Submissions

Author Guidelines

Author’s guidelines

• Manuscript submission
• Title page
• Cover page
• References
• Tables
• Figures/artworks/illustrations
• English language
• Ethics in publication
• Compliance with ethical standards
• Conflict of interest
• Post-acceptance activities 
• Gold open access

Manuscript submission

Manuscript Submission

By submitting the manuscript in any journal of ImperialOpen, it is implied that

• The work has not been published anywhere before
• It is not under-consideration for publication anywhere else
• All coauthors have agreed to its content and approved it
• All the authorities (funders, institutes, government, universities, laboratory, etc.) have approved it
• Should there be any claims the publisher ImperialOpen will not be held responsible legally for compensation  

Permissions

As publishing materials, the inclusion of figures, tables, data, text, etc., which are already published and therefore protected by copyright owner(s), in the articles submitted in the journals of ImperialOpen require the permission from the appropriate copyright owner(s). Should there be any such case, the evidence of granted permission needs to be submitted along with the papers. If not submitted, all materials will be assumed to be contributed and created by the authors.    

Online Submission

To submit the paper online, please follow the hyperlink “Submit Manuscript” on the top menu bar. In each step, provide necessary information and upload the files. Necessary instructions are given on the screen in each page.

Title page

The title page should include:

• Article type
• Engineering discipline
• Full name of the article that is concise and rightly present the content of the paper
• The name(s) of the author(s)
• The affiliation(s), mailing address(es), and email address(es) of the author(s)
• The corresponding author with contact number(s)
• If possible, the 16-digit ORCID of the author(s)

A sample of the title page for the Journal of Production System and Manufacturing Science can be downloaded from here.

Cover letter

The cover letter should include:

• A concise and informative title
• The novelty of the work
• The main contribution in the work by the authors
• The applicability of the work, mentioning some of the potential industrial sectors
• The name and e-mail address of the corresponding author

A sample of the cover letter for the Journal of Production System and Manufacturing Science can be downloaded from here.

Manuscript Text

Text Formatting

Manuscripts should be submitted in Word files (.docx or .doc). The following instructions should be followed:

• Manuscript should be prepared using journal templates (e.g., 11-point Californian FB).
• The text parts to be emphasized should be written in italics.
• The pages should be numbered using auto-numbering. 
• For indentation the tab stops or other commands should be used. The space bar should not be used.
• For tables, the table command should be used. Avoid using spreadsheets to produce tables.
• The equation editor or MathType should be used for equations.

Headings

The headings should be numbered using the decimal system. For creating sub-sections, up to three levels are allowed. For instance:

3.       Results and discussion

       3.1     Effects of X on Y

       3.1.1  Empirical relation between X and Y 

Abbreviations

At the first appearance the abbreviations should be defined. Afterward, there should be a consistent use of that abbreviation.

Footnotes

To provide any significant additional information footnote(s) can be used. Footnotes must be different from citation of references. Use superscript lower-case letters as footnotes symbol inside the text. For footnotes in tables, do use asterisks, or any other symbols.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments should be addressed in the manuscript under section ‘Acknowledgments’. Typically acknowledgement is given to funding organizations, grants, persons of interest, institutes etc. Wherever applicable, the name of the funders should be mentioned in full name with grant number. 

References

Citation

Appropriate reference should be cited in the manuscript by numbers in square brackets. Please note that the journals published by ImperialOpen do not allow citing more than two references in a single sentence. This helps readers and reviewers to better comprehend the supporting contribution by the cited reference(s). Please follow the below-listed examples:

1. Aluminum alloy has found immense application in light-weight industries [9].
2. Molani and Sadi [10] reported successful use of aluminum alloy in aerospace parts. 
3. The trends of acceleration of this study are in good agreement with the results of research conducted by Pullman et al. [12] and Russell et al. [13].

Reference list

The references should be listed in consecutive numbers at the end of the manuscript under the section ‘Reference’. In that list, only the works cited in the text should be included. The published or accepted works are usually listed. In addition, the authentic reports, website, books, book chapter, and dissertation can also be referred. 

