NOTES FOR CONTRIBUTORS
APEM seeks to publish articles that identify, extend, or unify scientific knowledge pertaining to production engineering and management. Articles must meet high standards of originality and rigor. Theoretical, empirical, prescriptive and descriptive contributions are welcome. Unpublished papers (and extended versions of papers presented at conferences) may be submitted for possible publication. Responsibility for the contents of a paper rests upon the authors and not upon the editors or the publisher. Authors of submitted papers automatically accept a copyright transfer to PEI, University of Maribor.
Submission
A letter must accompany all submissions, clearly indicating the following:
the corresponding author's complete name, affiliation, address, phone and
fax numbers, and e-mail address. Short biographies (70-120 words) should
be provided that detail the authors' education and work histories as well
as their research interests. Small (3.5 x 4.5 cm), black-and-white
digitized images of the authors can be included.
All papers for consideration by Advances in Production Engineering &
Management should be submitted electronically to the Editor-In-Chief. For
all documents MS Word text processor should be used (paper size – standard
A4, headers and footers – 12.5 mm from edge). Submissions by post are
optional (accompanied with a files’ CD). Submissions should be sent to:
Editor-In-Chief Prof. Dr. Joze Balic
University of Maribor
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
Production Engineering Institute
Smetanova 17, SI-2000 Maribor, Slovenia
The review processEvery manuscript that arrives at the editorial office is first reviewed
briefly by the editor for general suitability for the journal.
Notification of successful submission is sent. After initial screening the
manuscript is passed on to at least two referees. A double-blind review
process ensures the content’s validity and relevance. Referees receive
electronic versions of manuscript for review (authors’ names and addresses
are removed to preserve anonymity). We ask our referees to finish the
review within eight weeks.
Based on the comments of the referees, the editor will take a decision
about the paper. The following decisions can be made: accepting the paper,
reconsidering the paper after changes, and rejecting the paper. Accepted
papers may not be offered elsewhere for publication. The editor may, in
some circumstances, vary this process at his discretion.
Application of the peer review process indicates journal's standards and
overall quality of the research presented.
Length
Papers should be between 8 and 12 pages long including all illustrations and appendices.
Format
Please read the following format instructions carefully. Formatting your
paper correctly saves a great deal of editing time, which in turn ensures
publication of papers in a timely manner. Papers not formatted correctly
will be returned.
The authors must ensure that the paper is complete, grammatically correct
and without spelling or typographical errors. Please note that English
(U.K.) spelling is adopted. Acronyms are spelled out at first mention but
not thereafter unless there is good reason to do so.
It is required to use Arial font. Margins: 25 mm all around (all pages).
The structure of the paper should be as follows: Title of the paper,
Authors' names and affiliation, Abstract, Key Words, Introduction, Body of
the paper (in sequential headings), Conclusion, (Acknowledgements),
References.
The title is centred on the page and is CAPITALIZED AND SET IN BOLDFACE (font
size 16 pt). Please limit the title to a maximum length of 10 words. It
should adequately describe the content of the paper.
The author's name(s) follows and is also centred on the page (font size 12
pt). A blank line is required between the title and the author's name(s).
Last names should be spelled out in full and succeeded by author's
initials. The author's affiliation, complete mailing address, and e-mail
address (all in font size 11 pt) are provided below. Phone and fax numbers
do not appear.
Abstract
A nonmathematical abstract (1000-2000 characters) is required for all papers. It should be an abbreviated, accurate presentation of the contents of the paper. It should contain following information.
Purpose of this paper:
What are the reason(s) for writing the paper or the aims of the
research? Please take into consideration the fact the full text of an
abstract should contain no more than 1000-2000 characters (including
spaces).
Design/methodology/approach
How are the objectives achieved? Please include the main method(s) used
for the research. What is the approach to the topic and what is the
theoretical or subject scope of the paper?
Findings
What was found in the course of the work? This will refer to analysis,
discussion, or results. What is/are the main conclusion?
Research limitations/implications
If research is reported in the paper this section must be completed and
should include suggestions for future research and any identified
limitations in the research process.
Practical implications
What outcomes and implications for practice, applications and
consequences are identified? Not all papers will have practical
implications but most will. If not it is necessary to omit this part of an
abstract. What changes to practice should be made as a result of this
paper? In each paper the point including the research limitation/implications
or practical implications must be taken into consideration.
