The format of the compulsory cover letter forms part of your submission and is located on the first page of your manuscript and should always be presented in English. You should provide all of the following elements:

• Article title: Provide a short title of 50 characters or less.
• Significance of work: Briefly state the significance of the work being reported on.
• Full author details: Title(s), Full name(s), Position(s), Affiliation(s) and contact details (postal address, email, telephone and cellular number) of each author. 
• Corresponding author: Indicate to whom all correspondence should be addressed to.
• Authors’ contributions: Briefly summarise the nature of the contribution made by each of the authors listed, along the lines of the following:  J.K. was the project leader, L.M.N. and A.B. were responsible for experimental and project design. L.M.N. performed most of the experiments. P.R. made conceptual contributions and S.T., U.V. and C.D. performed some of the experiments. S.M. and V.C. prepared the samples and calculations were performed by C.S., J.K. and U.V. wrote the manuscript.
• Possible reviewers: Authors are encouraged to provide the names and full contact details (including email) of two or three potential referees to evaluate the work (referees should not be people with whom the researcher has recently collaborated or published).
• Summary: Lastly, a list containing the number of words, pages, tables, figures and/or other supplementary material should accompany the submission.

If Greek, Hebrew or other non-Latin alphabets are used, a covering note should specify which fonts/packages are used in the electronic copy submitted. As a Greek font, 'Sbl greek' and 'Gentium' is preferred. As a Hebrew font, 'Sbl herew' is preferred.

We kindly ask that UNIcode fonts are used at all times to ensure successful conversion to HTMl, XML and EPUB.

Submission languages: English (UK), Afrikaans, and Dutch.

Title: The article’s full title should contain a maximum of 95 characters (including spaces).

Abstract

• Do not cite references in the abstract.
• Do not use abbreviations excessively in the abstract.
• The abstract should be written in English.
• The abstract should be no longer than 300 words and must be written in the past tense. The abstract should give a succinct account of the objectives, methods, results and significance of the matter. 

We have included an overview of a structured article for authors who may require assistance in the formulation of their article. The headings with asterisks are compulsory, whilst the others can either be used or replaced with your own headings.

Introduction (first-level heading)*
The introduction contains two subsections, namely the background section and the literature review.

• Setting (second-level heading): The setting section should be written from the standpoint of readers, that is, without specialist knowledge in that area and must clearly state and illustrate the introduction to the research and its aims in the context of previous work bearing directly on the subject. The setting section to the article normally contains the following five elements.
  • Key focus (third-level heading): A thought-provoking introductory statement on the broad theme or topic of the research.  
  • Background (third-level heading): Providing the background or the context to the study (explaining the role of other relevant key variables in this study);   
  • Trends (third-level heading): Cite the most important published studies previously conducted on this topic or that has any relevance to this study (provide a high-level synopsis of the research literature on this topic).  
  • Objectives (third-level heading): Indicate the most important controversies, gaps and inconsistencies in the literature that will be addressed by this study. In view of the above trends, state the core research problem and specific research objectives that will be addressed in this study and provide the reader with an outline of what to expect in the rest of the article.  
  • Contribution to field (third-level heading): Explanation of the study’s academic (theoretical and methodological) or practical merit and/or importance (provide the value-add and/or rationale for the study). 

• Literature review (second-level heading): The literature review is the second subsection under the Introduction and provides a brief and concise overview of the literature under a separate second-level heading, e.g. literature review. A synthesis and critical evaluation of the literature (not a compilation of citations and references) should at least include or address the following elements, ensure these are in the literature review. Define conceptual (theoretical) definitions of all key concepts; A critical review and summary of previous research findings (theories, models, frameworks, etc.) on the topic; A clear indication of the gap in the literature and for the necessity to address this void; and A clearly established link exists between formulated research objectives and theoretical support from the relevant literature.

