VTEI / Instructions of the Editors

Instructions of the Editors

Guide for Authors

Submissions of articles

  • VTEI journal only accepts contributions that correspond to its specialization.
  • VTEI articles can be published in Czech, Slovak, and English. Due to the bilingual nature of the journal, articles submitted in Czech and Slovak are translated into English and English into Czech, so that both language versions are complete. In exceptional cases, after agreement with the editors, it is possible to publish articles in languages other than those mentioned above.
  • Manuscripts should be submitted electronically via e-mail: info@vtei.cz or zuzana.rehorova@vuv.cz
  • Articles can be sent to the editors throughout the year. Inclusion in a specific issue of VTEI is subject to compliance with the editorial deadline (see Table), successful review procedure, and capacity of the given issue.

 Editorial deadlines

Issue

Deadline
February 7–10/11
April 5–10/1
June 5–8/3
August 6–10/5
October 4–9/7
December 5–10/9

Accepted for printing section

  • To make scientific knowledge available as quickly as possible, expert articles that have successfully passed the peer review procedure, as well as informative articles, are published before the final editing and graphic edit on the VTEI website in the Accepted for printing

 Binding rules regarding formal editing:

  • The editors prefer manuscripts in Word, font size 12, single line spacing.
  • Presentations of results in the form of clear tables or graphs, figures, etc. are welcome (for the table format, see the section Format of mathematical typesetting, figures, graphs, maps, and tables).
  • The recommended length of a professional article is 5–7 printed pages including appendices (i.e., 10–20 standard pages of 1,800 characters including spaces). It is possible to attach additional appendices to the article which are only published online on the journal’s website vtei.cz.
  • Manuscript pages must be numbered (including references, tables, figures, captions, and structural formulas).
  • Text highlighting, superscript, subscript, italics, etc. can be used in the usual way, other text is not formatted and styles are not defined. Graphic editing is a matter of own typesetting.

Structure of professional and review studies:

  • Article title Czech/Slovak*
  • Articles title in English
  • Unabbreviated name and surname of the author(s), including title
  • Full name and postal address of the author(s) and their e-mail address
  • Identification of author(s) using ORCID
  • Abstract in Czech/Slovak* and English (minimum 1,500 characters including spaces)
  • Keywords in Czech/Slovak* and English
  • Text divided into sections – Introduction, Material and Method/Methodology, Results, Discussion, Conclusion.
  • Acknowledgments
  • References
  • Appendices (for example, figures, graphs, tables, maps) with captions in Czech/Slovak* and English

*Does not apply to expert articles in English, for which the Czech translation will be provided by the editors.

Structure of informative articles (should not exceed 3-4 standard pages)

  • Article title
  • Unabbreviated name and surname of the author(s), including title
  • Full name and postal address of the author(s) and their e-mail address
  • A non-specified structure of the text according to the nature of the topic
  • Optional – Acknowledgments, References, Appendices (figures with captions are preferred)

 Data articles

  • Data articles are a special type of expert article.
  • The goal of publishing data articles is to enable the validation of research conclusions and to facilitate the use of scientific data for further research.
  • They contain data or their description without drawing conclusions or their interpretation.
  • Data articles may include:
    • raw, i.e. primary, source or unprocessed data relating to any graphs or data in papers published in the VTEI journal,
    • complete secondary datasets, including a list of primary sources used,
    • description of supplementary data previously hosted as supplementary electronic files alongside the original research article
    • a description of the entire data file or additional information that will help with data reuse,
    • a detailed description of raw data related to graphs, figures, and numbers in a co-submitted research paper, if the release of such data will substantially increase the reproducibility and/or re-analysis of the data,
    • any source datasets or data from experiments that relate to the author’s research.
  • Data articles may not include:
    • supplementary files to review articles, as they are not considered original data and are unsuitable for publication in the form of a data article.
  • Authors can make data available to the public either through a data article or by depositing it in a trusted data repository (e.g., Zenodo.org). Authors are also obliged to save datasets in a trusted data repository which, according to the principles of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable), makes it possible to ensure the findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reuse of data.
  • Data articles can be published in VTEI separately or together with a professional article using the Data Article template (VTEI-Data-Article-Template-1.3).
  • Note that authors should not republish the same data printed in their original scientific article to avoid duplicate publication.

