Program Policies
Submission Policy
When submitting a technical paper, the author warrants that the work is original and has not been published previously in the same or a similar form and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. All authors must be aware of, and have consented to, the submission. Due regard must be paid to ethical considerations, and the submission must conform to SAE’s policy on plagiarism and publication ethics. Authors are required to warrant on submission that these requirements have been fulfilled and that the manuscript contains no libellous or unlawful statements. All manuscripts undergo a plagiarism check upon submission.
Publication Ethics
Plagiarism is committed when an author uses one’s own or someone else’s work (including text, figures, tables, etc.), language, thoughts, or ideas without acknowledging the original source or getting proper approval from the original source. Proper reference and citation practices are required in order to avoid plagiarism. Authors must ensure that all prior work on which they draw is explicitly acknowledged and that the sources are included in the list of references. If passages of text are copied word for word, the source must be provided, and the text must be placed within quotation marks. This also applies to using the author’s own work when building on previously published materials. If the original text is paraphrased or reproduced with minor alterations, this must be made clear and the source given. It is unacceptable to reproduce extensive passages of text and/or figures and tables without permission from the copyright holder and without inclusion of a credit line.
A related unacceptable practice is “redundant publication or redundant submission,” which is the publication or submission by an author to multiple publications, which includes publication of an article in multiple languages. Redundant publication of the same material and plagiarism of others’ work without acknowledgement are serious ethical offenses that leave the author open to sanction at SAE’s discretion.
It is a condition of manuscript submission that, following due process, all authors of any paper found to breach good practice accept responsibility for this breach, which will be subject to sanction at the publisher's absolute discretion. These sanctions may include the retraction of a published paper, publication of a note of correction or apology, banning of future submissions by any author for a specified period, and/or notification of the head of the authors' department or organization.
Permissions
Authors who wish to reproduce sections of text, data, or figures/tables from previously published sources or where copyright is owned by a third party must obtain written permission from the copyright holder prior to submitting the final manuscript and must credit the source(s) in the manuscript. See here for a sample permissions form to use. It is imperative that authors submit copies of all permissions prior to final acceptance of manuscript, or the paper will not be published. Copyright laws apply to the internet sometimes more rigorously than for other media, and website URLs must be cited as well. Authors must check the terms and conditions of the website and/or the copyright disclaimer; if these items are not visible, authors must not assume that reusing content is acceptable.
The Peer-Review Process
SAE International appreciates the essential role of reviewers in the peer-review process, and our reviewers are crucial to the integrity and validity of the research we publish. We rely on reviewers to help to improve quality and to adhere to SAE’s high standards through a double-blind peer-review process. SAE non-event technical papers require a minimum of three qualified reviews before a decision is reached concerning publication.
Copyright
It is a condition of publication (in most instances) that, upon submission of the manuscript, copyright of the manuscript will be assigned to SAE International. If the author is not able to make the assignment, the author’s employer may sign the copyright agreement or grant a non-exclusive license to publish the technical paper. If you are not able to assign copyright by either of the above methods, please contact the office for additional options (content@sae.org).
Open Access
Gold (Immediate) Open Access
SAE International offers authors a choice for Open Access in publishing their research. Authors who wish to have their papers available as Open Access may indicate that intent upon submission of the manuscript and pay the Article Publication Charge (APC) once they receive email notification that their technical paper has been accepted and an invoice is received (contact: content@sae.org). More information can be found here.
Green (Delayed) Open Access
Authors may choose a delayed Open Access (green) option by self-archiving their author accepted manuscript (AAM) (but not the final typeset version) in the institutional repository of their higher education employer and/or in subject-based repositories (but not posted to networking sites of a personal, institutional, or social nature), subject to a 6-month embargo period and proper credit to SAE International. We comply fully with the open access requirements of UKRI, Wellcome, and NIHR. Where required by their funder, authors retain the right to distribute their author accepted manuscript (AAM), such as via an institutional and/or subject repository (e.g., Europe PMC), under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license for release no later than the date of first online publication, with the author including a link or citation to the final version of record on SAE Mobilus®.For further inquiries, please contact managingeditor@sae.org for journals and content@sae.org for technical papers.
Authorship
All researchers named as authors in a technical paper must have contributed substantially to the research presented in the paper. The definition of an author can be found here.
Corresponding authors must ensure that all researchers that are named as an author have contributed substantially to the research and warrant that all named authors fulfil the authorship criteria, that no one deserving of authorship has been omitted, that each author takes responsibility for the integrity of the paper, and that each author agrees to the order of authors. Contributors who do not meet the criteria should be listed in an acknowledgements section of the manuscript. If there are changes in authorship, please email Content@sae.org with full details.