Guide for Authors

This Guide sets out the journal-specific requirements for preparing, submitting and revising manuscripts and completing the publication process.

Authors must also comply with the applicable SDEWES Journals Policies, which apply across all SDEWES journals. Relevant policies, forms and statement templates are linked throughout this Guide.

Before Submission

Suitability for the journal

Before submission, authors should confirm that the manuscript is consistent with the journal’s Aims and Scope. Manuscripts outside the journal’s scope may be rejected without external peer review.

Article types

The journal accepts the following article types:

Original Research Article
Review Article

The journal may also publish Editorials prepared or invited by the Editor-in-Chief, Guest Editors or other authorised contributors. Editorials are not normally open to unsolicited submission. They are assessed editorially and are not normally sent for external peer review. Where an Editorial undergoes external peer review or another review process, the published article will identify the process used.

The preparation and submission requirements in this Guide apply primarily to Original Research Articles and Review Articles. Requirements for invited Editorials will be communicated by the journal where necessary.

The selected article type must correspond to the content and purpose of the manuscript. Detailed preparation requirements are provided in the Manuscript Template.

Language

Manuscripts must be submitted in English. Authors are responsible for ensuring that the language is clear, accurate and suitable for scientific publication. The journal uses British English, which should be applied consistently throughout the manuscript.

Originality and simultaneous submission

Submitted manuscripts must be original, must not have been published previously in the same form and must not be under consideration by another journal.

Preprints, conference papers and other prior versions may be permitted subject to the requirements below and Publishing Ethics.

Preprints and prior versions

Manuscripts previously made available as preprints may be considered for publication. Authors must disclose the preprint during submission and provide its persistent identifier or stable link.

The preprint should be updated with a citation and link to the Version of Record after publication, where the preprint platform permits this.

Conference papers and extended versions

A manuscript based on a previously published conference paper must provide substantial new scholarly content and must not constitute duplicate or redundant publication.

Authors must:

disclose the conference paper during submission;
cite the previous version;
explain the relationship between the two versions in the cover letter; and
identify the principal new data, methods, analyses, results or conclusions.

The submission must also comply with any copyright or licensing conditions applying to the conference paper.

Article Processing Charge

The journal charges an Article Processing Charge (APC) only after a manuscript has been accepted for publication. No submission, peer-review, page, colour, supplementary-material or manuscript-withdrawal fee applies. Authors should review the current APC amounts, submission-date periods, eligibility conditions, VAT treatment and request procedures on the Article Processing Charge page before submitting.

The applicable APC category, amount, payer and payment or waiver status do not influence editorial assessment, peer review or editorial decisions, in accordance with Editorial Independence.

Open access, copyright and licensing

The journal provides immediate open access to all published articles. Authors or other applicable copyright owners retain copyright and grant SDEWES Centre a non-exclusive licence to publish, preserve and disseminate the article. Unless otherwise stated for a specific article or publication arrangement, the Version of Record is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence (CC BY 3.0). Detailed information is provided on the Open Access, Copyright and Licensing page and in Copyright & Licensing.

Author Responsibilities and Publication Policies

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their manuscript and all accompanying files comply with the applicable SDEWES Journals Policies. The following requirements apply at submission and must be updated where relevant during revision and production.

Submission declaration

By submitting a manuscript, the authors confirm that the work is original and is not under consideration by another journal; all authors have approved the manuscript, author list and author order; all required permissions, approvals and declarations have been obtained; and the submitted information is complete and accurate.

The corresponding author coordinates the submission on behalf of all authors, but each author remains responsible for the accuracy, integrity and content of their contribution. Submission is subject to Publishing Ethics and the other applicable SDEWES Journals Policies.

Authorship and contributorship

Authorship is limited to individuals who:

made a substantial scholarly contribution to the conception or design of the work; acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data; or development of methodology, models, software or other substantive research components;
participated in drafting the manuscript or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content;
approved the submitted manuscript and the final version accepted for publication; and
agree to be accountable for their contribution and to cooperate in resolving questions concerning the accuracy or integrity of the work.

