EDITORIAL

Abstract

The editors of the Journals publishing in the field of heat transfer are very concerned about several items which are occurring more frequently. These involve simultaneous submission of a single article to multiple journals for review; publication of articles with only incremental advancement of previously established knowledge; and the publication of articles that are essentially identical in multiple journals. We take this opportunity to remind the heat transfer community of their moral and legal responsibility to insure that the work that they submit for publication is both original and technically significant. As editors in a common field of research, we are all working together to make available to our readers the highest quality publications and to do so in a timely and efficient manner. Multiple submission of the same article for review in different journals taxes the already overburdened review system, and is in direct violation of the editorial policy of virtually all journals. While recognizing the pressure placed on many individuals to publish, the submission of manuscripts containing only small or incremental improvements over existing work, particularly when published by the same author, is clearly not in the best interest of the heat transfer community, authors, reviewers or editors. We all have a responsibility to ensure that the work published is of significant value and cannot be obtained directly from previously published work. Finally, the submission of articles which are identical in content to separate journals, aside from being unethical is in violation of the copyright statutes and is prohibited by law. As a group, we remind the heat transfer community that it has a responsibility to act in an ethical and professional manner. Further, it must do everything possible to ensure that publications that bear our name and represent our institutions are of the highest quality and present original research results not previously reported in the archival literature. The above editorial was developed by the editors of the followingjournals and will appear in an upcoming issue of each.