1. Online Submission by Authors

    Please log in to our journal website at http://www.zjujournals.com/gcsjxb or https://www.academax.com/GCSJXB/home, click on “Author Submission” on the right side, and follow the step‑by‑step instructions to complete the submission process. (Authors who submit to the journal for the first time need to register first and then submit.) At the same time, please sign the “Copyright Transfer Agreement of Journal of Engineering Design” and upload it to the website.

    Upon receiving the manuscript, the Editorial Office conducts a preliminary review (checking whether all information is complete and whether the content falls within the journal’s scope, etc.) and sends a submission acknowledgement. Manuscripts that pass the review are assigned a manuscript number and enter the expert review process (peer review), while those that do not pass are rejected or recommended to be revised and resubmitted.

    If authors do not receive the submission acknowledgement within 3 working days, they are kindly requested to send an email inquiry (E‑mail: zdgcsj@zju.edu.cn) in time, so as not to miss anything.

2. Peer Review

    The journal adopts a double‑blind peer review system. The review process for manuscripts is as follows:

    Initial review: The editorial board member conducts an initial review; if passed, it is sent for external review; otherwise, it is directly rejected.

    External review: At least two peer experts are invited for external review. Reviewers are required to assess the originality, research methods, contribution to the academic field, presentation of results and support for conclusions, as well as the appropriateness of citations to relevant literature. If there is a dispute among the experts’ review opinions, other experts will be consulted, and the number of external reviews can reach up to 4‑5 times.

    Final review: The editorial board combines the external review opinions to give the final decision: accept, revise and re‑review, or reject.

3. Publication and Open Access (OA)

    Accepted manuscripts, after typesetting, editing, and proofreading, are transmitted to CNKI for online first publication; the print version can be published within about 6 months. After publication, authors will be paid a remuneration according to the page numbers, and two copies of the current issue will be presented to the authors. The electronic version of the paper will be available on the journal’s official website with permanent open access (OA).

    All articles, once officially published, are immediately and permanently available for readers to download and read for free for educational and research purposes, with permanent open access (OA). The journal uses the Creative Commons license, allowing third‑party users to copy, distribute, and use them in accordance with the Attribution‑NonCommercial‑NoDerivatives 4.0 (CC BY‑NC‑ND 4.0) license.

    For the open access articles of this journal, third‑party users may use the relevant articles in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution‑NonCommercial‑NoDerivatives 4.0 (CC BY‑NC‑ND 4.0) license. Under this license, users may copy and distribute the OA articles of this journal in any medium and in any form, but they must comply with the following terms:

    When third‑party users copy or distribute the OA articles of this journal, they must retain the author’s attribution (the author’s name and the DOI link to the original content), provide a link to this license, and indicate whether changes were made to the original work. Users may attribute in any reasonable manner, but in no way may they suggest that the journal endorses their use. They may not use the articles for commercial purposes. If users remix, transform, or build upon the articles, they may not distribute the modified material. For more details of the license, please visit: 

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.zh

4. Fee Payment

    For papers that enter external review, a review fee of RMB 200 per paper is charged; before publication, a page charge is collected, generally RMB 2,800‑4,500 per paper, depending on the length of the manuscript. Official invoices are issued upon receipt of payment.

    Authors affiliated with Zhejiang University may use the internal transfer method. The internal transfer code is: 198090‑652401. On the transfer form, fill in the amount advised by the Editorial Office, as well as the department code and project code from the budget book. After obtaining the signatures of the budget supervisor and the handler, and affixing the official stamp of the unit, go to the university’s finance office to complete the transfer. After the transfer, deliver or mail the journal voucher to the Editorial Office.

    External authors should pay by bank wire transfer. Bank wire transfer: Account name: Zhejiang University Press Co., Ltd., Account number: 1202 0227 0901 4403 213, Bank: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Hangzhou Baochu Sub‑branch (please specify “Engineering Design” and the manuscript number). Bank sort code: ICBC: 25120014; Inter‑bank: 102331002270.

I. Requirements for Submissions

— The writing and formatting of manuscripts should follow GB/T 7713.2‑2022 “Rules for the Writing of Academic Papers”. The content should have clear themes, reliable data, rigorous logic, and concise language. The abstract in both Chinese and English should consist of four elements: “Purpose, Methods, Results, Conclusions”, and the English translation of the abstract must be accurate. The funding project and its number should be placed at the end of the first page, and references should be placed after the text with standardized citations. For specific formatting requirements, please refer to the “Paper Format and Submission Notes” in the “Download Center” on the right side of the journal website.

— Please do not submit the same manuscript to multiple journals, and ensure there are no authorship disputes, confidentiality issues, plagiarism, improper citations, or other academic misconduct.

— The manuscript must not have been published elsewhere in any form. It should demonstrate innovation, academic merit, and scientific soundness.

— Submitting authors undertake to bear full responsibility for the content; any infringement or other issues are unrelated to this journal.

II. Data Requirements

— Authenticity and traceability: Research data must be genuine and reliable. All data in figures and tables must have complete sources, ensuring verifiability. Fabrication of data and other academic misconduct are strictly prohibited.

— Data sharing and openness: Authors should make publicly available the underlying research data that support the conclusions of the paper, and submit raw data for enhanced publication, so as to promote open data practices and accelerate the reuse of research results.