Research method and design (first-level heading)
The methods should include:

• Materials (second-level heading): Describe the type of organism(s) or material(s) involved in the study.  
• Setting (second-level heading): Describe the site and setting where your field study was conducted.  
• Design (second-level heading): Describe your experimental design clearly, including a power calculation if appropriate. Note: Additional details can be placed in the online supplementary location.  
• Procedure (second-level heading): Describe the protocol for your study in sufficient detail (clear description of all interventions and comparisons) that other scientists could repeat your work to verify your findings.  
• Analysing (second-level heading): Describe how the data were summarised and analysed, additional details can be placed in the online supplementary information.

Results (first-level heading)
This section provides a synthesis of the obtained literature grouped or categorised according to some organising or analysis principle.  

Tables may be used and/or models may be drafted to indicate key components of the results of the study.

• Organise the results based on the sequence of Tables and Figures you will include in the manuscript.
• The body of the Results section is a text presentation of the key findings which includes references to each of the Tables and Figures.
• Statistical test summaries (test name, p-value) are usually reported parenthetically in conjunction with the biological results they support, use SI unit.
• Present the results of your experiment(s)/research data in a sequence that will logically support (or provide evidence against) the hypothesis, or answer the question, stated in the Introduction.

All units should conform to the SI convention and be abbreviated accordingly. Metric units and their international symbols are used throughout, as is the decimal point (not the decimal comma).  
 

Discussion (first-level heading)  
This section normally contains the following four elements.  It is suggested that the following sub-headings are used in this section:

• Outline of the results (second-level heading): Restate the main objective of the study and reaffirm the importance of the study by restating its main contributions; summarise the results in relation to each stated research objective or research hypothesis; link the findings back to the literature and to the results reported by other researchers; provide explanations for unexpected results.  
• Practical implications (second-level heading): Reaffirm the importance of the study by restating its main contributions and provide the implications for the practical implementation your research.   
• Limitations of the study (second-level heading): Point out the possible limitations of the study and provide suggestions for future research. 

Recommendations (first-level heading): Provide the recommendations emerging out of the current research.

Conclusion (first-level heading)*
This should state clearly the main conclusions of the research and give a clear explanation of their importance and relevance, with a recommendation for future research (implications for practice). Provide a brief conclusion that restates the objectives; the research design; the results and their meaning.

Acknowledgements (first-level heading)*
If, through your study, you received any significant help in conceiving, designing, or carrying out the work, or received materials from someone who did you a favour by supplying them, you must acknowledge their assistance and the service or material provided. Authors should always acknowledge outside reviewers of their drafts and any sources of funding that supported the research.

• Competing interests (second-level heading)*: A competing interest exists when your interpretation of data or presentation of information may be influenced by your personal or financial relationship with other people or organisations that can potentially prevent you from executing and publishing unbiased research. Authors should disclose any financial competing interests but also any non-financial competing interests that may cause them embarrassment were they to become public after the publication of the manuscript. Where an author gives no competing interests, the listing will read ‘The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationship(s) which may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this paper.’   
• Authors' contributions (second-level heading)*: This section is necessary to give appropriate credit to each author, and to the authors' applicable institution. The individual contributions of authors should be specified with their affiliation at the time of the study and completion of the work. An ‘author’ is generally considered to be someone who has made substantive intellectual contributions to a published study.  Contributions made by each of the authors listed, along the lines of the following (please note the use of author initials):

J.K. (University of Pretoria) was the project leader, L.M.N. (University of KwaZulu-Natal) and A.B. (University of Stellenbosch) were responsible for experimental and project design. L.M.N. performed most of the experiments. P.R. made conceptual contributions and S.T. (University of Cape Town), U.V. (University of Cape Town) and C.D. (University of Cape Town) performed some of the experiments. S.M. (Cape Peninsula University of Technology) and V.C. (Cape Peninsula University of Technology) prepared the samples and calculations were performed by C.S., J.K. (Cape Peninsula University of Technology) and U.V. wrote the manuscript.

References (first-level heading)*
Begin the reference list on a separate page with no more than 60 references. HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies uses the Harvard referencing style details of which can be downloaded from the journal website. Note: No other style will be permitted.