Part 1: Guide for Authors

Scope of Submission
Manuscripts should primarily take the form of research papers and reports, technical communications, and specialized reviews. The journal publishes scientific and technical papers on pre-research, development, testing, and engineering practices related to systems and subsystems such as satellites, rockets, manned spacecraft, deep space exploration, and missiles, reflecting new concepts, new methods, and new technologies in key aerospace fields. The journal's sections include Expert Feature Articles, Innovation & Exploration, Professional Perspectives, and Engineering Practice.

Writing Requirements

1. Submissions should highlight theoretical research and technological innovation in aerospace while considering engineering applications. Corresponding theoretical foundations and parameter determination principles should be provided. Papers should emphasize theoretical depth and logical rigor, avoiding the style of technical reports.
2. Submissions should be substantive, with clear arguments, sufficient evidence, well-organized structure, and concise language. The recommended length is 6,000 to 7,000 words (exceptions allowed under special circumstances). Chinese references must include English translations.
3. Academic misconduct (e.g., plagiarism) and duplicate submission are strictly prohibited. Authors must declassify their articles before submission and provide a scanned copy or original paper copy of the confidentiality clearance certificate.
4. Papers resulting from national or provincial/ministerial-level science and technology progress awards, natural science foundation projects, or key research projects should provide the project number or a copy of the award certificate. Such papers may be prioritized for publication.
5. The main text should include Introduction, Main Body, and Conclusion/Closing Remarks.
   • Introduction: State the research background, current status, existing problems, the focus of the study, new progress, and innovations.
   • Main Body: Language should be concise, precise, unambiguous, and direct. Ensure complete logical relationships and a rigorous structure.
   • Conclusion/Closing Remarks: Summarize the research findings.
6. For other writing requirements, please refer to the relevant documents in the Download Section.

Part 2: Publishing Ethics

I. Authors' Ethics

1. Plagiarism Check: All submissions undergo primary plagiarism screening using Wanfang Data Similarity Check, supplemented by CNKI AMLC (Academic Misconduct Literature Check). The acceptable similarity index is generally below 10%-15%. Duplicate submissions, multiple submissions, or suspected plagiarism will result in immediate rejection upon verification.
2. Authorship: Authors should be those who have made significant contributions to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study, and to the writing of the manuscript. Authors should be listed in order of their contribution, determined before submission, and changes are generally not permitted during processing. If a change is essential, a written statement of agreement signed by all authors is required. Others contributing to the study should be acknowledged. Undeserved authorship (gift/honorary authorship) is strictly prohibited.
3. Reviewer Responsibilities: Reviewers must evaluate manuscripts professionally, ensuring transparency, confidentiality, and fairness. Comments should be directed at the work, not the authors personally. Reviewers must report to the Editorial Office if they identify factual errors, knowledge errors, significant duplication, or suspected data fabrication/falsification. Reviewers must not use unpublished manuscript materials for their own research.
4. Editorial Responsibilities: Editors strive to ensure the quality of published articles. They evaluate submissions based solely on academic merit, without regard to authors' race, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, political philosophy, or sexual orientation. Editors must maintain confidentiality of manuscript information, disclosing it only to the corresponding author, reviewers, and relevant editorial staff. The journal endeavors to prevent and eliminate academic misconduct. All allegations of misconduct will be investigated seriously. The journal will publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, or apologies when necessary.
5. Conflict of Interest (COI) Disclosure: All authors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest. A COI exists when financial, personal, or professional relationships (of the author or their institution/employer) could unduly influence the author's work or manuscript. Authors must also disclose COIs related to competing products mentioned in the manuscript. A COI statement must be included at the end of the manuscript, explicitly stating "None" if no conflicts exist. Authors must submit a Conflict of Interest Declaration Form upon submission. Reviewers and editors must declare any competing, collaborative, or other relevant relationships with authors, companies, or institutions associated with a manuscript and recuse themselves if necessary.
6. Intellectual Property Protection & Open Science: The journal respects intellectual property rights (IPR) and requires editors, authors, and reviewers to do the same. Infringement must be avoided. Third parties must also respect the journal's IPR. While protecting IPR, the journal encourages Open Science practices, including sharing research data (e.g., raw data, observations, experimental results), software, code, models, algorithms, protocols, methods, and other useful materials when appropriate. Authors are encouraged to deposit such materials on accessible third-party repositories and include the access link(s) in the manuscript.

