Advances in Sustainable Energies and Environment

Advances in Sustainable Energies and Environment

Guide for Authors

Authors are welcome to submit original works of high scientific quality, including research papers, review articles, case study or short communications, as long as they align with the A-SEE's defined scope and focus.

How to Submit a Manuscript?

Manuscripts can only be submitted electronically through the journal's website. To begin, authors must create a new account. Once registration is complete, they can log in, navigate to the Author tab, and select ‘Submit a New Manuscript’ to start the submission process.

All manuscripts must be prepared following the journal’s specified style and formatting guidelines (A-SEE Template ).

Topics of Particular Interest

For Advances in Sustainable Energies and Environment (A-SEE), the topics of particular interest should align with cutting-edge research and applications in sustainable energy and environmental science. The journal is interested in, not limited to the potential focus areas:

Sustainable Energy Technologies

  1. Renewable Energy Systems:
    • Solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, and biomass energy technologies.
    • Advancements in photovoltaic materials and wind turbine design.
  2. Energy Storage and Conversion:
    • Battery technology (e.g., lithium-ion, flow batteries).
    • Hydrogen storage and fuel cells.
    • Thermochemical and electrochemical energy storage methods.
  3. Smart Energy Grids:
    • Integration of renewable energy sources into smart grids.
    • AI and IoT applications for energy efficiency.
    • Decentralized and microgrid energy systems.
  4. Energy-Efficient Gas Separation Techniques:
    • Design and optimization of mixed-matrix membranes for natural gas sweetening.
    • New strategies for separating greenhouse gases from industrial emissions.
  5. Energy Harvesting and Efficiency:
    • Waste energy recovery.
    • Energy-efficient materials and processes.

Environmental Sustainability

  1. Advanced CO2 Capture and Utilization Technologies:
    • Innovative membrane technologies for CO2 separation and capture.
    • Circular carbon economy models incorporating CO2 conversion.
  2. Climate Change Mitigation:
    • Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS).
    • Nature-based solutions (e.g., reforestation, blue carbon ecosystems).
  3. Pollution Control:
    • Technologies for air, water, and soil remediation.
    • Reduction of industrial emissions and waste.
  4. Sustainable Water Management:
    • Desalination technologies.
    • Water-energy nexus: sustainable practices in water and energy sectors.
  5. Circular Economy and Waste Valorization:
    • Recycling and upcycling of industrial and agricultural waste.
    • Bioplastics and sustainable packaging solutions.

Advanced Materials for Sustainability

  1. Emerging Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications:
    • Development and applications of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for clean energy and pollutant remediation.
    • Use of bio-based or biodegradable materials in environmental technologies.
  2. Nanomaterials for Energy and Environment:
    • Nano-enhanced materials for solar cells, batteries, and supercapacitors.
    • Adsorbents for environmental remediation.
  3. Green Catalysis:
    • Catalysts for sustainable chemical processes.
    • Photocatalysis for water and air purification.

Policy, Economics, and Social Dimensions

  1. Energy Policy and Governance:
    • International policies for renewable energy adoption.
    • Role of public-private partnerships in sustainable development.
  2. Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Impact:
    • LCA of renewable energy systems and green technologies.
    • Metrics for assessing sustainability.
  3. Societal Impacts of Renewable Energy:
    • Community-based energy projects.
    • Behavioral and cultural changes towards sustainability.

Emerging Areas

  1. Artificial Intelligence in Sustainability:
    • AI-driven modeling for renewable energy systems and environmental forecasting.
    • Machine learning in climate change predictions.
  2. Bioenergy and Biorefineries:
    • Algal biofuels and advanced bioproducts.
    • Integrated biorefineries for energy and material production.
  3. Carbon-Neutral and Negative Emission Technologies:
    • Negative-emission energy systems.
    • Advanced technologies for achieving carbon neutrality.

Suggestions for Novel Sections

  1. Interdisciplinary Studies: Focus on the interaction between energy, environment, and economics.
  2. Case Studies: Real-world implementation of sustainable energy solutions and lessons learned.
  3. Techno-Economic Analysis: Cost-efficiency assessments of advanced technologies.

