Writing a Research Paper
Only original contributions to the engineering literature are accepted for publication; work should incorporate substantial information not previously published.
Permissions
If a submission contains excerpts from other copyrighted material (including without limitation any diagrams, photographs, figures or text), it is the responsibility of the authors to acquire in writing all necessary rights from third parties to include those materials in a submission. In addition, appropriate credit for that third-party material must be included in footnotes, figure/table captions, Acknowledgements, References or Bibliography. This is part of the Terms and Conditions of the Copyright Transfer Agreement required form each author prior to publication of an accepted submission.
It is of the greatest importance that all technical, scientific, and mathematical information contained in the paper be checked with the utmost care.
It is ASME policy that SI units of measurement be included in all papers. When U.S. customary units are given preference, the SI equivalent should be provided in parentheses or in a supplementary table. When preference is given to SI units, the U.S. customary units should be provided in parentheses or in a supplementary table.
Length
A research paper should not exceed 12,000 words. Beyond this amount, a mandatory excess-page charge can be assessed. These charges are described here: Publication Charges .
To estimate figures and tables:
· 1 journal page = 1000 words
· Half-journal page or a single column = 500 words
· Half-column = 250 words
· Quarter column = 125 words.
The Editor reserves the right to send papers that exceed the length limitation back to the author(s) for shortening before initiating the review process.
Elements of a Paper
The basic elements of a paper or brief are listed below in the order in which they should appear:
2. author names and affiliations
4. body of paper
9. figures and tables
The title of the paper should be concise and definitive.
Author Names and Affiliations
It is ASME policy that all those who have participated significantly in the technical aspects of a paper be recognized as co-authors or cited in the acknowledgments. Author name should consist of first name (or initial), middle initial, and last name. The author affiliation should consist of the following, as applicable, in the order noted:
· university or company (with department name or company division)
· city, state, zip code
· country name (other than the U.S.)
· e-mail (university or company email addresses should be used whenever possible)
An abstract (250 words maximum) should open the paper or brief. The purpose of the abstract is to give a clear indication of the objective, scope, and results so that readers may determine whether the full text will be of particular interest to them.
The text should be organized into logical parts or sections. The purpose of the paper should be stated at the beginning, followed by a description of the problem, the means of solution, and any other information necessary to properly qualify the results presented and the conclusions. The results should be presented in an orderly form, followed by the author's conclusions.
Headings and subheadings should appear throughout the work to divide the subject matter into logical parts and to emphasize the major elements and considerations. Parts or sections may be numbered, if desired, but paragraphs should not be numbered.
Equations should be numbered consecutively beginning with (1) to the end of the paper, including any appendices. The number should be enclosed in parentheses and set flush right in the column on the same line as the equation. It is this number that should be used when referring to equations within the text. Equations should be referenced within the text as "Eq. (x)." When the reference to an equation begins a sentence, it should be spelled out, e.g., "Equation (x)."
Formulas and equations should be created to clearly distinguish capital letters from lowercase letters. Care should be taken to avoid confusion between the lowercase "l"(el) and the numeral one, or between zero and the lowercase "o." All subscripts, superscripts, Greek letters, and other symbols should be clearly indicated.
In all mathematical expressions and analyses, any symbols (and the units in which they are measured) not previously defined in nomenclature should be explained. If the paper is highly mathematical in nature, it may be advisable to develop equations and formulas in appendices rather than in the body of the paper.
All figures (graphs, line drawings, photographs, etc.) should be numbered consecutively and have a caption consisting of the figure number and a brief title or description of the figure. This number should be used when referring to the figure in text. Figure references should be included within the text in numerical order according to their order of appearance. Figures should be referenced within the text as "Fig. 1." When the reference to a figure begins a sentence, the abbreviation "Fig." should be spelled out, e.g., "Figure 1." A separate list of figure numbers and their respective captions should be included at the end of the paper (for production purposes only).
ASME accepts .tiff (.tif) or .eps file formats for figures.
· TIFF (Tag Image File Format) is for bitmap images (spatially mapped array of bits).
· EPS (Encapsulated Postscript) is for vector graphics (mathematical expressions of geometrical primitives).
Images created in Word can opened in Adobe Acrobat and saved as .tif or .eps
Figure files greater than 15MB should be checked to see if layers were merged.
All tables should be numbered consecutively and have a caption consisting of the table number and a brief title. This number should be used when referring to the table in text. Table references should be included within the text in numerical order according to their order of appearance. Tables should be inserted as part of the text as close as possible to its first reference — with the exception of those tables included at the end of the paper as an appendix. A separate list of table numbers and their respective captions should be included at the end of the paper (for production purposes only).
Video Files
Currently, the ASME Journal Tool does not accommodate the submission of video files. Authors can contact the Editor by email if they have video files. If accepted by the Editor for review, ASME will provide information for transferring the files by FTP.
Video files should augment a figure that is included in the paper since they will be included as part of the peer-review of the paper, and if accepted for publication, part of the archival version of the paper.
The following file formats can be accepted for video files:
Questions can be sent to: journals@asme.org
A SME currently supports only supplemental material that is integral to the understanding and comprehension of the archival version of a Research Paper accepted for publication.
ASME is currently working on a solution for supporting non-integral supplementary material (e.g., date sets, etc.).
All content for a Research Paper published in an ASME Journal must be included as part of the peer-review.
If an author has supplemental material that they would like to submit for inclusion, they must receive pre-approval at the time of submission from the Editor.
If the Supplemental Material is reviewed and approved by the Editor, the files can be provided by the author during the submission of their final files for production as a .docx file or included at the end of the PDF. If necessary, an ASME Production Coordinator will work with the author to transfer files through an ftp.
The following file types are supported for Supplemental Material: