Rules for authors

About the Journal

The Journal of Surface Engineering and Coating Technology is an Open Access international, peer-reviewed journal publishing high-quality, original research. Please see the journal's Aims & Scope for information about its focus and peer-review policy. Open Access means you can publish your research so it is free to access online as soon as it is published, meaning anyone can read (and cite) your work. Please note that this journal only publishes manuscripts in English. Eurasian Journal of Physics and Functional Materials accepts the following types of article: original papers, reviews.

Language

Manuscripts must be  written in English clearly and concisely. Any author who does not speak idiomatic English is advised to seek assistance with preparing the manuscript before submitting it. Reviewers are not expected to correct grammatical errors, and any shortcomings in this area may negatively affect the scientific content of the article and lead to delays in acceptance or rejection.

Types of Articles

The journal aims to publish four types of content in the form of original articles, short posts, reviews, and mini-reviews.

• Original articles: Articles that represent in-depth research in various scientific disciplines.

• Review articles: It should usually contain less than 10,000 words; it contains an unstructured annotation and contains up-to-date links. Meta-analyses are treated as reviews. Special attention will be paid to the educational value of review papers.

Before submission

By submitting материалы the manuscript materials for publication, the Author(s) confirms, that:

• This manuscript has not been previously published or submitted, and is not currently under consideration for publication elsewhere.

• Submission of this scientific article to the journal does not violate any copyright laws, principles, norms, or standards, or scientific and publication ethics.

• The English language of the manuscript is acceptable and must be free of grammatical and spelling errors.

• The manuscript must be edited using this template.

• The author agrees to have the manuscript checked for plagiarism and other signs of publication ethics violations.

• References are correctly formatted and numbered according to the text. Please indicate the reference style.

• The author agrees to have the article posted on the Journal of Surface Engineering and Coating Technology website in open access format after the manuscript is accepted for publication.

• Only manuscripts of sufficient quality, consistent with the goals and scope of the journal, will be reviewed.

• Manuscripts must comply with the journal's requirements below.

• The authors did not use artificial intelligence to write the article. If artificial intelligence was used to perform routine tasks, clean up grammar, or optimize labor-intensive stages of processing research results, the authors followed Elsevier's ethical protocols for the use of generative artificial intelligence and informed the editor about how and for what purpose AI was used, with references to sources. Papers that do not comply with these rules will be rejected or returned to the author before the peer-review process.

Preparation of Manuscripts

Authors should submit their manuscripts to the editor as Word files (Word 2007 or higher) through the Journal of Surface Engineering and Coating Technology submission system.

The following text editor settings are required: all margins are 2 cm; line spacing is single; justification is used; paragraph indentation is 1 cm; and the page orientation is portrait. The text should be in a single-column format with aligned margins. Use bold, italics, subscripts, and superscripts where appropriate.

To avoid unnecessary mistakes, authors are strongly encouraged to use the "spell check" and "grammar check" functions in their text editor.

• Use continuous line numbering throughout the text, and all pages of the manuscript should be numbered.

• Use the equation editor or Math Type for equations.

• Use the tables function to create tables. Tables are placed in the article itself. You must specify the number of the table and its name (for example, Table 3. Table name). Scanned objects are not allowed. Each table should have a description in the text of the article.

• Use the decimal system of the header with no more than three levels, for example, 1., 2., 2.1, 2.1.1, and so on.

Online Submission

Manuscripts must be submitted by one of the authors of the manuscript through the submission system https://jsect.kz/auth Manager by following the on-screen instructions.

Only Word files (.doc, .docx, .rtf) can be sent via the EM system, and there are no restrictions on the number of pages.

Publications from anyone other than one of the authors are not accepted. The submitting author is responsible for the manuscript during submission and review.

If for technical reasons sending via EM is not possible, the author can contact editorjsect.kz@gmail.com for support.

Initial Evaluation

All submitted manuscripts will be reviewed by the editorial board to determine whether they are properly prepared and comply with the journal's ethical policies. All submitted manuscripts are checked for possible plagiarism through the software StrikePlagiarism.com, originality of at least 75%. Manuscripts that do not comply with the journal's ethical policy or do not comply with the journal's standards will be rejected before peer review. Incomplete manuscripts that are not prepared in the recommended style will be sent to the authors without a scientific review. After these checks, the editorial board consults with the editor-in-chief of the journal to determine whether the manuscript corresponds to the subject of the journal and whether it is scientifically based. Manuscripts with insufficient priority for publication will be rejected immediately. Please write the text in good English (American usage is accepted). The editor reserves the right to reject the manuscript on the grounds of insufficient quality of the language. Decisions on rejection at this stage will be confirmed by the Editor-in-Chief.

