About the Journal

Focus and Scope

Orbit provides a platform for the publication of original and excellent research by undergraduate students of the University of Sydney initially in the sciences and technology. Orbit is an open-access journal which is committed to publishing manuscripts of the highest scholarship resulting from scientific and technological research and analysis.

Orbit will support the strategic directions of the University of Sydney by highlighting the importance of research-enhanced teaching; the desirability of challenging, extending and stimulating talented students and by providing a path from study to research and publication.

The lead author of an article published in Orbit will be, or at the time of writing was, an undergraduate student at the University of Sydney. The author must submit work adhering to the Orbit author and submission guidelines. The author must agree to the parameters in the Submission Preparation Checklist (insert link)

Peer Review Process

The full paper of all articles submitted to Orbit is subject to a formal independent review process. The journal managers forward submissions to the appropriate editor who will then select a reviewer (an internal or external academic or industry member who is an independent, qualified expert with experience in the area of the submission).

Reviewers will have 4 weeks to review the submission and make recommendations. The appointed editor will decide on acceptance, acceptance with modification or rejection and notify the editorial board.

Acceptance is based on the quality of the work and writing and significance of the article to the relevant field of knowledge.

Publication Frequency

Orbit will be published twice yearly.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Style Guidelines

The text of the article must adhere to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined below:

• Papers should have an abstract of up to 200 words.
• References should use the Harvard style.
• PDF or Word documents are acceptable.
• Text should be justified to the left margin only.
• Use full stops after abbreviations but not in the case of contractions (Dr, Prof) or capitalised abbreviations (NSW, USA).
• Use minimal capitalisation in titles and headings.
• If referring more than once to an organisation, place etc. use full title first followed by an abbreviation or contraction in brackets (e.g. the United Nations(UN)).
• Use endnotes, not footnotes.
• Mathematical expressions must be clearly typed; leave two blank lines before and after each equation.
• Dates should be expressed by day, month and year (e.g. 15/2/2006).
• Limit headings to three levels - the first level is for the title of the paper, the second level for subheadings and a third level for standard text.
• Authors should avoid word divisions and hyphens at the end of lines.
• Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to quote copyrighted material. At the end of your article, please acknowledge any sources of funding/support, other participants and copyright holders.
• The beginning of a new paragraph should be indicated by a space made by a double carriage return (not an indent). Insert page numbers on the bottom right hand corner of each page.
• Tables, figures and appendices should be numbered consecutively in separate sequence and should be embedded in the manuscript near the first reference to the corresponding table