Editorial: International Journal of HVAC&R Research

The following description of selection criteria is based heavily on the editorial in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 106(4), Pt. 1, 1999, by Allan D. Pierce, editor-in-chief. It has been modified to be relevant to HVAC&R Research and is intended to be a dynamic document modified as the editorial process is refined. The goal of HVAC&R Research is to publish original research of lasting significance. The reports should be usable by the research community and relevant to the HVAC&R field. “Originality” is a subjective judgement, and there are some guidelines that help in assessing this quality. Clearly, the work should not be identical or substantially the same as work that has been previously published. Authors may sometimes submit work that they believe is genuinely original, but they may not have done sufficient careful survey of the literature. It is incumbent on the author to demonstrate that the work is original and not to depend on the editors and reviewers to do a literature search. Manuscripts that cite only standard textbooks and a few peripheral references are suspect, and it is appropriate to request the author to support the claims of originality. “Previously published” can also be a subjective judgement. Obviously, duplicate publication is not appropriate. Work that has been distributed as a preprint or posted on a Web site has not been previously published. Conference proceedings generally have little circulation and probably fall into the category of not previously published. One criterion could be whether the previous report was peer reviewed. If there has not been a review, the validity of the results is in question even though the work has been “published.” Finally, if a previous publication is rewritten with additional results, an improved presentation, and a fresh title and abstract, it can be judged to be original. References that are given in manuscripts should have been reviewed and be publicly accessible in the open literature. At the least, the author should be able to readily provide the reference if requested. Allowing inclusion of MS and PhD theses as references requires judgement by the editors. PhD theses are available and are reviewed, to some extent, by an examining committee. Only in exceptional cases should a “personal communication” or “letter to author” reference be allowed. An example might be when a critical piece of information was missing from a previously published report, and the manuscript author has secured that information by contacting the previous author. Articles that are published should meet the “significant advance criterion.” Basically, this means that the manuscript must contain a significant extension to previous HVAC&R knowledge. One “just noticeable difference” is not enough. Clearly, “significant” is a subjective term and may differ among reviewers. There are some categories of manuscripts that probably could be viewed as not meeting this criterion. These are described below to help the editorial staff in selecting manuscripts for publication. However, these are not hard and fast rules, but only guides. Each situation requires the judgement of the associate editor.