Formatting requirements and submission procedures for publications

Basic information

Publications in the ‘Journal of Coal Chemistry’ are free of charge for authors and / or their affiliated organisations.

For candidates for academic degrees (postgraduate and doctoral students), the principle of ‘one issue – one article’ applies, regardless of whether the article is written individually or in co-authorship.

Correspondence with authors/reviewers is retained for 90 calendar days from the date of publication or final rejection of the article.

Regarding the publication dating:

• the date of receipt of the manuscript by the editorial office is considered to be the date of its first submission (provided that the reviewer confirms the possibility of its publication with or without revisions);
• the final decision on the publication of manuscripts is made collectively at a meeting of the Academic Council of the State Enterprise "UKHIN", which, according to the founding agreement, is responsible for publishing the Journal. In case of a positive decision, the date of the meeting of the Academic Council at which it was adopted is considered to be the date of acceptance of the manuscript for publication;
• since the "Journal of Coal Chemistry" is a printed publication, the date of publication is considered to be the date on which the corresponding issue is signed for printing, as indicated, in particular, in the imprint of the issue and on the journal’s web page / website;
• the DOI index is assigned to the article during the preparation of the original layout (master copy) of the corresponding issue of the journal and is activated after the article's abstract is published on the journal’s web page / website.

The authors are responsible for the content of the articles.

1. Content requirements

The ‘Journal of Coal Chemistry’ publishes:

• Articles devoted to scientific research and development, as well as cutting-edge scientific, industrial and economic expertise in the coal chemistry and coke chemistry sectors, which are consistent with the journal’s aims and objectives.
• Articles that have not previously been published in other print or electronic publications and are not currently under consideration by the editorial boards of other journals.
• Articles that do not contain elements of plagiarism (including the republication of an article or parts thereof, the simultaneous submission of an article to several journals, or the use of texts and illustrations without the copyright holder’s consent).
• Short papers of no more than 2–5 pages, including tables.
• Review articles (reviews). Before preparing a review, authors are advised to discuss the proposed review with the editorial board.
• Book reviews.

The manuscript must be written in correct Ukrainian, clearly and concisely. Articles that do not meet this requirement and/or do not fit the journal’s scope will be automatically rejected without consideration.

Authors bear full responsibility for the content of the materials they publish and must ensure that issues relating to publication ethics, manuscript structure and references are properly addressed.

Regarding artificial intelligence. The only form of AI involvement in the writing and editing of an article is for formatting, proofreading, translation and other purely technical, auxiliary purposes. Where AI is used, authors are required to state the purpose and extent of its application.

An original article in a professional journal must contain the following essential elements:

• Introduction (a general statement of the problem and its connection to important scientific or practical issues; an analysis of key publications that have begun to address this problem and on which the author relies; identification of previously unresolved aspects of the general problem to which this article is devoted; formulation of the article’s objectives (statement of the problem).
• Experimental section (materials used, research methods, description of the experiment, etc.).
• Results and their discussion
• Concluding section (conclusions from this study and prospects for further research in this field).

Sections may be divided into subsections; for example, the experimental section may be divided into subsections on materials used, research methods, description of the experiment, etc. We do not require these elements to be highlighted with subheadings, but this order of presentation is mandatory.

2. Submission Guidelines

Manuscripts submitted to the ‘Journal of Coal Chemistry’ must be accompanied by a cover letter in the format set out in Appendix 1. If no cover letter is provided, or if it does not contain all the necessary information, the article will not be accepted for consideration.

The letter, signed by the corresponding author (the author for correspondence), in .pdf format, and the full text of the article in .doc (preferably) or .docx format, should be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. By signing the cover letter, the signatory guarantees that they are duly authorised by all authors of the article to correspond on their behalf, and that all information provided in the letter is true and accurate.

3. Article formatting guidelines

The editorial team of the ‘Journal of Coal Chemistry’ employs a qualified typesetter, so we are able to avoid burdening authors with excessive requirements regarding text formatting and layout. Furthermore, please do not attempt to replicate the traditional layout of our journal, as this only creates additional difficulties for us. Nevertheless, we ask authors to adhere to the minimum requirements set out below.

3.1. Languages of publication

‘Journal of Coal Chemistry’ is published in two languages:

• Ukrainian: article title, list of authors, author details, abstract, keywords, article text;
• English: article title, list of authors, author details, abstract, keywords.

Therefore, the relevant sections of the article must be provided in both Ukrainian and English, and the versions in both languages must be authentic.

Unfortunately, we have had some disappointing experiences, so we must warn you: when preparing the English-language versions, the use of online translation tools from the internet will not be accepted. Such programmes are not designed for technical texts; they confuse terminology and even cases and genders, and, for example, turn participial phrases into something unrecognisable. We therefore kindly ask you not to cause unnecessary trouble for either us or yourselves.

In some cases, an article may be published entirely in English. In such cases, Ukrainian versions of the title, list of authors, author details, abstract and keywords must be provided.

3.2. Technical requirements for the text

The text of all sections of the article must be typed using Microsoft Word 97–2003 or 2007. The use of OpenOffice, LibreOffice and other word processors that claim to be able to generate .doc and .docx files is not permitted, as they distort the format – this applies in particular to tables and formulas. As mutual format distortion is also inherent in different versions of Microsoft Word, we strongly recommend avoiding the use of graphic and formula editors, and indeed any ‘bells and whistles’, wherever possible when typing up the article.

The preferred font is Times New Roman (size 12–14pt), with portrait page orientation. The text must not contain hyphenation or macros.

