Author Guidelines

Guidelines for Authors and Publication Requirements

General Information

Al-Nahrain Journal for Engineering Sciences (NJES), a refereed scientific engineering journal published under the authority of the College of Engineering, Al- Nahrain University four times per year. Our Journal is the winner of Al-Nahrain University prize for the Best Scientific Journal of 2017. The journal publishes the scientific output of researchers in the fields of architectural, chemical, civil, computer, electrical, electronic, communications, information technology, laser and optoelectronics, mechanical and biomedical engineering as well as any directly related fields. Papers are submitted in English only to the journal. 

The material of the manuscripts submitted to our journal must not violate any intellectual property rights of any person or entity, must not contain any subject matter that contravenes any Iraqi or international laws, and must adhere to the ethical standards applicable for all research disciplines.  

Fees

For the manuscript to be submitted for publications, 50.000.00 ID should be paid upon the submission of the manuscript to NJES office in Al-Nahrain University/ College of Engineering. This does not apply for International submissions. 

Requirements

1. All manuscripts submitted for publication must not be published or considered for publication or accepted for publication elsewhere. 
2. The manuscript submitted for publication must be submitted online as an MS Word copy only according to the standards of the journal's research template provided in our website. Please provide a physical copy of the Researcher's Obligation form with the required signatures and physical stamping in person if the researchers are from Iraq or a scanned copy if the researchers are abroad.  
3. The manuscript must include a title and an abstract that ranges between 200-250 words for each of the English and Arabic versions  (in case of native Arabic authors). The manuscript's pages must not exceed 15 printed pages. 
4. Full name(s), qualification(s), affiliation(s), address(es) and e-mail addresses of all the authors must be arranged just below the title of the manuscript. 
5. Abbreviations must not be used in the title of the manuscript and the abstract, except those of the measurement units. 
6. Only standard international units (SI units) must be used. 
7. Tables and illustrations such as figures, photographs and drawings must be clear, numbered, titled and referred to in the text consequently.
8. Footnotes can be used to clarify information, and, when used, footnotes must be numbered.
9. Font description for manuscripts written in English using the "Garamond" font and submitted in MS word only. 
   • Title:  16pt (Bold) in the middle.
   • Authors Name/Names : 12pt (Bold). 
   • Affiliations:  10pt (Regular).
   • Headings: Capital initial letters size 12pt (Bold) and placed flush to the left-hand margin.
   • Sub-headings: Capital initial letters size 11pt (Bold) and placed flush to the left-hand margin.
   • The manuscript should be written in TWO columns except for the abstracts section.
   • Both the English and Arabic abstracts should be located at the beginning of the submitted manuscript. 
   • The Arabic abstract should be in "Arabic Typesetting" font with single line spacing and the Arabic title 18pt (Bold)
   • Keywords: should be written after both abstracts. 10pt.
   • Text: 10pt. The first line should be flushed to the right by 5 mm. 
   • Equations: Must be numbered in parentheses flush to the right-hand margin with dots leading the numbers; a single line blank space should be left before and after the equation. Equations are referenced within the text as follows:  

eq. (x), where x is the equation number.

• Figures and Tables: Should be referenced in bold as follows: Fig.1, Table 1. Figure captions should [ Figure ( ): ] appear below the figure in small letters sized 10 and must be centered above the table [Table ( ): ] in small letter size 10; a single line blank space should be left before and after the table heading.
• References: References should be grouped together at the end of the manuscript, after the acknowledgment. They must be referred to as they appear in the text with square brackets [ ]. References should follow the IEEE 2006 referencing style using "Garamond" 10pt. There should be (20-25) listed references for research papers, and (over 25) listed references for review papers to be accepted in our journal. 

 ** Please submit a printed copy of the following forms (Author/s Information), (Author/s Obligation form), (Copyright Agreement), and (Conflict of Interest Disclosure), or a scanned copy if you are from another country, which are available under Downloadable Materials on the right of our website. Please be advised that your manuscrpt shall be processed as soon as we receive these forms. 

Submission, Revision, and Final Decision Procedures

After submitting the manuscript to our journal, the author/s shall receive a confirmation email with their manuscript reference number within 24 hours  If the author/s do not receive the confirmation email, please have the corresponding author check their SPAM E-mail folder just in case the confirmation email got delivered there instead of the inbox. 

All materials submitted to the Journal are checked for plagiarism using Turnitin, Plagiarism per source should be less than 5%. Total Plagiarism must not exceed 20%. (Bibliography and sources with less than "5 words" are excluded).  

Then after the material must be approved by the assigned reviewers and the Editorial Panel before being published in the Journal. The manuscripts are usually reviewed at least by two referees, selected by the Editorial Panel according to the paper's subject matter. Referees are required to conduct a review and provide an assessment report within three weeks of receiving the manuscript. If the  two manuscript reviews contradicted each other, then a third reviewer shall be assigned and the majority opinion shall be conclusive. 

The author/s shall receive the reviewers' reports and the required modifications, if available, then are requested to make these revisions within three weeks of receiving them, which shall be resubmitted to the referees for reassessment (if required). A letter detailing the requested revisions, addressed to the reviewers, should be submitted along with the revised manuscript to be sent to the reviewers with no reference whatsoever to the authors names in that letter. 

The minimum period for submissions to be either accepted or declined is approximately two months. Declined submissions are returned to the corresponding author as soon as possible.

If the manuscript is accepted for publishing, the author/s are requested to provide a final electronic copy of the manuscript integrating the journal's typesetting requirements, and incorporating all the modifications requested and made during the assessment process. 

When a manuscript is accepted for publication, it shall be sent for typesetting. One set of page proofs will be sent to the corresponding author to check thoroughly before publication. The marked proof must be returned to the Journal within seven days. 

Review Papers

NJES accepts review papers exclusively from authors who have been publishing papers in an Engineering specialized field, or an Interdisciplinarity field with Engineering such as biomedical engineering, for at least five years prior to submitting their review manuscript to our journal. 

NJES requires (20-25) listed references for research papers, and (over 50) listed references for review papers to be accepted in our journal. 

Useful Information Regarding Research Papers and Review Papers

1. Purpose

While research papers aim to conduct and report an original investigation of a specific research question, presenting a particular point of view by the author/s, a view paper aims to conduct a critical analysis of previously published literature on a specific topic.

2. Basis

Research papers are primary literature based on research that has been conducted by the author/s of the paper. Review papers, on the other hand, are secondary literature based on existing published articles and not an original research conducted by the author/s.

3. Writing

Research papers are written to answer a certain question/s, collecting data and conducting an original study to write an analysis and interpretation of this data.

In review papers, authors select a specific topic and summarize existing literature on that topic. Their work attempt to present an overview of that topic’s current state of understanding. The length of the article (word count) depends on the journal for each type of research.

There are three main types of review papers; Domain-based, theory-based, and method-based.

4. Reporting

Research papers report each step of the study in details. It includes an abstract, the hypothesis, background study, methodology, results, and an interpretation of the findings. It includes a discussion of the possible indications of the results and how the study contributes to existing literature, as well as suggestions for future research which are included in the conclusion section.

Review papers recognize and report commonalities between results of a certain topic. Wherever inconsistencies are found, the author/s try to provide the reasons for any conflicting results. Author/s analyze data and information from published works with a balanced perspective then report any problems or gaps within existing literature, as well as future study/research possibilities in the conclusion.