Reviewer Guidelines

Manuscript Preparation

Manuscript Submission Process

Manuscript Formatting Requirements

References

Figures, Tables, Equations, and Image Integrity

Article Types

 

Manuscript Preparation

Basic Requirements

In preparing manuscripts, authors should ensure adherence to the following academic standards and submission requirements:

  • Confirm the manuscript is original, has not been previously published, and is not under consideration by any other journal.

  • The manuscript meets the requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.

  • Ensure the manuscript aligns with the Energy Innovation and Transition's aims and scope.

  • Format the manuscript file in Microsoft Word (.docx) format.

  • Verify that the manuscript has been thoroughly proofread for language, spelling, and grammar.

  • All references have been checked for accuracy and completeness.

  • All tables and figures have been numbered and labeled.

  • Permission has been obtained to publish all photos, datasets and other material provided with this submission.

  • All authors agree to the Copyright Notice and other policies on the Energy Innovation and Transition website.

Required Documentation

Cover Letter: All submissions should include a cover letter as a separate file. The cover letter is for editorial use only and is not shared with reviewers to protect author anonymity in our double-blind review. A cover letter including:

  • Full names and affiliations of all authors, with the corresponding author clearly identified.

  • ORCID iDs for all authors (where available).

  • A concise statement outlining the novelty, significance, and broader implications of the findings.

  • Statement that all authors have approved the final version and consent to submission.

  • Disclosure of any potential conflicts of interest and funding sources.

  • Declare any preprint in the cover letter if applicable, provide the server name and DOI, and cite it in the reference list.

Ethics Approval: If the research involved human participants or animals, include a statement confirming approval by the relevant ethics committee and, for human studies, documented informed consent.

 

Manuscript Submission Process

Authors should register and log in to the online submission system to submit their manuscript and all supporting files, ensuring all information is correct before final submission. The manuscript then undergoes an initial assessment by the editorial office for scope, formatting, originality, and ethical standards. Manuscripts not meeting these criteria are administratively rejected. Eligible manuscripts are sent for double-blind peer review.

 

Manuscript Formatting Requirements

All submissions must adhere to the following formatting specifications.

File Format

Submit manuscript in Microsoft Word (.docx) format. Do not submit PDF files.

Manuscript Structure

Title Page

  • Compose a concise, declarative title (20 words maximum) that reflects the main findings.
  • Avoid vague phrasing, unnecessary abbreviations, and hyperbolic claims.
  • List all author details, including full name and institutional affiliations with complete addresses.
  • Clearly identify the corresponding author and provide valid email address.

Abstract

The abstract must concisely convey the general significance and conceptual advance of the work to a broad readership. It should be a single, self-contained paragraph of no more than 250 words, structured into the following components: Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. To ensure clarity and accessibility, minimize the use of abbreviations and do not cite references, figures, or tables.

Keywords

Include 4-6 relevant keywords separated by semicolons. Choose standard terms that represent your study's main concepts without repeating words from the title. These keywords should align with common terminology in your research field to ensure proper indexing and discovery.

Sections

Authors of Original Research articles are expected to adhere to the prescribed format to ensure both logical presentation and academic rigor. Other article types may have more flexible structures.

Introduction: Establishes the research context and significance by reviewing relevant literature, identifying a specific knowledge gap, and stating the study's objectives and hypotheses.

Methods: Describes the research design, materials, participants, and procedures in sufficient detail to ensure reproducibility. Includes ethics statements where applicable.

Results: Presents key findings objectively using clear subheadings and numbered figures/tables. Reports data without interpretation.

Discussion: Interprets results in context of existing knowledge, explains their significance, addresses limitations, and suggests future research directions.

Conclusion: Summarizes main findings and their implications for the field, providing a concise final perspective on the study's contribution.

Author's Contributions

An Authorship Contribution Statement shall be included, detailing the individual contributions of each author. This is required to confirm that all listed authors have made substantial intellectual contributions to the manuscript.

Acknowledgements

All funding sources supporting the work must be acknowledged, including the full names of funding agencies and relevant grant numbers. If the research received no external financial support, the following statement is required: "This research received no external funding."  Individuals who have contributed to the work but do not meet authorship criteria are not eligible for authorship and should be acknowledged and listed in the Acknowledgements section.