3.3. Article title and UDC

The article title should be concise, contain no more than ten to fifteen words (preferably), be informative and reflect the essence of the text. Introductory phrases such as ‘Regarding the issue of…’ and the like should be avoided. The title must be preceded by the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) code.

3.4. Author details

Details of the author(s) must include the following information: full name, academic degree/title, place of employment (with the institution’s full postal address), position, links to ORCID, Scopus and/or WoS profiles, email address, country. If there is more than one author, the corresponding author must be specified (usually, but not necessarily – the author authorised to sign the cover letter).

3.5. Abstracts

Abstracts in Ukrainian and English must be at least 1800 characters in length (including spaces). Abstracts must be:

• informative – free from general phrases and references to literature;
• substantive – concisely reflecting the main content of the article and the research findings.

The English-language abstract must be written in high-quality English.

3.6. Keywords

Keywords (listed in the relevant language below both abstracts) provide specific details about the research but are not of a general nature. They should comprise 5–8 words or phrases that reflect the content of the work, separated by commas.

3.7. Structure of the main text

The main text of the article may be divided into subheadings (e.g. introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, conclusions). In this case, the headings and subheadings are numbered.

3.8. List of references

• Arranged in the order in which references appear in the text;
• May be formatted at the author’s discretion, in accordance with the Ukrainian National Standard DSTU 8302:2015 ‘Information and Documentation. Bibliographic References. General requirements and rules for compilation’ or one of the styles included in the recommended list of styles for compiling lists of scientific publications by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine: American Psychological Association (APA) Style, Harvard style. Within a single article, all references must be formatted in the same style.
• In all references to articles assigned a DOI, this index must be provided;
• Self-citation must not exceed 30% of the bibliography (this refers to references to publications by the author(s) of the article);
• Works by authors referenced in the article are indicated in the text in square brackets by the serial number of that work in the list of references.

3.9. Conclusions

A logical presentation of the most important research findings obtained by the author(s) themselves, in line with the stated aim and title of the article, which demonstrate scientific novelty and are of theoretical and/or practical significance.

• Conclusions should be concise, specific, and not repeated verbatim across all language versions of the abstract.
• Arguments must be logical and structured; the data presented in the article support and substantiate the conclusions.
• The conclusions take into account a significant body of literature on the topic of the article.
• Where necessary, the conclusions should indicate prospects for further research.

3.10. Figures

The title of a figure must not exceed 12 words.

Figures, graphs and diagrams must be inserted into the text of the article at the appropriate points as PDF files (excluding numbering, titles and figure captions).

Diagrams and graphs must be formatted correctly (axis labels must be provided, units of measurement in the SI system must be indicated, there must be no coloured or gradient fills, the font size when printed must not differ visually from the body text of the article (±1 pt), no borders around figures or legends).

Details (elements) are labelled in the figures, and the figure caption provides a brief but informative explanation of the labels.

Figures are numbered in the order in which they are referenced in the text. References in the text must be made to all figures. They consist of the word ‘Fig.’ followed by the number.

It is preferable that the figures in the article are consistent in style.

3.11. Tables

A table should be placed after the first reference to it in the text. All tables must be referenced in the text. References consist of the word ‘Table’ followed by the table number.

All tables must be numbered. To the right and above the table title, the word ‘Table’ is written in capital letters, followed by its serial number in Arabic numerals.

Each table must have a title, which is placed above the table and aligned with the text. The word ‘Table’ and the title begin with a capital letter. The title is set in bold type.

3.12. Units of measurement

In accordance with DSTU 365.1–97, the value of a physical quantity and the unit of measurement (including % and ºC) must be separated by a space. Exceptions are symbols placed above the line, before which no space is placed (for example, when specifying the size of a plane angle in degrees, minutes, seconds – 15º, 5'12").

Appendix 1

Cover Letter Template

To the Editor-in-Chief
of the journal ‘Coal Chemistry Journal’
Oleksandr BORYSENKO, PhD,
Senior Researcher
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

We are submitting the following article for your consideration with a view to its subsequent publication in your journal: ____________________________________________________
(Authors’ full names, article title)
________________________________________________________________________
(where applicable – details of sponsors, grants, etc.)

I, ____________________________________________, authorised
(Full name, contact telephone number)
to represent the interests of the group of authors (corresponding author), agree to the transfer of copyright to the State Enterprise ‘UKHIN’ regarding the above-mentioned article in all forms and on all media within the limits specified in the relevant section of the ‘Coal Chemistry Journal’ website.

The authors confirm that they agree to the terms of publication in the "Coal Chemical Journal", in particular to the Terms of copyright objects using, similar to the Creative Commons Attribution CC BY license (see the Journal's web-page, "Editorial Policy", section 2.2.) and guarantee that the article:

• was written by them; the scientific results presented therein were obtained by the authors or are accompanied by references to primary sources;
• is original, is not under consideration by another journal and has not been previously published;
• does not violate any ethical standards, nor does it disclose state and/or commercial secrets;
• does not contain plagiarism or give rise to conflicts of interest;
• has been written without the use of artificial intelligence, except for formatting, proofreading, translation and other technical purposes.

Author details (full name, academic degree/title, place of employment with the institution’s full postal address, position, links to ORCID, Scopus and/or WoS profiles, country, email address)
__________________________________________________________________
(to be attached / included in the text of the article after the title)

On behalf of the authors:

Full name_______________________ Signature__________________ Date___________________