Editorial Policies

Focus and Scope

The International Journal of Robotics and Control Systems (IJRCS) aims to be at the forefront of extensive and authentic research publications in robotics and control systems engineering, both theoretical and practice-oriented research. Published articles are original papers containing either an application, a modification, or an improvement of at least one control technique/method/algorithm/instrumentation to design/build/develop/operate autonomous robots or electrical engineering systems.

The topic of the published articles must belong to at least one of the following scopes:

Robotics. Since robotics integrates various fields in engineering, topics in this scope are also widely varied. Several trending topics in this category are autonomous robots, intelligent systems, robotic sensing (touch, vision), robot manipulation, robot navigation (trajectory mapping, formation, coordination), robot communication, and robot motion (dynamics, kinematics, motion improvement). Furthermore, due to the broad implementation of robotics in human life, papers with topics related to bio-inspired robots and medical robots also belong to this scope.

Control systems engineering. Generally, control system engineering aims to solve three major issues: understanding physical systems using empirical modeling in terms of their inputs, outputs and various components with different behaviors; utilizing control system design tools to design controllers for those systems; and implementing controllers in physical systems employing available technology. Thus, topics that belong to this scope are diverse. Several topics related to the first issue in control system engineering include system modeling, system identification, and control instrumentation (sensors, observers, estimation, filtering control). Meanwhile, other trending topics related to the second and third issues include automation control, linear control (state-feedback), nonlinear control (PID, feedback linearization, Sliding Mode Control), stabilization control, chaotic control system, a power control (grid control, distributed control), and system optimization (adaptive control, intelligent control).

Electrical and electronic engineering. 

Aerospace engineering.

 

Section Policies

 

Peer Review Process

This journal uses an external, double-blind peer review. This means that the reviewers won't get to know the identity of the author(s), and the author(s) won't get to know the reviewer's identity. The idea is that everyone should get a similar and unbiased review.

Reviewers Responsibilities

(http://publicationethics.org/files/u7140/Peer%20review%20guidelines.pdf)

If IJRCS's Editor has invited you to review a manuscript, please consider the following items:

  • Reviewing manuscript critically but constructively and preparing detailed comments about the manuscript to help authors improve their research;
  • Reviewing multiple versions of a manuscript as necessary;
  • Providing all required information within established deadlines;
  • Making recommendations to the editor regarding the suitability of the manuscript for publication in the journal;
  • Declaring to the editor any potential conflicts of interest concerning the authors or the content of a manuscript they are asked to review;
  • Reporting possible research misconducts;
  • Suggesting alternative reviewers in case they cannot review the manuscript for any reasons;
  • Treating the manuscript as a confidential document;
  • Not making any use of the work described in the manuscript;
  • Not communicating directly with authors if somehow they identify the authors;
  • Not identifying themselves as authors;
  • Not passing on the assigned manuscript to another reviewer;
  • Ensuring that the manuscript is of high quality and original research;
  • Informing the editor if he/she finds the assigned manuscript is under consideration in any other publication to his/her knowledge;
  • Writing a review report in English only;
  • Authoring a commentary for publication related to the reviewed manuscript.

What should be checked while reviewing a manuscript?

  • Novelty;
  • Originality;
  • Scientific reliability;
  • A valuable contribution to science;
  • Adding new aspects to the existing field of study;
  • Ethical aspects;
  • Structure of the article submitted and its relevance to authors guidelines;
  • References provided to substantiate the content;
  • Grammar, punctuation, and spelling;
  • Scientific misconduct.
The detailed peer-review process can be seen in Figure 1.
 
Editors first review the submitted manuscript. It will be evaluated whether it is suitable for the International Journal of Robotics and Control Systems (IJRCS) focus and scope or has a major methodological flaw and similarity score by using the Plagiarism X Checker. The decision is accepted or rejected for the review process. The manuscript will be sent to at least three anonymous reviewers (Double Blind Review), which means that the reviewers of the paper won't get to know the identity of the author(s), and the author(s) won't get to know the identity of the reviewer. The idea is that everyone should get a similar and unbiased review. Reviewers' comments and suggested decisions are then sent to the editor. The editors will evaluate the reviewer's comments and a suggested decision. Afterward, the editor will send the final decision to the corresponding author for necessary actions and responses. The decision is accepted, revised, or rejected.


Figure 1. Peer review process

 

Publication Frequency

IJRCS is a rapid journal that will publish six issues a year in the period of January-February, March-April, May-June, July-August, September-October and November-December.

 

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.