The Open Automation and Control Systems Journal
is an Open Access online journal, which publishes Research
articles, Reviews and Letters in the field of theory and
applications of Automation and Control Systems and systems
engineering, aiming at providing the most complete and reliable
source of information on current developments in the field.
Manuscripts may be submitted directly to toautocj@benthamopen.org.
Each peer-reviewed article that is published in a Bentham
OPEN Journal is universally and freely accessible via
the Internet in an easily readable and printable PDF format.
ONLINE MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION: An online
submission and tracking service via Internet facilitates
a speedy and cost effective submission of manuscripts.1
The full manuscript has to be submitted using our online
submission service available via FTP at www.bentham
ftp.org/open/?toautocj
Manuscripts must be submitted by one of the authors of the
manuscript, and should not be submitted by anyone on their
behalf. The principal/corresponding author will be required
to submit a Covering Letter along with the manuscript, on
behalf of all the co-authors (if any). The author(s) will
confirm that the manuscript (or any part of it) has not
been published previously or is not under consideration
for publication elsewhere. Furthermore, any illustration,
structure or table that has been published elsewhere must
be reported, and copyright permission for reproduction must
be obtained.
For all online submissions, please provide your complete
manuscript in the form of a single zipped folder containing
soft copies of all the materials (main text in MS word format,
figures / illustrations in TIFF, PDF or JPEG, tables in
MS Word, and mathematical expressions *TeX / MathML as separate
files, while a PDF version of the entire manuscript must
also be included, embedded with all the figures / illustrations
/ tables / mathematical expressions).
It is imperative that before submission, authors should
carefully proofread the files for special characters, mathematical
symbols, Greek letters, equations, tables and images, to
ensure that they appear in proper format.
A successful electronic submission of a manuscript will
be followed by a system-generated acknowledgement to the
principal/corresponding author within 72
hours of the dispatch of the manuscript. Any questions with
regards to the preparation of and submission of your manuscript
to the journal should be addressed to toautocj@benthamopen.org
and copied to ilyas@benthamscience.org
NOTE: Any queries therein should be addressed
to oa@bentham.org and
copied to Jalil@bentham.org
Manuscript Preparation: The manuscript
should be written in English in a clear, direct and active
style. All pages must be numbered sequentially, facilitating
in the reviewing and editing of the manuscript.
For further convenience, the customer support team available
at Bentham Publication Services (www.benthampublishingservices.com)
can provide assistance to authors for the preparation of
manuscripts.
TeX/LaTeX File Users:
Though Bentham OPEN prefers manuscripts in MS Word
format, users of *TeX/LaTeX processor may
submit the original/source file of their manuscript along
with a camera-ready PDF file in a presentable form (refer
to Sample
File).
Manuscript Length:
Letters: The maximum total page length
for Letter type articles published in the journal is nine
journal pages. Each journal page is on average 900 words.
Research Articles: The minimum total page
length for Research articles is ten journal pages, and the
maximum thirty pages. Each journal page is on average 900
words.
Review Articles: The maximum page length
limit for comprehensive Review articles is forty pages.
For Mini-Review articles, the maximum page length is nine
journal pages. Each journal page is on average 900 words.
There is no restriction on the number of figures, tables
or additional files e.g. video clips, animation and datasets,
that can be included with each article online. Authors should
include all relevant supporting data with each article.
Manuscripts Published:
The Journal accepts letters/ short communications, original
research articles, and mini- and full-length review articles
written in English. Supplements and proceedings of conferences
may also be considered for publication.
Supplements: The journal will consider
for publication supplements. A supplement will be a collection
of articles (6 to 10 articles) based on a theme or topic
of great importance to the field. A short summary proposal
for editing a supplement should be submitted to the Editor
at e-mail toautocj@benthamopen.org
with a copy to oa@bentham.org
Conference Proceedings: The journal will
consider for publication proceedings of relevant conferences
in the field. Proposals for publishing conference proceedings
should be submitted to the Editor at e-mail toautocj@benthamopen.org
with a copy to oa@bentham.org
MANUSCRIPT SECTIONS FOR PAPERS: Manuscripts
for research articles and letters submitted to the respective
journals should be divided into the following sections;
however, there can be an extension in the number of sections
in review articles in accordance with the requirements of
the topic.
