Ethics Statement

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  In accordance with the relevant requirements of the Publishing Ethics Standards for Scientific and Technical Journals formulated by the China Association for Science and Technology, Automotive Applied Technology hereby interprets its publication ethics statement for papers published in the journal as follows:

  I. Editorial Review Policy

  Responsibility for Content: Authors are solely responsible for the content of their submitted manuscripts. In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Copyright Law, the journal reserves the right to make textual modifications and abridgements to submitted manuscripts. Any changes affecting the original meaning will be referred to the author for consideration.

  Review System and Process: The journal employs an anonymous double-blind peer review system. After the author successfully submits a manuscript, the editorial office registers it and conducts an initial review (assessing whether it meets the journal's requirements). The manuscript is then sent to peer experts for evaluation of its academic quality. Each manuscript is sent to 2–3 peer reviewers for assessment. Authors must respond to each comment raised by the reviewers and submit a revised version of the manuscript. If a revised manuscript is not returned within 15 days, it will be deemed as an automatic withdrawal. The editor-in-chief then conducts a final review and makes the final acceptance decision (determining whether the manuscript is rejected or requires further revision).

  Submission by Editorial Board Members and Editors: Editorial board members and editors must comply with all review and editorial procedures of the journal when submitting their own manuscripts. Editorial board members and editors shall not participate in the review, editorial processing, or acceptance decisions of papers written by themselves, their family members, or their colleagues. Peer review must be conducted independently of the relevant authors, editors, and their research groups.

  Supplements and Special Issues: The journal does not publish supplements or special issues.

  Corrections and Retractions: If an unintentional scientific error is discovered after publication that does not significantly affect the results or conclusions of the article, the editorial office will promptly publish a correction notice in the journal, detailing the changes made to the original article. If a published article contains serious scientific errors or involves academic misconduct such as plagiarism or fabrication, the editorial office may issue a statement notifying readers of potential issues with the article, conduct an investigation, and publish the findings. If necessary, the editorial office will retract the article and publish a retraction statement.

  II. Requirements for Papers

  1. Authorship

  Authorship of scientific papers is a serious matter. It must be ensured that each author has made substantial academic contributions to the paper and agrees to the authorship and the order in which their names appear.

  (1) Those who make significant contributions to the conception, ideas, topic selection, design, and acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of the research data.

  (2) Those who draft the paper or revise it critically for important intellectual content.

  (3) Those who conduct a comprehensive review and approval of the final version of the paper and make the final decision to submit it for publication.

  (4) Those who agree to be accountable for all aspects of the research work and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

  Individuals who do not meet all four criteria should not be listed as authors. However, with their consent, they may be acknowledged in the "Acknowledgments" section.

  2. Originality of the Paper

  Authors should ensure that the paper represents original research that has not been previously published domestically or internationally, and that it is free from plagiarism, fabrication, simultaneous submission, and any issues related to intellectual property or other copyright infringements. Any use of the works or text of others must be properly cited as references.

  III. Duties of Editors

  To ensure the fairness, reasonableness, and effectiveness of the peer review process, journal editors must adhere to the following ethical standards:

  (1) Editors shall handle each manuscript fairly, impartially, and promptly. Decisions to accept or reject a manuscript shall be based solely on the scientific quality, innovation, readability, and other content-related aspects of the paper, as well as its alignment with the journal's scope.

  (2) Editors shall not be biased against authors based on their institutional affiliation, gender, professional title, academic honors, or similar factors.

  (3) Editors shall adhere to the principle of confidentiality, maintaining the confidentiality of the authors' research content, as well as the identity of reviewers and the content of their review comments.

  (4) Editors shall not allow financial or other interests to interfere with the peer review process conducted by external reviewers, ensuring that peer reviewers independently provide their review recommendations.

  (5) For reviewers recommended by authors, editors shall carefully verify the accuracy of their basic information, whether their academic background aligns with the research context of the paper, and whether any conflicts of interest exist with the authors. Editors shall exercise discretion in deciding whether to send the manuscript to recommended reviewers. For reviewers that authors wish to exclude, editors shall respect the authors' choice to the extent possible, provided the authors provide sufficient justification.

  (6) Editors shall avoid selecting reviewers who have a conflict of interest with the authors (e.g., project team members, colleagues, academic advisor-advisee relationships, family relationships, etc.) to review the manuscript.

  (7) Editors shall consciously recuse themselves from handling the review of manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest (e.g., involvement in drafting the paper, participation in the research project, or sharing a mentor-advisee or family relationship with the authors).

  IV. Duties of Peer Reviewers

  During the peer review process, reviewers shall adhere to the following ethical standards:

  (1) Upon receiving a review invitation, reviewers shall first understand the journal's scope and review requirements. They shall assess whether their expertise and research direction match the manuscript under review. If not, they shall promptly and clearly inform the editor/editorial board member and recommend an alternative reviewer.

  (2) Reviewers shall assess their availability to submit review comments within the specified timeframe. If unable to do so, they shall promptly inform the editor or negotiate an acceptable review timeline with the editor.