For data that require access control for ethical reasons, authors must provide the editors, members of the VTEI editorial and scientific board, and reviewers with access to the data without revealing their identity to the authors. Failure to allow anonymous access to data during the review procedure is grounds for article rejection.

Format of mathematical typesetting, figures, graphs, maps and tables

  • Within mathematical typesetting, it is necessary to carefully place indices, exponents and modifying marks, clearly mark the difference between upper and lower case letters, antiqua and italics, correctly and clearly write the letters of other alphabets and distinguish ambiguous symbols – the letter l from the number 1 and the letter O from zero 0. Physical units should be given in the form, for example, m.s-1, in tables and graphs in square brackets.
  • Figures must be provided with a caption in Czech/Slovak as well as in English and a legend that makes them understandable without the need to look for the necessary information in the text; in the text there must be a reference to them in the form of a link (Fig. 1). Figures (photographs, table diagrams, etc.) can be inserted into the text, but only as information about their approximate location. The original image must be sent as a separate file to the text. Figures must be submitted in separate files in standard graphic formats, e.g., JPG, TIF, EPS, and PDF, and in quality suitable for printing (at least 300 dpi).
  • Graphs and data from graphs are sent in Excel as a separate file to the text; they are inserted into the text of the article for information only. Graphs must be labelled (in Czech/Slovak and in English). Diagrams (e.g., maps of the Czech Republic) must be supplied in vector format (AI, EPS, CDR, PDF). If there is a large number of graphs, it is necessary to maintain a uniform size and appearance if possible (same height and width of the description, width of lines, dimensions, etc.). Graphs are a prominent part of the layout, and the graphics studio expects to modify them so that they are a useful and sought-after part of the article.
  • Maps must be sufficiently contrasting and clear. Basic cartographic rules must be followed, i.e., indicate the scale and keep the orientation to the north (in the case of a changed orientation, a compass rose must be added). If the map is detailed, the location of the detail or cut-out in the area of the Czech Republic must be added, at least when the detailed map is first introduced.
  • Tables must be submitted in Excel, not as an image. They must be provided with an appropriate title in Czech/Slovak as well as in English, and there must be a reference to them in the form of a link in the text (Tab. 1). In addition to the title, a table can have explanations regarding the file or just individual parameters or values. These are listed below the table and are usually indicated by a number in the form of an index.

References and other sources

  • The list of references and other sources must contain a complete list of works cited in the paper.
  • Reference URLs should be provided wherever possible. Use of a URL in the form of doi.org/ is preferred.
  • References follow the ČSN ISO 690:2011 standard. In the text, refer to the literature in the form of numerical references, in square brackets – e.g. [5, 7–9].
  • Users of citation.com, Zotero, Mendely, ReadCube, Colwiz and other reference managers that use the Citation Style Language can use a style template prepared directly for the VTEI journal – see https://www.zotero.org/styles?q= vtei

Publication Ethics

The VTEI authors, editors and reviewers follow the following rules and principles of publication ethics, which are based on international ethical standards, especially the Publishing Ethics Resource Kit /PERK/ of Elsevier and COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics).

