The first issue of Automatica and Informatics was signed for print on March 8, 1967. Since then, the journal was published without interruption, despite the difficulties in the different periods of its existence. The journal is the legal successor of the Automatica and Computing Technology (Avtomatika i izchislitelna tekhnika, 1967-1984), renamed in the Automatica, Computing Technology and Automated Systems (Avtomatika, izchislitalna tekhnika i avtomatizirani sistemi, 1985-1990). In 1991 it received its current name Automatica and Informatics (Avtomatika i informatika). Since 1993, its publisher is John Atanasoff Society of Automatics and Informatics (SAI) at the Federation of the Scientific Engineering Unions in Bulgaria.
Automatica and Informatics is a specialized Bulgarian scientific edition for automatica and informatics – two leading and fastest growing areas of scientific and technological progress in Bulgaria and in the world. The topics of the journal are focused entirely on such current and priority areas as automatica, control systems, automation, informatics, information technologies, computer science, information systems, intelligent systems, data mining, artificial intelligence, robotics, big data, software engineering, programming, cybersecurity, neural networks, pattern recognition, machine learning, innovative solutions, modern methods of engineering training, achievements and applications. This list is not exhaustive due to the rapid development of these scientific fields and the constant emergence of new directions in them. This profile and thematic focus outline long-term prospects related to the development of modern technologies and production.
The interdisciplinary nature of automatica and information technologies determines the significant interest in scientific and applied achievements in many other scientific fields – natural sciences, technical, technology, economics, social sciences, humanities and others. This is evidenced by the reader’s interest and requests for publication from other scientific fields.
Papres in Bulgarian and English are published in the journal. Only original papers that have not been published or accepted for publication by other journals and contain original contributions are considered.
Decisions to publish papers in the journal Automatica and Informatics are taken by an International Editorial Board. The Editorial Board is attended by 49 well-known scientists in the field of automatica and informatics outside the publishing organization from 14 countries – 30 leading scientists from Bulgarian universities and institutes of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) and 19 famous scientists with affiliation in foreign universities, institutes and companies from USA (2), United Kingdom (2), Australia (3), China (1), Slovenia (2), Slovakia (1), Romania (1), Portugal (1), Poland (1), Ireland (2), New Zealand (1), Azerbaijan (1), Serbia (1). They also participate as reviewers of the papers.
From Bulgaria in the Editorial Board participate 30 prominent scientists, representatives of 14 scientific organizations and communities in Bulgaria (including one academician of BAS, one corresponding member of BAS, 21 professors and seven associate professors, all of them leading specialists in the field of automatica and informatics from the technical universities in the country – in Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Gabrovo, Ruse, Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski and from the institutes of BAS).
From abroad, in the Editorial Board participate 19 well-known scientists from 13 countries, representatives of 17 scientific organizations and communities around the world – 14 universities, two world-famous companies from USA and one scientific institute.
A large number of scientists with different competencies and specializations participate in the Editorial Board, because automatica and informatics include many subfields, and new ones are constantly emerging due to the rapid development of these scientific fields worldwide.
The concept followed by the Editorial Board is for the journal to be scientific and informative. The main goal is to include publications about the achieved original results in theoretical research with indisputable scientific contribution and degree of scientific novelty, as well as about their applied aspects. This allows the authors of the journal to present their scientific achievements. Thus, the journal provides timely information to readers about the latest achievements of science and its applications in engineering practice in the field of automatica and informatics.
In addition to the Editorial Board, the journal also has a Publishing Board, which does not participate in decision-making for the publication of papers. The Publishing Board takes part in determining the main directions for the development of the journal, performs the role of a corrective and through it the connection between science and industry is realized. The Publishing Board includes leading industry experts, as well as scientists from universities and from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
The editorial independence of the journal is ensured. Editorial decisions are made and implemented without the intervention of the publisher and the Publishing Board, in compliance with the peer review and publication ethics policies, as well as the rules for avoiding malpractice. In their activities, the editors and the Editorial Board of the journal are guided by certain ethical and organizational values, beliefs and management philosophy, which are the basis of the adopted ethical norms, principles for peer reviewing and editorial policy.
Automatica and Informatics is a peer-reviewed scientific journal. Each proposed manuscript is allowed to be published after anonymous review by two independent reviewers. The author is responsible for the published facts, data and interpretations. The principle of double anonymous peer review ensures impartiality, thoroughness, correctness and uncompromisingness. This facilitates the selection of original manuscripts with undeniable scientific contribution and scientific novelty.
Peer review assists editors in making editorial decisions and, through editorial communications with authors, may assist authors in improving their manuscripts. Peer review is an essential component of formal scholarly communication and lies at the heart of scientific endeavour. Automatica and Informatics is included in the National Reference List of Contemporary Bulgarian Scientific Publications with Scientific Review by the Bulgarian National Centre for Information and Documentation (NACID) as a scientific journal with double anonymous review.
For reviewing the received papers there is an approved relatively permanent staff of prominent Bulgarian and foreign scholars, mainly from the panel of the International Editorial Board, but if necessary, external reviewers also participate. Each paper must be reviewed anonymously by at least two and, if necessary, more independent reviewers.
The authors of the publications are predominantly Bulgarian scientists, specialists and doctoral students, but there are also publications by foreign authors.
Authors have the right to challenge editorial decisions through established communication channels.
Automatica and Informatics is published as standard in four regular issues per annum. Apart from being a print edition (ISSN 0861-7562 Print), the journal is also distributed online with open access (ISSN 2683-1279 Online) via URL: https://sai-bg.com/en/contents-en/. This enables the authors to present their scientific achievements. The requirements for their publications are great, but so are the opportunities for their realization. The journal is registered in the international database of ISSN, as well as in the ROAD portal for scientific online resources with open access.
Authors and readers have free access to the journal in order to expand the exchange of knowledge and development and maintain the quality of scientific achievements. All content is freely available without charge to the users and the institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the papers in this journal, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.
Papers published in Automatica and Informatics are indexed in Publons (WoS), Google Scholar, ResearchGate and others. Published papers in the journal are cited in papers by other authors in Publons (WoS), Google Scholar, ResearchGate, as well as in editions/books of reputable publishers such as Springer, ACM Digital Library and others.
The journal is indexed in well-known international scientific databases. As it is difficult to apply all Internet addresses, here are some examples of indexing and citation:
- Library of Congress – Washington (Bulgarian Journals at the Library of Congress, 1846-2010).
- Zentralblatt MATH.
- National Library of Ukraine.
- VLIZ – Integrated Marine Informations System – IMIS Flanders Marine Institute.
- Scientific Library M. Maksimovich.
In 2020, active actions were taken and Automatica and Informatics is under surveillance in WoS and Scopus.
The main sections of the journal are: Automatica; Informatics; Achievements and applications; Education and qualification; News, information, society.