Peer Review for Journals Author Center

Manuscript Central: Login Instructions

To submit your paper please use Manuscript Central. To access Manuscript Central, please use one of the links below, depending on which publication you would like to submit to.

• IEEE/ACM Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (TCBB)
• IEEE Computer Architecture Letters (CAL)
• IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing (TAC), coming soon
• IEEE Transactions on Computers (TC)
• IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing (TDSC)
• IEEE Transactions on Haptics (ToH)
• IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering (TKDE)
• IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies (TLT)
• IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing (TMC)
• IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems(TPDS)
• IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (TPAMI)
• IEEE Transactions on Services Computing (TSC)
• IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering (TSE)
• IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG)

Sign in to Manuscript Central using your User ID and password. If you already have an account but have forgotten your login or password, enter your email address in the area "Password Help. Enter your e-mail address to receive an e-mail with your account information". If you do not receive a response email within one day, or if you do not already have an account, click on "New User? Register here". The bolded fields in the account information area are required information.

We ask that you enter some keywords in the "keyword" text box. Our system links keywords to the names of potential reviewers, a feature that expedites the review process. Also, if you anticipate that you will need to be notified by more than one email address, please include it in the "2nd email (CC)" field. You may mark this email address "active" or "inactive" as appropriate.

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Uploading Materials for Peer Review

After you sign in, click "author center" in the main menu. Then click "submit first draft of a new manuscript". The system will guide you through the process. Files may be edited after uploading.

Editing Uploaded Files (Prior to Submission)

• Order: Please be sure to keep your main manuscript as number 1 in the list. Click on the pull-down menu in the "order" column and select the appropriate number. For example, if you want a file that is third in the list to appear second, then change the 3 to a 2.
• Category: To change the category of a file, click on the pull-down menu next to the category name and select a different category from the list.
• Change Description: To change the description of a file click on the "i" button and type a new description into the field.
• Delete: To delete a file you have uploaded click the "x" button. If you are deleting a file that was converted into PDF format, please be sure to delete both the original file and the file for review.

Proofing and Submitting Files

It is imperative that you carefully proofread your uploaded files before completing the submission process, as we do not allow duplicate submissions. Please check all special characters, mathematical symbols, Greek letters, equations, tables and images, to ensure that they appear properly.

Errors can be corrected by going to the original document located on your computer and making any necessary changes. Then, return to the file upload center (screen 10), click "uploaded file ID", and re-upload the corrected manuscript, again making sure to proofread it carefully. You may delete any previously uploaded files by clicking on the trashcan icon.

You may leave files in the file manager and return to them later; however, please be aware that your paper is not entered into the system and we cannot begin the review process until you click the "submit your manuscript" button on screen 12.

Emailing Corrected Files (After Submission)

If you find that you have made an error in the submission of your manuscript (e.g,. uploaded the wrong file, left one or more files out, etc.), please email the coordinator for the title you are submitting to. Do not attempt to delete and/or resubmit it into Manuscript Central, as this will only produce duplicate entries of the paper.

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Templates

These templates are only meant to aid you in preparing a draft of your manuscript for peer-review, but they do not and will not reflect the final format for publication. The published paper will appear as formatted by IEEE Computer Society publication staff. Note that the single column template should only be used for peer review and not final submission.

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Manuscript Types & Page Lengths

The following table shows the various manuscript types and lengths accepted by IEEE Computer Society journals.

Please note that double column papers will translate more readily into the final publication format.

* Special Issue papers must adhere to the same page limit as regular and short papers. Please contact our Associate Manager, Peer Review and Periodical Administration for more information regarding Special Issue papers.

A double column page is defined as a 7.875" x 10.75" page with 9.5-point type, 12-point vertical spacing, and 1/2 inch margins. A single column page is defined as an 8.5" x 11" page with 12-point type and 24-point vertical spacing, containing approximately 250 words. All margins should be one inch (top, bottom, right and left). These length limits are taking into account reasonably-sized figures and references.

Submissions must include the following elements: title page, abstract, index terms, illustrations, and bibliography. References should appear in a separate bibliography at the end of the paper, with items referred to by numerals in square brackets. Figures and tables must be sized as they are to appear in print. Figures should be placed exactly where they are to appear within the text. We ask that you embed the figures in order to provide a smoother review process for the editors and reviewers. Figures not correctly sized will be returned to the author for reformatting.

Our Vice President for Publications has asked us to strictly enforce these guidelines. So although we may have allowed papers to be submitted in different formats in the past, we are no longer doing so. For further style or formatting information, please consult the IEEE Computer Society Style Guide.

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Comments Paper/Correspondence Item

A comments paper is a paper commenting on an error one has found in, or a disagreement one has with, a previously published paper.

When submitting a comments paper, you must include the title and/or log number of the previously published paper. The journal coordinator will retrieve as much information as possible about the paper being commented on, and will forward the appropriate materials to the Editor-in-Chief (EIC). If the editor who was assigned to the previously published paper is no longer available, the EIC will assign the comments paper to another editor whose expertise areas closely match the paper's topic.