Submission Declaration and Verification

Submission of the paper implies that the work described has not previously been published (with the exception of an abstract, a published lecture, or an academic dissertation), that it is not considered for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was performed, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form — in English or in any other language, including electronic — without the written consent of the copyright holder. To check for originality, all manuscripts submitted to the journal title are checked using StrikePlagiarism.com to detect plagiarism.

Article structure

The manuscript should be written in the following order:

• 1. Title page
• 2. Abstract, keywords
• 3. Introduction
• 4. Material and methods (experimental or methodological or patients and methods)
• 5. Results
• 6. Discussion (results and discussion can be combined in one section)
• 7. Conclusion
• 8. Financing
• 9. Acknowledgment(s)
• 10. List of literature

Title page

The title page should contain the following texts in English and Arabic:

• Title: The title should be short, concise, and descriptive. It should not contain literary references, complex numbers, or non-standardized abbreviations. It should be centered, printed in Times New Roman 14 points and bold, capital letters.

• Authors and affiliates: Please provide your personal names, initials, and surnames for full identification. They should be centered under the title and printed in 12-point Times New Roman font, not in italics or bold. Use upper-case letters to indicate various affiliations, which should be as detailed as possible and include the department, faculty/college, university, city with zip code or mailbox, and country. Each author's primary affiliation should be the institution where most of their work was done. If the author subsequently moved, the current address can also be specified. Addresses will not be updated after the article is published.

• Corresponding author: It should be marked with an asterisk, and contact details (phone, fax, and email address) should be included in the footer.

Annotation

The abstract must contain at least 5–6 sentences and not exceed 300 words. If the abstract does not meet this requirement, the publisher reserves the right to partially edit, shorten, or expand the abstract.

Abstract style: 10 pt, italic, Times New Roman, first line indent 0.63 cm, left indent 0.8 cm. The abstract should include the following:

• Relevance and feasibility of the study (a brief and concise description of the relevance of the problem being studied);

• Purpose of the article;

• Leading method for studying the problem;

• Author's results (what was discovered, substantiated, disclosed, developed, and proven in the article);

• Practical and theoretical significance of the results (increased efficiency/improvement, growth, etc.).

Keywords

Authors are asked to provide at least 3 but no more than 10 key terms or short phrases without formulas or abbreviations.

Keyword style: 11 pt, Arial Narrow font, first line indent 0.8 cm. Keyword(s) are separated by semicolons.

Introduction

The introduction should contain:

• An outline of the text of this section, from the general to the specific;

• A statement of the research hypothesis;

• A statement of the purpose and objectives of this study;

Main Text (Main Text style): 11 pt, Times New Roman, first line indent 0.8 cm, spacing 0 pt before and after, single line spacing, justified, no hanging line, no hyphenation.

Materials and methods (experimental or methodological or patients and methods)

The Materials and Methods section should include:

• A description of the experimental design and study sample;

• A detailed, yet concise, description of each method and methodology (in separate paragraphs). Sometimes it is necessary to describe the rationale for choosing a particular method.

• A brief description of the experimental/study design.

Results and discussion

Results should include:

• Presentation of experimental data only;

• All figures and tables should be accompanied by captions that clearly indicate the reference to each table or figure;

• Statement of all key statistical data (number of samples, dispersion index, levels, etc.).

Conclusion(s)

The Conclusion section consists of:

• A brief presentation of the research problem and the author's results obtained during the study;

• A summary of the research findings (each section should be devoted to answering the objectives set out in the Introduction or be an argument supporting the hypothesis (if any) outlined in the Introduction).

Acknowledgment(s)

All acknowledgements (if any) should be indicated at the very end of the manuscript before references. Anyone who has contributed to a research or manuscript but is not an author on the list should be recognized (with their permission).

References

Indicate links with Arabic numerals in parentheses, which appear in the order in which they appear throughout the text (Vancouver-style). For example, [4] or [7-10, 13, 15]. Real authors can be referenced, but the reference number must always be specified.

Figures

Figures and tables should not be submitted in separate files. If the article is accepted, the authors will be asked to provide the source image files. Each figure must be provided in a separate electronic file.

All figures should be listed in the manuscript in order of sequence. Figures must be provided either in vector formats (Illustrator, EPS, WMF, FreeHand, CorelDRAW, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.) or in bitmap formats (Photoshop, TIFF, GIF, JPEG, etc.).