 Author’s code of ethics

  • VTEI journal only publishes original scientific or review studies, summarizing their authors’ own research results, while the authors are obliged to comply with the ethical principles of research work.
  • The authors are responsible for the fact that the article has not yet been published either in printed or electronic form (with the exception of preprint servers). Only new, fundamentally revised versions of an already published work (e.g., a significant expansion of a paper presented at a scientific conference) are admissible. Authors are obliged to inform the editors about all previously published versions (including versions on preprint servers) of the article and send these versions to the editors together with the manuscript for assessment of the extent of the revision.
  • Authors may not offer the article for printing to several editors simultaneously.
  • Authors are responsible for crediting all co-authors who participated in the preparation and creation of the text, and for the fact that all co-authors have seen and approved the version of the article submitted for review and agree to list their names as co-authors.
  • In the final acknowledgment, the authors are obliged to indicate the sources of financial support for the project.
  • The authors are responsible for the correct citation of the materials used and the proper indication of all sources used.
  • They also give an assurance that they have obtained permission to use copyrighted materials. The editors can request this permission at any time.
  • The editors do not tolerate any form of plagiarism, while reserving the right to check all articles using appropriate automatic plagiarism detection tools, such as “Similarity Check”.
  • The VTEI editors do not support duplicate and redundant publishing, which occurs when a paper, or its essential parts, is published by the author(s) more than once without proper justification of the overlap and without proper citation.
  • Authors are obliged to follow the instructions for formal editing, i.e., observe the method of citation, the format of the supplied materials, etc. (see Binding rules regarding formal editing)
  • Authors are obliged to report any conflict of interest arising from relations with the editorial and scientific board as well as the editorial office and its members or other entities and actively cooperate in the review procedure.
  • Authors are also responsible for final proofreading and error correction prior to publication.
  • To assure transparency and openness regarding data and other materials, authors are obliged to provide supporting evidence of published results upon relevant request, or to allow access to them (also see Data articles).
  • As part of the affiliation, the authors indicate their institution, or the institution that approved or guaranteed the research, the results of which are presented in the article.
  • VTEI journal publishes its content in Open Access mode. Therefore, users can download, distribute, and refer to the articles without the prior author’s consent.
  • By sending the manuscript to the editorial office, the authors (or the person sending the manuscript to the editorial office) grant the VTEI publisher a non-exclusive license Creative Commons “Attribution-NonCommercial” 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) to publish the article in printed and electronic form. If the person sending the manuscript to the editorial office is not authorized to grant such a license, a license agreement signed by all authorized persons must be sent together with the manuscript. If a separate license agreement is not attached to the e-mail with the manuscript sent, the publisher considers that the person sending the e-mail with the manuscript is entitled to grant such a license. Neither copyright nor property rights in the article are affected by granting of this license.
  • Authors are not charged any fees for publishing; all costs are borne by T.G. Masaryk Water Research Institute, p.r.i.

 Responsibility of the publisher, editorial board, scientific board, and editors

    • The editorial and scientific board protects the principles of publication ethics, publishes the principles for reviewing papers and updates them when necessary.
    • The editorial and scientific board has the exclusive right to accept or reject a paper to the review procedure.
    • Only expert articles that have successfully passed the review procedure may be published. Articles of an informative and data nature are subject to approval by the editorial and scientific board or editorial office.
    • VTEI journal implements a unilaterally blind review procedure, i.e., the authors do not know the names of the reviewers, but the reviewers know the names of the authors.
    • The final decision on publication of a paper, which belongs to the editorial and scientific board, is based solely on the appropriate scientific value of the article, its contribution, originality, clarity, and compliance with the journal’s focus. The editorial and scientific board does not pursue any commercial goals when deciding whether to accept an article for publication.
    • In the case of a negative opinion and the reviewers’ proposal to reject the article, the matter must be discussed by the editorial and scientific board. The author is then informed of the editorial and scientific board’s decision and the reasons for rejection of the article.
    • The publisher, editorial and scientific board, and editorial office strictly observe the principles of editorial independence and ensure that there is no conflict of interest, not only in relation to accepted and rejected papers, but also in terms of funding or institutional, commercial, and personal interests.
    • The editorial and scientific board also focuses on ensuring that erroneous or falsified results, incomplete citation of sources, and non-compliance with professional and ethical principles do not occur.
    • In the event of any doubts regarding the published papers, these doubts are submitted by e-mail to the Chairman of the Editorial and Scientific Board and, at the same time, to the VTEI Editor-in-Chief (see Editorial team). The Editor-in-Chief, together with the editors, will ensure an objective investigation in accordance with the relevant recommendations of Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and submit its results for discussion to the editorial and scientific board. In the event that the activities of the editorial and scientific board are in doubt, they submit the investigation results to the publisher’s statutory representative for discussion. If the activity of the editorial office is in doubt, the Chairman of the Editorial and Scientific Board ensures an objective investigation in accordance with the relevant recommendations of COPE and inform the statutory representative of the VTEI publisher about its results. If necessary, explanations, apologies and possibly also notices about the withdrawal of texts from the online version of the journal are published directly with the individual electronic versions of the articles, and are also published in the next printed issue.
    • Changes/additions to articles accepted for publication are subject to review by the editors and subsequently by the editorial and scientific board. If authors wish to add to their article after it has been accepted, they must submit a request to the editors and the new content is reviewed. If the new material supplements an already published article, it must be submitted for review as a new manuscript with a reference to the original article. If new material should replace the original content of a published article, the editors may consider issuing an Erratum or Corrigendum.
    • Erratum refers to the editors’ error correction. All changes introduced by the editors are brought to the author’s attention at the proofreading stage, and ideally all errors are identified by the author and corrected by the editors before final publication. If authors notice an editorial error after the article has been published, they should contact the Editor-in-Chief. Erratum in the form of a new version of the article with a note on the change/s is immediately published electronically on the website of the relevant article. The pdf version of the article and the whole journal is corrected in a similar way. The printed Erratum is published in the next printed issue.
    • Corrigendum refers to a change to an article that the author wishes to publish at any time after its publication. Authors should contact the journal editors, who will determine the impact of the change and decide on the appropriate course of action. The editorial and scientific board will decide on the publication of the Corrigendum of the published article based on the editors’ opinion. When issuing a Corrigendum in electronic form, the procedure is similar to when issuing an Erratum, unless the editorial and scientific board decides otherwise on the basis of the editors’ recommendation.
    • Discussion articles and comments on published articles are assessed by the editors and subsequently by the editorial and scientific board. These articles may also be subject to peer review. However, the editors invite authors of discussion articles and comments to consider using online tools for post publishing review, such as the PubPeer portal or academic social networks ResearchGate, Academia.edu, etc.
    • Articles are accepted by the journal’s editors, assessed by reviewers, and approved by the editorial and scientific board without any discrimination against the authors.