Covering letter
Title page
Abstract
Text organization
List of abbreviations (if any)
Glossary
Conflict of interest (if any)
Acknowledgements (if any)
References
Figures/illustrations (if any)
Chemical structures (if any)
Tables and captions (if any)
Supportive/supplementary material (if any)
COVERING LETTER: For e-mail submission
of a manuscript , it is a mandatory requirement that a covering
letter be also submitted, delineating the scope of your
submitted article, declaring any potential competing interests,
acknowledging contributions from authors and funding agencies,
and certifying that the paper is prepared according to the
‘Instructions for Authors’. All inconsistencies
in the text and in the reference section, and any typographical
errors must be carefully checked and corrected before submission
of the manuscript. The covering letter, however, is not
required for FTP submission of manuscripts to the journal.
Download the
Covering letter
TITLE: The title should be precise
and brief and must not be more than 120 characters. Authors
should avoid the use of non-standard abbreviations. The
title must be written in title case except for articles,
conjunctions and prepositions.
Authors should also provide a short ‘running title’.
ABSTRACT: The abstract
should not exceed 250 words for review and research papers
and should be limited to only 150 words for letters, summarizing
the essential features of the article. The use of abbreviations
should be reduced to a minimum and the references should
not be cited in the abstract.
TEXT ORGANIZATION: The main text should
begin on a separate page and should be divided into separate
sections. For Research articles, the preparation of the
main text must be structured into separate sections as Introduction,
Materials and Methodology, Results, Discussion and Conclusion.
For Review and Letter articles, the manuscript
should be divided into title page, abstract and the main
text. The text may be subdivided further according to the
areas to be discussed, which should be followed by the Acknowledgement
(if any) and Reference sections. The review article should
mention any previous important reviews in the field and
contain a comprehensive discussion starting with the general
background of the field. It should then go on to discuss
the salient features of recent developments. The authors
should avoid presenting material which has already been
published in a previous review. Crystallographic studies
may also be included. The authors are advised to present
and discuss their observations in brief. The manuscript
style must be uniform throughout the text and 10 pt Times
New Roman fonts should be used. The full term for an abbreviation
should precede its first appearance in the text unless it
is a standard unit of measurement. The reference numbers
should be given in square brackets in the text.
Binomial Names: (Relevant for only Biomedical Field)
Italics should be used for Binomial names of organisms (Genus
and Species), for emphasis and for unfamiliar words or phrases.
Non-assimilated words from Latin or other languages should
also be italicized e.g. per se, et al. etc.
Chemical Reaction Data: (Relevant for only Chemical
and Biochemical Fields)
For heterogeneous catalysis, presentation should include
reaction rates normalized by catalyst surface area, surface
area of the active phase, or number of active surface atoms
or catalytic sites, as appropriate. Typical rate units are
mol s-1 m-2 or, in the case of surface
atom normalization to produce turnover frequencies, s-1.
For homogeneous catalysis, rates should typically be reported
as turnover frequencies. Comparisons of selectivities should
be made at similar conversions. Catalytic measurements need
to be carried out under kinetically limited conditions.
Confirming tests need to be carried out and reported, especially
for all reactions occurring in the liquid phase.
Symbols and Units: Greek symbols and special
characters often undergo formatting changes and get corrupted
or lost during preparation of a manuscript for publication.
To ensure that all special characters used are embedded
in the text, these special characters should be inserted
as a symbol but should not be a result of any format styling
(Symbol font face) otherwise they will be lost
during conversion to PDF/XML.2
Authors are encouraged to consult reporting guidelines.
These guidelines provide a set of recommendations comprising
a list of items relevant to their specific research design.
Only ISO symbols, written in italic, should be used for
the various parameters. All kinds of measurements should
be reported only in International System of Units (SI).
SI units should always be written in roman and separated
from the numerical value by a space (whatever the language).
The µ in µg or µm should be in roman.