Conflict of Interest

All authors must declare financial/commercial conflicts of interest. If the authors have no conflicts of interest, this should be stated.

 

References

The reference list, titled "References," must appear at the end of the manuscript. All manuscripts submitted to Star Mountain Publishing must adhere to Vancouver (numbered) reference style. Correct formatting is essential for manuscript processing and is a mandatory requirement for all submissions. To assist in preparing correctly formatted references, authors are encouraged to use online referencing tools such as Zotero, Mendeley, or similar software.

When preparing the reference list, authors must ensure that all citations adhere to the following principles:

  • Rely primarily on academic literature and avoid citing non-academic sources such as blogs, commercial websites, or anonymous materials.
  • References should directly relevant to the manuscript's content and the Energy Innovation and Transition's scope.
  • Avoid over-citation of the same authors, institutions, or a single viewpoint. Excessive self-citation is discouraged.
  • Ensure the number of references is appropriate for the article type, covering the essential literature without being excessive.
  • Ensure that all provided links are functional at the time of submission.

Reference Guidelines

  • Citations should use Arabic numerals.
  • As works are cited they are assigned a number, either inbrackets (1) or superscript1. (For manuscripts in physics and mathematics, square brackets [1] are required.)
  • Thesame citation number is used if a work is cited more than once.
  • The citation number should be placed immediately after the relevant punctuation (e.g., a comma or period).
  • The reference list is ordered by the order in which the citations appear, rather than alphabetically.
  • Each reference should be assigned a unique number, corresponding to its first citation in the text. Once a source is cited, its number is fixed and must not be changed or reused.
  • When citing multiple sources simultaneously, separate the numbers with commas.

Common Reference Examples

Reference Type

Example

Journal Article

Standard Journal Article:

Johnson DB, Reynolds KL, Sullivan RJ, Balko JM, Patrinely JR, Cappelli LC, et al. Immune checkpoint inhibitor toxicities: systems-based approaches to improve patient care and research. Lancet. 2020;395(10238):1561-72.

Journal Article with a DOI:

Chen Z, Zhang J, Zhang Y, Wang J. The role of mitochondrial dysfunction in sepsis-induced cardiomyopathy. Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Basis Dis. 2021;1867(10):166204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbadis.2021.166204

Conference Proceeding

Kumar A, Ito J. Optimizing energy grids with reinforcement learning. In: Lee SM, ed. Proceedings of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence; 2024 May 10-12; Singapore. IEEE; 2024. p. 455-460.

Book

Hoffman R, Benz EJ, Silberstein LE, Heslop HE, Weitz JI, Anastasi J. Hematology: Basic Principles and Practice. 7th ed. Elsevier; 2018.

Book Chapter

Roberts T. Carbon pricing mechanisms. In: Davis M, editor. The Economics of Renewable Energy. Global Energy Press; 2022. p. 115-140.

Online Resource/Report

World Health Organization. WHO guidelines for the pharmacological and radiotherapeutic management of cancer pain in adults and adolescents. World Health Organization; 2018. Accessed January 10, 2024. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241550390

Website

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Heart disease facts. CDC.gov. Updated July 15, 2022. Accessed February 5, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm

Patent

Langer R, Vacanti JP. Tissue engineering scaffolds for organ regeneration. US patent 5,770,193. June 23, 1998.

Preprint

Gupta P, Zhao L. A survey on large language models. arXiv [Preprint]. 2023 [cited 2024 Oct 30]. Available from: https://arxiv.org/abs/1234.56789

 

Special Case: Citing AI-Generated Content

Artificial intelligence tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude, Midjourney) are not eligible for authorship as they cannot take responsibility for the work. Content generated by these tools lacks permanence and cannot be reliably verified as a citable source.

In-Text Citation

AI-generated content should be cited within the text, not as a primary reference, but as a personal communication or a descriptive note. The citation should clearly identify the AI model, the company that created it, the date of the interaction, and the nature of the query.

Example (Parenthetical): (Text generated by OpenAI's ChatGPT-4, in response to a query by the author, May 2024).

Example (Footnoted): The structure of this section was drafted with the assistance of an AI language model.¹

Corresponding Footnote: ¹OpenAI, ChatGPT-4, interaction with the author, May 20, 2024.

Reference List

Do not include AI-generated content in the main reference list, as it is not a permanently archivable, published source.