These topics aim to cover theoretical, experimental, and applied research, ensuring the journal remains a leading platform for innovation in sustainable energy and environmental sciences.

Peer review

This describes a single-anonymized peer review process used by the journal, where the reviewers are aware of the authors’ identities, but the authors do not know who the reviewers are. Key aspects of the process include:

  1. Initial Editorial Assessment
  • Editors assess the submission's suitability for the journal's scope and quality before sending it to peer review.
  1. Peer Review Process
  • If deemed suitable, the manuscript is sent to at least two independent experts for scientific evaluation.
  • Their feedback helps editors decide whether to accept, revise, or reject the manuscript.
  1. Editorial Decision
  • Editors make the final decision based on reviewers' assessments.
  1. Conflict of Interest Protocols
  • Editors recuse themselves from decisions on papers they authored, papers involving family members/colleagues, or papers related to their own interests.
  • Such manuscripts undergo the usual peer-review process but are handled independently of the involved editor and their research group.

This structured system ensures fairness, transparency, and independence while minimizing conflicts of interest.

Submission Declaration

  1. Exclusive Submission: Submissions must not have been published elsewhere, except as a preprint, abstract, lecture, thesis, or registered report. The manuscript must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere.
  2. Author and Authority Approval: All authors and responsible authorities must approve the submission.
  3. No Duplicate Publication: Accepted articles cannot be published elsewhere in any form or language without written consent from the copyright-holder.
  4. Compliance Verification: Elsevier may use screening tools to check compliance with journal policies.

Authorship

    1. Contribution Criteria: Authors must contribute significantly to:
      • Study conception/design, data acquisition, or analysis/interpretation.
      • Drafting or critically revising the article for intellectual content.
      • Giving final approval of the submission.
    2. Accountability: Authors must collectively ensure the work's integrity and resolve any accuracy or integrity issues.
    3. Corresponding Author: A corresponding author must communicate with the journal and represent all authors during the editorial process.

Authorship Changes in Accepted Manuscripts

If there is a need to add, remove, or rearrange the authors’ names in an accepted manuscript before its online publication, the request must be submitted by the corresponding author to the journal’s executive manager and must include the following:

  1. Justification for Changes
    A clear explanation of why a name should be added, removed, or why the order of authors should be rearranged.
  2. Written Consent
    Written confirmation (via email, fax, or letter) from all authors indicating their agreement with the proposed change.
  • For additions or removals, confirmation from the authors being added or removed must also be provided.
  1. Procedure for Submitting Requests
    • If the request is not submitted by the corresponding author, the executive manager will forward it to the corresponding author, who must then follow the outlined procedure.

Important Notes

  • The executive manager will inform the editors about such requests.
  • The online publication of the accepted manuscript will be suspended until the authorship changes are finalized and agreed upon.

Changes After Online Publication

  • If the manuscript has already been published online, any requests to change authorship will follow the same policies and will result in the publication of a corrigendum.

Manuscript preparation

We kindly request that you provide editable source files for your entire submission. Additionally, the manuscript file must be prepared in accordance with our style and format guidelines.

  • Save files in an editable format, using the extension .doc/.docx for Word files. A PDF is not an acceptable source file.
  • Lay out text in a single-column format.

A) Attached Documents

Please upload each of the following files separately:

1. Identifying Information
Upload a separate MS Word document containing the following details:

    • Title
    • Authors’ Names and Affiliations
    • Corresponding Author’s E-mail Address

 

2. Manuscript

Manuscript Preparation Guidelines

a) Abstract and keywords: The maximum size of the abstract is 250 characters, including spaces. The abstract should briefly state the purpose of your research, principal results and major conclusions.

b) Introduction: Provide a concise background and an overview of previous similar studies. Outline the hypotheses and the significance of your research. Limit references to older works (over 10 years) and emphasize recent studies.

c) Materials and Methods: Include detailed descriptions of the equipment, materials, and methods used in the study. Ensure sufficient information is provided to allow replication and verification of the results by others.

d) Results and Discussion: Present the findings in a logical order. Discuss their significance and provide an in-depth analysis.