All individuals who meet these criteria must be included as authors. Contributors who do not meet the criteria may be recognised in the Acknowledgements, with their permission. Detailed requirements are provided in Authorship and Contributorship.

Changes to authorship

Authors should agree on the author list, author order and corresponding author before submission.

Requests to add or remove an author, change author order or change the corresponding author after submission are exceptional. They normally require:

a clear explanation;
written confirmation from all authors, including any author being added or removed, unless an exceptional circumstance is supported by appropriate independent documentation;
an updated contribution statement, where applicable; and
approval by the journal.

Requests must be submitted using the Authorship Change Request Form and will be handled under Authorship Changes and Inclusive Name Changes.

Inclusive author name changes are handled separately, respectfully and confidentially and do not normally require the agreement of co-authors.

Author contributions using CRediT

Authors must provide an Author Contributions Statement using the CRediT Contributor Role Taxonomy.

The statement must identify the contribution of each author and be approved by all authors. One author may have several roles, and several authors may share the same role.

CRediT describes contributions but does not independently determine authorship. The authorship criteria in Authorship and Contributorship must also be met.

Competing interests

All manuscripts must include a Competing Interests Statement, including where the authors have no competing interests to declare.

Authors must disclose any financial or non-financial interest or relationship that could influence, or could reasonably be perceived to influence, the research, its interpretation or its publication.

Authors must disclose during submission whether any author holds an editorial role in the journal, including Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editor, Guest Editor or Editorial Board member. Where an author holds such a role, the published Competing Interests Statement must identify the role and state that the author was completely excluded from initial assessment, reviewer selection, peer-review evaluation and decision-making. The manuscript must be handled independently by another editor with no relevant competing interest.

Where there is reasonable doubt, disclosure is preferred. Detailed requirements and standard wording are provided in Competing Interests and Funding Disclosure and the Competing Interests and Funding Disclosure Statement Template.

Funding disclosure

All manuscripts must include a Funding Statement.

Authors must disclose all financial and in-kind support connected with the research, manuscript preparation or publication, including:

funder or sponsor name;
grant, contract or project number, where available;
recipient of the support; and
role of the funder or sponsor in the research and publication process.

Where no funding was received, this must be stated. Detailed requirements are provided in Competing Interests and Funding Disclosure.

Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies

Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies cannot be listed as authors or co-authors or assigned a CRediT contributor role. Human authors remain fully responsible for all submitted content.

Substantive use of such technologies must be disclosed, including their use to generate or substantially transform text, translations, analyses, code, figures, tables or responses to reviewers.

The disclosure should identify:

the tool and provider;
the version or period of use, where available;
the purpose and extent of use;
the affected content or research activity; and
the human verification performed.

Use as part of the research methodology must also be described in the Methods section. Basic spelling, grammar and formatting tools do not normally require disclosure where they do not generate scholarly content or alter scientific meaning.

Detailed requirements and standard wording are provided in Generative AI Policy and the Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies Disclosure Statement Template.

Research ethics and ethical approval

Authors are responsible for determining whether their research requires ethical approval, informed consent, a waiver or exemption, a permit, a licence, site-access permission, safety approval or another authorisation.

Where approval or permission is required, it must normally be obtained before the relevant research begins.

Retrospective approval is not normally accepted where prior approval or authorisation should have been obtained.

The manuscript must identify, where applicable:

the approving body or competent authority;
approval, waiver, exemption, permit or licence reference;
informed-consent procedures;
consent for publication of identifiable material; and
the basis on which formal approval was not required.

Detailed requirements and statement guidance are provided in Research Ethics and the Research Ethics Statement Template.

Privacy and identifiable information

Authors must minimise personal, identifiable and confidential information in manuscripts, figures, supplementary files and research data.

Consent to participate in research does not automatically constitute consent to publish identifiable information. Appropriate consent or permission must be obtained before publishing identifiable:

names or personal details;
photographs or recordings;
direct quotations;
survey or interview responses;
case descriptions; or
location, household, mobility or similar data.

Anonymisation, aggregation, pseudonymisation, redaction or restricted access should be used where appropriate. Detailed requirements are provided in Privacy and Research Ethics.

Research data and transparency

All Original Research Articles and Review Articles must include an accurate Data Availability Statement.

