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Author Instructions

consistently thereafter. Non-standard abbreviations are not allowed unless they appear at least three times in the text.
Commonly-used abbreviations, such as DNA, RNA, ATP, etc., can be used directly without definition. Abbreviations in
titles and keywords should be avoided, except for the ones which are widely used.

2.4.8 Italics
General italic words like vs., et al., etc., in vivo, in vitro; t test, F test, U test; related coefficient as r, sample number as n,
and probability as P; names of genes; names of bacteria and biology species in Latin.

2.4.9 Units
SI Units should be used. Imperial, US customary and other units should be converted to SI units whenever possible. There
is a space between the number and the unit (i.e., 23 mL). Hour, minute, second should be written as h, min, s.
2.4.10 Numbers
Numbers appearing at the beginning of sentences should be expressed in English. When there are two or more numbers
in a paragraph, they should be expressed as Arabic numerals; when there is only one number in a paragraph, number < 10
should be expressed in English and number > 10 should be expressed as Arabic numerals. 12345678 should be written as
12,345,678.
2.4.11 Equations
Equations should be editable and not appear in a picture format. Authors are advised to use either the Microsoft Equation
Editor or the MathType for display and inline equations.
2.5 Submission Link
Submit an article via https://www.oaecenter.com/login?JournalId=ss.
3. Research and Publication Ethics
3.1 Research Involving Human Subjects
All studies involving human subjects must be in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration and seek approval to conduct the
study from an independent local, regional, or national review body (e.g., ethics committee, institutional review board, etc.).
Such approval, including the names of the ethics committee, institutional review board, etc., must be listed in a declaration
statement of Ethical Approval and Consent to Participate in the manuscript. If the study is judged exempt from ethics
approval, related information (e.g., name of the ethics committee granting the exemption and the reason for the exemption)
must be listed. Further documentation on ethics should also be prepared, as editors may request more detailed information.
Manuscripts with suspected ethical problems will be investigated according to COPE Guidelines.
3.1.1 Consent to Participate
For all studies involving human subjects, informed consent to participate in the studies must be obtained from participants,
or their parents or legal guardians for children under 16. Statements regarding consent to participate should be included
in a declaration statement of Ethical Approval and Consent to Participate in the manuscript. If informed consent is not
required, the name of the ethics committee granting the exemption and the reason for the exemption must be listed. If any
ethical violation is found at any stage of publication, the issue will be investigated seriously based on COPE Guidelines.

3.1.2 Consent for Publication
All articles published by OAE are freely available on the Internet. All manuscripts that include individual participants’
data in any form (i.e., details, images, videos, etc.) will not be published without Consent for Publication obtained from that
person(s), or for children, their parents or legal guardians. If the person has died, Consent for Publication must be obtained
from the next of kin. Authors must add a declaration statement of Consent for Publication in the manuscript, specifying
written informed consent for publication has been obtained.

3.1.3 Trial Registration
Soft Science requires all authors to register all relevant clinical trials that are reported in manuscripts submitted. Soft
Science follows the World Health Organization (WHO)’s definition of clinical trials: “A clinical trial is any research study
that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate
the effects on health outcomes. Interventions include but are not restricted to drugs, cells and other biological products,
surgical procedures, radiologic procedures, devices, behavioural treatments, process-of-care changes, preventive care,
etc.”
In line with ICMJE recommendation, Soft Science requires the registration of clinical trials in a public trials registry at
or before the time of first patient enrollment. Soft Science accepts publicly accessible registration in any registry that is a
primary register of the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) or in ClinicalTrials.gov. The trial
registration number should be listed at the end of the Abstract.
Secondary data analyses of primary (parent) clinical trials should not be registered as a new clinical trial, but rather
reference the trial registration number of the primary trial.
Editors should consider carefully whether studies failed to register or had an incomplete trial registration. Because of

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