Some samples are shown in the following list: 

• Journal article

Fang, Z. and T. Obikawa, Cooling performance of micro-texture at the tool flank face under high pressure jet coolant assistance. Precision Engineering, 2017. 49: p. 41-51.

Ideally, the names of all authors should be provided, but the usage of “et al” in long author lists will also be accepted:

Abbas, A.T., et al., Minimization of turning time for high-strength steel with a given surface roughness using the Edgeworth–Pareto optimization method. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 2017. 93(5): p. 2375-2392.

• Conference article

Mia, M., M.A. Bashir, and N.R. Dhar, Effects of cutting parameters and machining environments on surface roughness in hard turning using design of experiment. AIP Conference Proceedings, 2016. 1754(1): p. 060012.

• Accepted article published with DOI

Mia, M. and N.R. Dhar, Prediction and optimization by using SVR, RSM and GA in hard turning of tempered AISI 1060 steel under effective cooling conditions. Neural Computing and Applications, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00521-017-3192-4

• Book

Groover, M.P., Fundamentals of modern manufacturing: materials processes, and systems 2007: John Wiley & Sons.

• Book chapter 

Mehta, K., M. Gupta, and P. Sharma, Nano-Machining, Nano-Joining, and Nano-Welding, in Micro and Precision Manufacturing 2018, Springer. p. 71-86.

• Website

SANDVIK Coromant, 2010. Corokey 2010. www.sandvik.com (accessed 18.12.12)

• Dissertation

Trent JW (1975) Experimental acute renal failure. Dissertation, University of California

Tables

• All tables are to be numbered numerically (1, 2, 3 …).
• Following the above numeric order, all tables should be cited in text in consecutive order.
• A table should have a title that best represents the content of the table. 
• If any table is adopted from any published source, then that table should be cited with proper reference.
• For footnotes in tables, do use asterisks, or any other symbols.

Figures

• Submission of all figures is mandatory. 
• The figures can be submitted separately or embedded in the manuscript word file or as a separate word file containing the figures 
• For lettering inside the figure, it is suggested to use sans serif fonts (i.e. Arial, Calibri)
• For consistent size maintenance inside the figure, use font size 9 pt.
• In the figure, effects such as shading, outline letters etc. should be avoided. 
• A figure should have a title that best represents the content of the figure. 
• The title of the figure should not be included inside the art area of the illustration.
• All figures are to be numbered numerically (1, 2, 3 …).
• Following the above numeric order, all figures should be cited in text in consecutive order.
• Parts of the figure should be denoted by lower case letters (Fig. 1a, Fig. 2c, etc.)
• If any figure is adopted from any published source, then that figure should be cited with proper reference. In such a case, permission should be taken and submitted in ImperialOpen. The ImperialOpen does not take any responsibility to compensate for any costs. 
• For numbering figures in appendix (if any), continue the numbering from the main text. 
• Each figure caption should use the word ‘Fig.’ followed by the number of the figure. Both should be highlighted using bold type.

English language

All the articles submitted in journals of ImperialOpen must show a high-quality standard write-up for scientific article writing. This helps the editors and reviewers to accurately assess the quality of presented work in the manuscript. Sometimes an article written by non-native English speaker fails to provide the standard quality of an article. In such cases, the authors can take help from following modes:

• Help taken from native English speakers to upgrade the manuscript value in terms of English quality.
• Take help from a professional language editing service. Authors can take the proofread service from ImperialOpen. For quote, email to [email protected].

Ethics in publication

Ethical standard

The research work submitted in the journals of ImperialOpen should uphold the highest integrity of publication. Any misconduct such as misrepresentation of found results, manipulation of data and figures etc. may damage the professionalism in scientific research publication. Also by doing this, the whole scientific world is polluted. Hence the authors are requested to maintain integrity in publication, such as:

