Authors are invited to submit original and high-quality scholarly manuscripts to SEAFARER: Journal of Shipping Affairs. Manuscripts should demonstrate a clear contribution to shipping operations, seafarer studies, maritime safety, ports, maritime logistics, or maritime transportation systems and must comply with the journal's scholarly, ethical, editorial, and manuscript preparation requirements.
Manuscripts must present original scholarly work that has not been published previously and is not simultaneously under consideration by another journal.
Submissions should demonstrate a substantive contribution to one or more of the journal's core areas: Shipping Operations and Maritime Transportation, Seafarers, Human Factors and Maritime Workforce, Maritime Safety, Security and Risk Management, or Ports, Shipping Logistics and Maritime Supply Chains.
Purely technical engineering manuscripts should clearly explain their relevance to shipping operations, maritime safety, vessel performance, human factors, ports, logistics, or maritime transportation.
SEAFARER applies a double-anonymous peer review process. Manuscripts submitted for review must not contain author names, affiliations, acknowledgements, or other identifying information.
Full author names, affiliations, countries, email addresses, and ORCID identifiers should be entered separately in the OJS metadata.
Manuscripts should be submitted in an editable word-processing format and should follow the official journal template where available.
The title should be concise, specific, academically informative, and accurately reflect the shipping, operational, safety, seafarer, port, logistics, or maritime transportation issue investigated.
Complete author metadata must be entered through OJS, including full name, institutional affiliation, country, email address, and ORCID identifier where available.
The abstract should normally contain approximately 150–250 words and summarize the research problem, objective, methodology, principal findings, and main conclusion or implication.
Authors should provide 3–6 keywords that accurately represent the principal maritime, operational, safety, logistics, human-factor, or methodological concepts of the study.
The Introduction should establish the maritime, operational, managerial, regulatory, technological, or social context of the study; define the research problem; identify the knowledge gap; state the research objectives or questions; and clearly explain the novelty and significance of the research.
Authors should critically engage with relevant national and international literature rather than merely describing previous studies.
Where relevant, the manuscript should explain theoretical frameworks, maritime regulations, international conventions, safety standards, operational concepts, human-factor models, risk frameworks, or logistics theories used in the analysis.
The literature review should clearly establish the research gap and demonstrate how the study contributes to shipping and maritime transportation scholarship.
The Methods section should provide sufficient detail to enable readers to understand, evaluate, and where appropriate reproduce the research.
Authors should describe the research design, study setting, data sources, participants or units of analysis, sampling procedures, instruments, collection procedures, and analytical methods.
Studies involving seafarers or maritime workers should report, where applicable, participant characteristics, recruitment procedures, sample selection, instruments, validity procedures, and ethical safeguards.
Simulation, optimization, navigation, risk-assessment, or decision-support studies should report model assumptions, input parameters, validation or verification procedures, uncertainty, and relevant operational limitations.
Studies applying methods such as FMEA, FTA, HAZID, HAZOP, Bayesian analysis, machine learning, human reliability analysis, multi-criteria decision analysis, or other risk and decision methods should clearly explain methodological assumptions and the basis of weighting, probability, scoring, or classification procedures.
Results should be presented clearly and should correspond directly to the research objectives, questions, or hypotheses.
Quantitative findings should include appropriate statistical, operational, risk, performance, or uncertainty measures where relevant.
Qualitative findings should be supported by transparent analytical procedures and should clearly distinguish evidence from interpretation.
The Discussion should interpret findings in relation to shipping practice, maritime safety, seafarer performance, port operations, logistics, regulation, or transportation systems and clearly explain the contribution to existing knowledge.
The Conclusion should directly reflect the principal findings and clearly state their scholarly, operational, managerial, safety, regulatory, or policy significance.
Recommendations for shipping companies, seafarers, ports, regulators, maritime educators, or logistics operators should be supported by the evidence presented.
Study limitations and directions for future research should be stated where appropriate.
Authors should provide the following information where applicable:
Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, authenticity, originality, ethical compliance, and interpretation of all submitted research materials.
Research involving seafarers, crew records, incident reports, vessel data, AIS information, operational logs, port information, or commercially sensitive maritime data should comply with applicable privacy, confidentiality, ethical, legal, and institutional requirements.
Vessel identities, company names, IMO numbers, crew identities, cargo information, and accident investigation data should be disclosed only when scientifically necessary and legally permissible.
Artificial intelligence systems and generative AI tools cannot be listed as authors. Substantive AI use in writing, coding, accident classification, route optimization, simulation, analysis, translation, or literature synthesis should be disclosed where relevant.
Tables, figures, charts, route maps, risk matrices, diagrams, simulation outputs, AIS visualizations, accident models, and other technical materials should be clearly numbered, titled, and cited in the manuscript text.
Units, symbols, abbreviations, scales, legends, and coordinate references should be clearly defined.
Authors are responsible for ensuring that figures, maps, company records, vessel images, and reproduced material comply with copyright, confidentiality, and permission requirements.
References should be relevant, credible, and sufficient to establish the current state of knowledge in the field.
Authors are encouraged to engage with recent peer-reviewed international literature together with appropriate foundational research.
Relevant maritime conventions, codes, regulatory instruments, standards, and official technical documents may be cited where appropriate.
Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) should be provided whenever available. References suggested or generated by AI tools must be independently verified.
Citation manipulation, fabricated references, unnecessary self-citation, or irrelevant citation practices are not acceptable. Reference formatting should follow the official journal template.
Manuscripts first undergo editorial screening for scope, originality, scholarly contribution, methodological quality, ethical compliance, and adherence to submission requirements.
Manuscripts that pass screening may proceed to double-anonymous peer review by at least two independent reviewers.
Authors receiving a revision decision should respond point-by-point to reviewer and editor comments and clearly identify changes made in the revised manuscript.
Submission of a revised manuscript does not guarantee acceptance. Final publication decisions remain the responsibility of the editorial team.
Following acceptance, manuscripts may undergo copyediting, metadata verification, reference checking, layout preparation, proofreading, and other production procedures before publication.
