Journal of Field Robotics

Author Guidelines

Author Guidelines

JFR Paper Categories

Manuscripts submitted to the Journal of Field Robotics should describe work that has both practical and theoretical significance. Authors must clearly articulate claims, and support them by empirical evidence from relevant experiments. Results that are limited to simulation will not be sufficient; experimental validation in field or appropriate analogs is necessary.

Submissions must be original. The research described cannot have previously been published or pending publication in another journal, and submissions cannot be under review in any other forum. JFR will publish work that has previously been reported in conferences or workshops. If the work has appeared in a conference, the submission must substantively extend the conference publication.

Four types of manuscripts are accepted for publication: (1) regular articles, (2) research notes, (3) survey articles, and (4) field reports.

Articles are full-length papers reporting original research.

Research notes are brief monographs that extend or evaluate previous articles.

Survey articles are tutorials or literature reviews that contribute an analysis or perspective that advances our understanding of the subject matter.

Field reports are descriptions of novel systems that have been in operation over an extended duration.

Authors should specify one of the above categories when submitting a paper to JFR. The Editors may, under some circumstances, publish a submission under a different paper category than the author originally requested, with the consent of the author.

How to Submit an Article for Review

All manuscripts should be submitted electronically via ScholarOne Manuscripts ( http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/rob ). All correspondence concerning manuscripts under review should be emailed to the Managing Editor, Sanae Urano Minick: sminick@cs.cmu.edu.

Although manuscripts may be submitted in any format for review (PDF is preferred), final versions for publication must meet specific requirements as detailed below. Please include complete contact information (including mailing address and telephone number) for the corresponding author in the text of the message accompanying any submissions.

Style (Initial Submission)

Please use simple text formatting (i.e. no double columns or other attempt to replicate our published format) and a legible font of at least 12 point size. SI units should be used at all times.

Pages, equations, figures and tables should be numbered sequentially. Figures and tables must also have captions. In the initial submission, figures and tables should appear in the body of the text. Figures may be submitted in black and white, grayscale, or color. Effective 2009, after the article has been typeset, the authors may designate one page that will be produced in color in the print version for free. Any additional figures can be in color for a charge of $850 per page.

Section Numbering: Use section numbers for the first three levels of headings: 1., 1.1., 1.1.1.

The format for citations in text and for bibliographic references follows the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed., 2001). Alphabetize the reference list and cite references by author and date in the text; for example, (Johnson, 1983), (Hogan & James, 1995), (Manfred et al., 2003). When a work has two authors, always cite both names. When a work has three, four, or five authors, cite all authors the first time the reference occurs. In subsequent citations, include only the surname of the first author followed by et al. and the year. Use “et al.” after the primary author if there are six or more authors for the first and all subsequent citations.

References should include relevant information as follows.

1. Books : Authors's last names and initials, year, title, city, publisher; e.g.:

Gelb, A., Kasper, J., Nash, R.A., & Price, C.F. (1974). Applied optimal estimation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

2. Chapters in a book / Papers in published proceedings : Authors' last names and initials, year, title of chapter/paper, editors' initials and last names, title of book or proceedings, page numbers (if any), city, publisher.

Pomerleau, D. A. (1990). Neural network based autonomous navigation. In C. Thorpe (Ed.), Vision and navigation: The Carnegie Mellon Navlab (pp. 83-92). Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic.

3. Journal articles : Authors' last names and initials, year, title of article, name of journal, volume number, issue number, page numbers.

Kumar, R. V., Waldron, K.J., & Tsai, M.J. (1986). Geometric optimization of serial chain manipulator structures for working volume and dexterity. International Journal of Robotics Research, 5(2), 91-103.

4. Conference papers : Authors' last names and initals, year and month of conference, title of paper, name of conference, location of conference.

Mason, M., Pai, D., Rus, D., Taylor, L.R., & Erdmann, M. (1999, May). A mobile manipulator. Paper presented at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA '99), Detroit, MI.

5. Technical reports : Authors' last names and initials, year, title of report, report number, city, name of institution.

Pantofaru, C., & Hebert, M. (2001). A comparison of image segmentation algorithms (Tech. Rep. CMU-RI-TR-05-40). Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon University, Robotics Institute.

6. Theses : Authors' last name and initials, year, title of thesis, identification of paper as thesis (e.g., Ph.D. thesis), name of institution, city and state (if city and state are not part of institution name), or city and country.

Debevec, P.E. (1996). Modeling and rendering architecture from photographs. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of California at Berkeley.

7. Websites: Author or site name, year, URL, date of retrieval or access.

DARPA Urban Challenge. (2007). http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/index.asp. Accessed April 3, 2009.

Montambault, S., & Pouliot, N. (2007a). Inspection robot capable of clearing obstacles while operating on a live line. Retrieved November 6, 2008, from http://www.electricity-today.com/et/issue0407/line-robot.html.

References in languages besides English may be used to an extent, as appropriate; please note however that such references may be inaccessible to readers, and excessive reliance on non-English sources, especially for references that are central to the article, may impair a paper's chance of acceptance.

Copyright Transfer Agreement

A copyright transfer agreement, executed and signed by the author, is required with each manuscript submission. If the article is a "work made for hire," the agreement must be signed by the employer. The form to be used can be downloaded in PDF format at http://www.wiley.com/go/ctaaus .

No manuscript can be considered accepted until a signed copyright transfer agreement has been received.

It is the author's responsibility to obtain written permission to reproduce material that has appeared in another publication. Such permission must be submitted with the signed copyright transfer agreement before publication can proceed.

Sending Your Final Paper

Final revised papers must be submitted in electronic version. We accept final papers in LaTeX or MS Word. Please note: This journal does not accept Microsoft WORD 2007 documents at this time. Please use WORD’s “Save As” option to save your document as an older (.doc) file type. All illustration files should be in TIFF or EPS (with preview) formats. Do not submit native or exotic application formats. Please use the paper’s ROB number in each file name. All file names should be given the 2- or 3-letter extension that identifies the file format used (i.e., .txt, .doc, .tif, .eps).

Journal quality reproduction will require color or grayscale files at resolutions yielding approximately 300 ppi. Bitmapped line art should be submitted at resolutions yielding 600–1200 ppi. These resolutions refer to the output size of the file; if you anticipate that your images will be enlarged or reduced, resolutions should be adjusted accordingly. Please advise us of any figures which you wish to reproduce in color in the printed version of JFR. The production company will contact you about pricing. You must agree in writing to any color reproduction fees before JFR will print your figure(s) in color.

Please be sure to return your final paper on or before the due date indicated on the acceptance letter. Failure to do so may result in delaying the publication of your paper.

Proofs

Authors will receive a password via email providing access to PDF versions of proofs to check the accuracy of typesetting. Unless otherwise specified, authors will be charged for any alterations to the proofs beyond those needed to correct typesetting errors. Proofs must be checked and returned within 48 hours of receipt. Authors may request that hard copies be mailed to them instead.

Reprints

Corresponding authors: Effective in 2010, in lieu of a complimentary copy, free access to the final PDF offprint of your article will be available via Author Services only. Please therefore sign up for Author Services if you would like to access your article PDF offprint and enjoy the many other benefits the service offers. Should you wish to purchase reprints, please click on the link and follow the instructions provided: https://caesar.sheridan.com/reprints/redir.php?pub=10089&acro=ROB

This journal is a member of and subscribes to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics. More detailed information can be found at: http://publicationethics.org/

??? Production Questions ???
Tom O'Brien
E-mail: tom.obrien@aptaracorp.com