Author Guidelines

Gerontechnology' publishes (i) peer-reviewed contributions: review articles, original contributions, short articles, student papers, best practices, and (ii) editor-reviewed material: correspondence, people (obituaries, distinguished gerontechnologists, who is who), book reviews, ISG business, and world news.

Gerontechnology is about designing technology and environments for older adults. We are seeking papers that provide technology-related solutions with proper user evaluation. Gerontechnology is transdisciplinary in nature. We are seeking papers that provide value to general readers from various backgrounds.

All articles published in Gerontechnology are immediately open access to the public upon publication and free to download on our journal website. This is made possible by an article-processing charge (APC) of 600 Euro that covers the range of publishing services we provide. The APC payable for an article is agreed as part of the manuscript submission process in the journal handling system. Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be notified that payment is due and need to arrange payment then. Please note that an article will not be processed until APC is received. Upon payment of APC, the first/corresponding author (only one) automatically becomes a member of the International Society for Gerontechnology (ISG) for one year. If the first/corresponding author is already an ISG member, the APC is reduced to 500 Euro. For the benefits of ISG membership , please refer to http://www.gerontechnology.org/membership.html

All articles submitted to this journal would be screened for plagiarism using online tools including but not limited to Grammarly, Quetext, Duplichecker, etc.

For the progress of any submission, please kindly log in the journal handling system (https://www.gerontechnologyojs.org/) and check it on the user webpage. Any email consulting on the status of submissions may not be replied one by one.

1.Article types

1.1 Editorial

An editorial of 1,000 words is composed on a subject of current concern, written at the request of the editor-in-chief. An editorial is published after successful editorial review.

1.2 Review article

A review article comprises up to 10,000 words of text, together with supporting tables and figures. Three types of review articles are sought:

• Scientific overviews: demography, economics, politics, physiology, genomics, psychology, sociology, technology, ergonomics, assistive technology, health and self-esteem, housing and living, mobility and transport, informatics, communication and governance, work and leisure;
• National overviews including country-specific good practices;
• Educational overviews: e.g. life-long learning curricula, courses for older persons, continuing education and specialist training for professionals, etc. All review articles are published after successful peer review.

1.3 Original research or design

An original research or design article comes in two categories: short (up to 3,000 words) and full (up to 7,000 words). Short communications are meant to cover new discoveries and developments that merit fast track publication. Short communications will be published in the issue immediately following acceptance. An original research or design article is published after successful peer review.

1.4 Student papers

Student papers are short or full research communications derived from Master or Doctoral thesis research and written by the student. Manuscripts that are submitted in this category will receive extra guidance from editors and reviewing peers. Care will be taken to assist the student author in producing a scientifically valid publication, and to ease the first steps of our youngest colleagues on the road towards a career in science or technology. Provided that the topic of the submitted manuscript lies within the scope of the journal, no immediate rejection of a student paper will occur. Student papers are published after successful peer review.

1.5 Best Practice

Best practice is the description of an evidence-based methodology, a set of procedures that has optimal outcomes or a new or unexpected application of an existing technology that has recently come on the market. A Best Practice report should not exceed 500 words and is always illustrated with a photo, graph or other graphic material. Best practices are published after successful peer review.

1.6 Correspondence

Correspondence carries comments, questions raised in the field, or criticism on published articles with responses of the original authors. Individual items in the correspondence section will generally not surpass 500 words and may be abridged by the editors. The editor-in-chief decides on acceptance of a correspondence item or contribution. Editorial review will be exercised.

1.7 Book Review

The editors are happy to receive reviews of books relevant to the multidisciplinary field of gerontechnology. Book Reviews should not exceed 1,000 words. The editor-in-chief decides on acceptance of a Book Review. Editorial review will be exercised. Shortening may be needed.

1.8 ISG business

Gerontechnology gives limited space to items that are important or useful to the membership of the International Society for Gerontechnology (ISG) and its local chapters. The editor-in-chief decides on acceptance of ISG business in accordance with the president of the ISG. Editorial review will be exercised.

2. Writing standards and Font Policy

2.1 Authorship

For information on criteria for authorship, the number of authors and contributors listed in acknowledgements please refer to http://www.cochrane.org/editorial-and-publishing-policy-resource/authorship-and-contributorship

2.2 Manuscripts

Manuscripts must be in English. In case a manuscript is scientifically sound and fitting in the scope of Gerontechnology, but the language is substandard, ISG offers a correction service at the expense of the author or his/her affiliation. Texts, formatted in MS Word, as well as graphical material (in EPS, PDF, JPEG or TIFF ) should be submitted through the Open Journal System at https://www.gerontechnologyojs.org. Please include in the ‘Comments for the Editor’ information on prior or concurrent related submissions. The following headings for the manuscript are required: (1) Introduction (may include background, brief literature review and research aim/question(s)), (2) Methods, (3) Results, (4) Discussion(s), and (6) Conclusion(s). Subheadings under each of these major headings are allowed. Please use consistent format for the same level of subheadings.