The symbol for liter is L and that for minute is min. For
temperatures, please note the use of °C and °F but
K. As the Ångström (1 Å = 10-10
m) is not an SI unit, it should be replaced by the nanometer
(1 nm = 10-9 m) or by the picometer (1 pm = 10-12
m): 1 Å = 0.1 nm = 100 pm. Multiple units should be
written with negative superscripts (for example, 25 mguL-1us-1).
The list of notations should appear just before the first
paragraph of full text.
A list of symbols and units should be provided if used extensively
throughout the text.
Equations and Mathematical Expressions
|
| 1. |
Avoid the use of built-up fractions in the text. If not
avoided by the author(s), built-up fractions will be converted
to equivalent expressions on the line when the paper is copyedited.
In display matter, however, built-up fractions are preferred
for clarity. |
| 2. | Avoid the use of small-type mathematical expressions centered
above or below arrows. If possible, try to use an alternative
format. |
| 3. | In the exponential function, avoid exponents having more
than one or two characters. |
| 4. | Avoid the use of reference numbers for equations that are
not subsequently referred to in the paper. Costs are reduced
if short mathematical equations and other expressions in the
text are run in (instead of each being displayed on a separate
line). Authors must expect that, when accepted papers are
copyedited, "excess" equation reference numbers
will be deleted and short equations will be run in with text.
|
| 5. | Be sure to indicate special marking for symbols (e.g.,
italics, boldface) and clearly identify any unusual symbols.
Try to avoid underscored symbols because they often require
hand composition and opening up lines and thus are expensive.
In vector notations, indicate which letters or notations,
if any, may be set in boldface type. Indicate if asterisks
are to be set in superscript position or centered on the line.
|
| 6. | All equations should be indented and numbered as follows: (1) |
| 7. | Equation number should be right justified. Put three dots(...)
midway between the end of the equation and the equation number. |
| 8. | Punctuation should not be used at the end of an equation. |
| 9. | Particular care should be taken to distinguish between
the number zero (0) and the letter O; the number one (1) and
the letter l, the Roman letter v and the Greek letter nu (n).
The decimal logarithm should be written "log" and
the natural log "ln". The abbreviation of the exponential
function is a roman e (for example, e x ) or exp
(for example, exp (u2 + n)). In expressions of
the type dxdt, the letter d (derivative
function) is always written in roman, whereas the physical
parameter (x or t) is always in italics.
Numbers are written in numerals when they are followed by
units, these being represented by their SI symbols (10 % but
a few percent). |
| 10. | In numerals, each group of three letters should be separated
by a space (except for dates and postal codes). |
| 11. | Authors should provide the equations in *TeX/LaTeX file
format separately as well as embedded in the manuscript. |
Nomenclature: Nomenclature should conform
to current American usage. Insofar as possible, authors
should use systematic names similar to those used by Chemical
Abstracts Service or IUPAC. Chemical Abstracts
(CA) nomenclature rules are described in Appendix
IV of the Chemical Abstracts Index Guide.
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS: If abbreviations
are used in the text either they should be defined in the
text where first used, or a list of abbreviations can be
provided.
GLOSSARY: A glossary of terms/expressions
used in the paper should be provided in the order of their
appearance in the article.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST: Financial contributions
to the work being reported should be clearly acknowledged,
as should any potential conflict of interest.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Please acknowledge anyone
(individual/company/institution) who has contributed to
the study by making substantial contributions to conception,
design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation
of data, or who was involved in drafting the manuscript
or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
Please list the source(s) of funding for the study, for
each author, and for the manuscript preparation in the acknowledgements
section.
Authors are encouraged to call attention to safety considerations
such as explosive tendencies, special precautionary handling
procedures, toxicity, and special waste disposal procedures.
REFERENCES: References must be listed
in IEEE style only. All references should be numbered sequentially
[in square brackets] in the text and listed in the same
numerical order in the reference section. The reference
numbers must be finalized and the bibliography must be fully
formatted before submission.
The author will be responsible for the accuracy and completeness
of the references.
