Submission guidelines

The Energy Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics.

Please read the guidelines below, then visit the Journal’s submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/energyjournal to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned. Remember you can log in to the submission site at any time to check on the progress of your paper through the peer review process.

Sage disseminates high-quality research and engaged scholarship globally. We are committed to diversity and inclusion in publishing and encourage submissions from a diverse range of authors across all countries and backgrounds.

Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of The Energy Journal will be reviewed.

The submission fee for articles submitted to The Energy Journal is $150. (There is no fee if at least one author is an IAEE member.) An author of a desk rejected papers may apply for a refund of submission fees minus a $30 administrative charge. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.

As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work; that you own the rights and have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you; that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal, that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere. Please see our guidelines on prior publication. If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.

Note that The Energy Journal will consider submissions of papers that have been posted on preprint servers; please alert the Editorial Office when submitting (contact details are at the end of these guidelines) and include the DOI for the preprint in the designated field in the manuscript submission system. Authors should not post an updated version of their paper to a preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in the Journal. If your paper is accepted, you will need to contact the preprint server to ensure the final published article link is attached to your preprint. Learn more about our preprint policy here.

If you have any questions about publishing with Sage, please visit the Sage Journal Solutions Portal.

1. What do we publish?

1.1 Aims & scope

At The Energy Journal we strive to publish a blend of theoretical, empirical and policy related papers in energy economics. Interdisciplinarity is welcome, but only as long as the central focus is the economics of energy. The following papers are generally not acceptable:

• on energy issues in which no economic implications are analysed;
• on climate topics in which no energy issues are explicitly dealt with;
• on economic issues where energy plays just a minor part.

Before submitting your manuscript to the journal, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.

1.2 Article types

• Research Articles that deal with theoretical or applied problems of continuing interest in energy economics.
•  An 'Energy Perspectives' section which contains refereed papers that review or analyse important current issues from a broader vantage point. Review papers are also considered. This section is by-invitation only, but you may submit ideas to the Editor-in-Chief (please check carefully the scope of the journal in this section first). The content should have sufficient breadth and depth to be a suitable Perspectives submission.
•  A ‘Book Review’ section which examines books and topical government reports (national and international) on energy economics, energy policy and related areas.

Special Issues of the Energy Journal are by invitation only. The Editorial Board of The Energy Journal will propose Special Issues that will be assigned to Special Issue editors.

2 Editorial policies

2.1 Peer review policy

The Journal’s policy is to have manuscripts reviewed by two expert reviewers. The Energy Journal utilizes a single-anonymized peer review process in which the reviewer’s name and information are withheld from the author. All manuscripts are reviewed as rapidly as possible, while maintaining rigor. Reviewers make comments to the author and recommendations to the Editor who then makes the final decision.

Sage does not permit the use of author-suggested (recommended) reviewers at any stage of the submission process, be that through the web-based submission system or other communication.

Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Our policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:

• The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors.
• The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper.
• The author has recommended the reviewer.

The Energy Journal is committed to delivering high quality, fast peer-review for your paper, and as such has partnered with Web of Science (previously Publons). Web of Science is a third-party service that seeks to track, verify and give credit for peer review. Reviewers for The Energy Journal can opt in to Web of Science in order to claim their reviews or have them automatically verified and added to their reviewer profile. Reviewers claiming credit for their review will be associated with the relevant journal, but the article name, reviewer’s decision and the content of their review is not published on the site. For more information visit the Web of Science website.

2.2. Fast-tracking of papers

Papers from selected IAEE conferences or working paper series may be invited for fast-tracking to The Energy Journal.

2.3 Appealing the publication decision

Editors have very broad discretion in determining whether an article is an appropriate fit for their Journal. Many manuscripts are declined with a general statement explaining the rejection decision. These decisions are not eligible for formal appeal unless the author believes the decision was based on an error in the review of the article, in which case the author may appeal the decision by providing the Editor with a detailed written explanation of the error they believe occurred.

If an author believes the decision regarding their manuscript was affected by a publication ethics breach, the author may contact the publisher with a detailed written description of their concern, and information supporting the concern, at publication_ethics@sagepub.com.

Appeal requests must be made in writing to the Journal (authors can find the  email address on the Journal homepage) with the word “Appeal” and the manuscript reference number in the subject line. Appeals will only be considered for manuscripts that have been peer-reviewed and will not be considered for those rejected outright by the Journal editorial team. The appeal must be submitted by the corresponding author of the manuscript. All authors must agree to the submission of the appeal.