Authors should deposit supporting data, code, software, models and other research materials in an appropriate repository wherever this is ethically, legally, contractually and technically possible.

Where access is restricted, the statement must explain:

what material is restricted;
why access cannot be open;
the applicable access conditions; and
how access may be requested, where applicable.

Detailed requirements and standard wording are provided in Research Data and Transparency and the Data Availability Statement Template.

Third-party material and permissions

Authors are responsible for identifying third-party material and obtaining any permission required for its publication and reuse.

Third-party material may include figures, tables, photographs, maps, datasets, questionnaires, screenshots, standards, software, code and text excerpts.

The source and rights holder must be acknowledged. Where third-party material is not covered by the article’s Creative Commons licence, this must be stated clearly in the relevant caption or credit line.

Authors may be required to provide permission documentation before publication. Detailed requirements are provided in Copyright & Licensing.

Inclusive language and jurisdictional claims

Authors should use respectful, inclusive and non-discriminatory language. Descriptions of personal characteristics should be included only where scientifically relevant and should be sufficiently precise, appropriately justified and presented without stereotyping or stigmatising language.

Where sex or gender is relevant to the research, authors should define the terms used, explain how sex or gender was considered in the research design and analysis, and identify any relevant limitations.

Maps, territorial descriptions and institutional affiliations must be presented accurately and in accordance with the context of the research. The journal and SDEWES Centre remain neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Authors remain responsible for the terminology, maps and affiliations used in their manuscript. General expectations concerning respectful and professional communication are provided in Publishing Ethics.

Manuscript Preparation

Manuscripts must be prepared using the journal’s Manuscript Template. Authors should follow the required manuscript structure and formatting and ensure that all files are complete, accurate and ready for editorial assessment.

Manuscript template

Authors must prepare the manuscript directly in the journal’s Manuscript Template and replace the instructional text with their own content.

Manuscripts must be submitted in Microsoft Word format. The template provides detailed technical instructions for formatting headings, figures, tables, equations, references and other manuscript elements.

Title page

The title page must include:

article type;
concise and informative article title;
full name of each author;
complete affiliation of each author, including country;
email address of each author;
identification and current email address of the corresponding author; and
ORCID iD for each author, where available.

Author names and order must correspond exactly to the information entered in the COMET submission system.

The title should be presented in title case and should avoid unnecessary abbreviations, acronyms and formulae.

Abstract

The manuscript must include a concise, self-contained abstract of 50–150 words.

The abstract should briefly present:

context and purpose of the study;
methods;
principal results; and
main conclusions.

References, undefined abbreviations, figures, tables and equations should not be included in the abstract.

Keywords

Authors must provide six to eight keywords in English immediately after the abstract.

Keywords should:

describe the principal content of the manuscript;
support indexing and discoverability;
be sufficiently specific;
avoid unnecessary repetition of words already used in the title; and
use abbreviations only where they are widely recognised in the field.

Main manuscript structure

Original Research Articles should normally contain:

Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results and Discussion
Conclusions

The section titles may be adapted where this better reflects the methodology or discipline. Methods must be described in sufficient detail to allow the work to be evaluated and, where reasonably possible, reproduced.

Review Articles should use a clear structure appropriate to the subject and type of review, and should explain the literature selection and analysis methods where applicable.

After the main text, manuscripts should include:

Acknowledgements, where applicable
Author Contributions
Funding
Competing Interests
Research Ethics Statement, where applicable
Informed Consent and Consent for Publication, where applicable
Data Availability Statement
Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies Disclosure Statement, where applicable
Nomenclature, where applicable
References
Appendices, where applicable

Detailed requirements concerning methodological transparency and reproducibility are provided in Research Data and Transparency.

Figures and tables

Figures and tables must be:

numbered consecutively in the order in which they are cited;
cited in the manuscript text;
placed as close as reasonably possible to their first citation;
clear, legible and understandable without unnecessary reference to the main text; and
accompanied by a concise and informative caption.

Figure captions must appear below the figure. Table captions must appear above the table. Tables must be provided as editable text rather than as images.

