Author Guidelines

General Requirements
Manuscripts submitted to Retain must be original, unpublished, and written in English. Authors are strongly advised to review recent issues of the journal to familiarise themselves with its scope, style, and conventions before preparing a submission. All manuscripts must be submitted electronically through the journal portal. Submissions received via email will not be accepted.

Submission Checklist
Submission Checklist. As part of the submission process, authors are required to confirm compliance with the following:
1. The submission has not been previously published, nor is it under consideration by another journal.
2. The submission file is in Microsoft Word.
3. Where available, URLs for all references have been provided.
4. All illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at appropriate points.
5. The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in these guidelines.
6. Instructions for ensuring a blind review have been followed.

Manuscript Structure
Manuscript Structure. All submitted manuscripts must include the following components, in the order listed:
• Title: concise and informative.
• Author Names and Affiliations: full names, institutional affiliations, and email addresses.
• Abstract: 150 to 250 words covering background, objectives, methodology, findings, and conclusion.
• Keywords: five to seven keywords. Introduction - rationale, research context, problem statement, and research objectives.
• Literature Review: critical synthesis of relevant prior research.
• Method: research design, participants, instruments, data collection, and analysis procedures.
• Findings and Discussion: presentation and interpretation of results.
• Conclusion: summary of findings, implications, limitations, and recommendations.
• References: complete list of all cited sources.

Referencing Style
Formatting Specifications. Page size: A4 margins 2.5 cm on all sides. Font: Times New Roman, 12pt line spacing 1.5 for body text. Manuscript length: 4000 to 8000 words. Tables and figures must be numbered sequentially with descriptive titles and source attributions. File format: Word Document or RTF single-spaced italics for emphasis.

Journal Template
Download the template: here

Plagiarism Policy
All manuscripts submitted to RETAIN are screened for plagiarism using Turnitin prior to peer review. A similarity index of no more than 20% is acceptable. Manuscripts exceeding this threshold will be returned to the author(s) for revision. Manuscripts found to contain plagiarism, fabrication, or falsification at any stage will be rejected outright.

Privacy Statement
The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of RETAIN and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.