Title Page

A Title Page is required for each submission. The Title Page should be submitted as a separate file to “Supplementary File” via Open Journal System at https://www.gerontechnologyojs.org. To ensure a blind review, this is the only file that should include the authors’ names. The Title Page needs to include: (a) Complete manuscript title; (b) Authors’ full names, academic degrees (not the current academic positions), and affiliations (should include department, organization, town, and country); (c) Corresponding author’s name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address; and (d) Acknowledgments, if the authors wish to include them. A maximum of five printed lines (about 300 letters and spaces) are allowed for acknowledgements. Please disclose the source of funding for the research. Other financial and material assistance, specifying the nature of the support, should be acknowledged as well. If the work has been presented orally previously, for example at a scientific meeting, then the name, place and date of the conference should be noted. Authors are responsible for obtaining written permission from persons acknowledged by name, as readers may infer their endorsement of the data and conclusions.

Abstracts

Reviews, papers of original research or design, editorial and best practices should contain a structured abstract with no more than 300 words. The following headings are required: (1) Background, (2) Research Aim/question(s), (3) Methods, (4) Results, and (5) Conclusion(s). Please provide 4-5 keywords below the abstract. The keywords should express the content of the manuscript, as they are used for indexing purposes.

Writing style

Gerontechnology is interdisciplinary. Assume that readers are researchers or other professionals but not necessarily experts in your field. Provide enough introductory material to establish an appropriate background. Write concisely but not at the expense of clarity. The international system of units (SI units) should be used. The text is single-spaced and uses a 12-point font. In general numbers should NOT be written out. Equations should be given on separate lines with the equation number in parenthesis at the right-hand margin.

Statistics

Statistical methods description should be with enough detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results. Quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals). Avoid relying solely on statistical hypothesis testing, such as the use of p values, which fails to convey important information about effect size. References for the design of the study and statistical methods should preferably be to standard works with pages stated. Define statistical terms, abbreviations, and most symbols. Specify the computer software used.

Tables

A table should fit one column (width 67 mm) or two columns (width 140 mm) of one page (maximal height 210 mm), with a 9 pt Arial font for the text. Supply tables as text files in Word, NOT as a graphic file. In the manuscript, please list tables, one on each page, after the References and indicate in the manuscript text the approximate place of each table.

Illustrations

Photos, Graphs and other graphic material (not tables) should be uploaded as supplementary files and be in black and white, with or without grey-shades. Please refrain from using greyed background in figures as well as from 3D effects in 2D histograms or graphs. Lettering should be in Arial-font. Font size should be 8 to 9 pt when the figure is resized to either a width of 67 mm (1 column) or 140 mm (2 columns). Maximal height of figures is 210 mm, including the caption. Place legends of graphs and histograms within the figure field (captions are not included in the figure). Best printing results of graphical material are obtained when sending a file in one of the following formats: EPS, PDF, JPEG or TIFF. The illustrations should be in good resolution. The dimension of a JPEG or TIFF graphic - the width in pixels - should be 790 pixels for a one-column graphic and 1650 pixels for a two-column graphic. Please do not artificially increase the resolution. The pixels should bear the original information of the picture. In the manuscript, captions of all figures should be listed on a single page, after the page with the last table. Indicate in the manuscript text the approximate place of each figure. The TOTAL number of tables and illustrations should be no more than 6.

References

All in-text citations and the reference list must be APA formatted. 80% of the references need to be current, published within the past 5 years, with the exception of classic works in the field. All in-text citations must be cited in the Reference list. Examples of APA formatted references are listed below. Please list all authors and use the complete titles of journals in the Reference list. Please also be noted the title of journal and volume number, book, or web-based article should use italic font style.

Journal

Carlijn Valk, Yuan Lu, Xipei Ren, Marjolein Wintermans, Ivar Kraaijevanger, Jim Steenbakkers, Vincent Visser (2017). Towards personalized persuasive strategies for active ageing. Gerontechnology, 16(3), 160-172

Book

Michaels, P. J., & Balling, R. C., Jr. (2000). The Satanic Gases: Clearing the Air about Global Warming. Washington, DC: Cato Institute.

Book

United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2016). Climate Change. Retrieved from the Environmental Protection Agency website: http://www.epa.gov/climatechange

2.3 Informed consent and study design

Human subjects, including patients, have a right to privacy that should not be infringed without informed consent. Complete anonymity is often difficult to achieve. In relevant cases, informed consent should be obtained and indicated in the manuscript. In case a randomised controlled trial is reported, authors should refer to the CONSORT statement, available in six languages (www.consort-statement.org), and follow its recommendations.

3. Copyright Notice

Copyright Protection: authors submitting manuscripts do so upon the understanding that the work is unpublished, is not being considered for publication elsewhere, and has been checked and approved by all co-authors. The submission of the manuscript by the authors means that they automatically agree to assign exclusive copyright to the International Society for Gerontechnology (ISG), if and when the manuscript is accepted for publication by clicking the checkbox in the Open Journal System at https://www.gerontechnologyojs.org/. The work shall not be published elsewhere in any language without the written consent of ISG. The articles published in this journal are protected by copyright, which covers translation rights and the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute all of the articles printed in the journal. No material published in the journal may be stored on microfilm or videocassettes or in electronic databases and the like, or reproduced photographically, without the prior written permission of ISG. However, the ISG permits authors to reproduce their contributions on their own website for non-commercial purposes, provided a link is made to the content page of the issue in which the contribution appeared.

4. Privacy Statement

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