1. FORMA accepts any qualified article, irrespective of field, topic, or method, if it conveys a general interest in “Form” and is written clearly for readers from other disciplines. The Journal accepts the following categories:
REVIEW (32 printed pages or less): by free submission or recommendation
ORIGINAL PAPER (16 printed pages or less): regular peer review
LETTER (8 printed pages or less): rapid review and fast publication
ART COLUMN (16 printed pages or less): presentations of artwork or essays on artwork that include scientific discussion
FORUM (4 printed pages or less): essays, proposals, or comments suggesting new directions
ART GALLERY (a few pages including one page of explanation): artwork created with a scientific viewpoint or demonstrating scientific application.

Longer papers may be accepted if the Editorial Board deems the additional pages necessary. Special issues on particular topics may also be published.

2. Manuscripts should be written in English and follow the FORMA Style Manual. The preferred submission method is through the online form: Submission of Papers. If the file size exceeds 5 MB, authors may use a file-sharing service (e.g., Dropbox) or send it to the Editor-in-Chief by email.

LaTeX style files are available at: https://forma.katachi-jp.com/styles.html

3. When research involves human participants, written informed consent must be obtained. Animal experiments should conform to institutional or licensing committee regulations. These consents or approvals must be stated clearly in the manuscript.

4. Figures or text reproduced from other works must have permission from the original authors and copyright holders. Original sources must be clearly cited in the manuscript.

5. FORMA follows the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Plagiarism, fabrication, and falsification are strictly prohibited. If misconduct is identified, the article may be retracted or corrected.

6. All submissions undergo double-blind peer review. A manuscript is reviewed by one editor and one referee appointed by the Editor-in-Chief. Reviews are normally returned within 4–6 weeks. Post-acceptance editing may be requested to ensure conformity with FORMA style and cross-disciplinary readability. Letters of acceptance are issued by the Editor-in-Chief.

7. A revised manuscript submitted more than two months after feedback will be treated as a new submission.

8. The first proof is corrected by the author(s); the second proof is corrected by the editors or publisher. Authors have one opportunity at first proof to correct errors before publication.

9. Figures are the responsibility of the authors and must be supplied at sufficient resolution for high-quality reproduction. The publisher will not redraw figures. Up to three figures should be marked as “attractive figures” for presentation on the journal website.

10. For papers submitted after May 8, 2019 (GMT), the publication fee for each accepted paper is 50,000 JPY. The cost for color figures per online page is 25,000 JPY.

11. Authors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest—financial, personal, or institutional—that could influence their work. A declaration of conflicts of interest must be included in the manuscript.

12. FORMA is fully open access. All articles are freely available online upon publication. Authors retain copyright and grant the Society for Science on Form, Japan, the right of first publication. Articles are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0). Authors retain patent rights and rights to reuse their work. For artwork and design papers, artwork copyright remains with the author(s) and should be noted in the caption, e.g., “Copyright of this artwork belongs to (Name).”

13. The journal is published online at: https://forma.katachi-jp.com/index.html. PDF files of accepted papers are sent to the first author.

14. Special issues are published on specific topics, usually once per year. Editors may propose a special issue by sending an informal proposal to the Editor-in-Chief that includes: (1) title of the issue, (2) editor(s) of the issue, and (3) a tentative list of contributors and article titles. At least four articles are required. Articles must be reviewed by the issue editor(s) or appointed referees. Record dates of receipt and acceptance. A short preface (1–2 pages) by the editor(s) is expected. Letters of acceptance are issued by the Editor-in-Chief. Re-publishing as a monograph may be arranged with the Editorial Board.

15. Submitted manuscripts are screened for originality using software such as iThenticate. If significant overlap or plagiarism is detected, the Editorial Board will take appropriate action, including rejection or retraction.

1. It is recommended that manuscripts be written as WORD documents, with page settings of 45 lines/page, and 80 characters/line. Thus, one page would include approximately 500 words and correspond with the printed page of FORMA. As a result, the number of printed pages can easily be estimated. Printed manuscripts should be typed singled-sided, on 21 × 30 cm (or similar size) white paper.

2. The first page should include:
Category: "Original paper," "Review," "Letter," or "Forum" appearing at the top right of the page.
Title: First letters of words, except prepositions or conjunctions, are capitalized. If title is longer than 40 characters, provide a short running head.
Author(s): Family name is all capitalized.
Affiliation(s): Brief and include postal address and email address.
Keywords: No more than five.
Abstract: Fewer than 150 words for an original paper and review, fewer than 100 words for letters.
Footnotes: If necessary.

3. Headings for each section should be typed from the left margin in the same character size and font as the main text, e.g. "1. Introduction." Leave two blank lines above each heading and one blank line below it.
Sub-headings should be in italics, e.g. "2.1. Basic assumption." Leave one blank line above the sub-heading and no blank line below it.

4. References should be cited in the text in either of the following styles:

(i) Text: "According to Toda (1981), ...", "... is studied (Elias et al., 1971a; Baba, 1980)".
List: Provide a list of references at the end of the text. List the references in alphabetical order of last names as follows:
Baba, K., Miyamoto, K., and Kimura, K. (1981a) [Title of paper], FORMA, 2, 305-315.
Kendall, D. G. (1974) [Title of paper], in [Title of Books or Proceedings], (ed. E. F. Harding and D. G. Kendall) Griffin, London, pp. 105-107.
Rosenfeld, A. (1976) [Title of Book], 2nd Ed., Academic Press, NY, pp. 69-83.

(ii) Text: Cite references using number(s) in square brackets in line with the text. The actual authors can be referenced as well, but the reference number(s) must always appear as follows:
"According to Toda [6], ...", "... is studied [4,8]".
List: Number the references (numbers in square brackets) in the list in the order in which they appear in the text.
[1] K. Baba, K. Miyamoto, K. Kimura, [Title of paper], FORMA 2 (1981) 305-315.
[2] D.G. Kendall, in E. F. Harding, D. G. Kendall (Eds.), [Title of Books or Proceedings], Griffin, London, 1974, pp. 105-107.
[3] A. Rosenfeld, [Title of Book], second ed., Academic Press, New York, 1976.

5. Figures in EPS, PDF, or JPEG formats are welcome. Figures should be inserted into the appropriate places in the text. Note that the page layout will be changed by the editor Tables may be typed as a part of the main text. Below each figure, add a figure number and caption, e.g. "Fig. 1. ...." Above each table, provide the table number and caption, e.g. "Table 2. ...."
For printed manuscripts, figures are drawn on separate sheets. Include the figure (plate) number and name(s) of author(s) at the bottom of each figure (plate). Include a list of figure captions on a separate page at the end of the text. Placement of the figures should be indicated in the right margin of the main text, e.g., [Fig.1]

6. In the main text, sections, equations, figures, plates, and tables should be referred to as "Sec. 2", "Eq. (1)", "Eqs. (3) and (2. 3)", "Fig. 2", "Figs. 4 and 5", "Plate 3", "Table 3", etc."
Avoid beginning sentences using these abbreviations.

7. Leave one line blank above and below each mathematical expression. Provide the equation number (if necessary) in parentheses to the right. Symbols expressing quantities should be in italic, but functions (sin, exp, log, etc.) are straight. Avoid piling up fractions and suffices. For example, "e^ak2/bj2" should be changed to "exp(a^k2/b^j2)", or to "exp(A/B), where A = a^k2, B = b^j2". Try to simplify mathematical expressions. Complicated mathematical procedures should be included in the Appendix.