Submissions

Author Guidelines

Manuscript Preparation Guidelines

For the full, illustrated version of these guidelines, see our Author Guidelines page: http://localhost/ojs/ojs-3.5.0-5/index.php/esche/submissions/author_guideline

Article types

Original papers

Original papers should provide complete and authoritative accounts of significant work, presented clearly, concisely, and in a manner that highlights its special importance.

Review Articles

Review Articles should provide authoritative and critical assessments of recent advances in research areas within the scope of the Ethiopian Chemical Engineering Journal. Reviews should be accessible to both specialists and non-specialist readers and should provide a balanced overview of the current state of knowledge.

Authors should focus on significant developments, key findings, emerging trends, unresolved challenges, and future research directions rather than attempting to provide an exhaustive account of the entire literature. The review should clearly identify knowledge gaps and provide meaningful perspectives that can guide future research and technological development.

As a general guideline, Review Articles should not exceed 13,000 words, 12 figures, or 150 references. Authors should have demonstrated expertise in the relevant research area and ensure that the review provides a distinct and meaningful contribution beyond existing reviews. The manuscript should clearly highlight its novelty, scope, and added value in relation to the available literature. All Review Articles are subject to the journal's standard peer-review and editorial assessment procedures.

Short communications

These articles are intended for the rapid communication of important and original research findings. Although the work may be preliminary in nature, it should present complete and well-supported results. Manuscripts should not exceed 6,000 words, including the text, figures, and tables.

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor should address significant scientific or technical questions, comments, or observations concerning articles previously published in the journal. They should provide meaningful additional insights, clarification, or constructive discussion related to the published work.

Letters should generally be limited to 1,200 words. They may be considered for publication when they offer substantive scientific value or raise important points relevant to a specific published article. Letters should be submitted through the journal’s designated submission system and will be assessed at the discretion of the Editors. Where appropriate, the original article’s authors may be invited to respond to the Letter to the Editor. The Letter and any corresponding response may be considered for publication following editorial assessment and, where deemed necessary, peer review.

Peer review

The journal operates a single-anonymized peer review process, in which the identities of reviewers are kept confidential while authors’ identities are known to the reviewers.

All submissions undergo an initial editorial assessment to determine their suitability for the journal, including their relevance to the journal’s scope, scientific quality, originality, and adherence to the submission requirements. Manuscripts that meet these criteria will normally be sent to at least two independent expert reviewers for evaluation of their scientific quality and significance.

The final decision regarding acceptance, revision, or rejection rests with the Editors, taking into consideration the reviewers’ recommendations and the overall quality and suitability of the manuscript.

Writing and formatting

File format

Authors should submit editable source files for the complete manuscript, including the main text, figures, tables, and text-based graphics. The following guidelines should be followed:

• Submit manuscripts in an editable file format. Microsoft Word files should use .doc or .docx. PDF files are not accepted as source files.

• Word manuscripts should be prepared using a single-column layout. 

• Remove unnecessary underlining and strikethrough formatting from the manuscript unless it is scientifically relevant to the content.

• Authors should carefully check their manuscripts using spell-check and grammar-check tools before submission to minimize typographical and language errors.

Title page

The title page should contain the following information:

Article title: The title should be concise, informative, and accurately reflect the content of the manuscript. Avoid unnecessary abbreviations and formulae, except for those that are widely established and generally understood.

Author names: Provide the full given name(s) and family name(s) of all authors. The order of authors must be identical to that entered in the submission system. Authors should carefully verify the spelling and presentation of all names. Where appropriate, authors may include their names in their own script in parentheses following the English transliteration.

Affiliations: Provide the institutional affiliations where the research was conducted immediately below the author names. Use lowercase superscript letters after each author's name to indicate the corresponding affiliation. Each affiliation should include the full institutional name, postal address, and country. Authors' institutional email addresses may also be provided where available.

Corresponding author: Clearly identify the author responsible for correspondence throughout the submission, peer-review, publication, and post-publication processes. The corresponding author is responsible for responding to inquiries regarding the manuscript, including questions related to the results, data, methodology, and materials. Ensure that the corresponding author's email address and contact information remain current throughout the publication process.

Present or permanent address: If an author has changed affiliation since the work was conducted, or was a visiting researcher at the time, the current or permanent address may be provided as a footnote to the author's name. The institution where the research was conducted should remain the author's primary affiliation. Use superscript Arabic numerals to indicate present or permanent address footnotes.

