointing to the identity of the author should be removed from the article, including from the system data on the file.

Categorisation of contributions

Original research article is an article published for the first time and presenting the results of one’s own research carried out by applying scientific methods that can be verified, and contains: introduction, methods, results and discussion (IMRAD).

Review article is an article that brings new syntheses based on a review of the latest works in a certain subject area, and contains an original, detailed and critical presentation of a research problem or area in which the author made a certain contribution.

Professional article is a contribution offering useful experiences for the improvement of professional practice, which are not necessarily based on the scientific method, but rather on the usability of the results of original research and the dissemination of knowledge.

Book review or conference review is a contribution in which the author evaluates a scientific or professional work, assumptions and premises, with a special focus on the quality of the reviewed article.

Patchwork is an academic scholarly journal that adheres to the highest standards of editorial ethics, the principles of the University of Sarajevo Code of Ethics, as well as the principles of the Code of Conduct for Journal Editors (COPE). Sincerity, originality and honesty on the part of the authors, as well as fairness, objectivity and confidentiality on the part of the editors and reviewers, are the values on which Patchwork editing and publication are based. To offer quality content to our readers, we adhere to the following principles of editorial ethics that must be respected by authors, reviewers and the publisher. Should it be disclosed that a contribution submitted for publication does not abide by these principles, such contribution will not be published in Patchwork. Articles are subject to double, possibly triple (or multiple) anonymous review. The review and editing process monitors possible content plagiarism or falsification. In case of plagiarism, the Editorial Board notifies the author thereon and undertakes other measures.

Authors must guarantee the originality of the published articles. Authors are expected to duly reference other authors, collaborators or sources. Authors who submit contributions for Patchwork must guarantee that their article is their original work. Any part of the article that is a quotation or paraphrase of someone else’s words or works must be duly referenced. Authors should disclose potential financial or other conflicts of interest that could affect the results or interpretation of their work. Should an author discover an error in the article, he/she is obliged to inform the editors about it and provide support in removing the error or withdraw the article. Authors are also obliged to revise their articles as recommended by reviewers, for the purpose of quality assurance.