• The submitted research work is novel and is not published anywhere else.
• The work is currently not under-consideration for publication anywhere else. 
• Any new work, that is an extension of authors previously published work, can be submitted for publication consideration provided the authors provide appropriate citation to avoid ‘self-plagiarism’.
• The authors are advised to avoid ‘salami-slicing’ i.e. publishing single content in many parts to a single journal over time or in multiple journals.
• There is no data controlling or manipulation. This is applicable for generating figures as well.
• The authors should rearticulate other authors' work to avoid ‘plagiarism’. The ImperialOpen will not accept any plagiarized manuscript at any condition. Proper citation with paraphrasing is suggested. For exact copying of others words, quotation marks should be used.   
• The journals of ImperialOpen may use the plagiarism checking software. Based on the similarity index, they decide whether to proceed with reviewing or not. 
• It is assumed that consent is taken about the research manuscript from all the authors, their institutes, funding bodies and other authorities wherever needed. 
• All authors should have sufficient contribution in different stages of the research work to be the coauthors. Also, all authors remain responsible for the accountability of the presented results.  
• During submission, carefully nominate the first author, order of other authors, and corresponding author. Once the paper is accepted, ImperialOpen will not accept the changes in the order of authors.
• ImperialOpen will not accept the addition or removal of authors once the paper is accepted. However, if the authors agree to such changes, and the notification is sent from institute or independent body formally, only then ImperialOpen may consider such changes. Note that ImperialOpen reserves the right to proceed or not proceed to make such changes. 
• By agreeing to publish in ImperialOpen authors should send any data or other information required to verify the results of claims upon claims. However, sensitive data may be excluded from such obligation provided the authors show appropriate documents of such confidentiality. 

Penalty for misconduct

If misconduct is suspected, an investigation will be carried out following the COPE guidelines. In case of valid concern for such allegations the authors will be given an opportunity to justify the issue. However, if the level of misconduct is serious enough and proven right then the editor-in-chief may follow the following measures which may not be limited to:

• Under editorial considerations articles may be rejected.
• Published articles may be kept in archives with a publication of erratum.
• Published articles may be retracted completely if the infraction is severe enough.
• Note that retracted articles will remain in the website and archives, but sealed as ‘retracted’. 
• Along with the retracted article, the reason for retraction will be provided.
• In cases, the registered institution of authors may be informed. 

Compliance with ethical standards

Authors need to provide information related to funding bodies, grant number, potential conflict of interest (of any type), consent form in case humans were involved as participants. Also when animals are involved it is required to state the welfare of animals.  

During submission following certifications are required from authors:

• Funding information with grant number etc.
• Potential conflict of interest
• Authorized form from respective authority if animals are involved in research
• Consent form if research involved human

Articles without the ‘Compliance with ethical standards’ information may not be sent to review. Upon submitting a false statement, the authors will be held responsible. 

The Editors of journals of ImperialOpen reserve the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with the ‘Compliance with ethical standards’ guidelines.

Conflict of interest

It is compulsory to disclose any potential conflict of interest with the authors/researchers. If there is no conflict of interest that should also be disclosed as ‘The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest’. Conflict of interest can be of financial, non-financial, personal etc. and that should be written in detail so that a more accurate processing of the article can be performed by a transparent review process. 

Funding: This research was fully or partially funded by ABC. The grant number is ##### sanctioned in year ####.

Conflict of Interest: Please write details of any conflict of interest with any person, institute, agency etc.

Funding and Conflict of interest should be presented just before the reference section.

Post-acceptance activities 

After acceptance of the article, it will be processed with following modes:

• Your article will be processed and you will receive the proof. During the proofreading stage no major changes are allowed without the approval from the editor. Only small issues like sentence structure, grammatical issues, figure quality improvements etc. are allowed to change.  
• After proofreading, the article will be published either as the ‘Online First’ version or as the final paginated version.
• The corresponding author may order offprints at a certain charge.
• The illustrations remain in color in the online version. However, in the offprints, depending on the choice and charges the illustrations may be color or grayscale.  

Gold open-access

All the journals listed under ImperialOpen publish articles as gold open-access versions. This means all articles are made freely accessible to authors around the globe. They can read, download, share and cite the articles. As such, gold open-access articles receive more visibility than traditional publication i.e. creating a greater impact. Also, it promotes no-restriction to knowledge sharing. It is to be mentioned that, frequently, funders require publication in gold open-access journals. 

