Maximum length: 2,000 words.

Descriptive title

The title should include a core finding or argument of the article.

Article’s lead [50 to 100 words]

The article’s lead attracts the curiosity of the readers. It presents one or two highlights from the article. For example, the lead could focus on one of the most important findings or implications discussed in the paper. This is not an abstract and it should not provide a comprehensive overview of the paper.

Introduction [150 to 300 words]

First, briefly present the key argument(s) that you are deriving from your evidence-based research using language that is clear and accessible to a non-specialist audience with a professional interest in misinformation (e.g., journalists, educators, policymakers, politicians).

Second, discuss the significance and implications of your argument. What recommendations can you provide, and to whom, based on your argument and findings? For example, can your argument and findings inform the design of novel policies, infrastructural interventions, or educational programs? 

Subsections [1,400 words]

Divide your key points into sections. Each section should have a subtitle that helps clarify the argument presented. Please ensure that you present the evidence using clear, accessible language that avoids academic jargon.

Conclusions [200 to 300 words]

Lastly, write a short conclusion paragraph, clearly outlining your argument(s) and findings. The conclusion(s) must be logically consequential to the argument(s) presented. 

Bibliography

All citations should be listed at the end of the main text and must follow the APA 7 reference style (Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th Edition). In order to comply with the APA 7 author-date system, references must be formatted in alphabetical order. A list of examples for formatting different kinds of publications in APA 7 can be found in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, our Guidelines for References and Citations, and at the Purdue Online Writing Lab.

Acknowledgements (optional)

State any acknowledgements. 

Authorship (optional)

State all sources of funding for your research. 

Funding

State all sources of funding for your research. 

Competing interests

Authors are required to declare any competing interests that may be perceived as contributing to potential bias. Examples include funding for a research program or employment by, consulting for, or stocks/shares in an organization that could be financially affected by the publication of the paper, as well as patents or patent applications whose value may be affected by the publication of the paper. Authors are required to provide a statement listing any competing interests, which is published in their article. 

Ethics (optional)

Where applicable, studies must have been approved by an appropriate ethics committee and the author(s) should include a statement within the article text detailing this approval, including the name of the ethics committee and the reference number of the approval. The identity of the research subject(s) should be anonymized whenever possible. For research involving human subjects, informed consent to participate in the study must be obtained from participants (or their legal guardians) and added to this statement. If a study involving human subjects/tissue/data was exempt from requiring ethical approval, a confirmation statement from the relevant body should be included within the submission.

When ethnicity/gender are reported, define who determined ethnicity/gender categories, whether the options were defined by the investigator and, if so, what they were and why ethnicity/gender are considered important in the study.

Copyright

Copyright and publishing rights remain with the author(s) of the article(s). All articles published in the journal can be reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).