See below few examples of references listed in the correct
IEEE style:
Journal Articles:
[1] D. Angluin and P. Laird, “Learning from noisy
examples”, Machine Learning, 2(4):343-370,
1988.
Books:
[2] R. Bellman, Dynami Programming, Princeton University
Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1957.
[3] A. Rezi and M. Allam, "Techniques in array processing
by means of transformations," in Control and Dynamic
Systems, Vol. 69, Multidimensional Systems,
C. T. Leondes, Ed. San Diego: Academic Press, 1995, pp.
133-180.
Edited Book:
[4] R.R. Bush and W.K. Estes, (Eds.), Studies in Mathematical
Learning Theory, Stanford University Press, Stanford,
California, 1959.
Conference Proceedings:
[5] T. J. van Weert and R. K. Munro, Eds., “Informatics
and the Digital Society: Social, ethical and cognitive issues:
IFIP TC3/WG3.1&3.2” Open Conference on
Social, Ethical and Cognitive Issues of Informatics and
ICT, July 22-26, 2002, Dortmund, Germany. Boston: Kluwer
Academic, 2003.
Patent:
[6] B. Gilbert, B. Jacques, C. Antonio and T. Jean-Marc,
“Distributed automation system”, U. S. Patent
6564242, May 13, 2003
Thesis:
[6] H. Zhang, "Delay-insensitive networks," M.S.
thesis, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada, 1997
Electronic Publication:
E-Books:
[7] L. Bass, P.Clements, and R. Kazman. “Software
Architecture in Practic”e, 2nd ed. Reading, MA:
Addison Wesley, 2003. [E-book] Available: Safari e-book..
E-Journals:
[8] P. H. C. Eilers and J. J. Goeman, "Enhancing scatterplots
with smoothed densities", Bioinformatics,
vol. 20, no. 5, pp. 623-628, March 2004. [Online] Available:
www.oxfordjournals.org. [Accessed Sept. 18, 2004].
Some important points to remember:
* All references must be complete and accurate.
* Online citations should include the date of access.
* Journal titles should conform to the IEEE Transactions,
Journals and Letters abbreviations.
* All authors of referenced papers must be cited and there
must be no use of the short hand version of et al.
* Take special care of the punctuation convention as described
in the above-mentioned examples.
* Avoid using superscript in the in-text citations and reference
section.
* Abstracts, unpublished data and personal communications
(which can only be included if prior permission has been
obtained) should not be given in the reference section but
they may be mentioned in the text and details provided as
footnotes.
* The authors are encouraged to use a recent version of
EndNote (version 5 and above) or Reference Manager (version
10) when formatting their reference list, as this allows
references to be automatically extracted.
FIGURES / ILLUSTRATIONS: The authors should
provide the illustrations as separate files, as well as
embedded in the text file, numbered consecutively in the
order of their appearance. Each figure should include a
single illustration. No charges will be levied on the use
of color figures except in the reprints. Each figure should
be closely cropped to minimize the amount of white space
surrounding the illustration.
If a figure consists of separate parts, it is important
that a single composite illustration file be submitted,
containing all parts of the figure.
Photographs should be provided with a scale bar if appropriate,
as well as high-resolution component files.
Scaling/Resolution
For Line Art image type, which is generally an
image based on lines and text and does not contain tonal
or shaded areas, the preferred file format is TIFF or EPS,
with colour mode being Monochrome 1-bit or RGB, in a resolution
of 900-1200 dpi.
For Halftone image type, which is generally a continuous
tone photograph and contains no text, the preferred file
format is TIFF, with colour mode being or RGB or Grayscale,
in a resolution of 300 dpi.
For Combination image type, which is generally an image
containing halftone in addition to text or line art elements,
the preferred file format is TIFF, with colour mode being
or RGB or Grayscale, in a resolution of 500-900 dpi.
Formats
For illustrations, the following file formats are
acceptable:
• Illustrator
• EPS (preferred format for diagrams)
• PDF (also especially suitable for
diagrams)
• PNG (preferred format for photos
or images)
• Microsoft Word (version 5 and above;
figures must be a single page)
• PowerPoint (figures must be a single
page)
• TIFF
• JPEG (conversion should be done
using the original file)
• BMP
• CDX (ChemDraw)
• TGF (ISISDraw)
Bentham OPEN does not process figures submitted
in GIF format.