Bitmap images must have a resolution of at least 300 dpi, unless the resolution is intentionally set to a lower level for scientific reasons. If the bitmap image has labels, the image and labels must be embedded in separate layers.

Figures should be labeled as Fig. 1, Fig. 2, 3–5, using Arabic numerals. Make sure that all tables, figures, and diagrams are quoted in the text in numerical order. Parts of the drawing should be indicated by lowercase letters (a, b, c, etc.).

Tables

Tables should be quoted sequentially in the text. Each table should have a descriptive name, and if numeric dimensions are given, the units should be included in the column header.

You should not use vertical rules. Captions to figures and tables should be 10-point Times New Roman, bold and non-italic. Initially, capitalize only the first word of the signature.

Figure captions should be below the figures, and table names should be completely aligned to the right and left above the table.

Nomenclature and divisions

All measurements and data should be given in SI units, where possible, or in other internationally recognized units in parentheses throughout the text. Illustrations and tables should use regular units, with conversion factors in legends or footnotes.

Go back to the beginning

Financing

Please describe any funding sources that supported this work. The application must include details of all grants received (please include the name of the funding agency and grant number).

"This work was supported by [ ... ] (Grant numbers [ ... ] and [ ... ]). Author A. B. received research support from Company A."

"The authors state that no funds, grants, or other support were received for the preparation of this manuscript."

Competing interests

Authors are required to disclose financial or non-financial interests that are directly or indirectly related to the work submitted for publication. Interests for the last 3 years of starting work (conducting research and preparing the paper for submission) must be indicated. Interests beyond the three-year term should be disclosed if they can reasonably be perceived as affecting the submitted work.

Please refer to the Competing Interests section below for more information on how to complete these sections.

"Financial interests: Authors A and B declare that they have no financial interests. Author C received speaking fees and acted as a consultant for Company D. Author C received speaking fees and research funding from Company H and Company L."

"Authors do not have relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose."

List of literature

The list of references should contain at least 35 sources for the last 3 years. Foreign sources – at least 15. It is mandatory to use articles published in the Scopus and Web of Science databases for the last three to five years (from non-excluded journals).

The volume of the review article should not exceed 20 pages, including no more than 15 figures and a list of references of no more than 45 titles.

Foreign articles are listed with the DOI number; books and other sources must include a link to the access mode.

Information about authors

Information about each co-author should include: full name of the author, academic degree, academic title, place of work or study, name of organization, city, country; Scopus Author ID and mandatory ORCID iD; contact information (email, phone).

Author's contribution (optional)

Authors are encouraged to include a statement indicating each author's contribution to the research and preparation of the manuscript.

Example of the statement: "All authors contributed to the concept and design of the study. Materials were prepared, collected, and analyzed using [full name], [full name], and [full name]. The first draft of the manuscript was written by [full name], and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript."

Please refer to the "Principles of Authorship" section below for more information on how to complete this section.

Ethics approval (optional)

Authors of studies involving humans or animals should include a statement confirming that the study has been approved (or granted an exception) by the relevant institutional and/or national research ethics committee (including the name of the ethics committee and the reference number, if any).

For research involving animals, their data, or biological material, authors must provide detailed information about the ethical treatment of animals. If the study received an exemption or did not require ethical approval, this should also be described in detail in the manuscript.

"This study was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Helsinki Declaration. Approval was obtained by the Ethics Committee of University B (Date... / No....)."

"This is an observational study. The XYZ Research Ethics Committee has confirmed that no ethical approval is required."

For more information about the relevant ethical standards and criteria, please refer to the sections "Research involving humans, their data or biological material" and "Research involving animals, their data or biological material".

Consent to participate (optional)

For all human studies, voluntary, informed consent to participate in the study must be obtained from participants (or their parents or legal guardian in the case of children under the age of 16), and a statement about this must be included in the manuscript.

"Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study."

"Written informed consent was obtained from the parents."

Please refer to the "Informed Consent" section for further assistance in completing this information.

Consent to publication (optional)

Participants may agree to take part in the study but object to the publication of their data. If the manuscript contains data from any individual in any form (including individual data, images, or videos), consent to publication must be obtained from that individual or, in the case of children, from their parent or legal guardian. This is especially important for case studies.

The manuscript should contain a statement of consent for publication from all participants.

"The authors state that participants in human studies have provided informed consent for the publication of images in Figures 1a, 1b, and 1c."