Corresponding authors must:

• submit their appeal within 1 month of the date on which the authors receive the editorial decision.
• not submit their manuscript to any other journal or start a transfer process to another journal while their appeal is being considered.
• detail in the appeal letter why they refute the decision and provide point-by-point responses to any of the editors’ and/or reviewers’ comments that may have contributed to the rejection decision, together with supporting evidence. Please note that appeals will not be considered where manuscripts have been rejected because they do not comply with Journal publishing policies or where there is a difference of opinion as to the interest, novelty, or suitability of the manuscript for the Journal.
• provide supporting evidence if they believe the Editor or Reviewer has made technical errors in their assessment of the manuscript.
• provide supporting evidence if they believe the Editor or the Reviewer may have a conflict of interest or has been biased.

 

2.4 Procedure for reviewing submitted papers that involve one of the Editors

The Editors or members of the Editorial Board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in the Journal (see the Submission Guidelines). In these cases, the peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Board and the submitting Editor/Board member will have no involvement in the decision-making process.

The Editor-in-Chief will send the paper to one of the other Editors. The Editor in charge will collect a minimum of three referee reports. The final decision must be agreed by the assigned Editor and the Editor-in-Chief.

The Editor involved in a submitted paper will only see the normal correspondence between the Editor in charge and authors. All other correspondence between other Editors and the Editor-in-Chief will remain confidential.

3 Writing your paper

The most important element when writing your paper (assuming that the scholarship is sound) is a demonstration of its contribution and its relevance. Does the paper make a significant and original contribution to energy economics? Does it say something worth saying? Is it timely?

Make sure to explain clearly the contribution and relevance of the paper in the Introduction, and also to motivate it effectively: you need to show the relevance of your research, and how it fits in the current context.

Do note that explaining the contribution does not mean listing what you do in the paper. It means arguing that what you have done is original and significant, in a way that can be verified by knowledgeable reviewers.

Also, keep it as simple as possible: a paper does not become better by including more results, or covering more topics. One good idea is enough.

Please note that The Energy Journal rejects without review a very high percentage of the papers submitted, usually because of the lack of clear contribution, or on being out of scope (see 1.1 above).

Visit the Sage Author Gateway for general advice on how to get published, plus links to further resources.

Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance your article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.

3.1. Use of AI tools

The use of AI tools that can produce content such as generating references, text, images or any other form of content must be disclosed when used by authors or reviewers. Authors should cite original sources, rather than Generative AI tools as primary sources within the references. If your submission was primarily or partially generated using AI, this must be disclosed upon submission so the Editorial team can evaluate the content generated. 

 

Authors are required to follow Sage guidelines, and in particular to:

1. Clearly indicate the use of language models in the manuscript, including which model was used and for what purpose. This information should be in the ‘methods’ or ‘acknowledgements’ section, as appropriate.
2. Verify the accuracy, validity, and appropriateness of the content and any citations generated by large language models (LLMs). Correct any errors, biases or inconsistencies.
3. Be conscious of the potential for plagiarism where the LLM may have reproduced substantial text from other sources. Check the original sources to be sure you are not plagiarizing someone else’s work.
4. Be conscious of the potential for fabrication where the LLM may have generated false content, including getting facts wrong, or generating citations that don’t exist. Ensure you have verified all claims in your article prior to submission.
5. Please note that AI bots such as ChatGPT should not be listed as an author on your submission.   

 

While submissions will not be rejected because of the disclosed use of generative AI, if the Editor becomes aware that Generative AI was inappropriately used in the preparation of a submission without disclosure, the Editor reserves the right to reject the submission at any time during the publishing process. Inappropriate use of Generative AI includes the generation of incorrect text or content, plagiarism or inaccurate attribution to prior sources. 

3.2  Authorship

All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.

Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information read the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.

3.2.1 Third party submissions
Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:

• Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input
• Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
• Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.

Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.

3.2.2 Articles that involve one of the Editors

Single authored research articles by one of the editors, or those involving two or more editors, will not be considered for publication in The Energy Journal, only co-authored articles involving one editor will.

An editor will not be the corresponding author of a research article; this must be one of the other co-authors.

However, there may be occasions where the editors might be invited to write an ‘Energy Perspectives’ paper.

3.3  Acknowledgements

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.

Any acknowledgements should appear first at the end of your article prior to your Declaration of Conflicting Interests (if applicable), any notes and your References.

It is best practice to obtain consent from non-author contributors who you are acknowledging in your paper.         

 

3.4  Funding

The Energy Journal requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading.  Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding.

3.5  Declaration of conflicting interests

The Energy Journal encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.

3.6 Research data

The Energy Journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages.

Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:

• Share their research data in a relevant public data repository
• Include a data availability statement linking to their data. If it is not possible to share their data, use the statement to confirm why it cannot be shared.
• Cite this data in their research

If you need to anonymize your research data for peer review, please refer to our Research Data Sharing FAQs for guidance.