If the large size of TIFF or EPS figures acts as an obstacle
to online submission, authors may find that conversion to
JPEG format before submission results in significantly reduced
file size and upload time, while retaining acceptable quality.
JPEG is a 'lossy' format, however. In order to maintain
acceptable image quality, it is recommended that JPEG files
are saved at High or Maximum quality.
Files should not be compressed with tools such as Zipit
or Stuffit prior to submission as these tools will in any
case produce negligible file-size savings for JPEGs and
TIFFs, which are already compressed.
Please do not:
1. Supply embedded graphics in your word processor (spreadsheet,
presentation) document;
2. Supply files that are optimized for screen use (like
GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low;
3. Supply files that are too low in resolution;
4. Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for
the content.
Segments of computer programs or output are treated like
diagrams and are reproduced from good quality material provided
by author(s) (normal line printer output is not considered
good quality).
Image Conversion Tools
There are many software packages, many of them
freeware or shareware, capable of converting to and from
different graphics formats, including PNG.
Good general tools for image conversion include GraphicConverter
on the Macintosh, PaintShop Pro, for Windows, and ImageMagick,
which is available on Macintosh, Windows and UNIX platforms.
Note that bitmap images (e.g. screenshots) should not be
converted to EPS, since this will result in a much larger
file size than the equivalent JPEG, TIFF, PNG or BMP, with
no increase in quality. EPS should only be used for images
produced by vector-drawing applications such as Adobe Illustrator
or CorelDraw. Most vector-drawing applications can be saved
in, or exported as, EPS format. In case the images have
been originally prepared in an Office application, such
as Word or PowerPoint, then the original Office files should
be directly uploaded to the site, instead of being converted
to JPEG or another format that may be of low quality.
TABLES:
* Data Tables should be submitted in Microsoft Word table
format.
* Each table should include a title/caption being explanatory
in itself with respect to the details discussed in the table.
Detailed legends may then follow.
* Table number in bold font i.e. Table 1,
should follow a title. The title should be in small case
with the first letter in caps. A full stop should be placed
at the end of the title.
* Tables should be embedded in the text exactly according
to their appropriate placement in the submitted manuscript.
* Columns and rows of data should be made visibly distinct
by ensuring that the borders of each cell are displayed
as black lines.
* Tables should be numbered in Arabic numerals sequentially
in order of their citation in the body of the text.
* If a reference is cited in both the table and text, please
insert a lettered footnote in the table to refer to the
numbered reference in the text.
* Tabular data provided as additional files can be submitted
as an Excel spreadsheet.
SUPPORTIVE/SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: We
strongly encourage to append supportive material, for example
a PowerPoint file containing a talk about the study, a PowerPoint
file containing additional screenshots, a Word, RTF, or
PDF document showing the original instrument(s) used, a
video, or the original data (SAS/SPSS files, Excel files,
Access Db files etc.). Published/reproduced material should
not be included unless you have obtained written permission
from the copyright holder, which should be forwarded to
the Editorial Office in case of acceptance of your article
for publication.
Supportive/Supplementary material intended for publication
must be numbered and referred to in the manuscript. In-text
citations (for example "see PowerPoint Appendix 1")
as well as a section with the heading "Supportive/Supplementary
Material" before the "References" section
should be provided. Here, list all Supportive/Supplementary
Material and include a brief caption line for each file
describing its contents.
Any additional files will be linked into the final published
article in the form supplied by the author, but will not
be displayed within the paper. They will be made available
in exactly the same form as originally provided. Please
also make sure that each additional file is a single table,
figure or movie (please do not upload linked worksheets
or PDF files larger than one sheet). Supportive/ Supplementary
material must be provided in a single zipped file.
Authors must clearly indicate if these files are not for
publication but meant for the reviewers'/editors' perusal
only.
