1. Aims & Scope
Remote Sensing Technology and Application is a comprehensive academic journal that primarily publishes research articles and reviews in the fields of remote sensing theory, technology, and applications. It prioritizes the publication of novel technologies, theories, methodologies, and achievements in global remote sensing research and applications, with the aim of promoting the application of advanced technologies in Earth science research and societal development. The journal highlights research outcomes from national initiatives such as the National Natural Science Foundation projects, the National Climbing Program, and key national research projects. In response to current hotspots and emerging trends in the remote sensing field, the journal has refined its sections following discussions by the Sixth Editorial Board. The updated sections include: Microwave Remote Sensing, Optical Remote Sensing, Data Processing, Models and Inversion, Remote Sensing Applications, Expert Reviews, GIS, Remote Sensing Big Data, Smart Cities, Deep Space Exploration, Major Projects, and Review Articles. The journal welcomes submissions from researchers, scientific managers, faculty, and students worldwide engaged in remote sensing technology and related applications.
2. Requirements on Manuscript
2.1 The content of manuscripts should be logical, with clear points, reliable data and concise wording, and should not have been published elsewhere. The content should be innovative, academic, scientific and accurate, and the main results should be produced independently by the author. Articles should not involve breaches of confidentiality of scientific and technological achievements. Research results of others may be used with appropriate indication in accordance with the Copyright Law. Authors are solely responsible for any copyright liability incurred.
2.2. Manuscripts should contain the following information: article title, authors' names, authors' institutions and postal codes, abstracts in both English and Chinese, 3 to 8 keywords, main body, references, and introduction of the first author (including name, gender, age, title, degree, research areas). Funded project information, including the name, number, country and province of the project, should be included in the footer of the first page of the manuscript.
2.3 Abstracts should be self-explanatory. Structured abstracts in both Chinese and English should be adopted for research articles, consisting of Objective, Methods, Results and Conclusions. Structured abstracts including Objectives/Significance, Analysis/Comments, Conclusions/Perspectives are also recommended for review articles and other types of articles. However, it is acceptable for authors to write in a traditional manner if they feel that structured abstracts are not appropriate for their review articles.
2.4 There are no requirements as to the length of manuscripts. A distinction should be made between uppercase and lowercase letters, subscripts and superscripts, and regular and italic fonts.
2.5 Figures and tables should be self-explanatory. For accepted manuscripts, please provide drawings in vector or in a format that can be processed by Coreldraw. It is preferable to provide CDR files for further processing by the Editorial Office. Please inform the Editorial Office if other formats are used. Table and figure headings should be translated into English. Text and symbols in tables and figures should be consistent with those used in the main text. All maps involving national boundaries must be drawn on the latest geographic base maps published by China Cartographic Publishing House.
2.6. Authors should provide sufficient references in their articles to published articles by their peers, especially those published in the last two years. All referenced literature should be listed in order of citation at the end of the article. References should only include literature that is relevant to the articles and openly published.
2.7 References should be numbered in the order in which they appear in the text, according to the national GB/T7714-2015 standard, and should be translated into English. References to unpublished materials or research reports should be indicated in the text by footnotes in order.
2.8. Detailed requirements on manuscript format are available at Manuscript Template. Before submission, authors shall download the Manuscript Template to optimize and refine the content and format of their manuscripts.
3. Submission Guidelines
3.1 Please visit the official website of Remote Sensing Technology and Application(www.rsta.ac.cn) for online submission.
3.2 Editorial Office email: rsta@lzb.ac.cn (for communication between authors, readers and reviewers). The journal does not authorize the solicitation, submission or publication of articles to any other third party or agency.
3.3 High-quality articles from national or provincial funded projects or key projects will be given priority for publication. The name and number of the funded project should be given in the left-hand corner of the first page of manuscript.
3.4 The journal does not charge authors any submission/review-related fees, but only charges an Article Publication Charge (APC) for articles that have passed the review process and are intended for publication, with the amount of the APC being communicated to authors at the proofreading stage. Payment of the APC is accepted through the public account of the journal's sponsor, the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
3.5 When submitting a manuscript, please download and sign the journal's Copyright Transfer Agreement and Author Declaration document (see Author Centre). Once signed, an electronic copy of both documents (including scanned copies of the originals) should be uploaded to the submission system or sent to the Editorial Office (rsta@lzb.ac.cn).
4. Review Process
4.1 The journal adopts double-blind peer-review process. The review process includes preliminary review by editors, peer review by external experts, second peer review for revised manuscripts, and final review by the Editor-in-Chief. In the preliminary review, manuscripts with insufficient originality, serious scientific or technical flaws, lack of a significant message or outside the journal's scope will be rejected. After the preliminary review, the Editorial Office will invite at least two external reviewers to conduct a double-blind peer review on the manuscript. If there is a disagreement between the two reviewers' opinions (acceptance, rejection, or revision), the manuscript will be sent to a third expert for review and the final review comments will be determined. The final review comments (acceptance, rejection, or revision) will be forwarded to the corresponding author. Authors must respond to each review comment and submit a revised version of the manuscript for review. After peer review, the final review will be conducted by the Editor-in-Chief to decide whether the manuscript will be accepted.
4.2 Retractions of manuscripts might happen at all stages of the whole review process, which only be based on the quality of articles and reviewers' comments.
4.3 For manuscripts submitted by the Editorial Board Members or editors of the journal, they must follow all the review and editing procedures of the journal. Peer review will be handled independently from relevant Editorial Board Members, editors and their research groups. All Editorial Board Members and editors are not allowed to participate in the review, editing and employment decisions of the manuscripts written by themselves, their families or colleagues.
4.4 Preliminary review would take no more than 10 work days, peer review no more than 40 work days, and final review no more than 20 work days.
5. Other Information
5.1 Notification of acceptance or publication will be sent to the first author and corresponding author by e-mail. If necessary, the corresponding author may request a certificate of acceptance from the Editorial Office. After the acceptance certificate has been issued, authors are not allowed to make any changes to the basic information related to the copyright of the article (e.g., authorship, author affiliation and ranking, etc.).
5.2 Once the article is published, authors will be invoiced for the APC and will receive a one-off payment (i.e., the copyright transfer fee, which includes fees for the use of articles in print, CD-ROM and other forms). Authors will also receive a sample issue and 10 single copies of the journal as present from the Editorial Office. All accepted manuscripts will be published in the form of CD-ROMs and online edition and will be archived in databases. Authors who do not agree to this are encouraged to submit to other journals.