Aperture Submission Guidelines

Submissions from all disciplines are heavily encouraged. Some examples of submission types are listed below, though proposals do not necessarily have to fall under these categories.

1. Original Research Article: An original research article should report motivations for research and relevant literature, methods, experimental data, discussion, and subsequent conclusions while assuming a reader of limited technical understanding. Submitted manuscripts must concern original research (i.e. novel methodologies, new results, and unique interpretations). The primary author of the article must have completed the majority of the research described. Senior Honors thesis work will be accepted under this category.

2. Review Article: A review summarizes past research performed in a specific academic concentration and discusses possible future directions for research in that field in an accessible manner. 

3. Interview: An interview of a researcher or another individual closely connected to research may be conducted by a student and submitted to the Journal with the signed consent of the person interviewed. IRB approval required. 

4. Creative Writing: Written works including stories, poetry, creative writing, prose, scripts, literature

5. Creative Arts: Includes illustrations, photographs, nontextual material, video, dance choreography, visual arts, theater performances, and musical performances.

6. Design: Includes structural design, landscape design, architecture, historic preservation, and product design.

1. Articles submitted to Aperture must be original work written by currently enrolled undergraduate students at the University of Kentucky, who are involved in faculty-mentored research, scholarship, and/or creative activity.

2. Student author(s) should have made a primary contribution to the scholarship, research, and/or analysis contained within the submitted work.

3. One author should take primary responsibility for the work as a whole. The Primary Author is responsible for submission.

4. Everyone listed as an author must have made a substantial, direct, intellectual contribution to the work.

1. Complete and submit the Permission to Publish Form electronically. Read this document very carefully. The Author Agreement Form can be found HERE

2. All articles must be approved by the student researcher's faculty mentor(s) for submission to be complete. The Mentor Approval Form certifying the mentor has reviewed the work and agreed to its publication in Aperture. The Mentor Approval Form can be found HERE

3. Aperture does not accept submissions from undergraduates outside the University of Kentucky Furthermore, the manuscript should only contain research done while the author is attending the University of Kentucky as an undergraduate.

   1. This excludes research done during high school or after graduation. 

   2. This does not exclude research done at an external institution, as long as the institution signs off on the publication of data collected under their supervision.

4. A maximum of two articles will be accepted per author. Please do not submit more than two manuscripts.

5. Manuscripts that have been published in other journals or periodicals cannot be re-published in Aperture. 

Please DO NOT include any author information within the submission itself, as Aperture is a blind-reviewed journal.  Keep this information constrained to the cover page, which is a separate file upload done in addition to the main submission upload.

1. Margins must be 1-inch on all sides.

2. Abstract must be single-spaced.

3. Article text must be single-spaced.

4. Font should be 12-point Times New Roman.

5. All pages must be numbered.  Place page number in the center of the page at the bottom.

6. Citations: see citation information.

7. Articles must be submitted as both a Word document (.dox or .docx format) and a .pdf.

8. The final page of your article should include your faculty mentor's biography. Please consult with your mentor to ensure that you are included in the most updated bio.

9. Maximum length of the article cannot exceed 12 pages or 6000 words, excluding figures, tables, graphs, footnotes, references, abstract, and author information.

The ideal structure of any article will depend on the discipline. Please consult with your faculty mentor to determine the paper structure that is most appropriate for your submission. It is recommended that all submissions contain the following elements: 

1. Cover page with Title --- Place the title of your article at the top of each page, followed by the names of the student author(s) and the faculty mentor(s). This will be a separate submission from the main file submission.

2. Abstract --- A single paragraph containing no more than 300 words. An abstract briefly defines the problem, purpose, or specific topic addressed by the research. It briefly indicates the methods and/or approach taken in inquiry and summarizes results or conclusions. It should be written in grammatically correct, logically connected sentences. It should be understandable by any audience with reasonable knowledge of its field, without containing any charts, tables, graphs, figures, or spreadsheets. The abstract must also be single-spaced. 

3. Keywords --- 6-8 keywords relevant to the research

4. Introduction --- Enough background information for any reader to understand the position taken. Define field-specific terms here.

5. Methods/Methodology - A logical, step-wise process, defined enough that anyone in the field can replicate your results with accuracy.

