EDITORS IN CHIEF
Francis Allard (France)
Filippo Busato (Italy)
HONORARY EDITOR
Bjarne Olesen (Denmark)
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Karel Kabele (Czech Republic)
Valentina Serra (Turin - Italy)
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
Ciro Aprea (Italy)
William Bahnfleth (USA)
Marco Beccali (Italy)
Umberto Berardi (Italy)
Anna Bogdan (Poland)
Alberto Cavallini (Italy)
Iolanda Colda (Romania)
Stefano Corgnati (Italy)
Annunziata D'Orazio (Italy)
Filippo de' Rossi (Italy)
Livio de Santoli (Italy)
Marco Dell'Isola (Italy)
Giorgio Ficco (Italy)
Marco Filippi (Italy)
Manuel C. Gameiro da Silva (Portugal)
Cesare M. Joppolo (Italy)
Dimitri Kaliakatsos (Italy)
Essam Khalil (Egypt)
Jarek Kurnitski (Latvia)
Renato M. Lazzarin (Italy)
Catalin Lungu (Romania)
Anna Magrini (Italy)
Zoltán Magyar (Hungary)
Rita M.A. Mastrullo (Italy)
Livio Mazzarella (Italy)
Arsen Melikov (Denmark)
Gino Moncalda Lo Giudice (Italy)
Boris Palella (Italy)
Federico Pedranzini (Italy)
Fabio Polonara (Italy)
Piercarlo Romagnoni (Italy)
Francesco Ruggiero (Italy)
Luigi Schibuola (Italy)
Giovanni Semprini (Italy)
Jorn Toftum (Denmark)
Timothy Wentz (USA)
Claudio Zilio (Italy)
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Editor-in-Chief
Giorgio Albonetti
Management Board
Filippo Busato
Paolo Cervio
Luca Piterà
Erika Seghetti
Editorial Board
Carmine Casale
Paolo Cervio
Luigi Gazzi
Pino Miolli
Marco Noro
Luca Alberto Piterà
Gabriele Raffaellini
Valentina Serra
Luigi Schibuola
Claudio Zilio
Publishing Editor
Erika Seghetti
redazione.aicarrjournal@quine.it
Sales
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Printing
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Publication ethics & Malpractice statement
AiCARR Journal follows the best standards of publication ethics and take all possible measures against publication malpractices. Our publication ethics and publication malpractice statement is mainly based on the Code of Conductand Best-Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors (Committee on Publication Ethics), regarding the ethical behaviour of all parties involved in the publication of an article (editor, author, reviewer). We embrace COPE's Core Pratice: https://publicationethics.org/core-practices
About the Journal
AiCARR Journal is a bimonthly peer-reviewed open access publication. As the official Journal of AiCARR - Italian Association of Air conditioning, refrigeration, heating and ventilation - it collects reviews, original works and case reports exploring new directions in science and cutting-edge technology systems, in the area of energy optimization in civil, industrial and commercial sectors. Its aim is to promote, stimulate and support the international research network on energy optimization in a context of rapid technological change. The Journal has six issues per year in both Italian and English languages. Each issue presents the latest developments in the standardization field and it describes applications and case histories. The authors and the scientific board members are the most eminent and expert professors, researchers and plant designers.
Author publish free of charge: this title earns income from selling advertising and subscriptions for hard copy to libraries and readers. The revenue enables it to offer its research content free online without any author or reader charges.
Editorial Process
Our journal promotes the principle of editorial independence. We prevent this principle from being compromised by any conflict of interest, business, financial or political influence.
Manuscripts are considered for publication with the understanding that they do not contain previously published material, have not been published previously and are not currently under review at another journal.
If the manuscript is accepted for publication in AiCARR Journal, the authors guarantee that it will not be published elsewhere in any other language without permission from the copyright holder.
The decision to publish a manuscript is based on a peer-review process, and acceptance of an article will be based on criteria of originality, relevance, and scientific content of the contribution. The authors may be requested to modify the text based on the comments of reviewers. Statements made in the manuscripts are the responsibility of the author and not of the editor. The opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors and may not reflect the position of the editors.
Peer Review Process
All articles undergo a double-blind peer-review process that guarantees the quality of all the contributions.
