Editor-in-Chief

Lyan-Ywan Lu, Ph.D.
National Cheng Kung University, Tainan.

Associated editors

Cheng-Ping Chen
National Council of Structural Engineers Associations, R.O.C. (Taiwan)

Editorial board members

Ching-Chang Chang, PhD
Evergreen Consulting Engineering, Inc., Taipei

Cheng-Cheng Chen, PhD
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei

Chien-Kuo Chiu, PhD
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei

Chung-Che Chou, PhD
National Taiwan University, Taipei

Lap-Loi Chung, PhD
National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering, Taipei

Fu-Pei Hsiao, PhD
National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering, Taipei

Mao-Ching Hsu
Taipei Structural Engineers Association

Shieh-Kung Huang, PhD
National Chung Hsing University, Taichung

Chung-Chan Hung, PhD
National Cheng Kung University, Tainan

Tzu-Ying Lee, PhD
National Central University, Taoyuan

Liang-Jenq Leu, PhD
National Taiwan University, Taipei

Wen-I Liao, PhD
National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei

Ging-Long Lin, PhD
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung

Ker-Chun Lin, PhD
National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering, Taipei

Pao-Chun Lin, PhD
National Cheng Kung University, Tainan

Tzu-Kang Lin, PhD
National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu City

Yu-Chen Ou, PhD
National Taiwan University, Taipei

Jui-Lin Peng, PhD
National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Douliou, Yunlin

Shiang-Jung Wang, PhD
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei

Qiang Xue, PhD
Sinotech Engineering Consultants Inc., Taipei

George C. Yao, PhD
National Cheng Kung University, Tainan

Terry Y. P. Yuen, PhD
National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu City

Structural Engineering publishes research manuscripts under strict review criteria. Structural Engineering will not accept duplicate submission or manuscripts that violate regulations, or that include plagiarized text, fabricated data, ghostwriting, or undeclared conflicts of interests. Structural Engineering defers to the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing that has been established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and Elsevier to regulate the roles and duties of authors, editors, reviewers, and publishers. The details of Structural Engineering’s guidelines are as follows:

 

I. Authors’ Duties

1. Reporting Standards

Authors should follow Structural Engineering regulations to represent their work honestly, report credible results, and provide an objective discussion of them. Submitted manuscripts should contain reliable data and sufficient references. Manuscripts that violate academic ethics, including those containing misleading or inaccurate descriptions or statements, will not be accepted.

2. Data Access and Retention

Authors should store their own research data and be prepared to provide the raw data if needed for editorial review.

3. Originality and Plagiarism

Authors should ensure that their manuscripts represent their own original work. Authors should insert appropriate in-text citations with end-of-text information when referencing the works of others. Authors must not copy or plagiarize content from other manuscripts.

4. Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Submission and Publication

Authors should not submit a previously published manuscript. Manuscripts to be published in Structural Engineering should not be available in another journal.

5. Acknowledgment of Sources

Authors should make certain that they have correctly and clearly acknowledged others’ work, and they should also cite the publications that have been influential in determining the nature of their reported work. A manuscript that lacks clear citations will be considered plagiarized.

6. Authorship of the Manuscript

Those who significantly contributed to the conception, design, execution, data acquisition, or analysis of the study being reported should be listed as coauthors. All coauthors should approve the publication of the final version of the manuscript before submission.

7. Protecting Human or Animal Subjects

The study should ensure the subjects’ privacy. If the study involves human or animal subjects, the procedures that are conducted and all equipment, toxicants, or hazardous materials used should be clearly listed and identified within the manuscript. All of the procedures should be performed in compliance with relevant laws and guidelines.

8. Openness and Conflicts of Interests

Authors should clearly and openly report any conflicts of interest that could influence the reporting or the results of the study. Such conflicts include employment relationships, patent licensing applications, and funding sources.

9. Fundamental Errors in Published Articles

Authors should inform and provide prompt and accurate information to the editors concerning any significant errors identified in the published manuscript.