e) Conclusions: Summarize the main outcomes and conclusions of your research.

f) Acknowledgements: Mention individuals or organizations that supported the study but were not directly involved in the research.

g) Page style: The manuscript should be prepared in a single MS Word file. The paper size should be A4 with 2.5 cm margins on all four sides. The main text should be typed in Times New Roman font, size 12, with double line spacing, and in a single-column format. The title of the paper should be centered at the top of the first page, in bold, Times New Roman font, size 18. The number of pages of the manuscript (excluding spaces) should not exceed the usual limit for the type of manuscript (original research article, review article, short communication, or letter to the editor). Additionally, an even number of pages is strongly preferred.

Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Number subsections 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ...), then 1.2, etc. Do not include the article abstract within section numbering.

B) References

Authors are responsible for the authenticity and completeness of all references.

  • Cited References: Ensure every reference cited within your article is also present in the reference list and vice versa. This applies to all sections, including the abstract.
  • Unpublished Results and Personal Communications: Avoid including unpublished results and personal communications in the reference list, but they can be mentioned in the text. If included, follow the standard reference style and specify "unpublished results" or "personal communication."
  • In-Press Citations: Items cited as "in press" must have been accepted for publication.
  • DOIs and Links: Linking to sources enhances discoverability. Using DOIs is encouraged, as they provide permanent links to referenced articles.
  • Accuracy Check: Double-check the data in your reference list to ensure it's correct, including names, titles, years, and pagination, to facilitate linking to abstracting and indexing services.
  • Reference Format: References can be in any style as long as the format is consistent. Ensure that key details such as author names, article/book titles, year, volume, and pagination are included, as applicable.
  • Citation Style: References should be numbered in the order they appear in the article, indicated with square brackets (e.g., [3], [6]). When citing authors within the text, include the reference number (e.g., Barnaby and Jones [8]).

Example:

Reference to a journal publication:

[1] S. Zhang, M. Fevre, G. Jones, M. Alston, Advances in catalytic hydrogenation processes, Chem. Eng. J. 278 (2015) 1–13.

Reference to a journal publication with an article number:

[2] L. Wang, H. Zhao, X. Liu, 2020. Development of sustainable polymers from biomass. Green Chem. 22, e10156.

Reference to a book:

[3] J.M. Smith, H.C. Van Ness, M.M. Abbott, Introduction to Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics, seventh ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 2005.

Reference to a chapter in an edited book:

[4] R.T. Morrison, R.N. Boyd, Fundamentals of organic reaction mechanisms, in: T.W. Graham, P.L. Callaghan (Eds.), Advances in Organic Chemistry, Wiley, London, 2012, pp. 145–172.

Reference to a website:

[5] American Chemical Society, ACS Green Chemistry Institute: Green Chemistry Resources. https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/greenchemistry/resources.html, 2021 (accessed 5 May 2021).

C) Units

  • Use the International System of Units (SI) throughout the manuscript.
  • If other units are mentioned, provide their equivalent in SI units.

D) Abbreviations

  • Define non-standard abbreviations in a footnote on the first page of the article.
  • If such abbreviations appear in the abstract, define them at their first mention there and again in the footnote.
  • Ensure consistent use of abbreviations throughout the article.

E) Mathematical Formulae

  • Place simple formulae in normal text and use a solidus (/) for fractions (e.g., X/ /Y instead of a horizontal fraction line).
  • Write variables in italics and use "exp" for powers of e where convenient.
  • Number all equations that are separately displayed, ensuring they are referred to explicitly in the text.

F) Conflicts of Interest Disclosure

Authors are required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest that might have influenced their research or manuscript. This includes financial or other interests related to the work. If no conflicts exist, authors must declare: "The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest regarding this article."

G) Copyright Transfer

Once a manuscript is accepted for publication, authors must transfer copyright ownership to the journal's publisher. This is done through a copyright transfer agreement, which must be signed and submitted before the work can be published.

H) Author Inquiry System

Authors can monitor the status of their submitted manuscripts through the journal's website by logging into their account. For additional assistance, the editorial office can be contacted via email at A-SEE@mazust.ac.ir.