Authors must ensure that all figures, tables, maps and images are original or used with the necessary licence or permission. Adapted or reproduced material must include an appropriate source and credit line. Detailed requirements are provided in Copyright & Licensing.

Equations, symbols and units

Equations must be provided in an editable format using the Microsoft Word Equation Editor or another compatible equation tool. They must be numbered consecutively where they are referred to in the text.

Variables should be italicised, while units, constants and descriptive subscripts should normally remain in roman type.

Authors must:

use SI units;
use a decimal point rather than a decimal comma;
define symbols and abbreviations at first use;
use consistent symbols in the text, equations, figures and tables; and
provide a Nomenclature section where numerous symbols or abbreviations are used.

Currencies should be identified using the applicable ISO currency code.

References and data citations

References must be numbered consecutively in the order in which they first appear in the manuscript and cited using Arabic numerals in square brackets.

Authors must use the journal reference style provided in the Manuscript Template. Reference-management software such as Mendeley or Zotero is recommended.

References must be complete and accurate and should include a DOI or another persistent identifier where available. Authors are responsible for verifying every cited source.

Datasets, code, software, models and other research outputs should be cited where relevant. Authors should cite the specific version used and use the formal citation recommended by the repository or developer, preferably including a persistent identifier.

Citation of a general website does not replace citation of the specific dataset, software release or research output used. Detailed requirements are provided in Research Data and Transparency.

Supplementary material

Supplementary material may include:

additional figures and tables;
datasets or model inputs;
extended methods or calculations;
questionnaires or interview guides;
code or scripts;
maps;
scenario assumptions; and
other supporting material.

Supplementary files must be clearly named, described and cited in the manuscript. They must be accurate, relevant and consistent with the submitted manuscript.

Supplementary material must not be used to omit essential methodological information from the main manuscript. Authors are responsible for the accuracy, integrity, permissions and compliance with privacy, confidentiality and licensing requirements.

Personal, confidential, commercially sensitive or otherwise restricted information must not be included unless its publication is authorised and appropriately protected. Detailed requirements are provided in Research Data and Transparency, Research Ethics, Privacy and Copyright & Licensing.

Statements and declarations

Individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet the authorship criteria may be recognised in the Acknowledgements. Authors should obtain permission from each person named.

The following statements must be placed after the main text and before the References, in the order specified in the Manuscript Template:

Author Contributions

All manuscripts must include an Author Contributions Statement using the CRediT Contributor Role Taxonomy.

Funding

All manuscripts must include a Funding Statement, including where no funding was received.

Competing Interests

All manuscripts must include a Competing Interests Statement, including where there are no competing interests to declare.

Research Ethics Statement

A Research Ethics Statement must be included where the study involves an ethical approval, waiver, exemption, consent, permit, licence, confidential information or another material research-ethics issue.

Informed Consent and Consent for Publication

Applicable manuscripts must state whether informed consent and any separate consent for publication of identifiable information were obtained.

Data Availability Statement

All Original Research Articles and Review Articles must include a Data Availability Statement, including where no new data were generated or analysed.

Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies Disclosure Statement

Substantive use of generative AI or AI-assisted technologies must be disclosed. Use as part of the research methodology must also be described in the Methods section.

The statements must be consistent with the submission-system declarations and any required forms or templates. Detailed requirements and standard wording are provided in the relevant SDEWES Journals Policies.

Submission and Revision

Manuscripts must be submitted electronically through the COMET submission system. The corresponding author is responsible for completing the submission, uploading the required files and ensuring that all information is accurate and approved by the co-authors.

Online submission through COMET

Authors must submit manuscripts through the COMET submission system. Submissions sent by email will not normally be considered.

The corresponding author must:

enter complete and accurate manuscript information;
add all authors in the correct order;
provide current affiliations and email addresses;
select the appropriate article type;
upload all required files;
complete the required declarations; and
approve the final submission.

Information entered in COMET must be consistent with the manuscript and accompanying forms.

Required files

The submission must include:

the manuscript prepared using the Manuscript Template;
a cover letter;
supplementary material, where applicable; and
any declaration, permission or supporting document required for the submission.

