ISSN: 1231-4005

e-ISSN: 2354-0133

Important files for authors

Guide for Authors

1. Introduction
1.1. Contact details for submission
1.2. Scope and types of articles
1.3. Submission declaration
1.4. Copyright and open access
1.5. Role of the funding source
1.6. Language (usage and editing services)
1.7. Publication fee
1.8. COPE Core practices in journal

2. Submission checklist

3. Cover letter

4. Preparation of the article
4.1. General requirements
4.2. Paper

5. Reviewing and publication process
5.1. Review Policy
5.2. The article rejection
5.3. Publication process and review procedure

6. Publishing Ethics
6.1. Plagiarism detection and conflict of interest
6.2. Ghostwriting & Guestauthorship

1. Introductionback to top

1.1. Contact details for submission
Authors are requested to submit their papers electronically by mail: kones@ilot.edu.pl. Authors are requested to submit the text, tables, and artwork in electronic form to this address. Authors who are unable to provide an electronic version or have other circumstances that prevent online submission must contact the Editor prior to submission to discuss alternative options.

1.2. Scope and types of articles
Journal is a monograph devoted to the latest achievements in research, development in mechanical engineering, and engines design both compression-ignition and spark-ignition as well as other combustion engines (hybrids) with special attention to ecology, combustion processes, mixture preparation, exhaust aftertreatment, electronic control, diagnostic and maintenance, durability and reliability, new materials, engine parts, fuel and lubricants, other alternative fuels (including hydrogen), fuel cells and converters, electric drive standards, noise and vibration, diagnostics (OBD), catalysis, catalyst systems.
The journal is also devoted to the problems of research, design and development for different kinds of vehicles, reliability and durability with a especial attention on novel generation of vehicles, pollution, environment protection, simulation and modelling including land, sea and air vehicles with a particular regard on connection with powertrain, ecology and safety.
Journal of KONES includes the following types of papers:

Keywords of the Journal:
mechanical engineering; transport means; compression-ignition engines; spark-ignition engines; aircraft engines; hybrid engines; ecology; combustion processes; mixture preparation; exhaust aftertreatment; electronic control; diagnostics and maintenance; durability and reliability; new materials; engine parts; fuel and lubricants; alternative fuels; fuel cells and converters; electric drive standards; noise and vibration; diagnostics (OBD); catalysis; catalyst systems; land; sea and air vehicles; novel generation of vehicles; reliability; durability; safe; pollution; environment protection; simulation and modelling

1.3. Submission declaration
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its 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 including electronically in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the copyright-holder. This declaration should be confirmed in the cover letter.

1.4. Copyright and open access
This journal provides all articles in free open access. Articles are freely available to wider public with permitted reuse. Submission of the article means that the authors agree on the journal's policy regarding publishing. The license on which the works are published and their possible use is Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

1.5. Role of the funding source
Authors are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement then this should be stated.

1.6. Language (usage and editing services)
The preferred spellings are of the Oxford English Dictionary.

1.7. Publication fee
At this moment publication in Journal of KONES (including open access) is free of charge.

1.8. COPE Core practices in journal
The publisher and editorial staff of the Journal of KONES, in all issues related to publication ethics, are based on recommendations and good practices developed by COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics). If unethical practices are detected, the procedure is carried out in accordance with flowcharts. Main information about the publishing process publication, review, rejection and plagiarism detection are presented in the further parts of guidelines.
In the case of allegations of misconduct and complains, please provide a detailed description of the issue (including dates and persons who provided the service) or inconveniences and critical remarks. In the case of application service and information flow submit comments and complaints to the editor-in-chief at antonijankowski@tlen.pl. In the scope of complaints regarding substantive proceedings of articles, please submit comments to the publisher at the address: poczta@itwl.pl. Any complaints about staff handling the application should be forwarded to the editor-in-chief at the above address. To the editor-in-chief also direct any suggestions and ideas regarding the publishing process, website and application service.

2. Submission checklistback to top

The following list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to the journal for review:
1. One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details: e-mail address, full postal address.
2. The article file have been prepared, and contains: title page, abstract, keywords, text, figures, all figure captions all tables (including title, description, footnotes).
3. Manuscript has been spell-checked and grammar-checked, references are in the correct format, all references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text, permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Internet), graphics are ready to be optionally published in grey-scale also.
4. Manuscript is saved in doc. or docx. format with additional copy in pdf.
5. Cover letter is attached and include all necessary declaration about copyright, contribution of all authors and funding source.