 

II. Reviewers’ Duties

1. Contribution to Editorial Decisions

Reviewers should assist editors by providing professional and constructive assessments to improve submitted manuscripts.

2. Review Efficiency

The reviewer should approach reviewing the manuscript in a timely fashion and should inform the editor immediately if the reviewer is not able to review the manuscript or if more time is needed.

3. Confidentiality

Reviewers should not reveal the contents of the manuscript or discuss them with anyone other than the assigned editors.

4. Standards of Objectivity

Reviewers should provide objective comments on aspects of the manuscript and on the manuscript as a whole. Where reviewers are unable to review a manuscript, they should notify the editors to formally decline the review invitation.

5. Acknowledgment of Sources

Reviewers should attentively note whether previous research is or is not properly cited by the authors and inform editors of any similarity or overlap of content with any published report.

6. Openness and Conflicts of Interest

Reviewers must not plagiarize any content from other sources. Reviewers with conflicts of interest, such as cooperation or competition with the submitting authors, should decline the review invitation.

 

III. Editors’ Duties

1. Peer Review

Structural Engineering adopts a peer review system. The editor is responsible for ensuring that the peer review process is fair, unbiased, and timely. Research articles are typically reviewed by at least two external and independent reviewers; when necessary,  the editor may seek additional opinions.

2. Publication Decisions

The editor of the journal is solely and independently responsible for deciding what articles of those submitted to the journal will be published, often working in conjunction with the Chinese Society of Structural Engineering to make this determination. Validation of the work in question and its importance to researchers and readers must always form the basis for such a decision. The editor may be guided by the policies of the journal’s editorial board and constrained by any legal requirements that are then in force regarding libel, copyright infringement, plagiarism, and other issues. The editor may confer with other editors or with reviewers in making these decisions.

3. Fair Play and Editorial Independence

Editors should ensure that manuscripts are evaluated fairly, without consideration of the authors’ personal characteristics, including their gender, sexual orientation, race, nationality, religious belief, political stance, etc.

4. Confidentiality

The editors must protect the confidentiality of all materials submitted to the journal and all communications with the reviewers, unless otherwise agreed upon with the relevant authors and reviewers. The editor must protect the reviewers’ identities unless they agree to disclose them.

5. Conflicts of Interests

The editors should not use unpublished manuscripts for research purposes without permission from the authors. Editors should not use comments made by reviewers for their own personal advantage. Editors must avoid any conflicts of interest involving themselves, the authors, or the reviewers. They must not be involved in the decision-making process for manuscripts that they have authored themselves, those written by family members or colleagues, or those that relate to products or services in which the editor has an interest. Any such submissions must be handled using the journal’s standard procedures, with peer review being managed independently by the relevant author/editor and the relevant research groups.

6. Involvement and Cooperation in Investigations

The editors and the publisher should take immediate action in cases where ethical concerns are raised with respect to a submitted or published manuscript. Relevant immediate action could involve contacting the authors, informing them of the ethical concerns, and contacting the relevant academic or research institution(s). If a report of an ethical concern is confirmed, the editors and the publisher should correct or retract the manuscript if it has been published, or clarify with respect to the concern to the interests involved.

 

IV. The Publisher’s Duties

1. Handling Unethical Publishing Behaviors

In cases of unethical behaviors, the publisher and editors should take appropriate measures to clarify the situation and amend the manuscript in question. Appropriate measures could include the prompt publication of an erratum, a clarification, or, in the most severe case, the retraction of the affected work. If the manuscript violates academic ethics, including plagiarism, the publisher and editors should withdraw the manuscript from consideration for publication in Structural Engineering.

2. Access to Journal Content

The publisher should be committed to the permanent availability and preservation of scholarly research and should ensure its accessibility by maintaining the digital archive.

 

V. Use of Artificial Intelligence

Structural Engineering has adopted the COPE statement regarding the use of AI tools. The full COPE position statement can be found on the COPE website at the following link: https://publicationethics.org/guidance/cope-position/authorship-and-ai-tools

Download PDF file of the statement  here