Please refer to the "Informed Consent" section for further assistance in completing this information.

Revised Manuscripts

Authors must submit a revised version of their work within one month of receiving the editorial decision. Editing does not mean that the manuscript will be accepted for publication, since the corrected works can be sent for re-evaluation. In response to reviewers' comments, authors should make sure that each comment is followed by their own revision and/or response. If the author does not agree with the reviewer's comment or suggestion, please explain the reason. Any related changes to the manuscript should be highlighted in the revised version of the manuscript to facilitate the reassessment process.

• Revised manuscript: Update changes made since the initial publication using the Track Changes option in Microsoft Word. Upload this as a "Revised Article with Highlighted Changes" file.
• Response to reviewers: Enter the specific arguments made by each reviewer. Include your responses to all reviewers' and editors' comments and list any changes you have made to the manuscript. Upload this document as a Response to Reviewers file.
• Revised manuscript (blank copy): Upload a clean copy of your revised manuscript with names that don't show your changes. Upload this as your "Manuscript" file.

After acceptance

After approval, your article will be exported to production for layout. After completing the set, you will receive a proof.

Peer review

All manuscripts are subject to peer review and must meet the standards of academic excellence. If the editor approves, the materials are reviewed by reviewers whose identities will remain anonymous to the authors and vice versa; the authors ' identities will remain anonymous to the reviewers (double-blind peer review). The decision to accept or reject a manuscript is made by the editorial board and is based on the recommendations of reviewers (review process). Our research integrity team sometimes seeks advice outside of standard peer review, for example, on materials that have serious ethical, safety, biosafety, or public implications. We may consult with experts and the academic editor before taking appropriate actions, including, but not limited to, engaging reviewers with specific expertise, evaluating additional editors, and refusing further review of the material.

Ethical Guidelines

In any human or animal research, the following ethical standards must be observed. For any human experiments, all work must be carried out in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (1964). Manuscripts describing experimental work that carries a risk of harm to humans must contain a statement that the experiment was conducted with the understanding and consent of the subjects, as well as a statement that the responsible ethics committee approved the experiments. In the case of any animal experiments, authors must provide a complete description of any anesthetic or surgical procedure used, as well as evidence that all possible measures were taken to prevent animal suffering at each stage of the experiment.

Compliance with the Ethics of Experimentation

Please ensure that all research presented in the submitted articles is conducted ethically and responsibly, and fully complies with all relevant experimental codes and legislation. All original research papers related to people, animals, plants, biological materials, protected or non-public data sets, collections, or objects must contain a written statement in the Ethical Approval section, including the following:

• Name of the ethics committees or institutional review board(s) involved.
• Number or ID of ethical statements.
• This is a statement that human participants gave informed consent before participating in the study.

Research involving animals must meet ethical standards for animal welfare. All original research papers related to animals must:

• Follow international, national, and institutional guidelines for the humane treatment of animals.
• Get approved by the ethics review committee at the institution or practice where the study was conducted, and provide details about the approval process, the names of the ethics committees or institutional commissions, and the ethics approval number or ID in the "Ethical Approval" section.
• Provide justification for the use of animals and selected species.
• Provide information on housing, feeding and enriching the environment, as well as measures to minimize suffering.
• Provide anesthesia and euthanasia.

Studies in Humans and Animals

If the work involves people, the author must ensure that the work described is done in accordance with the World Medical Association Code of Ethics (Helsinki Declaration) for experiments involving people. The manuscript must correspond to Guidelines for conducting, reporting, editing, and publishing scientific papers in medical journals, and strive to include representative human populations (gender, age, and ethnicity) in accordance with these guidelines. The terms gender and sex should be used correctly.

Authors should include in the manuscript a statement that informed consent has been obtained for experiments with humans. The privacy rights of human subjects must always be respected.

All animal experiments must comply with the ARRIVE guidelines and be conducted in accordance with the UK Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and the relevant recommendations, EU Directive 2010/63/EU for animal experiments, or the Guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals. Authors should clearly indicate in the manuscript that such guidelines are followed. The gender of the animals should be indicated and, if necessary, the effect (or association) of gender on the results of the study.

Supplementary Materials

Authors can publish additional files online along with their articles or book chapters. Each additional file must contain the title of the article, the name of the journal, the names of authors, affiliations, and the email address of the corresponding author. Additional files are published as they are received from authors, without any transformation, editing, or correction.

Article Publishing Charge

No Article Processing Fee (APC) is charged when the journal is published for all submissions.