Frequently Asked Questions

Q01: Can I submit manuscripts in paper via traditional mail?

A01: Since April 2001 all administration of the papers is handled via Manuscript Central; submission via other means will NOT be accepted.

Q02: How do I know whether my manuscript submission to Manuscript Central worked OK?

A02: You will receive an automatic confirmation e-mail as soon as you have uploaded the manuscript. Your manuscript will then be checked and forwarded to the Editor-in-Chief who will start the review process. If there are any technical problems with your uploaded manuscript you will be contacted by the submissions manager.

Q03: I still have problems with this Manuscript Central, who do I contact?

A03: Contact Emma MacPherson

Q04: Whom do I contact if I have questions about the status of my manuscript?

A04: Contact the Editor-in-Chief, Yuan-ting ZHANG.

Q05: When do I submit the IEEE Copyright form?

A05: Only once your manuscript has been accepted for publication you will be asked to (electronically) submit the IEEE Copyright form (details follow in the acceptance e-mail).

Q06: How long does it usually take before authors receive a decision on their manuscript?

A06: We do aim to complete review process within 6 weeks after submission. Some statistics on review times over the last five years are available. Do not hesitate to take up contact if you would like to know the status of your manuscript.

Q07: How much time do authors get to submit a revised version of their manuscripts?

A07: In case the decision is Minor Revision, the revised manuscript needs to be submitted within 1 month after the decision was made, in case of Major Revision this is 45 days.

Q08: What are the costs involved for publishing overlength papers, receiving reprints, and publishing papers with color illustrations?

A08: Under the IEEE policy, you will be requested to pay a voluntary page charge of USD 110 per page. If you pay this charge, you will be entitled to receive 100 reprinted copies of your published manuscript.
The mandatory overlength page charge is USD 250.00 per page. This payment is required for all Regular papers beyond the published seven (7) page limit, for Communications beyond the published two (2) page limit. However, if the voluntary charges are paid, the mandatory overlength charges are reduced to USD 110/page.
There is a mandatory charge for color reproduction in case you decide to include color figures in the final publication. The charge is dependent on the number of color figures as well as the number of pages they appear on.

Q09: When my paper is accepted, why do you need us to resend an electronic version of the manuscript; don't you already have that in your system?

A09: The version in Manuscript Central is in Acrobat pdf format and cannot be edited. Sometimes final editing requires to make small alterations to the text (e.g., in case of spelling mistakes), therefore we need an editable document.

Q10: Why do you need us to submit a paper version of the document according to the layout of the journal (IEEE-style)?

A10: Apart from the fact that it is needed to allow preposting on the IEEE Xplore website it allows us to estimate how many pages it will take to print it in the journal. This allows us a) to plan which papers can be grouped to form one issue, and b) determine whether additional page charges apply or not.

Q11: What kind of word processing formats do you accept for electronic versions of papers? And for what kind of operating systems?

A11: Formats of large variety of text processing software are accepted; MS-Word, MacWrite, LaTeX, etc. For operating systems please use MS-Windows, Linux, or Macintosh versions.

Q12: I just read my paper is accepted, in which issue will it be published?

A12: This is difficult to answer in a general way. It depends on the current amount of papers in queue, whether any special issues of the journal are coming up and many other factors. Therefore this can only be answered on a case-by-case basis, and it is best to ask the Editor-in-Chief directly if you need an estimate for this.

Q13: I would need to get your decision on my paper as soon as possible because I need it for a applying for a grant/approval of thesis/... Can you help me?

A13: We will do what we reasonably can to speed up the process if there are special cases, but please keep in mind that there are many people involved in reviewing your paper: 3-4 reviewers, an associate editor, and the editor-in-chief; these people are typically already very busy otherwise.

Q14: I have been invited as associate editor for a paper, how do I invite reviewers?

A14: The what-and-how on inviting reviewers can be found in this document.