3.7 Publication ethics

Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors, and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway.

3.7.1 Plagiarism

The Energy Journal and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the Journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarized other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

3.8 Open access and author archiving

The Energy Journal offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice program and Read and Publish agreements, where authors at participating institutions can publish open access with fees paid by the institution. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage. For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access. For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies.

4 Preparing your manuscript for submission                            

4.1 Formatting

Manuscripts must be submitted in either Word or PDF format. Electronic MS Word files must incorporate all text, tables, equations and graphics. Equations should be in equation editor (or MathType) format. Make sure that they have not inadvertently been converted to a graphic. Latex documents must be compiled into a PDF.

Manuscripts should be single-column, double-spaced using 12-point font on a page 8.5 x 11 inches or A4. The first page should contain the article title, author(s) name(s) and complete affiliation(s), title, and complete mailing address of the person to whom all correspondence should be addressed. Pages must be numbered. An abstract of no more than 150 words must be included. Please include keywords below the abstract. Manuscripts, (including abstract, footnotes, and references) may not exceed 25-35 pages or 9,500 words. Appendices may be provided separately that do not count towards the length limit. Manuscripts that do not conform to these guidelines will not be reviewed.

Mathematical expressions should be set in italic type with all equations numbered consecutively on the right-hand side of the page. Articles should carry no more than 12 complex equations (defined as multi-lined equations).

Tables should be numbered consecutively. All tables should have concise titles.

Footnotes should be numbered consecutively with superscript Arabic numerals. Footnotes are placed at the bottom of each page.

All figures should be numbered consecutively throughout the text.

Submitted papers may undergo electronic web-based analysis to ensure their originality and to identify possible cases of plagiarism. Submission to The Energy Journal implies that the authors grant permission that such analyses may be performed.

4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics

Figures must be submitted as camera-ready copy in a form suitable for reproduction. In addition to the figures placed in the manuscript files, each figure must be provided unembedded as a separate, high-resolution file (at least 300 ppi, and 600 ppi recommended) for typesetting. Acceptable file formats include TIFF and JPEG for pictures (containing no text or graphs), and EPS for graphs and line art (to retain quality when enlarging/zooming in). For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines.

Figures supplied in color will appear in color online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version. For specifically requested color reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.

4.3 Supplemental material

This Journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g., supplementary materials such as appendices, podcasts, videos, images etc.) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files.

4.4 Reference style

The Energy Journal adheres to the Chicago Manual of Style. View the Chicago Manual of Style to ensure your manuscript conforms to this style.

References should be provided using the author-date citation system. Papers should include an alphabetical reference list of all works cited. You may also review recent issues of The Energy Journal to see our referencing style. Examples follow:

Style for In-text referencing:

As Henderson (1986) show…

Style for Book:
Chandler, Alfred (1977). The Visible Hand. Cambridge: Belknap Press.

Style for Report:
Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Economics (1979). The Economic Structure and Behavior of the Natural Gas Production Industry. Staff Report.

Style for Journal Article:
Henderson, J.S. (1986). "Price Determination Limits in Relation to the Death Spiral." The Energy Journal 7(3): 150-200.

4.5 English language editing services

Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to conform with Journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information.

5 Submitting your manuscript

The Energy Journal is hosted on Sage Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/energyjournal  to login and submit your article online.

IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you have an account.  For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.

5.1 ORCID

As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name. Through integration of key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, ORCID supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.

If you already have an ORCID ID you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID ID will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID ID is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.

If you do not already have an ORCID ID please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.

5.2 Information required for completing your submission

You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and to identify the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage, please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

5.3 Permissions

Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway.

6 On acceptance and publication           

6.1 Contributor's publishing agreement

Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive license agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and license to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information, please visit the Sage Author Gateway.

6.2 Sage Production

Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal Sage Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or by prompt notification to us. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.

6.3  Online First publication

Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication/dissemination. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.

6.4 Access to your published article

Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

6.5 Promoting your article

Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. Upon acceptance, you will be requested to provide a very short summary of your paper for dissemination through social media.

The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.

For information and guidance on how to make your article more discoverable, visit our Gateway page on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online. 

7 Further information

Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the editorial office at energyjournal@iaee.org.

Book Reviews

To submit Books for review, please contact the Managing Editor at energyjournal@iaee.org.

Senior Book Review Editor: Carol Dahl, Colorado School of Mines, cadahl@mines.edu

Book Review Editor: Timothy W. T. Fitzgerald, Texas Tech University, Timothy.Fitzgerald@ttu.edu