  (3) Reviewers shall uphold the principles of maintaining academic integrity and respecting academic freedom. They shall apply their expertise and sound judgment to provide honest, objective, and fair assessments of the manuscript's strengths and weaknesses, offering timely, reasonable, and constructive review comments. They shall avoid unsubstantiated or malicious criticism of others and refrain from making unfounded allegations.

  (4) Reviewers shall assess any potential conflicts of interest with the manuscript under review. If such conflicts exist, they shall promptly inform the editor, disclose all relevant interests, and avoid conflicts of interest. If uncertain whether a particular relationship constitutes a conflict of interest that might affect the impartial review of the manuscript, they shall consult the editor for further guidance.

  (5) Reviewers shall adhere to the confidentiality principle of peer review, refraining from disclosing the content of the manuscript or any related information to any unauthorized individuals during or after the review process.

  (6) Reviewers shall not allow the source of the manuscript, the author's country, institution, race, religion, political beliefs, gender, or other external factors to influence their review, nor shall they be driven by commercial interests.

  (7) Without the permission of the journal's editorial office, reviewers shall not transfer the manuscript to others (e.g., colleagues, students) for review.

  (8) During the review process, reviewers shall check the manuscript for potential academic misconduct such as redundant publication, plagiarism, data tampering, or fabrication. If such misconduct is suspected, they shall promptly inform the editor and provide supporting evidence.

  (9) Reviewers may only suggest the addition of important references relevant to the research content of the paper. They shall not suggest that authors cite their own or their colleagues' articles solely to increase citation counts or visibility.

  (10) After submitting review comments, if reviewers obtain information that may affect their initial feedback or recommendations, they shall promptly contact the editor. If any issues or potential conflicts of interest that were not identified during the review process are discovered after publication, they shall promptly inform the editorial office.

  V. Plagiarism Strictly Prohibited

  The journal strictly prohibits simultaneous submission of the same manuscript to multiple journals, repeated submission of overlapping content (including submissions in different languages), and plagiarism of others' papers. In accordance with the Copyright Law, receipt of an acknowledgment from the journal indicates that the manuscript has been received and is under review. Authors must not submit the same manuscript to multiple journals simultaneously. The journal uses the detection system developed by CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) to check manuscripts for plagiarism, with a maximum allowable repetition rate of 15%. If plagiarism is discovered after submission, the manuscript will be rejected. If plagiarism is discovered after publication, the journal may issue a correction or retraction notice for the paper in question.

  VI. Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence

  Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) shall not be used to write an entire paper or significant portions thereof (e.g., methods, results, and analysis). All scientific contributions and intellectual work must be performed by humans. The journal does not accept GenAI or its teams as authors or as cited sources of information. If GenAI is used, authors must provide a detailed description of how it was used and assume full responsibility for the content generated by GenAI, including any violations of publication ethics or infringements. The editorial office prohibits the use of GenAI in manuscript evaluation, decision-making, or communication with authors. The editorial office will not upload manuscripts or supplementary materials to any public GenAI platform during the review process to avoid risks of infringement, privacy breaches, and confidentiality violations. All use of automated tools shall be subject to human oversight. The editorial office will ensure that checks are conducted for text similarity, image manipulation, or undisclosed AI use.

  VII. Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest

  Automotive Applied Technology follows the relevant guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and requires all authors to disclose all relationships, activities, and interests related to the content of the manuscript. "Related" refers to any potential interest, whether from for-profit or non-profit third-party entities, that may be relevant to the content of the manuscript. A potential conflict of interest exists when an author's (or their institution's/employer's) financial, personal, or affiliated relationships may influence the author's decisions, work, or manuscript. When specific products are mentioned in the manuscript, authors shall also disclose whether any conflict of interest exists with competing products for those mentioned items. Authors shall complete the Author Declaration Form (available in the Download Center section of the journal's website) to disclose conflicts of interest and submit it to the journal. Disclosure of conflicts of interest is intended to promote transparency and does not necessarily imply that bias exists in the research.

  VIII. Ethics Statement

  Authors shall adhere to academic integrity, ensure the originality of their papers, and strictly refrain from simultaneous submissions, plagiarism, fabrication or falsification of data (including for complete vehicles, components, or tests), and other misconduct. References must be properly and formally cited. Authorship must follow the principle of substantive contribution; practices such as gift authorship or coercive authorship are strictly prohibited. All authors must provide informed consent. Research involving human subjects or real-vehicle testing must undergo ethical approval and obtain informed consent from participants. Authors shall truthfully disclose conflicts of interest, including project funding, university-industry collaborations, and commercial affiliations, and shall not conceal any related relationships. The paper shall not disclose technical secrets, and research conclusions shall be presented objectively. In the event of academic misconduct, the journal will reject the manuscript in accordance with its policies, add the offending parties to a blacklist, and notify the relevant institutions.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

   Editorial Office of Automotive Applied Technology

  
  

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