General Instructions

Authors are requested to carefully follow the instructions provided below when preparing and submitting their manuscripts to the Journal. Submissions that do not adhere to these guidelines may be returned for revision before peer review.

AI assistance in the preparation of manuscripts should be limited to below 20%.

Technical Structure

Manuscripts must be arranged in the following order:

Title, Authors, Affiliations, Abstract, Keywords, Main Text (with sub-headings), Figure Captions, Figures, Tables, Conclusions, Acknowledgements, Appendix, and References.

Manuscripts can be written in Sinhala or English.

Title Page

The title page should include the following information:

• Title of the article: Font size 14 (bold)
• Full name(s) of author(s): Font size 10
• Affiliation(s): Department, institution, and country (font size 10)
• Corresponding author’s e-mail: Active e-mail address (font size 10)
• Abstract: Font size 10
• Keywords: Font size 10

Abstract

• The abstract should be a single paragraph of 200–250 words, without any citations.
• Use font size 10, single line spacing.
• The abstract must concisely present the problem, objectives, methods, and key findings of the study.

Keywords

Provide four to five keywords arranged in alphabetical order, formatted in italics. Avoid using words such as and or of.

Word Limit

A full manuscript should be approximately 4,000–5,000 words, and must not exceed 6,000 words, including references.

Text Formatting

The manuscript should include the following major sections:

• Introduction / Background
• Problem Statement
• Objectives
• Methodology
• Literature Review
• Results and Discussion
• Conclusion
• References

Font Requirements:

• Sinhala text: FMAbhaya font
• English text: Times New Roman font
• Subheadings: Bold, font size 12
• Main text: Font size 12
• Line spacing: 1.5

Ethical Considerations

All submissions must contain original and unpublished research. The work must not be under review or consideration by any other journal at the time of submission.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that:

• All co-authors have approved the final version of the manuscript.
• Necessary institutional permissions have been obtained prior to submission.

All submitted manuscripts will be checked for plagiarism using the University’s Turnitin software. Manuscripts found to have a similarity index exceeding acceptable limits will be rejected or returned for revision.Manuscripts are accepted only upon official acknowledgment from the editorial office. Proofs and further correspondence will be sent to the corresponding author prior to publication. By submitting to this journal, authors agree that editorial staff may make language or formatting edits to improve readability. All communication regarding accepted manuscripts should be directed to the Editor-in-Chief of “sāradā.”

Peer Review Process

All submissions undergo a double-blind peer-review process to ensure academic quality and scientific integrity.

• Each manuscript is first evaluated by an Associate Editor for suitability.
• If found appropriate, it is sent to independent peer reviewers (identities kept confidential).
• Authors may be asked to revise their manuscript according to reviewers’ comments.
• The Associate Editor will assess the revised version and, upon satisfaction, recommend it for final approval.
• The Editor-in-Chief will make the final decision on publication.

Copyright Policy

Before publication, all authors must sign a Transfer of Copyright Agreement. This agreement allows the publisher to protect the copyright on behalf of the authors while retaining the authors’ ownership of intellectual property. The transfer includes exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute the article in any form—such as print, electronic, microfilm, or translated editions. Authors are solely responsible for proofreading and must address all editorial queries before publication. Factual and typographical errors must be corrected by the authors prior to final approval.