Where applicable, authors may also be required to provide:

permission to reproduce or adapt third-party material;
any authorship, research-ethics, competing-interests or generative AI declaration form required by the journal;
supporting information concerning ethical approval or consent; and
data, code or repository information necessary for editorial assessment.

Files should be clearly named and must not contain unnecessary personal, confidential or restricted information.

Cover letter

The cover letter should be concise and should include:

the manuscript title and article type;
a brief explanation of the manuscript’s principal contribution;
confirmation that the manuscript is suitable for the journal;
confirmation that the work is not under consideration elsewhere;
disclosure of any preprint, conference paper or related prior version;
an explanation of any substantial overlap with related work;
identification of any special issue or conference-linked submission, where applicable; and
any information requiring the editor’s attention.

Where the manuscript extends a conference paper or another prior publication, the cover letter must identify the previous version and summarise the principal new scholarly content.

Submission checklist

Before completing the submission, the corresponding author should confirm that:

the manuscript complies with Aims and Scope;
the correct article type has been selected;
the Manuscript Template has been used;
all authors and affiliations are complete and accurate;
all authors have approved the manuscript, author list and author order;
the abstract, keywords, figures, tables and references are complete;
all required statements and declarations are included;
prior versions and related manuscripts have been disclosed;
third-party permissions have been obtained where required;
supplementary files are complete and cited in the manuscript; and
all uploaded files have been reviewed and are ready for editorial assessment.

An incomplete submission may be returned to the corresponding author before editorial assessment.

Submission declarations

During submission, authors must complete all applicable declarations identified in Section 2 and confirm that they are accurate and consistent with the manuscript and accompanying files. This includes disclosure of any editorial role held by an author and any preprint, conference paper or related prior version.

Authors must update the declarations where relevant during revision, acceptance or production. The applicable requirements are provided in the relevant SDEWES Journals Policies.

Revised manuscript

Where revision is requested, authors must submit the revised files within the timeframe stated in the editorial decision.

The revision should normally include:

a clean revised manuscript;
a marked version showing the changes, where requested;
a point-by-point response to the editor and reviewers;
revised supplementary material, where applicable; and
updated statements, declarations or forms where information has changed.

Authors must ensure that changes made in one part of the submission are reflected consistently in the manuscript, supplementary files, declarations and submission-system information.

A request for revision does not guarantee acceptance. Revised manuscripts may be assessed by the responsible editor, returned to the original reviewers or sent to additional reviewers in accordance with Peer Review Policy.

Point-by-point response

Authors must provide a clear response to every editor and reviewer comment.

The response should:

reproduce or clearly identify each comment;
explain how the comment was addressed;
identify the relevant changes and their location in the revised manuscript; and
provide a reasoned explanation where a suggestion was not followed.

Responses should be professional, concise and evidence-based. A general statement that all comments were addressed is not sufficient.

Substantial new analyses, data, figures or changes to the conclusions should be identified clearly. Any resulting change to authorship, funding, competing interests, ethics, data availability or generative-AI use must also be reported through the appropriate declaration or procedure.

Peer Review and Editorial Decisions

All manuscripts are subject to editorial assessment. Original Research Articles and Review Articles considered suitable for the journal are evaluated through single-blind peer review in accordance with Peer Review Policy and Editorial Independence.

Initial editorial assessment

Editors first assess whether the manuscript:

falls within the journal’s Aims and Scope;
is submitted as an appropriate article type;
demonstrates sufficient originality and scientific quality;
is clearly and completely presented;
complies with this Guide and the Manuscript Template; and
includes the required statements and declarations.

All submissions are screened using iThenticate as part of the initial editorial assessment. Similarity results are evaluated by the editors and do not, by themselves, establish plagiarism or another form of misconduct.

A manuscript may be rejected without external peer review where it is outside the journal’s scope, does not meet the journal’s basic scientific or presentation requirements or is otherwise unsuitable for review.

Where a possible ethical or research-integrity concern is identified, editorial handling may be paused while the matter is assessed under Publishing Ethics and the relevant SDEWES Journals Policy.

Single-blind peer review

The journal uses single-blind peer review. Reviewers know the authors’ identities, while reviewers’ identities are not disclosed to the authors.