Peer review is critical to maintaining the standards of the publication.
The acceptance criteria are based on originality, relevance, and scientific relevance. Manuscripts are rapidly, strictly and fairly peer reviewed by our Board of Reviewing Editors and other members of the international community. Reviewers follow the principle of objectivity and the absence of conflict of interest. The reviewed articles are treated confidentially before their publication.
AiCARR Journal applies a double-blind improved transparent, fair and constructive review process in which both the authors' and the reviewers' identities, gender and affiliations are concealed. Research is judged fairly, keeping bias out of the equation.
Each manuscript will be thoroughly evaluated by at least two expert referees beyond our editors. Authors may be requested to modify the text based on the comments of reviewers, to which they should respond point by point. We are committed to publishing papers as quickly as possible, while maintaining scientific excellence and rigor. Final articles are published online ahead of issue publication.
Statements made in the manuscripts are under the responsibility of the author and not of the editor. Articles reflect author's opinion and it may not reflect the position of editors.
The author submits the paper to the journal via our online submission system Editorial Manager (EM provided by Aries Systems Corporation).
Authorship and Contributorship
All authors must take public responsibility for the content of their paper. The corresponding author is the person who manages the manuscript and interfaces with the editorial office, acting as the main point of contact: we consider the corresponding author as the person who handles the manuscript and correspondence during the entire publication process.
The corresponding author is asked to confirm that he/she is acting on behalf of all the co-authors (as stated in our Publishing Agreement). The corresponding author is responsible for informing co-authors of the status of the manuscript during the submission, review and publication process.
COPE also provides extensive resources on authorship and authorship disputes, and we encourage anyone involved in editorial decisions to familiarise themselves with these resources.
Editors' responsibilities
Publication decisions
The editor is responsible for deciding which of the papers submitted to the journal will be published. The editor will evaluate manuscripts without regard to the authors' race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy. The decision will be based on the paper's importance, originality and clarity, and the study's validity and its relevance to the journal's scope. Current legal requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism should also be considered.
Review of Manuscripts
The editor must ensure that each manuscript is initially evaluated for originality, being subsequently forwarded to peer review.
Confidentiality
The editor and editorial team must ensure that all information presented in a submitted manuscript is kept confidential to anyone other than the corresponding reviewers and potential reviewers, and editorial board.
Disclosure and conflicts of interest
Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted paper will not be used by the editor or the members of the editorial board for their own research purposes without the author's explicit written consent.
Citation manipulation
The editor is not allowed to manipulate the citations by pressuring authors to cite previous papers from the journal.
Reviewers' responsibilities
Contribution to editorial decisions
The peer-reviewing process assists the editor and the editorial board in making editorial decisions. Reviewers should also support the author in improving the manuscript.
Promptness
The reviewer must notify the editor whenever she feels unqualified to review properly the research reported in a manuscript or is not available to make the review within the stipulated time, so that the manuscript could be sent to another reviewer for evaluation.
Confidentiality
Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be disclosed to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.
Standards of objectivity
Reviews should be conducted objectively. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
Acknowledgement of sources
Reviewers must ensure that authors have cited all relevant sources of data used in the research and identify statements that had been previously reported in other sources and are not accompanied by the respective citation. Reviewers will notify the editor of any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.
Disclosure and conflict of interest
Reviewers should not accept to review manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies or institutions connected to the submitted work.
Authors' responsibilities
Reporting standards
Authors of manuscripts should present an accurate description of the performed work accompanied by an objective discussion of its significance. The submission guidelines of the journal should be followed (see Author Guidelines). All data, details and references necessary to replicate the work should be provided. Falsified or perceptively inaccurate declarations are considered to be unethical behavior and unacceptable.
Data access and retention
Authors should provide all necessary data relevant to support the ideas and conclusions of the research. Authors should be prepared to retain these data during the review process.
Originality, plagiarism and acknowledgement of sources
Authors will submit only entirely original works and will appropriately cite or quote the work and/or words of others. Publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work should also be cited. Authors should be careful about self-citation.
The authors of manuscripts that include illustrations, tables and/or sections of text that have been published previously elsewhere must request permission to reproduce the material from the copyright holder. This permission must be presented in written form during submission of the manuscript. In the absence of such permission, all material received will be regarded as the authors' own work.
