Author Guidelines

China Event Technical Papers Program

The SAE China Event Technical Papers Program

SAE China event technical papers provide authors with the opportunity to publish their original, topically relevant work. These papers are made available as a group under the conference name in SAE Mobilus®, our online platform. Acceptance of papers through this track includes a double-blind peer-review process, as well as the opportunity to publish under an Open Access license. These SAE China event technical papers are part of SAE’s general technical paper collection and are indexed in Scopus and Engineering Village (Ei Compendex).

Program Policies

Submission Policy

When submitting an SAE China event technical paper, the author warrants that the work is original and has not been published previously in the same or a similar form and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. All authors must be aware of, and have consented to, the submission. Due regard must be paid to ethical considerations, and the submission must conform to SAE International’s policy on plagiarism and publication ethics. Authors are required to warrant on submission that these requirements have been fulfilled and that the manuscript contains no libellous or unlawful statements. All manuscripts undergo a plagiarism check upon submission.

Publication Ethics

Plagiarism is committed when an author uses one’s own or someone else’s work (including text, figures, tables, etc.), language, thoughts, or ideas without acknowledging the original source or getting proper approval from the original source. Proper reference and citation practices are required in order to avoid plagiarism. Authors must ensure that all prior work on which they draw is explicitly acknowledged and that the sources are included in the list of references. If passages of text are copied word for word, the source must be provided, and the text must be placed within quotation marks. This also applies to using the author’s own work when building on previously published materials. If the original text is paraphrased or reproduced with minor alterations, this must be made clear and the source given. It is unacceptable to reproduce extensive passages of text and/or figures and tables without permission from the copyright holder and without inclusion of a credit line. 

A related unacceptable practice is “redundant publication or redundant submission,” which is the publication or submission by an author to multiple publications, which includes publication of an article in multiple languages. Redundant publication of the same material and plagiarism of others’ work without acknowledgement are serious ethical offenses that leave the author open to sanction at SAE’s discretion.

It is a condition of manuscript submission that, following due process, all authors of any paper found to breach good practice accept responsibility for this breach, which will be subject to sanction at the publisher's absolute discretion. These sanctions may include the retraction of a published paper, publication of a note of correction or apology, banning of future submissions by any author for a specified period, and/or notification of the head of the authors' department or organization. 

Permissions

Authors who wish to reproduce sections of text, data, or figures/tables from previously published sources or where copyright is owned by a third party must obtain written permission from the copyright holder prior to submitting the final manuscript and must credit the source(s) in the manuscript. See here for a sample permissions form to use. It is imperative that authors submit copies of all permissions prior to final acceptance of manuscript, or the paper will not be published. Copyright laws apply to the internet sometimes more rigorously than for other media, and website URLs must be cited as well. Authors must check the terms and conditions of the website and/or the copyright disclaimer; if these items are not visible, authors must not assume that reusing content is acceptable.

The Peer-Review Process

SAE appreciates the essential role of reviewers in the peer-review process, and our reviewers are crucial to the integrity and validity of the research we publish. We rely on reviewers to help to improve quality and to adhere to SAE’s high standards through a double-blind peer-review process. SAE China event technical papers require a minimum of three qualified reviews before a decision is reached concerning publication.

Copyright

It is a condition of publication (in most instances) that, upon submission of the manuscript, copyright of the manuscript will be assigned to SAE International. If the author is not able to make the assignment, the author’s employer may sign the copyright agreement or grant a non-exclusive license to publish the technical paper. If you are not able to assign copyright by either of the above methods, please contact the office for additional options (SAEChinaPapers@sae.org). 

Open Access
Gold (Immediate) Open Access

SAE International offers authors a choice for Open Access in publishing their research. Authors who wish to have their papers available as Open Access may indicate that intent upon submission of the manuscript and pay the Article Publication Charge (APC) once they receive email notification that their technical paper has been accepted and an invoice is received (contact: SAEChinaPapers@sae.org).  More information can be found here.

Green (Delayed) Open Access

Authors may choose a delayed Open Access (green) option by self-archiving their accepted manuscript (but not the final typeset version) in the institutional repository of their higher education employer and/or in subject-based repositories (but not posted to networking sites of a personal, institutional, or social nature), subject to a 6-month embargo period and proper credit to SAE International.

Authorship

All researchers named as authors in a technical paper must have contributed substantially to the research presented in the paper. The definition of an author can be found here.