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Keywords/Index Terms

Keywords should be taken from the taxonomy. Using the keywords from the keyword list is essential to the review process because Manuscript Central links them to names of potential reviewers who are associated with that area of expertise, thereby expediting the review process. We encourage all users to include keywords as part of their account information. If you currently do not have keywords included as part of your account information, you may add them by clicking the "edit your information" button on the main menu. Scroll down the page until you reach the "keywords" box. You may then select the keywords that apply to you from the list provided.

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Abstracts

An abstract must clearly state the nature and significance of the paper and is required at the head of the manuscript. Abstracts must not include mathematical expressions or bibliographic references.

Word limits for abstracts are as follows:

• Regular/Special Issue paper – 100 to 200 words
• Short paper – 50 words

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Color Images

TCBB, TPAMI, TSE, and TVCG accept color images for print. You may indicate the presence of color images in your paper on screen 1 of the submission process. Please note that you must explain your reasoning for including color images within your manuscript in the "comments to editor-in-chief" box on screen 9. Images will be printed in color only when color is necessary. Final approval to publish in color must be given by the editor-in-chief. Color images will be printed in the CMYK color model. It is recommended that color figures intended for print be submitted in CMYK.

All journals can accept color images for use in the online version of the paper. Please indicate to the journal coordinator if you would like your paper to appear online in color, if it is not being printed in color.

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Supplemental Material

IEEE Computer Society Transactions accepts supplemental materials for review with regular paper submissions. Types of supplemental material can include: proofs, code, experimental data, short movies, appendices, animations and audio files. These materials may be published on our Digital Library with the electronic version of the paper, where they can be accessed for free. A pointer to the supplemental material will be included in the printed version. We recommend files not exceed 50 MB. Files larger than this may be returned for modification to make them smaller. All downloadable media and files that require plug-ins, viewers, or other special software not typically included in a default browser configuration should include a link to the appropriate helper application. If you are submitting a video or audio file, please include a text file with a description of your supplemental material.

If an appendix makes a manuscript exceed the page limit, you will be asked to designate the appendix as supplemental material. If the paper's appendix is not designated as supplemental material, you must reduce the paper in order to fit the page limit.

All supplemental materials must follow US copyright guidelines and may not include material previously copyrighted by another author, organization or company. If portions of your manuscript or supplemental files contain material that is the legal property of another party, you must retain pre-authorized written permission for reuse. Without proper clearance, your files will not be reviewed or published. If you do have clearance, please fax the documentation to 714.821.9975, to the attention of the journal coordinator, and mail the original along with your signed and dated IEEE copyright transfer form to:

IEEE Computer Society
10662 Los Vaqueros Circle
Los Alamitos, CA 90720-2513
USA

In order to avoid delays, we recommend that authors outside of the USA use a courier express service to send the form.

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Non-Technical Material

It is essential that discussions of the social as well as the purely technical aspects of electrical and electronics engineering work be included in IEEE Publications. The following policies shall be implemented by the Publication Services and Products Board and followed by editors and authors:

• The subject matter shall be relevant to the field of electrical or electronics engineering, or computer science, and the field's impact on society.
• Reasonable efforts shall be made to provide for adequate and timely presentations of differing viewpoints.
• Materials shall include a statement that the opinions expressed are those of the author, and no endorsement by the IEEE, its officials, or its members is implied.

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Author Contact Information

Manuscript Central requires authors to enter a name and email address while registering. Email is our primary means of communication, so it is very important to verify that all information submitted is correct.

To update your account information at any time, click the "edit your information" button in the main menu. Enter the new information in the appropriate fields and click "submit information".

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Author Affiliation

Additional institutions that contributing authors may be affiliated with can be included in the "comments to editor-in-chief" box on screen 9 of the submission process. You can also make any necessary changes to the affiliation(s) when or if you upload a revised version. Use the "previous" button until you reach screen 2 in order to make changes.

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Publication Principles on Authoship

The IEEE outlines publication principles including authorship and author responsibilities in section 8.2.1of the Publication Services and Products Board Operations Manual IEEE. Items specific, but not limited, to these principles are highlighted here:

• Authorship credit and technical contribution
• Coauthor awareness and approval of submission (or any revised version)
• Ordering of authors on manuscript
• Role of the corresponding author
• Author conduct regarding plagiarism, dual submission, previous related work, and discussion of manuscript with reviewers
• Citing the submitted paper in other relevant work under consideration for publication
• Author responsibility for obtaining written permission to use material (i.e., charts, photographs, or other graphical or textual material) copywritten by other parties

Authors are responsible for reading and adhering to these guidelines. You must withdraw your submission immediately if you are unable to comply with any of them.

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Concurrent/Duplicate Submission

Submissions must represent original material.

Papers are accepted for review with the understanding that the same work has been neither submitted to, nor published in, another journal or conference. If it is determined that a paper has already appeared in anything more than a conference proceeding, or appears in or will appear in any other publication before the editorial process is completed, the paper will be automatically rejected.