Disclosure and conflicts of interest
All authors should include a statement disclosing any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that may be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed. In our Conflicts of interest disclosure form should be specified all economic, personal and professional relationships that could become a conflict of interests, that could be perceived as a possible conflict of interests, or that could influence the work of the author described in the manuscript. The form must be sent with the manuscript and, if the article is accepted for publication, all of the declarations will appear after the Acknowledgements section of the article. The editorial office reserves the right to reject any manuscript that does not conform to the above-described instructions. The authors will be held responsible for any false declarations or noncompliance with the instructions specified above.
Errors in published works
When authors detect noteworthy errors in their own published work, they must address it to the journal editor and assist the editorial team to correct the inaccuracy in the published paper.
Plagiarism
AiCARR Journal scrutinises all papers for evidence of plagiarism and falsified data. This encompasses multiple submissions, redundant publication, self-plagiarism, reviewer misconduct, changes to authorship after publication due to discovery of "ghost" authors, deliberate omission of funding or competing interest information. Plagiarism concerns all the materials included in the contribution including images, figures, tables, formulas, etc.
Submissions suspected of plagiarism, in whole or part, will be rejected.
Manipulation of images and figures
Images and figures cannot be modified to change the overall appearance or appearance of any specific feature. Adjustments of brightness and contrast or colour balance are acceptable but must be applied to the entire image. Features cannot be obscured and any rearrangements must be explicitly indicated by the insertion of dividing lines. Images will be examined for any indication of improper modifications. The final acceptance of all manuscripts is contingent on any concerns raised in our review of the figures being resolved.
Honest Errors - Publication of corrections
AiCARR Journal has a duty to publish corrections (errata) when errors could affect the interpretation of data or information, whatever the cause of the error (i.e. arising from author or publisher errors).
Article Retraction
Retraction could occur in case of infringements of ethical codes (i.e. multiple submission, bogus claims of authorship, plagiarism, fraudulent use of data, etc). A retraction could be used to correct errors in submission or publication under the advice of the board or members of the scholarly community. In case of retraction of an article a retraction note titled "Retraction: [article title]" signed by the authors and/or the editor is published in the paginated part of a subsequent issue of the journal and listed in the contents list. In the electronic version, a link is made to the original article. The original article is retained unchanged save for a watermark on the .pdf indicating on each page that it is "retracted."
Fraudulent Research and Research Misconduct
In the event that Editors may have reason to suspect serious search misconduct, based on comments received or your own review of an article, the article in question will be held on hold until the matter is resolved. The Editors will contact authors and any appropriate third party to ascertain whether the grounds for investigation are justified. If serious research misconduct is discovered, the Editors will contact the authors' institutions after rejecting the paper.
Despite vigorous peer-review, it is possible that a paper that is fraudulent in some manner may be published. If this is discovered, it will immediately be retracted. Retractions will include the word 'Retraction' in the title, so that they are identified as such on indexing systems.
In any case of serious research misconduct, all authors of such an article will be banned from future publication in AiCARR Journal.
Conflicts of Interest
We try to ensure that any contribution is free from undue influence. All Authors are invited to declare the absence of any conflict of interest, that may be personal, commercial, political, academic or financial. We also consider conflicts of interest those which may not be entirely apparent but that could influence the judgment of authors, reviewers and editors.
Integrity of record
A record of the existence of everything published is always maintained. The current format standard is pdf. For journals that are no longer published we ensure that either the volumes published remain available through the journal website.
Copyright transfer
As open access publication, the authors license publishing rights to the Publisher. These rights are determined by a publishing agreement between the author and Quine Business Publisher. Articles may sometimes be accepted for publication but later rejected in the publication process: in this case all rights will revert to the author.
For Scholarly Purposes, the Author retains or is granted (without the need to obtain further permission) the Retained Rights, and no rights in patents, trademarks or other intellectual property rights are transferred to the Publisher.
The Retained Rights include: the right to use the preprint or accepted author manuscript for personal use, internal institutional use and for permitted scholarly posting; and the right to use the published Journal article for personal use and internal institutional use. Commercial use or systematic distribution are excluded.