II. Editors' Ethics

1. Editorial Policy: Authors are solely responsible for their submissions. In accordance with the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, the journal reserves the right to edit and condense submissions. Any modifications affecting the core meaning will be referred to the authors for approval.
2. Revision Timeline: Authors are generally required to return revised manuscripts within 15 days, and no later than one month. Authors should contact the Editorial Office before submitting a revised manuscript elsewhere.
3. Submissions by Editorial Board Members/Staff: Submissions from Editorial Board members and editorial staff are subject to the same rigorous peer review and editorial procedures as all other manuscripts. They must recuse themselves from any role in the review, editing, or acceptance decisions concerning manuscripts authored by themselves, their family members, or colleagues. Peer review must be conducted independently of the relevant authors and their research groups.

III. Corrections & Retractions

1. General Policy: Articles published online or in print are considered the final version. Corrections or retractions are generally not made unless deemed absolutely necessary (as outlined below).
2. Corrections: If an article contains an unintentional scientific error that does not significantly impact the results or conclusions, the Editorial Office will publish a Correction Notice promptly. The notice will detail the changes made to the original article and cite the source. A corrected version of the article may be published, clearly indicating the changes and the date of update.
3. Retractions: Articles will be retracted and a Retraction Notice published in the following cases:
   1. The article contains serious scientific errors rendering the results and conclusions unreliable.
   2. For articles suspected of academic misconduct (e.g., plagiarism, data fabrication/falsification), the Editorial Office will initiate an investigation and issue a statement alerting readers to the concerns. Upon conclusion, the investigation results will be made public. If misconduct is confirmed, the article will be retracted and a Retraction Notice published.

IV. Open Access & Copyright

1. Open Access: Shanghai Aerospace (Chinese & English) is an Open Access journal. All articles are immediately and permanently freely accessible for reading and downloading on the journal's website upon publication. Third-party users are permitted to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). These rights cannot be revoked as long as the license terms are followed. The conditions are:
   • Attribution (BY): You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so reasonably, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
   • NonCommercial (NC): You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
   • NoDerivatives (ND): If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
2. Copyright Transfer: Upon submission, authors must read and acknowledge the Copyright Transfer Agreement. Once a manuscript is accepted, the author(s) transfer the copyright of the entire work and any accompanying figures, tables, abstracts, or extractable components—including but not limited to reproduction, distribution, information network dissemination, performance, translation, compilation, and adaptation rights—to the Shanghai Aerospace (Chinese & English) Editorial Office.

Ⅴ. Upon acceptance of the manuscript, a publication fee of 2,000 RMB per article will be charged, primarily to support open access for academic papers and cover the costs incurred during the journal's publication process.

Part 3: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

I. About Submission

• Q: My research is in XXX. Does Shanghai Aerospace accept articles in this area?
  A: Please first consult the journal's "Scope of Submission". If still unsure, you may submit your manuscript. The Editorial Office will conduct an initial review. Submissions outside the journal's scope will be rejected within 3 working days, minimizing time loss.
• Q: I submitted an article some time ago, but not through this website. Can you check its status?
  A: Did you verify the authenticity of the website before submitting? Regrettably, you submitted to a fake/impostor site claiming to represent our journal. IMPORTANT – Our ONLY official submission channel is the Online Submission System on our official website: shht.ijournal.cn. Alternatively, search "上海航天" (Shanghai Aerospace) on Baidu and look for the result marked "Official" in the top right corner. Articles undergo rigorous peer review and NO FEES are required before acceptance. Beware of fraud!
• Q: XXX website claims to be an agent for submitting to Shanghai Aerospace, guaranteeing publication. Is it credible?
  A: Beware of fraud! Do not use such services.
• Q: Is the journal a core journal?
  A: Yes. The journal is indexed as a "China Scientific and Technological Core Journal" and a "Source Journal for the Chinese Science Citation Database (CSCD)" (Core Edition). It is also listed in the Tier 3 (T3) category of the "High-Quality Sci-Tech Journal Grading Directory for the Aerospace Field".