Principles of the Review Process

Review procedure

  • The manuscript of a professional article, sent electronically to info@vtei.cz or zuzana.rehorova@vuv.cz, is first checked by the editors to see if it formally meets the criteria set for a scientific article (see Structure of professional and review studies).
  • If the manuscript shows partial deficiencies of a formal nature, the editorial office will return it to the author for revision; if it is a more serious matter, the manuscript will be forwarded to the editorial and scientific board to decide on either a fundamental revision or rejection of the manuscript.
  • The VTEI editorial and scientific board reserves the right to reject manuscripts not only on the basis of their substantive deficiencies, but also if they do not comply with the editorial guidelines or the journal profile.
  • Expert articles accepted by the editorial office/editorial and scientific board without reservations are subjected to a standard review procedure, in which each paper is submitted to two experts who prepare independent peer reviews.
  • The reviewers evaluate manuscripts against the following criteria:
    • originality,
    • degree of contribution to present knowledge,
    • correctness of methodology,
    • formal quality (being properly structured as a scientific paper with a discussion of a good – quality and clearly expressed conclusions),
    • quality of references.
  • Considering the professional focus of the text, the editorial and scientific board selects reviewers from experts outside its circle. Their names are not disclosed to the authors.
  • The editorial office sends the anonymized review opinions to the author together with a statement as to whether and how the article needs to be revised or supplemented.
  • If the criticisms were of a formal nature and the reviewers do not require the manuscript to be re-checked, the editorial office will inform the editorial and scientific board of the review procedure results and request final approval for publication.
  • If one or both reviewers requested revision, the manuscript will go through another round of peer review before the approval of the editorial and scientific boards.
  • If necessary, especially if one of the reviewers does not recommend the article for publication, the editors may request a third external opinion, which becomes the basis for the final decision of the board on possible rejection. Rejected articles are not returned to authors.
  • After approval by the editorial and scientific board, the article is published as soon as possible.
  • Informative articles are not subject to peer review. Their content is assessed by members of the editorial and scientific board or editorial office.
  • Before the publication, the editorial office proofreads the article; subsequently, the final version is sent to the authors for approval.
  • Taxonomy of the review process:
    • VTEI journal supports the initiative of STM, the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers, that has recognised a need to identify and standardise definitions and terminology in peer review practices in order to help align nomenclature as more publishers use open peer review models. A peer review taxonomy that is used across publishers will help make the peer review process for articles and journals more transparent and will enable the community to better assess and compare peer review practices between different journals.
    • Taxonomy:
    • 1. Identity transparency: single anonymized
      2. Reviewer interacts with: editor
      3. Review information published: none