Corresponding authors must ensure that all researchers that are named as an author have contributed substantially to the research and warrant that all named authors fulfil the authorship criteria, that no one deserving of authorship has been omitted, that each author takes responsibility for the integrity of the paper, and that each author agrees to the order of authors. Contributors who do not meet the criteria should be listed in an acknowledgements section of the manuscript. If there are changes in authorship, please email SAEChinaPapers@sae.org with full details. 

Writing a Technical Paper

Technical Papers Structure

SAE does not require a template to be used for its SAE China event technical paper program. You are strongly advised to use the “spell-check” and “grammar-check” functions of whatever word processing software you use. Ensure that Greek symbols are used where appropriate and that similar characters [e.g. l (“el”) and 1 (“one”) or O (“oh”) and 0 (“zero”)] are distinguished and correctly keyed.

TABLE 1. Technical Papers Submission Guidelines

Language

Standard rules for written U.S. English should be followed in the body of the paper, including spelling and punctuation. Spell-check and grammar-check software can be used to inspect the written text but should not be a substitute for a thorough personal review. A review by non-authors who are fluent in English is one way to check grammar but must be completed prior to the SAE peer-review process. A person unfamiliar with the topic should be able to read the paper and understand the general theme.

SAE International recommends that all authors who are non-native English speakers ask a native English speaker, English-department personnel, or a professional language-editing service to review their manuscript before submission. This is not mandatory but will help ensure that journal editors and reviewers fully understand the academic content of the article. Suggested services are as follows (no recommendation is implied, nor should it be inferred for any services):

Commercialism & Bias

SAE China event technical papers should be balanced and objective, contributing to the state of the art or a constructive review of the technology, and should not be commercial or biased in nature. 

References/Citations

Citing other work is the standard method of authenticating data, crediting other workers in the field, and guiding the reader to supplementary information. Authors are strongly encouraged to recognize and cite relevant publications outside of their own work and institutions to create more comprehensive manuscripts with greater long-term reference value. Authors should avoid referencing material posted on the internet, unless the material is truly archival.

References must be complete and accurate. In the body of the paper, references are numerically identified using square brackets inserted in the text, such as [1, 2] or [1,2,3]. They are numbered sequentially in the order of first appearance. A complete numerical list of references should be given at the end of the paper. SAE International adheres to The Chicago Manual of Style for reference formatting. Examples of reference types and how to cite them can be found here, which is the same as for journals.

Figures

• Number figures consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. 
• Authors must use high-resolution, digital files for each figure in the manuscript. 
• Ensure the labelling on charts and figures (including axes and numerical values of tick marks for graphs) will be legible, with all lettering at least 8 pt in size at final width.
• Figures may be placed in the text close to first mention or grouped at the end of the manuscript.

Tables

• Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. 
• Tables may be placed in the text close to first mention or grouped at the end of the manuscript.

The Submission Process

Manuscript Submission Process

Please see the following links for detailed instructions: 

• Editorial Manager Training Video
• Editorial Manager Training Presentation

Peer Review

The SAE China event technical paper process uses Handling Editors from the corresponding Technical Committee (experts in their respective subject matter), who are responsible for the initial evaluation of a manuscript and determine whether the paper should be rejected outright (for poor quality or inappropriate content) or sent for peer review. The Handling Editor selects peer reviewers and, along with SAE staff, guides the peer-review process. Three reviews are required for each manuscript that has entered the process. Once reviews have been evaluated by the Handling Editor, s/he decides if a manuscript should be rejected or returned to the author for revisions suggested by the reviews. Manuscripts are not generally accepted at the first stage but are, instead, authors are asked to make revisions.

Revisions and Author Responses

If you agree to revise your work, you should mark your changes using a different color typeface within the revised manuscript in order to make identification of significant changes and/or additions apparent for the Handling Editor and reviewers. You should also submit a formal response detailing each point that has been raised in the reviewer comments. Failure to address reviewer comments or provide sound reasoning behind your rebuttal of suggested changes may result in a rejection of your paper for publication.

Post-Acceptance Publication Process

Manuscripts undergo an IP (intellectual property) review to ensure that any material that is taken from another source has proper permissions and credit. Once approved, the manuscript is transferred to the SAE Content Management team for paging. The paper will then be posted to MOBILUS®, our online platform, along with the other specific China event technical papers, and given a Digital Object Identifier (DOI).