Currently, there is no article processing charge to publish in this journal. 

Author’s guidelines

• Manuscript submission
• Title page
• Cover page
• References
• Tables
• Figures/artworks/illustrations
• English language
• Ethics in publication
• Compliance with ethical standards
• Conflict of interest
• Post-acceptance activities 
• Gold open access

Manuscript submission

Manuscript Submission

By submitting the manuscript in any journal of ImperialOpen, it is implied that

• The work has not been published anywhere before
• It is not under-consideration for publication anywhere else
• All coauthors have agreed to its content and approved it
• All the authorities (funders, institutes, government, universities, laboratory, etc.) have approved it
• Should there be any claims the publisher ImperialOpen will not be held responsible legally for compensation  

Permissions

As publishing materials, the inclusion of figures, tables, data, text, etc., which are already published and therefore protected by copyright owner(s), in the articles submitted in the journals of ImperialOpen require the permission from the appropriate copyright owner(s). Should there be any such case, the evidence of granted permission needs to be submitted along with the papers. If not submitted, all materials will be assumed to be contributed and created by the authors.    

Online Submission

To submit the paper online, please follow the hyperlink “Submit Manuscript” on the top menu bar. In each step, provide necessary information and upload the files. Necessary instructions are given on the screen in each page.

Title page

The title page should include:

• Article type
• Engineering discipline
• Full name of the article that is concise and rightly present the content of the paper
• The name(s) of the author(s)
• The affiliation(s), mailing address(es), and email address(es) of the author(s)
• The corresponding author with contact number(s)
• If possible, the 16-digit ORCID of the author(s)

A sample of the title page can be downloaded from here.

Cover letter

The cover letter should include:

• A concise and informative title
• The novelty of the work
• The main contribution in the work by the authors
• The applicability of the work, mentioning some of the potential industrial sectors
• The name and e-mail address of the corresponding author

A sample of the cover letter can be downloaded from here.

Manuscript Text

Text Formatting

Manuscripts should be submitted in Word files (.docx or .doc). The following instructions should be followed:

• Manuscript should be prepared using journal templates (e.g., 11-point Californian FB).
• The text parts to be emphasized should be written in italics.
• The pages should be numbered using auto-numbering. 
• For indentation the tab stops or other commands should be used. The space bar should not be used.
• For tables, the table command should be used. Avoid using spreadsheets to produce tables.
• The equation editor or MathType should be used for equations.

Headings

The headings should be numbered using the decimal system. For creating sub-sections, up to three levels are allowed. For instance:

3.     Results and discussion

3.1    Effects of X on Y

3.1.1 Empirical relation between X and Y 

Abbreviations

At the first appearance the abbreviations should be defined. Afterward, there should be a consistent use of that abbreviation.

Footnotes

To provide any significant additional information footnote(s) can be used. Footnotes must be different from citation of references. Use superscript lower-case letters as footnotes symbol inside the text. For footnotes in tables, do use asterisks, or any other symbols.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments should be addressed in the manuscript under section ‘Acknowledgments’. Typically acknowledgement is given to funding organizations, grants, persons of interest, institutes etc. Wherever applicable, the name of the funders should be mentioned in full name with grant number. 

References

Citation

Appropriate reference should be cited in the manuscript by numbers in square brackets. Please note that the journals published by ImperialOpen do not allow citing more than two references in a single line. This helps readers and reviewers to better comprehend the supporting contribution by the cited reference(s). Please follow the below-listed examples:

1. Aluminum alloy has found immense application in light-weight industries [9].
2. Molani and Sadi [10] reported successful use of aluminum alloy in aerospace parts. 
3. The trends of acceleration of this study are in good agreement with the results of research conducted by Pullman et al. [12] and Russell et al. [13].

Reference list

The references should be listed in consecutive numbers at the end of the manuscript under the section ‘Reference’. In that list, only the works cited in the text should be included. The published or accepted works are usually listed. In addition, the authentic reports, website, books, book chapter, and dissertation can also be referred. 