Transparency Requirement

Authors must disclose the use of AI tools in the Methods or Acknowledgements section of their manuscript. This disclosure should describe the purpose of use, the specific prompts used (if relevant), and the extent of the AI's contribution. The full interaction log must be saved and may be requested by the editors during the peer-review process.

 

Figures, Tables, Equations, and Image Integrity

To ensure the clarity, accuracy, and veracity of scientific presentation, authors must adhere to the following policies concerning the preparation of figures, tables, equations, and image data.

Figures, Tables, and Equations

Placement and Citation:All figures and tables are to be explicitly cited within the main text at the logically relevant point. They are to be numbered sequentially (e.g., Figure 1, Table 1) in the order of their first citation. The label (e.g., "Figure 1," "Table 2") must be centered and placed directly above a table or below a figure.

Captions and Legends: Each figure and table must have a concise, descriptive caption that summarizes its overall content without referring to specific panels. This must be followed by a detailed legend that explains each panel or section, includes relevant statistical measures of variation and significance, and declares any re-use of control images.

Equations: Equations should be left-aligned within the text. Equation numbers must be consecutive, enclosed in parentheses, and aligned with the right margin. Equations must be created using an appropriate tool that produces an editable format (e.g., MathType). Non-editable image files of equations are not acceptable for editorial processing.

Image Acquisition, Processing, and Integrity

Energy Innovation and Transition upholds the highest standards of image data integrity. Any form of image manipulation that could mislead the reader is strictly prohibited.

Core Principle: Do not modify, obscure, move, remove, introduce, or enhance individual features or specific areas within an image.

Global Adjustments: Global adjustments to brightness, contrast, or color balance are permitted only if applied uniformly across the entire image, they do not obscure, eliminate, or misrepresent any information present in the original data, and the fact of such adjustment is stated in the figure legend (e.g., "Images were globally adjusted for contrast").

Splicing and Grouping: Any grouping of images from different fields, or splicing of images from different parts of the same original or from different sources, must be explicitly stated in the figure legend. The boundaries between such composite images must be clearly indicated by dividing lines (e.g., white or black lines).

Declaration of Processing: If any image processing is essential for data interpretation, the software (name and version), specific techniques used, and the rationale must be declared in the Methods section.

 

Article Types 

We publish a variety of article types to help researchers share their work effectively. This list outlines the core article types supported across our publishing portfolio.For specific policies and submission criteria, always refer to Energy Innovation and Transition's Author Guidelines. If you have research within our scope that does not fit a standard category, please contact the editorial office to discuss its suitability for publication.

Original Research

An Original Research Article (Article) is the primary form of scholarly publication, presenting novel, previously unpublished findings from a systematic investigation. It typically adheres to the standard IMRaD structure: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion.

Review Article

A Review Article (Rev.) is a comprehensive synthesis and critical evaluation of previously published literature on a specific topic. It does not report new data but summarizes current knowledge, identifies trends and gaps, and proposes future research directions, often authored by invited experts.

Brief Report

A Brief Report (Brief Rep.) is a concise format for the expedited publication of significant preliminary findings or short complete studies. Structured like a full article but with strict length limits, it facilitates rapid dissemination while maintaining scientific rigor through a detailed, reproducible methods section.

Communication

A Communication (Commun.) is a short article for the prompt announcement of groundbreaking preliminary results or cutting-edge methodologies. It is structured similarly to a full article but is more concise, serving to rapidly communicate findings of immediate interest.

Perspective/Opinion

A Perspective/Opinion (Perspect., Opin.) is a short article presenting the author's personal viewpoint or speculative commentary on current trends. A Perspective offers a forward-looking assessment, while an Opinion focuses on a specific stance, both aiming to stimulate academic debate.

Book Review

A Book Review (Book Rev.) is a critical analysis assessing the content, merit, and style of a recently published academic book. It includes full bibliographic details and is structured as a cohesive narrative without formal sections.

Editorial

An Editorial (Editorial) is a concise, non-peer-reviewed piece authored by the editor or an invited authority. It announces journal developments or provides commentary on timely issues without presenting original research, and requires a conflict of interest statement.

Conference Report

A Conference Report (Conf. Rep.) is a comprehensive narrative summary of a conference, documenting its themes, sessions, and key discussions. As a secondary publication, it does not present new data but may reference abstracts presented at the event.