PERMISSION FOR REPRODUCTION: Published/reproduced
material should not be included unless you have obtained
written permission from the copyright holder, which should
be forwarded to the Editorial Office in case of acceptance
of your article for publication.
For obtaining permission for reproducing any material published
in a paper by a Bentham Science, please fill in the request
FORM
and send to toautocj@benthamopen.org
for consideration.
AUTHORS AND INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATIONS: The
author will be required to provide their full names, the
institutional affiliations and the location, with an asterisk
in front of the name of the principal/corresponding author.
The corresponding author(s) should be designated and their
complete address, business telephone and fax numbers and
e-mail address must be stated to receive correspondence
and galley proofs.
REVIEWING AND PROMPTNESS OF PUBLICATION:
All manuscripts submitted for publication will be immediately
subjected to peer-reviewing, usually in consultation with
the members of the Editorial Advisory Board and a number
of external referees. Authors may, however, provide in their
Covering Letter the contact details (including e-mail addresses)
of four potential peer reviewers for their paper. Any peer
reviewers suggested should not have recently published with
any of the authors of the submitted manuscript and should
not be members of the same research institution.
All peer-reviewing will be conducted via the Internet to
facilitate rapid reviewing of the submitted manuscripts.
Every possible effort will be made to assess the manuscripts
quickly with the decision being conveyed to the authors
in due course.
LANGUAGE AND EDITING: Manuscripts must
be written in good English in a clear and correct style.
In order to maintain uniformity throughout the text, the
manuscript should be written in either American or British
English. Submitted manuscripts will not be edited for style
or language, and reviewers may advise rejection of a manuscript
if it is compromised by grammatical errors. Non-native speakers
of English may choose to make use of a copyediting and language
editing service such as that provided by Bentham Publication
Service (please contact at email: info@benthampublishingservices.com).
PROOF CORRECTIONS: Authors are required
to proofread the PDF versions of their manuscripts before
submission. To avoid delays in publication, proofs should
be checked immediately for typographical errors and returned
within 48 hours. Major changes are not
acceptable at the proof stage. If unable to send corrections
within 48 hours due to some reason, the
author(s) must at least send an acknowledgement on receiving
the galley proofs or the article will be published exactly
as received and the publishers will not be responsible for
any error occurring in the manuscript in this regard.
The corresponding author will be solely responsible for
ensuring that the revised version of the manuscript incorporating
all the submitted corrections receives the approval of all
the authors of the manuscript.
COPYRIGHT: Authors who publish in Bentham
OPEN Journals retain copyright to their work. Submission
of a manuscript to the respective journals implies that
all authors have read and agreed to the content of the Covering
Letter or the Terms and Conditions (stated to the submitting
author on FTP submission) . It is a condition of publication
that manuscripts submitted to this journal have not been
published and will not be simultaneously submitted or published
elsewhere. Once submitted to the journal, the authors will
not withdraw their manuscript at any stage prior to publication.
Plagiarism is strictly forbidden.
PUBLICATION FEES: The publication fee
details for each article published in the journal are given
below:
Letters: The publication fee for each
published Letter article submitted is $600.
Research Articles: The publication fee
for each published Research article is $800.
Mini-Review Articles: The publication
fee for each published Mini Review article is $600.
Review Articles: The publication fee for
each published Review article is $900.
Once the paper is accepted for publication, the author will
receive by email an electronic invoice. The fee form is also
available on the Web site at www.bentham.org/open/feeform
Submissions from the Editorial Board Members of the journal
will receive a special discount of 50% on the total publication
fee. Submissions by authors from developing countries will
receive a discount of 30% on the total publication fee charge.
MEMBERSHIP: Join as a member of Bentham
Open today to obtain great discounts on your article publication
fees! For details click here.
REPRINTS: High quality printed reprints
of published articles are available for purchase, if ordered,
with a minimum number of 100 reprints.
1 The submission process
is compatible with version 3.0 or later of Internet Explorer
and Netscape Navigator, and with most other modern Web browsers.
It can be used from PC, Mac, or Unix platforms.
2 In this connection, we
recommend the use of Microsoft Word version 2000 and above.
