1. Journal Introduction

Journal of Mine Automation is a scientific and technical journal focusing on the automation, informatization and intelligent technology of coal mines in China. It is a monthly publication supervised by China Coal Technology & Engineering Group (CCTEG) and sponsored by CCTEG Changzhou Research Institute. The journal’s main research scope covers:

Coal mine safety technology, monitoring technology for coal mine safety; intelligent mining; automatic control technology of coal mine machinery; monitoring and control technology for coal mine equipment status; coal mine electric drive and control technology; coal mine communication technology; equipment and technology for coal mine rescue and disaster relief; mining sensors, instruments and meters; anti-explosion technology for mining products; coal mining electrical supply technology; coal mining information technology; intelligent mining and Internet of Things technology, etc.

2. Submission Introduction

(1) The journal does not accept submissions in paper. To submit online, authors can log in to the submission system on this website (www.gkzdh.cn). New authors are required to register their accounts before submission, and need to provide information on author name, affiliated institution, detailed address, phone number, postal code, email address, etc.

(2) Please read the “For Authors” page carefully, as well as the “Copyright Transfer Agreement”, “Author Contribution & Conflict of Interest Statement” file, and other relevant documents in this website. Authors should accurately fill in basic information, grant information, and author information of their manuscripts. The journal generally contacts the first author and the corresponding author, so please make sure that the contact information (phone number and email address) of the first author and the corresponding author is accurate. Otherwise, the review and publication of manuscripts might be affected. Manuscripts must be uploaded in “.doc” or “.docx” format. Vector diagrams, and supplementary materials that can further illustrate the experimental design, case analysis, theoretical derivation, and argument of the paper, should be uploaded as attachments to the original manuscript. Supplementary materials could be associated with the manuscript by internal links, and published together with the manuscript online.

(3) We will not return original manuscript back to author, regardless of whether it is published or not. It is recommended that authors keep a copy of their manuscripts.

3. Review Process

(1) The journal strictly implements three rounds of reviews, i.e., initial review by the editorial department, external review by experts, and final review by the Editor-in-Chief. The time period of initial review is generally 1 week, not more than 2 weeks. The external review is a double-blind peer review process, in which experts are invited to review the quality and academic value of the manuscript, and this process generally does not exceed 2 months. In the final review, the Editor-in-Chief would make a decision on whether to accept the manuscript, combining the comments of the first review and external review. The editorial department will send the final review results to the author via email, regardless of whether the manuscript is accepted or not.

(2) If a manuscript is required to be revised during the review process, authors should mark the revised part, and provide a point-by-point reply to the review comments in the revised manuscript. If authors disagree with the review comments, they can attach a written note when submitting the revised manuscript, and the journal will deal with it as appropriate. If a manuscript is required for revision in the process of external review, the revised manuscript will be resubmitted to the expert reviewers for a second review.

Revised manuscripts should be returned as soon as possible. Revision of manuscripts should generally take no more than 1 month. If revision is not completed within 3 months, the manuscript will be deemed as withdrawn by the author.

(3) Once the review process is initiated, it is generally not allowed to revise the author list or order of authors. In some special cases where author information indeed needs correction, the first author or corresponding author should submit a written request with the signatures of all authors. After the editorial department approves the request, the author information could be corrected.

(4) The entire review process normally takes no more than 3 months. Authors have the right to withdraw their manuscripts at any point in the review process within the agreed time frame. After that time frame, authors can contact the editorial department to inquire about the review progress or request an expedited review.

If authors do not receive the final review results after 90 days of submission, they would have the right to handle the manuscripts at will.

(5) For manuscripts submitted by the journal’s editorial board members or editors, they must also follow all the review and editing procedures of the journal. All editorial board members and editors are not allowed to participate in the review, editing and employment decisions of the manuscripts written by themselves, their families or colleagues. Peer review will be conducted independently of the relevant editorial board, editors and their research teams.

4. Manuscript Editing & Proofreading

(1) Manuscripts that have been reviewed and accepted will proceed to the editing and proofreading process. In this process, editors will re-examine the manuscript for academic misconduct, and the journal reserves the right to reject the manuscript if the result of duplicate checking is more than 20%.

(2) Editors have the right to make necessary textual and graphical corrections or processing to manuscripts in accordance with relevant laws and regulations or the professional requirements of related fields.

(3) A proof of the article will be sent to the author for checking within 1 week before the final proofreading. The author should provide feedback on whether the proof needs any revisions prior to the final proofreading, otherwise it will be considered that the author thinks that the proof does not need to be revised.

5. Manuscript Publishing

(1) Articles will be published on the journal’s website and other online platforms such as WeChat Official Account, databases of CNKI, China Coal Industry Knowledge Service Platform, etc. The copyright royalty will be paid to the author as a lump sum in combination with the manuscript remuneration. If authors do not agree to the online dissemination of their manuscripts, please state in the manuscripts.

(2) Once the manuscript is published, the responsibility for the content shall be borne by the authors.

6. Requirements on Manuscripts

(1) Authors shall ensure that they legally own the copyright of their manuscripts. For co-authored manuscripts, the authorship must be approved by all co-authors. The journal will not be responsible for any disputes arising from manuscript copyright.

(2) Manuscripts should not involve confidential content. If a manuscript involves confidential matters, the author shall be responsible for that.

(3) Article Format & Writing Requirements: The journal is published in Chinese. For detailed article format and writing requirements, please refer to the “投稿须知” page on the Chinese website.

7. Publication Fee & Remuneration

(1) After manuscripts are published, the editorial department will pay remunerations and send 2 copies of the issue to authors.

(2) The journal does not charge authors for reviewing manuscripts.

(3) The journal will charge authors for the publication of manuscripts. The publication fee is 3600 CNY per article.