Original Research Articles and Review Articles that pass the initial editorial assessment are evaluated by at least two independent external expert reviewers who are not part of the journal’s editorial team. Additional reviewers may be invited where:

further subject or methodological expertise is required;
reviewer assessments differ substantially; or
an ethical, technical or interdisciplinary issue requires additional assessment.

Special issues, article collections and conference-linked submissions follow the same external peer-review, reviewer-selection, confidentiality, competing-interest and editorial-independence requirements as regular submissions. The Editor-in-Chief retains responsibility for the content and editorial oversight of all special issues. Guest Editors must be appropriately qualified, approved and overseen by the Editor-in-Chief or designated Editorial Board members.

A Guest Editor must not handle a manuscript where an actual, potential or perceived competing interest exists. Manuscripts submitted by Guest Editors must be handled through an independent editorial and peer-review process and must not constitute more than 25% of the articles in the relevant special issue. Final responsibility for each editorial decision remains with the Editor-in-Chief or another editor authorised by the journal.

Reviewer selection remains under the control of the responsible editor. Any author suggestions or requests concerning reviewers, where permitted through the submission process, are advisory and must be supported by appropriate reasons.

The manuscript and any supplementary material submitted for publication are made available to reviewers where relevant. Reviewer reports are confidential and are not published.

Reviewer assessment

Reviewers are asked to assess, where relevant:

originality and contribution to the field;
methodological soundness;
validity and interpretation of results;
adequacy of data, models, code and supporting materials;
relation to previous research;
ethical and research-integrity requirements;
clarity, structure and presentation; and
suitability for the journal.

Reviewers provide comments and recommendations to support editorial decision-making, but they do not make the final decision.

Detailed practical instructions are provided in the Guide for Reviewers.

Editorial decision types

Editorial decisions may include:

rejection before external peer review;
rejection after external peer review;
major revision;
minor revision;
invitation to resubmit as a new manuscript, where applicable; or
acceptance.

Editors assess the manuscript, reviewer reports, author responses and applicable journal requirements. They are not required to follow the majority reviewer recommendation and may obtain additional review where necessary.

A revision request does not guarantee acceptance.

Editorial decisions are based on scientific and editorial considerations and are independent of the Article Processing Charge, conference participation, institutional relationships, sponsorship, advertising, SDEWES membership or other non-scientific considerations, in accordance with Editorial Independence.

Appeals and complaints

Authors may appeal an editorial decision where they provide a specific and substantiated reason to believe that the decision was materially affected by:

a significant factual or technical error;
a material misunderstanding of the manuscript;
failure to follow the stated editorial or peer-review procedure;
an actual, potential or perceived competing interest;
bias or inappropriate conduct; or
a significant error in applying journal policy.

An appeal should normally be submitted within 30 days of the editorial decision through the journal’s editorial contact identified on the Contact page. The appeal must clearly explain the grounds and provide relevant supporting evidence. Disagreement with editorial judgement or reviewer opinion alone is not normally sufficient.

One substantive appeal will normally be considered for each editorial decision.

Complaints may concern peer-review handling, communication, delay, confidentiality, policy application, publication procedures or editorial conduct. General procedural complaints should be submitted through the journal’s editorial contact identified on the Contact page or using the Complaint Submission Form. Complaints concerning editorial conduct, publication ethics or research integrity should be submitted to ethics@sdewes.org.

Appeals and complaints are handled under Editorial Decision Appeals and Complaints. Concerns involving possible misconduct are assessed under Publishing Ethics and the relevant specialised policy.

After Acceptance

After acceptance, the corresponding author will receive instructions concerning publishing documentation, payment of the Article Processing Charge, proof correction and publication.

Copyright and Licence to Publish Agreement

Before publication, the corresponding author must coordinate completion of the Copyright and Licence to Publish Agreement and confirm that all authors have reviewed and approved it. Where copyright is owned or controlled by an employer, institution, government body or another person or organisation, separate confirmation or authorisation must be obtained from the applicable copyright owner or authorised representative.