6. Results/Findings

7. Discussion

8. Acknowledgments

9. Works Cited/References

1. Artist statement: Please provide an Artist statement explaining the intentions and process behind the work.

2. Formatted with: main content, references. 

3. Submission of Artwork: include illustrations, photographs, or other non textual material. 

4. Submission of Creative Pieces: Written works

   1. Examples include: stories, poetry, creative writing, prose, scripts, literature

1. Tables​: Each table should appear on a separate page. Please include a title, appropriate SI units, a short, descriptive caption, and a legend with each table. All tables must be in Black & White.

2. Figures​: Figures may be inserted directly into the document, but the images should not be overlaid or resized. Clearly define and explain all discipline-specific terms and figures. Four to six figures are recommended. Magnified images should include magnification and bars for scale. 300 dpi minimum. 

3. Graphs​: Each graph should be titled. The ordinate and abscissa should be labeled with the measured parameter and the units of measure, but the graph should not be cluttered with scale lines. The background of each graph should be white. A copy of each graph should be saved in case future revisions are necessary. Data presented in figures should describe statistical significance by the convention of * for p=0.05, ** for p=0.01, and *** for p=.001 or lower.

Use the appropriate style format for your discipline to format your paper, as detailed below.

Humanities: MLA 9

Citation Format: 

LastName, FirstName.  “Title of Source.”  Title of Source Container, vol. #, no. #, Year, pp. x-x, URL.  Access Date.

Examples: 

“94 Meetings.” Parks and Recreation, season 2, episode 21, NBC, 29 Apr. 2010. Netflix, www.netflix.com/watch/70152031?trackId=200256157&tctx=0%2C20%2C0974d361-27cd-44de-9c2a-2d9d868b9f64-12120962.

Alonso, Alvaro, and Julio A. Camargo. "Toxicity of Nitrite to Three Species of Freshwater Invertebrates." Environmental Toxicology, vol. 21, no. 1, 3 Feb. 2006, pp. 90-94. Wiley Online Library, doi: 10.1002/tox.20155.

Wheelis, Mark. "Investigating Disease Outbreaks Under a Protocol to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention." Emerging Infectious Diseases, vol. 6, no. 6, 2000, pp. 595-600, wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/6/6/00-0607_article. Accessed 8 Feb. 2009.

In-Text Citation Format: (uses MLA 8)

(Name Pages)

OR

If the author’s name is mentioned previously in the sentence: (Pages) 

Examples:

Imperialism is “the practice, the theory, and the attitudes of a dominating metropolitan center ruling a distant territory” (Said 9).

OR

According to Edward W. Said, imperialism is defined by “the practice, the theory, and the attitudes of a dominating metropolitan center ruling a distant territory” (9).

Social Sciences: APA 7

For references to primary literature in the social sciences, please use standard APA 7 format.

Citation Format:

Author Last name, First Initial. Middle initial. (Year of publication). Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), page number/range. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy.

Example:

1. Smith, S., & Lee, S. (2013). Text-mining in Computational Linguistics. Journal of Web-Learning and Online Engagement, 6(1): 11–16.

In-Text Citation Format:

(Author’s last name, Year of Publication)

In- text citations should omit page numbers and only include author name and year as such:

(Brown 1999). References to primary articles should omit URLs, even if they were found online.

Example Citation Format

Empirical Sciences: AMA

Citation Format: 

LastName, FirstInitial MiddleInitial.  Article title.  Journal Name (Abbreviated).  Year;Volume(IssueNumber):pp-pp.  DOI or URL.

Examples: 

1. Wheeler T, Watkins PJ. Cardiac denervation in diabetes. BMJ. 1973;4:584-586.

2. O'Keefe M, Coat S. Consulting parents on childhood obesity and implications for medical student learning. J Paediatr Child Health. 2009;45(10):573-576.

In-Text Citation Format:

(Name) (present perfect verb)reference number(s)

*Note: Separate consecutive references by a hyphen (e.g. 1-3 pulls references 1, 2, and 3 from the reference list).  Separate nonconsecutive references by a comma (e.g. 3,5 pulls references 3 and 5 from the reference list).  Do not place spaces between these numbers or punctuation.

Examples:

1. As Smith et al have reported,1-3,5…

2. Smith et al reported1-3,5…