Some samples are shown in the following list: 

• Journal article

Fang, Z. and T. Obikawa, Cooling performance of micro-texture at the tool flank face under high pressure jet coolant assistance. Precision Engineering, 2017. 49: p. 41-51.

Ideally, the names of all authors should be provided, but the usage of “et al” in long author lists will also be accepted:

Abbas, A.T., et al., Minimization of turning time for high-strength steel with a given surface roughness using the Edgeworth–Pareto optimization method. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 2017. 93(5): p. 2375-2392.

• Conference article

Mia, M., M.A. Bashir, and N.R. Dhar, Effects of cutting parameters and machining environments on surface roughness in hard turning using design of experiment. AIP Conference Proceedings, 2016. 1754(1): p. 060012.

• Accepted article published with DOI

Mia, M. and N.R. Dhar, Prediction and optimization by using SVR, RSM and GA in hard turning of tempered AISI 1060 steel under effective cooling conditions. Neural Computing and Applications, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00521-017-3192-4

• Book

Groover, M.P., Fundamentals of modern manufacturing: materials processes, and systems 2007: John Wiley & Sons.

• Book chapter 

Mehta, K., M. Gupta, and P. Sharma, Nano-Machining, Nano-Joining, and Nano-Welding, in Micro and Precision Manufacturing 2018, Springer. p. 71-86.

• Website

SANDVIK Coromant, 2010. Corokey 2010. www.sandvik.com (accessed 18.12.12)

• Dissertation

Trent JW (1975) Experimental acute renal failure. Dissertation, University of California

Tables

• All tables are to be numbered numerically (1, 2, 3 …).
• Following the above numeric order, all tables should be cited in text in consecutive order.
• A table should have a title that best represents the content of the table. 
• If any table is adopted from any published source, then that table should be cited with proper reference.
• For footnotes in tables, do use asterisks, or any other symbols.

Figures

• Submission of all figures is mandatory. 
• The figures can be submitted separately or embedded in the manuscript word file or as a separate word file containing the figures 
• For lettering inside the figure, it is suggested to use sans serif fonts (i.e. Arial, Calibri)
• For consistent size maintenance inside the figure, use font size 9 pt.
• In the figure, effects such as shading, outline letters etc. should be avoided. 
• A figure should have a title that best represents the content of the figure. 
• The title of the figure should not be included inside the art area of the illustration.
• All figures are to be numbered numerically (1, 2, 3 …).
• Following the above numeric order, all figures should be cited in text in consecutive order.
• Parts of the figure should be denoted by lower case letters (Fig. 1a, Fig. 2c, etc.)
• If any figure is adopted from any published source, then that figure should be cited with proper reference. In such a case, permission should be taken and submitted in ImperialOpen. The ImperialOpen does not take any responsibility to compensate for any costs. 
• For numbering figures in appendix (if any), continue the numbering from the main text. 
• Each figure caption should use the word ‘Fig.’ followed by the number of the figure. Both should be highlighted using bold type.

English language

All the articles submitted in journals of ImperialOpen must show a high-quality standard write-up for scientific article writing. This helps the editors and reviewers to accurately assess the quality of presented work in the manuscript. Sometimes an article written by non-native English speaker fails to provide the standard quality of an article. In such cases, the authors can take help from following modes:

• Help taken from native English speakers to upgrade the manuscript value in terms of English quality.
• Take help from a professional language editing service. Authors can take the proofread service from ImperialOpen. For quote, email to [email protected].

Ethics in publication

Ethical standard

The research work submitted in the journals of ImperialOpen should uphold the highest integrity of publication. Any misconduct such as misrepresentation of found results, manipulation of data and figures etc. may damage the professionalism in scientific research publication. Also by doing this, the whole scientific world is polluted. Hence the authors are requested to maintain integrity in publication, such as:

