Guide for Authors

Details

Introduction

Technical Sciences is a peer reviewed research journal in English, founded in 1985, published by the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland. Journal is published continually since 1998. Until 2010 Journal was published as a yearbook, in 2011 and 2012 it was published semiyearly. From 2013, the Journal is published quarterly in the spring, summer, fall, and winter.
The journal covers most branches of mechanical engineering and other engineering disciplines including machines, mechanical systems, mechanics, biosystems engineering, civil engineering, environmental engineering, food engineering, geodesy and cartography, information technology, materials science, production engineering etc. Papers may report the results of experiments, theoretical analyses, design of, or innovations relating to, machines and mechanisation systems, processes or processing methods, new materials, new measurements methods, new ideas in information technology.
Papers may report the results of experiments, theoretical analyses, design of machines and mechanical systems, processes or processing methods, new materials, new measurements methods or new ideas in information technology.
The submitted manuscripts should have clear science content in methodology, results and discussion. Appropriate scientific and statistically sound experimental designs must be included in methodology and statistics must be employed in analyzing data to discuss the impact of test variables. Moreover there should be clear evidence provided on how the given results advance the area of engineering science. Mere confirmation of existing published data is not acceptable. Manuscripts should present results of completed works.

There are three types of papers: a) research papers (full length articles); b) short communications; c) review papers.

The Journal is published in the printed and electronic version. The electronic version is published on the Website ahead of printed version of Technical Sciences.

Technical Sciences does not charge submission or page fees.

Types of paper

The following articles are accepted for print:

Reviews

Reviews should present a focused aspect on a topic of current interest in the area of biosystems engineering, civil engineering, environmental engineering, food engineering, geodesy and cartography, information technology, mechanical engineering, materials science, production engineering etc. They should include all major findings and bring together reports from a number of sources. These critical reviews should draw out comparisons and conflicts between work, and provide an overview of the 'state of the art'. They should give objective assessments of the topic by citing relevant published work, and not merely present the opinions of individual authors or summarize only work carried out by the authors or by those with whom the authors agree. Undue speculations should also be avoided. Reviews generally should not exceed 6,000 words.

Research Papers

Research Papers are reports of complete, scientifically sound, original research which contributes new knowledge to its field. Papers should not exceed 5,000 words or about 12 printed pages, including figures and tables.

Short Communications

Short Communications are research papers constituting a concise description of a limited investigation. They should be completely documented, both by reference list, and description of the experimental procedures. Short Communications should not occupy more than 2,000 words, including figures and tables.

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor should concern with issues raised by articles recently published in scientific journals or by recent developments in the engineering area.

Contact details for submission

The paper should be sent to the Editorial Office, as a Microsoft Word file, by https://czasopisma.uwm.edu.pl/index.php/ts/submission/wizard

Referees

Author/authors should submit, with the manuscript, the names, addresses and e-mail addresses of at least three potential referees. The editor retains the sole right to decide whether or not the suggested reviewers are used.

Submission declaration

After final acceptance of the manuscript, the corresponding author should send to the Editorial Office the author's declaration. Submission of an article implies that the work has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis or as an electronic preprint), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language.
To prevent cases of ghostwriting and guest authorship, the author/authors of manuscripts is/are obliged to: (i) disclose the input of each author to the text (specifying their affiliations and contributions, i.e. who is the author of the concept, assumptions, methods, protocol, etc. used during the preparation of the text); (ii) disclose information about the funding sources for the article, the contribution of research institutions, associations and other entities.

Language

Authors should prepare the full manuscript i.e. title, abstract and the main text in English (American or British usage is accepted). Polish version of the manuscript is not required.

The file type

Text should be prepared in a word processor and saved in DOC or DOCX file (MS Office).

Article structure

Suggested structure of the manuscript is as follows:

Title
Authors and affiliations
Corresponding author
Abstract
Keywords
Introduction
Material and Methods
Results and Discussion
Conclusions
Acknowledgements (optional)
References
Tables
Figures

Subdivision - numbered sections

Text should be organized into clearly defined and numbered sections and subsections (optionally). Sections and subsections should be numbered as 1., 2., 3. then 1.1., 1.2., 1.3. (then 1.1.1., 1.1.2., 1.1.3., ...). The abstract should not be included in numbering section. A brief heading may be given to any subsection. Each heading should appear on its own separate line. A single line should separate paragraphs. Indentation should be used in each paragraph.

Font guidelines are as follows:

Title: 14 pt. Times New Roman, bold, centered, with caps
Author names and affiliations:12 pt. Times New Roman, bold, centered, italic, two blank line above
Abstract: 10 pt. Times New Roman, full justified, one and a half space. Abstract should begin with the word Abstract immediately following the title block with one blank line in between. The word Abstract: 10 pt. Times New Roman, centered, indentation should be used
Section Headings: Not numbered, 12 pt. Times New Roman, bold, centered; one blank line above
Section Sub-headings: Numbered, 12 pt. Times New Roman, bold, italic, centered; one blank line above
Regular text: 12 pt. Times New Roman, one and a half space,full justified, indentation should be used in each paragraph

Title page information

The following information should be placed at the first page:

Title

Concise and informative. Authors should not use abbreviations and formulae where possible.

Authors and affiliations

Author/authors' names should be presented below the title.The authors' affiliation addresses (department or college; university or company; city, state and zip code, country) should be placed below the names. Authors with the same affiliation must be grouped together on the same line with affiliation information following in a single block. Authors should indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address.

Corresponding author

It should be clearly indicated who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication process. The e-mail address should be provided (footer, first page). Contact details must be kept up to date by the corresponding author.