By completing the agreement, the authors confirm that:

they have the authority to submit and publish the work;
all authors have approved the accepted manuscript;
all necessary permissions for third-party material have been obtained; and
SDEWES Centre is granted the non-exclusive rights necessary to publish, preserve and disseminate the article.

Authors retain copyright in their work where they own it. Detailed information is provided in Copyright & Licensing and on the Open Access, Copyright and Licensing page.

Article Processing Charge payment

Following acceptance, COMET displays the Standard APC applicable to the manuscript’s original submission date. Where the Article Processing Charge page states that the Standard APC is temporarily waived for that submission date, COMET applies the waiver automatically and displays an amount payable of EUR 0; no separate request is required. The corresponding author must check the APC category and amount shown in COMET and contact payment@sdewes.org before payment if the displayed information is incorrect or unclear.

The Reduced APC, Special Reduced APC and IC SDEWES Member APC are not applied automatically. After acceptance and before payment, the corresponding author must request the relevant APC category by contacting payment@sdewes.org. The category is applied only after SDEWES Centre has verified eligibility and approved the request. If no request is submitted, or eligibility is not confirmed, the Standard APC remains payable, subject only to any automatic temporary waiver of the Standard APC stated on the Article Processing Charge page.

The current APC amounts, applicable submission periods, eligibility conditions, VAT treatment, request procedure, payment arrangements and contact information are provided on the Article Processing Charge page.

No APC payment is requested before editorial acceptance. The applicable APC, identity of the payer and eligibility for an APC reduction or waiver status do not influence editorial assessment, peer review or editorial decisions, in accordance with Editorial Independence.

Proof correction

The corresponding author will receive the article proof for final checking.

Authors must:

check the accuracy of the text, author names, affiliations and metadata;
review figures, tables, equations and references;
verify all statements and declarations;
identify production errors clearly; and
return corrections within the stated deadline.

Proof correction is intended to correct production errors and minor inaccuracies. Substantial changes to the accepted manuscript, results, conclusions, authorship or declarations require editorial approval.

Any request to change authorship must follow Authorship Changes and Inclusive Name Changes.

Online publication

Following completion of the publishing requirements, the article is published in its Version of Record as an Online First article. It is subsequently assigned to the relevant issue and annual volume.

The published article will include, as applicable:

the final article text;
author and affiliation information;
DOI and publication metadata;
copyright and licence information;
funding and competing-interest statements;
submission, acceptance and publication dates;
Data Availability Statement;
other applicable declarations; and
supplementary material, where provided.

Authors should check the published article and notify the journal promptly of any material error.

Responsible sharing

Authors may deposit or share the Submitted Manuscript and Accepted Manuscript immediately and without embargo, subject to copyright ownership and any applicable third-party, contractual, privacy, confidentiality or legal restrictions. Each version must be identified accurately and must not be presented as the Version of Record.

Authors may deposit and share the Version of Record immediately under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence (CC BY 3.0).

When sharing the Version of Record, authors should include:

the complete article citation;
the DOI or stable link to the published article;
the applicable Creative Commons licence; and
any correction, expression of concern or retraction notice affecting the article.

Submitted and accepted manuscript versions must be identified accurately and must not be presented as the Version of Record.

Additional information is provided on the Open Access, Copyright and Licensing page.

Corrections and post-publication concerns

Authors must notify the journal promptly if they identify a material error, omission or concern after publication.

Evidence-based comments, scholarly critiques and alternative interpretations of published work may also be submitted through the route identified on the contact page. Scholarly disagreement does not by itself establish error or misconduct.

Depending on the nature and effect of the matter, the journal may issue:

a correction;
an editorial note;
an expression of concern;
a retraction; or
another appropriate notice.

Correction requests, evidence-based scholarly comments and alternative interpretations should be submitted through the journal’s editorial contact identified on the Contact page. Possible publication ethics or research integrity concerns should be submitted to ethics@sdewes.org. Privacy or personal-data concerns should be submitted to privacy@sdewes.org.

Post-publication actions are handled under Corrections, Retractions and Withdrawals. Possible research-integrity or publication-ethics concerns are assessed under Publishing Ethics and the relevant specialised policy. Complaints about the handling of a matter may be submitted under Editorial Decision Appeals and Complaints.