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Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture

Published in Association with Institution of Mechanical Engineers

eISSN: 20412975 | ISSN: 09544054 | Current volume: 238 | Current issue: 4 Frequency: 14 Times/YearTimes/Year

The Journal of Engineering Manufacture provides a focus for new developments in engineering manufacture, covering technological and scientific research, process development and management implementation in manufacturing.

'My priority as Editor is to ensure that the Journal of Engineering Manufacture remains at the forefront of international efforts to report and disseminate scientific advances and new knowledge arising from high quality manufacturing engineering research.

The Journal combines a unique, world-class heritage, by setting the agenda in manufacturing engineering research and practice since 1847, with a contemporary drive for leading scientific quality and latest innovations in manufacturing.

We welcome papers in aspects of engineering manufacture from manufacturing processes, through to digitalisation of manufacturing, engineering design, production machines and manufacturing systems. Digital twin technologies in manufacturing and the decarbonisation of processes and factories are significant current priorities. From time to time, we also publish special issues on particular topics, either new emerging technologies or sharply focused aspects of manufacturing research.'

Professor Paul Maropoulos, Queen’s University Belfast & Manufacturing Technology Centre, UK

This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

For more information about the Journal please contact jengmanuf@sagepub.co.uk

Recommend this journal to your library

Manufacturing industries throughout the world are changing very rapidly with the introduction of digitalisation, the definition of new manufacturing methods and the enhancement of manufacturing processes to increase manufacturing efficiency, quality and productivity. The development of digital twin methods for manufacturing processes and systems and the decarbonization of manufacturing processes and factories are emerging industrial priorities.

The aim of the Journal of Engineering Manufacture is to provide a focus for new developments in engineering manufacture by publishing original papers and review papers reporting on innovative and rigorous technological and scientific research as well as new developments and management implementation in manufacturing. Case studies and technical notes are also within scope in areas where new relevant insights and useful knowledge are generated from the application and further development of processes or technologies.

This journal is fully peer reviewed.

Papers are welcomed in the broad areas of manufacturing processes, manufacturing technology and factory automation, digital manufacturing, engineering design and manufacturing systems including management aspects relevant to engineering manufacture. Of particular interest at the present time would be papers concerned with digital manufacturing, digital twin of processes and systems, smart factory and metrology enabled manufacturing, additive manufacturing, energy conscious manufacturing as well as specialist fields like nanomanufacturing and bio-manufacturing.

Articles may be Original (Research) Papers, Reviews, Case Studies / Technical Notes, or Short Communications.

Editor-in-Chief
Professor P G Maropoulos Queen's University Belfast & Manufacturing Technology Centre, UK
Associate Editor
J Chen Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
Ke Feng Queen's University Belfast & Manufacturing Technology Centre, UK
J Gao University of Greenwich, UK
V K Jain Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India
Y Jin Queen's University Belfast, UK
J W Leng Guangdong University of Technology, China
Y Li Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China
H Long University of Sheffield, UK
P Mativenga University of Manchester, UK
Editorial Board
T S Baines Aston University, UK
U S Bititci Heriot Watt University, UK
S Dimov University of Birmingham, UK
F Franceschini Politecnico di Torino, Italy
G Q Huang The University of Hong Kong, China
K Jemielniak Warsaw University of Technology, Poland
J Jeswiet Queen's University, Canada
Z Jia Dalian University Of Technology, China
X Jiang University of Huddersfield, UK
R Kovacevic Southern Methodist University, USA
W B Lee Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
L Li University of Manchester, UK
S Mantell The University of Minnesota, USA
P Martins University of Lisbon, Portugal
A Y C Nee National University of Singapore, Singapore
J P Davim University of Aveiro, Portugal
R Roy City, University of London, UK
M Shpitalni Israel Institute of Technology, Israel
A Srivastava University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), USA
K A Stelson University of Minnesota, USA
Kai Tang Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guang Zhou), China
X Tang Beihang University, China
A Tiwari University of Sheffield, UK
I Todd The University of Sheffield, UK
J Váncza Institute for Computer Science and Control, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary
R Wilhelm UNC Charlotte, USA
D-Y Yang Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Korea
L Zhu Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
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  • Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture

    This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics. 

    This Journal recommends that authors follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

     Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/joem to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.

    Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture will be reviewed.

    There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.

    As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you.

    1. What do we publish?
      1.1 Aims & Scope
      1.2 Article types
      1.3 Writing your paper
    2. Editorial policies
      2.1 Peer review policy
      2.2 Authorship
      2.3 Acknowledgements
      2.4 Funding
      2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
      2.6 Research Data
    3. Publishing policies
      3.1 Publication ethics
      3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
      3.3 Open access and author archiving
    4. Preparing your manuscript
      4.1 Formatting
      4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
      4.3 Supplementary material
      4.4 Reference style
      4.5 English language editing services
    5. Submitting your manuscript
      5.1 ORCID
      5.2 Information required for completing your submission
      5.3 Permissions
    6. On acceptance and publication
      6.1 Sage Production
      6.2 Online First publication
      6.3 Access to your published article
      6.4 Promoting your article
    7. Further information

    1. What do we publish?

    1.1 Aims & Scope

    Before submitting your manuscript to Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.

