Information For Authors

Interested in submitting to this journal? We’re looking for NAFE members who are interested in giving presentations on technical topics that will further the advancement and understanding of forensic engineering at one of the academy’s two annual meetings (either summer or winter conference) and then developing those presentations into written manuscripts/papers.  These papers will go through a single blind peer review process before publication. Only papers presented at a NAFE regular technical seminar and have received oral critique at the seminar will be accepted for review and publication. We recommend that you review the About the Journal page for the journal's section policies, as well as the Author Guidelines listed on the Submissions page. Authors need to register with the journal prior to submitting or, if already registered, can simply log in and begin the process.  Authors are encouraged to register for an ORCID but it is not required.

REGISTERING IN OJS
Under the first tab "Identity" -- put your writer's name in “how do you preferred to be addressed” line, including honorifics.  You can use your full legal name or the name you work under.  For example, a full name may be "Diana Artemis Jones-Prince," but she may go by "Diana Prince" and publish as such, so for this site it would be "Diana Prince, PE, DFE".  It should be consistent with your past publications. Our only academic honorific is PhD or equivalent. 

Next tab is “Contact” – "Affiliation" should be the person’s company, university, or agency

Next tab is “Public” tab --  Do not upload an image as we do not use them, but please check your bio.  Keep in mind this will be viewable by potential clients, so be professional.  It should about the same size as what fits the text box or small -- it's not your CV so it cannot be long, so please make it concise.  Update your bio as you near completion of an article as we place a "snapshot" of your information into the article's web page.

PEER REVIEWERS
Peer Reviewers must be registered in OJS. Please review all of the information required of the authors, to include the information available when you click the "Make a Submission" button.  This will serve as a guide to what the Journal's expectations are.  Registering for an ORCID is not required and may be skipped.

PEER REVIEW POLICY
All papers will be assigned an Associate Editor (AE) to take the paper through the Peer Review Process.  The AE is a full NAFE member in good standing with a primary focus on papers complying with Journal policies regarding content, use of names, use of citation, technical rigor, and guiding the paper through the editorial process.   The AE may or may not have the technical background to conduct a full peer review but will be at least generally knowlegable of the subject and is likely to have technical critiques as well as policy critiques.  Once the paper is in general compliance with Journal policy and has been presented as part of the technical reivew, a Blind Peer Review is conducted.  This will have two qualified individuals who will give a detailed critique of the engineering topic, assumptions, methods, and results as well as whether the conclusion is supported with sufficient citation and work shown.  The identity of the Peer Reviewers will be kept confidential.