— Data format specifications: Clear format recommendations are provided for different types of data, for example, CSV/ODS formats are preferred for electronic spreadsheets, and SVG format is recommended for vector graphics, to ensure long‑term accessibility and reusability of data.

— Exemption rules for special data: For data involving classified or sensitive information, authors may submit a de‑identification statement or relevant certification and apply not to share this part of the data publicly.

III. Review Requirements

— The journal strictly implements the “peer review” and double‑blind “three‑review” system.

— The journal selects well‑known professors, both within and outside the university, who have rigorous academic integrity and upright conduct, as reviewers.

— Reviewers should make comprehensive, objective, and fair evaluations of the content of the manuscript (including the innovation, academic value, practicality, and appropriateness of references, etc.), and conduct item‑by‑item review according to the review form, writing specific review comments. At the same time, they must maintain confidentiality of unpublished manuscripts. “Evaluation institutions and review experts should be responsible for their evaluation opinions, keep the review process confidential, and bear corresponding responsibilities for the consequences caused by improper evaluations, false evaluations, leaks, disclosure of false information, or malicious defamation.”

IV. Anti‑Plagiarism Policy

— The “Academic Misconduct Literature Check System” of CNKI is used to detect manuscripts that are to be accepted after the “three‑review” process. If plagiarism or other academic misconduct is found, the manuscript will be rejected, and depending on the severity, the case may be recorded or further action may be taken.

— If authors wish to change the authorship or funding items of an accepted manuscript, all authors must provide a written explanation (stating the reasons for the change), which will be kept on file for future reference.

V. Copyright Management

— Authors sign a “Copyright Transfer Agreement” with the Editorial Office, thereby transferring the property rights in the copyright of the accepted manuscript (including all media, formats, languages, and forms) to the journal, and also authorize the journal and its cooperative media to disseminate and distribute via information networks. At the same time, the remuneration paid by the journal already includes the fees for all the above uses. No unit or individual may reprint or transcribe articles from this journal for commercial activities without the consent of the journal.

    Accepted manuscripts, after typesetting, editing, and proofreading, are transmitted to CNKI for online first publication; the print version can be published within about 6 months. After publication, authors will be paid a remuneration according to the page numbers, and two copies of the current issue will be presented to the authors. The electronic version of the paper will be available on the journal’s official website with permanent open access (OA).

    All articles, once officially published, are immediately and permanently available for readers to download and read for free for educational and research purposes, with permanent open access (OA). The journal uses the Creative Commons license, allowing third‑party users to copy, distribute, and use them in accordance with the Attribution‑NonCommercial‑NoDerivatives 4.0 (CC BY‑NC‑ND 4.0) license.

    For the open access articles of this journal, third‑party users may use the relevant articles in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution‑NonCommercial‑NoDerivatives 4.0 (CC BY‑NC‑ND 4.0) license. Under this license, users may copy and distribute the OA articles of this journal in any medium and in any form, but they must comply with the following terms:

    When third‑party users copy or distribute the OA articles of this journal, they must retain the author’s attribution (the author’s name and the DOI link to the original content), provide a link to this license, and indicate whether changes were made to the original work. Users may attribute in any reasonable manner, but in no way may they suggest that the journal endorses their use. They may not use the articles for commercial purposes. If users remix, transform, or build upon the articles, they may not distribute the modified material. For more details of the license, please visit:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.zh

For Authors:

— Authors should disclose the use of generative artificial intelligence in the writing of the article, beyond language polishing and formatting checks.

— Authors should obtain the core viewpoints, main arguments, and key conclusions of the article based on in‑depth research and practice on the research object and topic, and must not directly generate the research topic, research framework, core viewpoints, etc., by AI tools.

— AI tools must not be used to fabricate or tamper with research data, figures, tables, etc., nor to change or obscure the original information in figures and tables, such as enhancing, moving, deleting, etc.

— AI tools must not be listed as a named author, and references with AI tools as named authors must not appear.

For the Journal:

— Peer reviewers and editors should comply with the restrictions on AI use and be responsible for any AI intervention in the review and editing processes.

— Generative AI must not be used to generate evaluations of papers, nor may papers and review comments be uploaded to any public AI tool platform.

— Any routine use of AI tools should be disclosed.

— The journal reserves the right to long‑term tracking and review of the use of AI tools in manuscripts. Once it is verified that there is concealment or failure to truthfully provide information on the use of AI tools, the journal will regard this as a violation of academic integrity and has the right to take measures such as rejection, retraction, and notification to the authors’ institutions. If it causes losses to the journal’s reputation, etc., the journal reserves the right to pursue legal liability.

— Authenticity and traceability: Research data must be genuine and reliable. All data in figures and tables must have complete sources, ensuring verifiability. Fabrication of data and other academic misconduct are strictly prohibited.

— Data sharing and openness: Authors should make publicly available the underlying research data that support the conclusions of the paper, and submit raw data for enhanced publication, so as to promote open data practices and accelerate the reuse of research results.

— Data format specifications: Clear format recommendations are provided for different types of data, for example, CSV/ODS formats are preferred for electronic spreadsheets, and SVG format is recommended for vector graphics, to ensure long‑term accessibility and reusability of data.

— Exemption rules for special data: For data involving classified or sensitive information, authors may submit a de‑identification statement or relevant certification and apply not to share this part of the data publicly.