    1.2 Article Types

    Original Article: Describes a piece of complete or substantially complete research, or some aspect of design development, manufacture, operation and maintenance, or engineering education 
    Review Article: A critical review of the state-of-the-art with examples of applications in design and profitable manufacture without extensive analysis 
    Case Study: Describes the application of a technique, procedure or management concept in a real situation.
    Short Communication: High quality brief articles which justify rapid publication. For example, formative conclusions from pure and applied research; concepts and paradigms and their initial validation; innovative design solutions; innovative use of materials in design and manufacture; novel industrial applications 
    Technical Note: A short, interim statement on a research project or description of some new development

    Length

    1. In general, Technical Papers, Review Papers and Case Studies should not normally exceed 5000 words (with up to 10 illustrations). Longer articles will be considered; however, as our criterion is that the content justifies the length of the article. 
    2. Technical Notes should not exceed 1500 words and 5 illustrations. 
    3. Short Communications should be brief (up to 2000 words and 4 illustrations). If a Short Communication exceeds this, the author(s) will be asked to shorten the article. 
    4. Discussions on papers already published should not exceed 500 words and 2 illustrations.

    1.3 Writing your paper

    The Sage Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.

    1.3.1 Make your article discoverable

    When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.

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    2. Editorial policies

    2.1 Peer review policy

    Sage does not permit the use of author-suggested (recommended) reviewers at any stage of the submission process, be that through the web-based submission system or other communication. Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Our policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:

    •  The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors

    •  The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper

    •  The author has recommended the reviewer

    •  The reviewer has provided a personal (e.g. Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail) email account and an institutional email account cannot be found after performing a basic Google search (name, department and institution). 

    2.2 Authorship

    Papers should only be submitted for consideration once consent is given by all contributing authors. Those submitting papers should carefully check that all those whose work contributed to the paper are acknowledged as contributing authors.

    The list of authors should include all those who can legitimately claim authorship. This is all those who:

    • Made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the work; or acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data,
    • Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content,
    • Approved the version to be published,
    • Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.

    Authors should meet the conditions of all of the points above. When a large, multicentre group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship.

    Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship, although all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. Please refer to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for more information on authorship.

    Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools

    2.3 Acknowledgements

    All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.

    Any acknowledgements should appear first at the end of your article prior to your Declaration of Conflicting Interests (if applicable), any notes and your References.

    2.3.1 Third party submissions

    Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:

    • Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input
    • Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
    • Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.

    Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.

    2.3.2 Writing assistance

    Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.

    2.4 Funding

    Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading.  Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. 

    2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

    It is the policy of Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture to require a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated pages of all published articles.

    Please ensure that a ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’ statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’. For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations here.

    2.6 Research Data

    The journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.

    Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:

    • share your research data in a relevant public data repository
    • include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, we encourage you to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared.
    • cite this data in your research

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    3. Publishing Policies

    3.1 Publication ethics

    Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.

    3.1.1 Plagiarism

    Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarised other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

    3.1.2 Prior publication

    If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.

    3.2 Contributor's publishing agreement

    Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information please visit the Sage Author Gateway.

    3.3 Open access and author archiving

    Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.

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    4. Preparing your manuscript for submission

    4.1 Formatting

    Preferred formats for the text and tables of your manuscript are Word DOC, RTF, XLS. LaTeX files are also accepted. The text should be double-spaced throughout and with a minimum of 3cm for left and right hand margins and 5cm at head and foot. Text should be standard 10 or 12 point. Word and (La)Tex templates are available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.

    4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics

    For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.  

    Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.

    Mathematical: All vectors and matrices should be shown in bold type. Avoid confusion between ambiguous characters and take care to ensure that subscripts and superscripts are clear. Numbers below 10 should be written out in the text unless used in conjunction with units (e.g. three apples, 4 kg). Full points (not commas) should be used for decimals. For numbers less than one, a nought should be inserted before the decimal point. Equations should be numbered sequentially throughout the document, with labels on the right hand side of the page.

    4.3 Supplementary material

    This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplementary files.

    4.4 Reference style

    Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture adheres to the Sage Vancouver reference style. View the Sage Vancouver guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

    If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Vancouver EndNote output file.

    4.5 English language editing services

    Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.

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    5. Submitting your manuscript

    Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/joem to login and submit your article online.

    IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created.  For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.

    5.1 ORCID

    As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.

    The collection of ORCID iDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID iD you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID iD will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID iD is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.

    If you do not already have an ORCID iD please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.

    5.2 Information required for completing your submission

    You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

    5.3 Permissions

    Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.

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    6. On acceptance and publication

    6.1 Sage Production

    Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be sent by PDF to the corresponding author and should be returned promptly.  Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.

    6.2 Online First publication

    Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.

    6.3 Access to your published article

    Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

    6.4 Promoting your article

    Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.

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    7. Further information

    Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture editorial office as follows:

    Email: jengmanuf@sagepub.co.uk

     

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