Title 

The title should be concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Should be carefully selected. Not too long and not too short. Shouldn’t contain jargon words or acronyms.

You should ask yourself the following questions before framing your title: 

• Does the current title capture what you have done in your draft chapters?

• Does it define exactly the central research question which you have answered?

• Does it avoid drawing attention to any gaps or deficiencies in your research?

• Does your title’s vocabulary include the main theoretical concepts or innovations, or themes that run through your research, which are used in the chapter texts and do an important job of work there? 

• Does the title make clear the empirical referents of your research, and the necessary limitations you have set for its scope and approach?

Abstract

The abstract should be concise, factual, and self-contained, and should not exceed 300 words. It should briefly present the purpose or objectives of the study, the principal findings, and the main conclusions.

As abstracts are often presented independently of the full article, they should be understandable without reference to the main text. Authors should observe the following guidelines:

• Avoid references in the abstract. If a reference is essential, cite only the author(s) and year(s).

• Avoid non-standard or uncommon abbreviations. Any essential abbreviation should be defined at its first occurrence.

• Do not include information that is not supported by the content of the manuscript.

Keywords

Authors should provide 5-7 keywords in English for indexing and discoverability. Keywords should accurately reflect the main topics, methods, materials, or applications addressed in the manuscript.

Where possible, use single-word or concise terms rather than multi-word phrases, particularly those containing conjunctions such as “and” or prepositions such as “of.”

Abbreviations should be avoided unless they are well established and widely recognized within the relevant research field.

Numbering sections

Divide your paper into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ...), 1.2, etc.  The abstract is not included in section numbering. Use this numbering also for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to 'the text'. Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its separate line.

Introduction

The introduction should clearly define the nature of the problem being considered. Reference should be made to previously published pertinent papers, accenting the major original contributions. Answer the question: “What is the gap that needs to be filled?” and/or “What is the problem that needs to be solved?” What are the scientific and/or technical changes that need to be addressed?   State the problem early in a paragraph. Limit the variables you address in stating your problem or question. Consider framing the problem as a question.

Material and methods

Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described.

Theory/calculation

A Theory section should extend, not repeat, the background to the thesis already dealt with in the Introduction and lay the foundation for further work. In contrast, a Calculation section represents a practical development from a theoretical basis.

Results and discussion 

Results should be clear and concise. It should be compared with existing literature. Moreover, it should be justified with established scientific theories.

This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.

Math formulae

Please use math equations as editable text with an equation editor such as Math Type and Office Equation Editor, and not as images. Present simple formulae in line with normal text where possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms, e.g., X/Y. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).

Tables and their caption 

Please submit tables as editable text and not as images. Tables can be placed either next to the relevant text in the thesis, or on separate page(s) at the end. Number tables consecutively following their appearance in the text and place any table notes below the table body. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in them do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the thesis. Please avoid using vertical rules. A  Table caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself). 

Figures and their captions

Use a high-quality figure or image. Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF (or JPEG), EPS (or PDF), or MS Office files) and with the correct resolution.  Ensure that each illustration has a caption. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum, but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.

Abbreviations

Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field in a footnote to be placed on the first page of the thesis. Such abbreviations that are unavoidable in the abstract must be defined at their first mention there, as well as in the footnote. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the manuscript.

Conclusions

The main conclusions of the study should be presented in a short Conclusions section.

References

Citation in text

Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list, they should follow the standard reference style of the Vancouver reference style in this case

Acknowledgements

Authors should acknowledge individuals who assisted with the research or preparation of the manuscript, including support with language editing, writing, proofreading, technical assistance, or other relevant contributions that do not qualify for authorship.

 Supplementary material

 Authors are encouraged to provide supplementary materials, such as datasets, applications, images, audio or video files, and other relevant content, when these materials enhance the transparency, reproducibility, or understanding of the research.

The following guidelines should be followed:

• Supplementary materials should be accurate, relevant, and directly related to the research presented in the manuscript.

• All supplementary files should be clearly cited in the main text at appropriate locations.

• Supplementary materials should be submitted together with the manuscript.

• Each supplementary file should be accompanied by a concise and descriptive caption explaining its content.

• Supplementary files may only be added, replaced, or updated during the revision stage of the editorial process.

• Authors should ensure that supplementary files are complete, accurate, and properly formatted before submission. Supplementary materials will be published online in the form in which they are received and will not normally be edited, formatted, or typeset by the production team.