1.  Aims & Scope

The journal selects manuscripts based on the level of innovation, foresight, and practicality. It primarily publishes technology advancements, research findings, reviews, experience summaries, insights into scientific management, and industry updates related to water treatment, spanning across various areas such as industrial wastewater, process water, circulating cooling water, boiler water, municipal wastewater, and seawater desalination.

2.  Submission Method

The journal adopts an online submission system. Please visit the official website of the journal (http://www.iwt.cn) and register an account through the “Author Login” section (if you have registered previously, you can log in directly). After logging in, you may submit your manuscript by following the webpage instructions. An E-mail receipt will be sent upon a successful submission. Please note the following after submitting your manuscript:

(1) The results of manuscript review (preliminary review + external review + final review) will be sent to the author within 2 months. During this period, authors should not submit the manuscript to other journals. Some manuscripts may undergo longer review periods. If authors decide to submit to another journal or withdraw the submission, please inform the Editorial Office before proceeding.

(2) During the manuscript revision process, if the revision exceeds a 30-day limit, the Editorial Office will consider the date when the revised manuscript is returned by the author as the new submission date. If the revision is not completed within 30 days, the Editorial Office reserves the right to reject the manuscript.

(3) Authors should assume responsibility for the content integrity of the manuscript. The Editorial Office reserves the right to make technical and textual modifications to the manuscript. Substantive content changes can be made after obtaining the author's consent. Upon acceptance and formal publication of the article, the Editorial Office will send a remuneration and two copies of the current issue of the journal to the author.

3.  Fee Standards

Article Processing Charges (APCs): Once an article is accepted, the Editorial Office will charge an APC. The standard rate is CNY 400 per page.

Expedited Publication Fee: The publication cycle for review articles is around 12 months, while for original research articles it is 10 months. Should you require expedited publication, the Editorial Office will charge an additional expedited publication fee, depending on the manuscript quality and publication time requirements. Generally, an additional fee of CNY 1000 will be charged for each month of expedited publication.

The amount of the total fee will be sent to the author via email notification.

4.  Changes to Authorship

For manuscripts with multiple authors, if the first author is not the corresponding author, an additional note should be provided. Any additions, deletions, or rearrangements of author names should be made before the manuscript is accepted. If any changes to the authorship are required, the corresponding author must explain the reason for the change and send a confirmation letter, agreed upon by all authors, to the Editorial Office. When adding or removing authors, the confirmation letter should also include the approval of the author being added or removed.

5.  Author Contributions & Conflicts of Interest

Authors should disclose their individual contributions to the article, as well as any potential conflicts of interest involved in the research, by completing and submitting the document of “Declaration of Conflicts of Interest & Author Contributions” provided by the journal.

Author Contributions: This may include the conception and design of the research, acquisition of research data, analysis and interpretation of data, article writing, making critical revisions to important content, etc.

Conflicts of Interest: A potential conflict of interest may arise when the financial, personal, or affiliative relationships of the author(s) (or their institutions/employers) may influence their decisions, work, or manuscript. Furthermore, when a manuscript mentions certain products, authors should also disclose whether there exists a conflict of interest with competitive products.

6.  Review Process

Initial Review: Upon the successful submission of a manuscript, the Editorial Office will conduct an initial review. Manuscripts that lack originality, exhibit serious scientific or technical flaws, lack valuable information, or do not conform to the journal's scope will be rejected at this stage.

External Review (Peer Review): Manuscripts that pass the initial review will be forwarded to two experts for peer review. The journal employs a single-blind peer review system. After the review is finished, the editor will check the review comments from the two experts; if there are any discrepancies between their comments, the manuscript will be sent to another expert for further review. The final review result (accept/reject/revise) will be sent to the author. If the manuscript needs to be revised, the author must respond to each review comment and submit a revised version of the manuscript. This process will repeat until both reviewers and editors are satisfied with the manuscript.

Final Review: The Editor-in-Chief conducts the final review, considering the review comments from the experts, and delivers the final decision. Authors of accepted manuscripts will be notified regarding APCs.

Review of Submissions from Editorial Board Members/Editors: Submissions from the journal's editorial board members and editors must adhere to all review processes of the journal. All review activities for their submissions will be conducted independently of the relevant editorial board member, editor, and their research team. Furthermore, editorial board members and editors must not participate in the review process of manuscripts from authors with whom they have competitive, collaborative, or other related conflicts of interest.

7.  Detection and Handling of Academic Misconduct

The journal strictly prohibits academic misconduct including, but not limited to, simultaneous submission to multiple journals, multiple submissions of substantially similar content, and duplicate submissions across different languages. Original manuscripts must not have been published on any formal domestic or international platform and must not contain any plagiarized content. If authors use overlapping material, they must obtain all necessary permissions and appropriately attribute within the manuscript.

The Editorial Office utilizes the "Academic Misconduct Literature Check System" (AMLC) provided by CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) to conduct plagiarism checks on all submissions. If a manuscript is found to engage in plagiarism, multiply submissions, or redundant publication, it will be immediately rejected; and the authors' institutions and relevant journals in the field will be notified. In addition, subsequent submissions from relevant authors will not be accepted.

8.  Corrections and Retractions

For published articles, we generally do not accept requests for corrections or retractions from authors. However, in the following necessary situations, published articles may be corrected or retracted:

Corrections: If unintentional scientific errors are found in a published article and they do not significantly impact the results and conclusions, the Editorial Office will promptly publish a Correction Notice in the journal, detailing the modifications made to the original text. The journal will release a new version of the article with detailed notes regarding the changes and specifying the update date. When citing, the most recent version of the article should be referenced.

Retractions: The Editorial Office will retract published articles in the following situations: (1) When there are severe scientific errors within an article that render the results and conclusions unreliable; (2) For articles suspected of academic misconduct, such as plagiarism or data falsification, the Editorial Office will initiate an investigation and publish a statement notifying readers of the potential risks related to the article. The result of the investigation will be made public upon conclusion. If academic misconduct is confirmed, the Editorial Office will retract the article and publish a retraction statement.

9.  Appeals and Feedback

If authors have any objections regarding the review comments or results of their manuscript, they may submit a written appeal to the Editorial Office. Authors must provide detailed explanations and clarifications for each review comment in their appeal letter and send it to us via email. Upon receiving the appeal, the Editorial Office will promptly review it and communicate the resolution to the authors. Please note that only one appeal for each manuscript is permitted.

Moreover, if authors or readers have any comments or feedback regarding the articles published in the journal, or if they have any opinions about our editorial process or publishing ethics policies, they may send them to the Editorial Office via email. The Editorial Office will address them as promptly as possible and provide feedback as appropriate.