3. Cover letterback to top

Authors submitting the publication are obligated to attach Cover letter. It should contain information about the authors of their first and last name, affiliation with the exact postal address, contact details. In addition, it is necessary to briefly describe the content of the article and justify its thematic adjustment to the scope of interest of the Journal of KONES. It is necessary to describe the contribution of each author in the implementation of the work, as well as describe the method of financing. Detailed guidelines on what should be included in such declaration are included in item "6.2 Ghostwritting and Guestauthorship".
In Cover Letter, authors must explicitly declare that the work has not been published previously (except in the form of published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its 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 including electronically in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the copyright-holder.

4. Preparation of the articleback to top

4.1. General requirements
1. The article should be written in the Microsoft Word 2003 editor in one column, without dividing words, without, besides given below, formatting, of principle character font of 12 points Times New Roman, and of principle full justification (left - right) with the single space between lines of text.
2. All titles cannot contain any punctuation marks at the line end. the title of the paper, author's names, addresses, and numbers of telephone, fax and the e-mail, legends, the name chapters and subchapters, titles under figures and over tables are titles. If there are several authors of the paper, at least whole information of one author must be complete.
3. Equations, references, and itemizes are not the titles. They must have suitable punctuation marks. Editor recommends using commas and points in the above sentences.
4. The size page: A4 (21 cm x 29.7 cm).
5. Margins for every page are the same: top and bottom - 2.5 cm, left and right - 2.1 cm.
6. Page setup: the headers - 1.25 cm, footers - 1.25.
7. Pages should not be numbered.
8. The first page should begin the title written bold capital letters of 14 points Times New Roman, 4 cm from top with the paragraph in the line centre, and the single space.
9. An example file with paper formatting can be downloaded from here (dot)

4.2. Paper
1. The paper title - 14 points Times New Roman should be written CAPITAL BOLD LETTERS with one line space in the line centre. All centre justifications refer to the margin left and right, and not to indentions.
2. Indention is 0.6 cm. Other, particularly greater, indentions (1.25 cm, 1.27 cm) will not be accepted. All indentions are 0.6 cm.
3. Abstract - the minimum of 13 lines of 10 points Times New Roman Italic Bold +Italic.
4. Keywords (5 ones that describe the content of the paper - from general to particular) should be written of 10 points Times New Roman Italic Bold +Italic. At the end of keywords there is no point.
5. Illustrations only within the body of the paper in the line centre will be accepted. Numbered having titles under figures, photographs should be written with 10 points Times New Roman Italic (please use for marking figures shortenings "Fig. " - e.g. "Fig. 2. The dependence"...). At the end title please do not place point.
6. Tables only within the body of the paper and justify in relation to margins (left and right, and not incisions) will be accepted. Numbered subscriptions over tables should be written 10 points Times New Roman Italic. In the subscription end above table please do not place point.
7. Equations please write at the line centre and with mark of the number on the right of the line, the right justification. All equations should be written with the Word equation programme.
8. Equations should be inserted into the sentence with all over punctuation marks.
9. Numbered titles chapters please place on the left side of the page - 12 points Times New Roman, Bold.
10. Please leave one line of space before and after every title, behind excerpt the beginning and end of every page.
11. References in alphabetical order (Max of 25 items) numbered in parentheses square [] should contain the surname, the comma, the first name or initials, comma - 12 points Times New Roman, then the title of publications, comma - 12 points Times New Roman Italic, the journal name, editor, the number, pages, the place of issue and the year - 12 points Times New Roman. At the end please place point. Pleases do not use colons and semicolons.
12. Papers with high quality (pictures with 300dpi for the text width, professionally performed figures and plots should be original. It allows copies the high grade of the 300 dpi resolution.
13. Basic labels on drawings should have font size of 10 points. The minimum-font labels on drawings cannot be smaller than 6 points. Editor permits labels with the Times New Roman fonts. Editor recommends legends with Arial fonts.
14. Copyrights of the paper notified printable in the Journal of KONES pass on the editor.
15. All drawings, tables and equations should be introduced into the body of the paper. Any separately supplied items will not be accepted. 16. The enclosure 2 contains the example pattern of a paper with dimensions, and 3 - the template of the paper with all the page settings. One should make use during of the paper writing from that example pattern.
17. Any formatting is not acceptable, particularly concerning figure and table subscription in text fields, headers and footers. 18. One should avoids labels on figures, particularly in text fields.