Abstract

The abstract should have up to 100-150 words in length. A concise abstract is required. The abstract should state briefly the aim of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract must be able to stand alone. Only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible.Non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.

Keywords

Immediately after the abstract, author/authors should provide a maximum of 6 keywords avoiding general, plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, 'and', 'of'). Author/authors should be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible.

Abbreviations

Author/authors should define abbreviations that are not standard in this field. Abbreviations must be defined at their first mention there. Author/authors should ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.

Units

All units used in the paper should be consistent with the SI system of measurement. If other units are mentioned, author/authors should give their equivalent in SI.

Introduction

Literature sources should be appropriately selected and cited. A literature review should discuss published information in a particular subject area. Introduction should identify, describe and analyze related research that has already been done and summarize the state of art in the topic area. Author/authors should state clearly the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background.

Material and Methods

Author/authors should provide sufficient details to allow the work to be reproduced by other researchers. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference. A theory should extend, not repeat, the background to the article already dealt within the Introduction and lay the foundation for further work. Calculations should represent a practical development from a theoretical basis.

Results and Discussion

Results should be clear and concise. Discussion should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate.

Conclusions

The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Results and Discussion section.

Acknowledgements

Author/authors should include acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the manuscript before the references. Author/authors should not include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. Individuals who provided help during the research study should be listed in this section.

Artwork

General points

Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork
Embed the used fonts if the application provides that option
Aim to use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times New Roman, Symbol
Number equations, tables and figures according to their sequence in the text
Size the illustrations close to the desired dimensions of the printed version

Formats

If your electronic artwork is created in a Microsoft Office application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) then please supply 'as is' in the native document format
Regardless of the application used other than Microsoft Office, when your electronic artwork is finalized, please 'Save as' or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution requirements given below):
EPS (or PDF): Vector drawings, embed all used fonts
JPEG: Color or grayscale photographs (halftones), keep to a minimum of 300 dpi
JPEG: Bitmapped (pure black & white pixels) line drawings, keep to a minimum of 1000 dpi or combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale), keep to a minimum of 500 dpi

Please do not:

Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); these typically have a low number of pixels and limited set of colors
Supply files that are too low in resolution
Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content

Color artwork

Author/authors should make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format ( JPEG, EPS PDF, or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution. If, together with manuscript, author/authors submit color figures then Technical Sciences will ensure that these figures will appear in color on the Web as well as in the printed version at no additional charge.

Tables, figures, and equations

Tables, figures, and equations/formulae should be identified and numbered consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text.

Equations/mathematical and physical formulae should be presented in the main text, while tables and figures should be presented at the end of file (after References section). Mathematical and physical formulae should be presented in the MS Word formula editor.

All types of figures can be black/white or color. Author/authors should ensure that each figure is numbered and has a caption. A caption should be placed below the figure. Figure must be able to stand alone (explanation of all symbols and abbreviations used in figure is required). Units must be always included. It is noted that figure and table numbering should be independent.

Tables should be numbered consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. Table caption should be placed above the table. Footnotes to tables should be placed below the table body and indicated with superscript lowercase letters. Vertical rules should be avoided. Author/authors should ensure that the data presented in tables do not duplicate results described in figures, diagrams, schemes, etc. Table must be able to stand alone (explanation of all symbols and abbreviations used in table is required). Units must be always included. As above, figure and table numbering should be independent.

References

References: All publications cited in the text should be presented in a list of references following the text of the manuscript. The manuscript should be carefully checked to ensure that the spelling of authors' names and dates of publications are exactly the same in the text as in the reference list. Authors should ensure that each reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa).

Citations may be made directly (or parenthetically). All citations in the text should refer to:

Single author
The author's name (without initials, with caps, unless there is ambiguity) and the year of publication should appear in the text
Two authors
Both authors' names (without initials, with caps) and the year of publication should appear in the text
Three or more authors
First author's name followed by et al. and the year of publication should appear in the text

Groups of references should be listed first alphabetically, then chronologically.

Examples:
".... have been reported recently (Allan, 1996a, 1996b, 1999; Allan and Jones, 1995).
Kramer et al. (2000) have recently shown...."

The list of references should be arranged alphabetically by authors' names, then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than once reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters "a", "b", "c" etc., placed after the year of publication.

References should be given in the following form:

Kumbhar, B.K., Agarval, R.S., Das, K. 1981. Thermal properties of fresh and frozen fish. International Journal of Refrigeration, 4(3), 143-146.
Machado, M.F., Oliveira, F.A.R., Gekas, V. 1997. Modelling water uptake and soluble solids losses by puffed breakfast cereal immersed in water or milk. In Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress on Engineering and Food, Brighton, UK.
Neter, J., Kutner, M.H., Nachtscheim, C.J., Wasserman, W. 1966. Applied linear statistical models (4th ed., pp. 1289-1293). Irwin, Chicago.
Thomson, F. M. 1984. Storage of particulate solids. In M. E. Fayed, L. Otten (Eds.), Handbook of Powder Science and Technology (pp. 365-463). Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.

Citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication.
Note that the full names of Journals should appear in reference list.

Submission checklist

The following list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to the submission. Before sending the manuscript to the Journal for review, author/authors should ensure that the following items are present:

Text is prepared with a word processor and saved in DOC or DOCX file (MS Office).
One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:
e-mail address
Manuscript has been 'spell-checked' and 'grammar-checked'
References are in the correct format for this Journal
All references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa
Author/authors does/do not supply files that are too low in resolution
Author/authors does/do not submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.