II. About Timelines

• Q: How long does the peer review process take?
  A: After passing the Editorial Office's initial review, manuscripts are sent for external peer review. The typical review period is around 1 month.
• Q: How long from submission to acceptance?
  A: This timeline depends on manuscript quality, reviewer speed, and author revision speed, making it variable. If no re-review is needed (high quality, reviewers didn't request re-review, and comments don't require "major revision"), and the revised manuscript meets requirements and passes the Executive Editor's final approval, acceptance can be granted. The exact timeframe is difficult to predict.
• Q: An acceptance notice isn't sufficient; I need the article published. How far in advance should I submit to be safe?
  A: Considering review, revision, and acceptance timelines, we recommend submitting at least six months in advance of your deadline. Upon acceptance, articles are published online first on CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure).
• Q: My article has been accepted, but I need it published urgently for promotion/graduation. Can it be expedited?
  A: If you need guaranteed publication 3-4 months after acceptance, please inform the Editorial Office via email. Need it faster? For special cases, call the Editorial Office directly. We will assist if feasible within the publication schedule. However, we strongly advise planning well in advance, as journal production follows fixed cycles and constraints; expediting may not always be possible ("安排不过来").
• Q: My article has been published in the journal, but why can't I find it on CNKI (or other major databases)?
  A: Database indexing requires processing time. After the journal issue is published, the data is provided to our indexing partners (e.g., CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, Chaoxing) within one week. Generally, the formally published article becomes searchable in these databases within 2 months.

III. About Review Comments

• Q: Based on the review comments, the expert doesn't seem very familiar with my specific field, making the requested revisions difficult/impossible. What should I do?
  A: During submission, please upload a detailed description of your research field to help editors assign appropriate reviewers. Occasionally, a reviewer might not be a close specialist ("小同行"), leading to potentially biased comments. When uploading your revision, submit a detailed "Response to Reviewers" letter (template available on the journal website). In this letter, clearly and respectfully articulate your concerns regarding specific comments. Provided your rationale is sound, avoiding unnecessary changes (and ensuring no classified information is involved), and subject to approval by the Editor-in-Chief and/or other experts, it should not affect acceptance.
• Q: The reviewer's comments were excellent and very helpful. I'd like to communicate directly with the expert to ask further questions.
  A: Sorry! The Editorial Office strictly protects reviewer anonymity and will not disclose their identities to authors. If you have substantive questions arising from the review, you may prepare them in writing. The Editorial Office is willing to forward them anonymously to the reviewer. However, whether the reviewer responds or contacts you directly is entirely at their discretion.

IV. Other Aspects

• Q: What are the publication fees?
  A: The journal currently charges an Article Processing Charge (APC) / Publication Fee of 2000 RMB per article.
• Q: I urgently need an article published. How much would it cost to expedite/facilitate this?
  A: You have come to the wrong place. (This implies the journal does not engage in such practices and adheres strictly to ethical peer review).

Part 4: Peer Review Policy

The journal employs a double-blind peer review system (The author and the reviewer are unaware of each other's identities). Upon successful submission, manuscripts undergo an initial screening by the Editorial Office. Submissions lacking sufficient originality, containing major scientific/technical flaws, providing little valuable information, or falling outside the journal's scope will be desk-rejected.

Manuscripts passing initial screening proceed to peer review. Each manuscript is typically sent to at least two reviewers. Authors must respond point-by-point to all reviewer comments and submit a revised manuscript. This iterative process continues until both reviewers and editors are satisfied with the manuscript.

The Executive Editor-in-Chief makes the final decision on publication. The Editorial Office selects manuscripts for publication based solely on academic quality and the peer review outcomes, ensuring fairness.