Editorial improvements at the Journal of Polymer Engineering

Aims and scope

The analysis of the type and contents of the papers published in the last few years led us to the conclusion that the Journal focus has become somewhat “fuzzier”. As the title says, and as it is also clearly stated in the Journal presentation, the main scope of the Journal is to publish papers in the field of polymer engineering and related areas. We strongly believe that the Journal editorial policy must conform as much as possible to such a scope. As a consequence, we recommend submission of papers that comply with the Journal focus and not accept papers that are far from this scope (such as, for example, works whose focus is mainly on polymer chemistry or laboratory synthesis) which might be more appropriate for other specialized journals.

Submission policy

With the aim of continuously trying to improve the overall quality of the Journal content, we have also decided to make a few changes among the submission rules. Such changes are incorporated in the latest Instructions for Authors, which are available either as a download on the Journal’s homepage (www.degruyter.com/view/j/polyeng) or at the end of each printed issue. The changes are summarized as follows:

• The authors are requested to suggest the names of potential reviewers for their manuscript. However, in order to improve the requirement of fairness, independence and transparency, authors will be asked to indicate prospective referees only from institutions and countries that are different from those of any of the submitting authors.

• Journal of Polymer Engineering is extremely sensitive to plagiarism issues, and excessive splitting of research. Since late 2013, all submitted manuscripts have been analyzed by a well known anti-plagiarism software (details can be found at http://www.ithenticate.com/). The application determines a quantitative “degree of similarity” with contents already published under any form. At the same time, it is also a useful tool to help Editors in assessing the overall quality and originality of the submitted manuscripts. The Editors reserve the right to reject without reviewing manuscripts with a high plagiarism content, or manuscripts that clearly appear to belong to a sequence of very similar works that add no or little scientific value. In such cases, the Editors of Journal of Polymer Engineering reserve the right to communicate the information about plagiarism and any kind of fraud to any other journal and/or institution.

All of the above changes will become effective for manuscripts submitted after the publication of this editorial note. I hope that such changes will help along the direction of continuously improving the quality of the Journal and of the service offered to all authors and readers.