5. Reviewing and publication processback to top

5.1. Review Policy
Journal of KONES has adopted a double blind reviewing policy, where both the referee and author remain anonymous throughout the process. Please remove all identifying features from the paper itself, ensuring that authors' identity is not revealed. However, this does not preclude authors from citing their own works. However, authors must cite their works in a manner that does not make explicit their identity. Author(s) declares that submitted article is not a plagiarism.

5.2. The article rejection
The submitted article can be rejected in following cases:
1. Subject editors recognize that the article is not consistent with the scientific area of Journal of KONES.
2. The “ghostwriting” or “guestauthorship” practice is detected.
3. The review procedure results in unequivocal rejection.
4. The copyrights of any kind are violated.
5. The form of article doesn’t meet the basic requirements of text editing.
6. The number of submitted articles is significantly greater than publishing possibilities.
In all cases the decision about article rejection is undertaken by Editorial Committee and author(s) get a notification with specified reasons of rejection and possible directions of further actions.

5.3. Publication process and review procedure
The review and publication process is started after new submission. The process consists of following steps:
1. Submission of the article with all required declarations by e-mail: kones@ilot.edu.pl
2. Acceptance by associated editor (subject editor) for further processing. Subject editors can propose reviewers.
3. The evaluation of each accepted article is done by two reviewers who are not associated with the scientific unit affiliating author(s). The reviewers are appointed by Editorial Board (double blind reviewing policy).
4. Information about author(s) and reviewers are undisclosed to both sides (double-blind review). The reviewer is not revealed during the procedure and after the publication.
5. Review involves completing a Review Form with a place for additional comments. Reviewers are obliged for clear admission of the article for publication or rejecting it. The admission may be conditional in nature, which means that article requires changes listed by reviewer.
6. Generally, the decision to reject the article is final, unless the Scientific Committee would consider that the rejection occurred without proper justification and formulating clear remarks about the authors. In that case, after checking and remedying shortcomings being the basis for the rejection of the article, the authors have right to re-submit for publication. Review process is then repeated.
7. If necessary Author(s) receives comments from reviewer to be taken into account and included into article. Author(s) is obligated to consider remarks and improve the work or discuss with reviewer through the Journal of KONES Editorial Board.
8. Reviewing process is stopped when article is finally rejected or accepted by both reviewers.
9. The names of the reviewers are given collectively once a year as a list in the last (fourth) issue and on the web-site. The list doesn’t notify which articles or even which issues were supported by particular reviewers.
10. Information about review mechanisms and criteria are available for authors in Review Form.
11. After successive review process paper is edited and prepared for publication. Author accepts the final version of the paper before printing and releasing it on-line.

6. Publishing Ethicsback to top

6.1. Plagiarism detection and conflict of interest
The Journal of KONES Editorial Board is obligated to assist the scientific community in all aspects of publishing ethics, especially in cases of (suspected) duplicate submission or plagiarism.
All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations within three years of beginning the submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work.
All authors must have materially participated in the research and/or article preparation.

6.2. Ghostwriting & Guestauthorship
The Editorial Board of Journal of KONES makes efforts to counteract scientific misconduct like “ghostwriting” and “guestauthorship”. Integrity and reliability in science are the foundation of its quality. Viewers of science should be assured that the authors of the publication transparently, fairly and honestly present the results of their work, regardless of whether they are direct authors, or accepted the aid of specialized entities (natural or legal person). The ethical attitude of researchers and highest editorial standards are evidenced by transparency of information about entities contributing to the publication (substantive, material or financial input, etc.), as a manifestation of good manners and social responsibility.
In opposition to above mentioned ethical actions there are unethical behaviours like “ghostwriting” and „guest authorship”.
“Ghostwriting” is a situation when someone has made a substantial contribution to the publication, but is not revealed as one of the authors or its role is not mentioned in the acknowledgments. The “guestauthorship” (“honorary authorship”) is a different situation where the author has made little or no contribution to the publication, and yet is mentioned as author or co-author. In order to deal with “ghostwriting” and “guest authorship” Editorial Board of Journal of KONES introduces the following requirements for authors:

These requirements rest jointly on all authors represented by the author submitting the article. Submitting (or corresponding) author is given primary responsibility for the accuracy completeness of required information. Only one declaration is required (send by corresponding author).

The Journal of KONES Editorial Board informs that any cases of unethical actions will be disclosed and exposed, including notifying the relevant institutions (employing institution, societies, associations of scientific editors, etc.). All manifestations of scientific misconduct, especially violations and breaches of ethics in science will be documented by the editors.