Originality/value
What is original value of the paper? What is new in the paper? Please state the value of the paper and to whom.
Key Words
The author should provide a list of three to five key words that clearly
describe the subject matter of the paper.
HEADINGS should be typed in capitals and underlined, starting with 1.
INTRODUCTION, and should be set in bold (font size 12 pt) and aligned
flush left. Do not add dashes, colons, etc. All headings from the
Introduction to Acknowledgments are numbered sequentially using 1, 2, 3,
etc. Headings must be short and clearly defined.
Subheadings appear in upper and lower case letters, and set in bold (font
size 11 pt). Subheadings are numbered 1.1, 1.2, etc. Make no further
divisions (two-level numbering at most).
Text
Use single column format and single line spacing. Use 11 points font size.
Symbols for physical quantities in the text should be written in italics.
The first paragraph under each heading or subheading should be flush left
and subsequent paragraphs should have a six-space indentation.
A colon is inserted before an equation is presented, but there is no
punctuation following the equation. All equations are numbered and
referred to in the text solely by a number enclosed in a round bracket
(i.e. (3) reads as "equation 3").
Figures and Tables
To ensure a high-quality product, figures (and charts, diagrams, photos)
must be computer-drafted or digitized with at least 300 dpi. They must be
black and white with minimum shading. Figure captions appear below the
figure, are centred, and are in upper and lower case letters. When
referring to a figure in the body of the text, the abbreviation "Fig." is
used. Each figure should have a number in arabic numerals.
Table captions appear centred above the table in upper and lower case
letters. When referring to a table in the text, "Table" with the proper
number is used. Each table should have a number in roman numerals. Tables
are numbered consecutively and independently of any figures. Tables should
be kept to a minimum. All figures and tables must be incorporated into the
text (in Portrait orientation).
Introduction
The introduction of the paper should explain the nature of the problem, previous work, purpose, and the contribution of the paper. It is assigned the number "1" and following sections are assigned numbers as needed.
Conclusion
A conclusion section must be included and should indicate clearly the advantages, limitations and possible applications of the paper. Discuss about future work.
Acknowledgements
An acknowledgement section may be presented after the conclusion, if desired.
References
This heading is not assigned a number. A reference list MUST be included
using the following information as a guide. Only cited text references are
included. Each reference is referred to in the text by a number enclosed
in a square bracket (i.e., [3]). No reference to the author is necessary.
Use 10 points font size.
Please cite the papers from our journal APEM in your papers published in
other journals (from JCR Database).
References must be numbered and ordered according to where they are first
mentioned in the paper, not alphabetically. All references must be
complete and accurate. Examples follow.
Journal Papers:
Surname1, Initials; Surname2, Initials (year). Title, journal, volume,
number, pages, doi (if existent)
[1] Eldabi, T.; Irani, Z.; Paul, R. J.; Love, P. E. D. (2002).
Quantitative and qualitative decision-making methods in simulation
modelling, Management Decision, Vol. 40, No.1, 64-73,
doi:10.1108/00251740210413370
Journal titles should not be abbreviated. Note that journal title is set
in italics.
Books:
Surname1, Initials; Surname2, Initials (year). Title, publisher, place of
publication
[2] Noorani, R. (2006). Rapid Prototyping: Principles and Applications,
John Wiley & Sons,
Hoboken
Note that the title of the book is italicized.
Chapters in Books:
Surname1, Initials; Surname2, Initials (year). Chapter title, editor(s) of
book, book title, publisher, place of publication, pages
[3] Carbone, G.; Ceccarelli, M. (2005). Legged robotic systems, Kordic,
V.; Lazinica, A.; Merdan, M. (Editors), Cutting Edge Robotics, ARS
International Vienna, pro literatur Verlag, Mammendorf, 553-576
Proceedings Papers:
Surname1, Initials; Surname2, Initials (year). Paper title, proceedings
title, pages
[4] Kittl, D.; Stopper, M. (2005). Digital manufacturing for industrial
robotic workcells, Proceedings of the 16th International DAAAM Symposium,
187-188
WWW pages:
Surname, Initials or Company name. Title, from http://address, date of
access
[5] SECO Tools. Product Range, from http://www.secotools.com, accessed on
29-09-2006
One complete copy of the journal is sent free of charge to the corresponding author of each contribution. No payment is made for papers. PEI, Univ. of Maribor is a copyright owner of the published content.