• The submitted research work is novel and is not published anywhere else.
• The work is currently not under-consideration for publication anywhere else. 
• Any new work, that is an extension of authors previously published work, can be submitted for publication consideration provided the authors provide appropriate citation to avoid ‘self-plagiarism’.
• The authors are advised to avoid ‘salami-slicing’ i.e. publishing single content in many parts to a single journal over time or in multiple journals.
• There is no data controlling or manipulation. This is applicable for generating figures as well.
• The authors should rearticulate other authors' work to avoid ‘plagiarism’. The ImperialOpen will not accept any plagiarized manuscript at any condition. Proper citation with paraphrasing is suggested. For exact copying of others words, quotation marks should be used.   
• The journals of ImperialOpen may use the plagiarism checking software. Based on the similarity index, they decide whether to proceed with reviewing or not. 
• It is assumed that consent is taken about the research manuscript from all the authors, their institutes, funding bodies and other authorities wherever needed. 
• All authors should have sufficient contribution in different stages of the research work to be the coauthors. Also, all authors remain responsible for the accountability of the presented results.  
• During submission, carefully nominate the first author, order of other authors, and corresponding author. Once the paper is accepted, ImperialOpen will not accept the changes in the order of authors.
• ImperialOpen will not accept the addition or removal of authors once the paper is accepted. However, if the authors agree to such changes, and the notification is sent from institute or independent body formally, only then ImperialOpen may consider such changes. Note that ImperialOpen reserves the right to proceed or not proceed to make such changes. 
• By agreeing to publish in ImperialOpen authors should send any data or other information required to verify the results of claims upon claims. However, sensitive data may be excluded from such obligation provided the authors show appropriate documents of such confidentiality. 

Penalty for misconduct

If misconduct is suspected, an investigation will be carried out following the COPE guidelines. In case of valid concern for such allegations the authors will be given an opportunity to justify the issue. However, if the level of misconduct is serious enough and proven right then the editor-in-chief may follow the following measures which may not be limited to:

• Under editorial considerations articles may be rejected.
• Published articles may be kept in archives with a publication of erratum.
• Published articles may be retracted completely if the infraction is severe enough.
• Note that retracted articles will remain in the website and archives, but sealed as ‘retracted’. 
• Along with the retracted article, the reason for retraction will be provided.
• In cases, the registered institution of authors may be informed. 

Compliance with ethical standards

Authors need to provide information related to funding bodies, grant number, potential conflict of interest (of any type), consent form in case humans were involved as participants. Also when animals are involved it is required to state the welfare of animals.  

During submission following certifications are required from authors:

• Funding information with grant number etc.
• Potential conflict of interest
• Authorized form from respective authority if animals are involved in research
• Consent form if research involved human

Articles without the ‘Compliance with ethical standards’ information may not be sent to review. Upon submitting a false statement, the authors will be held responsible. 

The Editors of journals of ImperialOpen reserve the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with the ‘Compliance with ethical standards’ guidelines.

Conflict of interest

It is compulsory to disclose any potential conflict of interest with the authors/researchers. If there is no conflict of interest that should also be disclosed as ‘The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest’. Conflict of interest can be of financial, non-financial, personal etc. and that should be written in detail so that a more accurate processing of the article can be performed by a transparent review process. 

Funding: This research was fully or partially funded by ABC. The grant number is ##### sanctioned in year ####.

Conflict of Interest: Please write details of any conflict of interest with any person, institute, agency etc.

Funding and Conflict of interest should be presented just before the reference section.

Post-acceptance activities 

After acceptance of the article, it will be processed with following modes:

• Your article will be processed and you will receive the proof. During the proofreading stage no major changes are allowed without the approval from the editor. Only small issues like sentence structure, grammatical issues, figure quality improvements etc. are allowed to change.  
• After proofreading, the article will be published either as the ‘Online First’ version or as the final paginated version.
• The corresponding author may order offprints at a certain charge.
• The illustrations remain in color in the online version. However, in the offprints, depending on the choice and charges the illustrations may be color or grayscale.  

Gold open-access

All the journals listed under ImperialOpen publish articles as gold open-access versions. This means all articles are made freely accessible to authors around the globe. They can read, download, share and cite the articles. As such, gold open-access articles receive more visibility than traditional publication i.e. creating a greater impact. Also, it promotes no-restriction to knowledge sharing. It is to be mentioned that, frequently, funders require publication in gold open-access journals. 

Currently, there is no article processing charge to publish in this journal.