Papers previously published in conference proceedings, digests, preprints, or records are eligible for consideration provided that the papers have undergone substantial revision, and that the author informs the journal coordinator at the time of submission.

The question regarding concurrent submission appears on screen 1 in Manuscript Central. Concurrent submission to these journals and other publications is viewed as a serious breach of ethics and, if detected, will result in immediate rejection of the submission.

We do not accept duplicate submissions of manuscripts. If you need to notify us of significant changes to the paper, please contact us. Please do not attempt to upload modified versions of papers that are already in Manuscript Central. Identical submissions will be immediately rejected.

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Preliminary/Conference Version(s)

If any portion of your submission has previously appeared in or will appear in a conference proceeding, you should notify us at the time of submitting, make sure that the submission references the conference publication, and supply a copy of the conference version(s) to our office. Please also provide a brief description of the differences between the submitted manuscript and the preliminary version(s).

You must select the appropriate designation for the files on screen 6 of the uploading process. The proper designation of files will help the editors and reviewers with differentiating between the files.

Please be aware that editors and reviewers are required to check the submitted manuscript to determine whether a sufficient amount of new material has been added to warrant publication. The IEEE Computer Society's guidelines specify that authors should only submit original work that has neither appeared elsewhere for publication, nor which is under review for another refereed publication. If you have used your own previously published material as a basis for a new submission, then you are required to cite the previous work(s) and clearly indicate how the new submission offers substantively novel or different contributions beyond those of the previously published work(s). Any manuscript not meeting this criteria will be rejected. Copies of any previously published work affiliated with the new submission must also be included as supportive documentation upon submission.

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IEEE Review Process Statement

The IEEE shall not accept or publish manuscripts in an archival journal without prior peer review. There shall be a review process of manuscripts by two or more independent referees who are conversant in the pertinent subject area. Editors of all regular technical periodical IEEE publications, except IEEE SPECTRUM and Society newsletters, shall follow the review process which shall be defined in the Publications Services and Products Board (PSPB) Operations Manual. Reviewers shall treat the contents of papers under review as privileged information not to be disclosed to others before publication. It is expected that no one with access to a paper under review will make any inappropriate use of the special knowledge which that access provides. Contents of abstracts submitted to conference program committees shall be regarded as privileged as well, and handled in the same manner.

Periodicals which are published in cooperation with non-IEEE organizations shall be encouraged to have a review policy that ensures the quality of papers. This policy should be generally consistent with the IEEE review policy contained in Policy 6.10 and procedures which shall be specified in the PSPB Operations Manual.

The review process shall ensure that all authors have equal opportunity for publication of their papers. Acceptance and scheduling of publication of papers in these periodicals shall not be impeded by added criteria and procedures beyond those contained in the review process.

To view the operations manual, or read IEEE Policy Section 6-Publication Activities in its entirety, visit the IEEE Publication Services and Products Board page.

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Requesting/Excluding Reviewers

You must indicate the reason for requesting or excluding reviewers in the "comments to editor-in-chief" box on screen 9 of the submission process.

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Double-Blind Review

The peer review process assures the anonymity of the reviewers. You can request review in which your identity is also kept from the reviewers. This is called a double-blind review. Requests for a double-blind review should be clearly indicated during the submission process. While you may request a double-blind review, such requests must be accompanied by an explanation in the cover letter on why the double-blind review is being requested. Furthermore, papers requesting double-blind review must still provide copies of and difference from related papers by the authors that have been previously published.  It is your responsibility to ensure that all electronic files (including but not limited to supplemental material and preliminary/conference versions), file properties, and materials submitted for double-blind review do not reveal your identity or the identities of contributing authors.  Note that author anonymity for papers with preliminary versions cannot be guaranteed due to the possibility that reviewers may search for those versions on the Web.

Requests for double-blind reviews will be honored at the discretion of the Editor in Chief based on the reasons behind the requests.

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Length of Review Process

The length of the review process varies between papers, and many factors affect the time it takes to review a paper. The time it takes for an associate editor to be assigned, and for available, qualified reviewers to be located, depends on the complexity and the type of material submitted for review. Each publication makes a concerted effort to keep the review time to a minimum that is consistent with keeping the publications reputation for quality and integrity. Each submission placed into review is sent to at least three reviewers, making one submission correspond to roughly three review requests. The review process for our transactions journals may take approximately six months to be completed. For IEEE Computer Architecture Letters the response time from submission to author notification currently averages one month.

Since we make an effort not to "over use" individual reviewers, we hope that you will make it a priority to help with the review of other submissions when we call upon you.

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Submitting Final Publication Materials

When your paper is accepted for publication, below is the author checklist designed to help you meet the final submission requirements. Please note that all IEEE Computer Society Transactions papers are edited electronically; therefore, electronic materials are required for all final submissions.

You will be required to submit your final publication materials by the due date given in the acceptance letter. To avoid delays in the publication process, please refer to the author checklist below when preparing your materials.

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Online first publication model

The IEEE Computer Society uses an online first publication model, which means that your paper will be posted online shortly after you submit all publication materials. The PDF you submit will be stamped as a "PrePrint" posted to the IEEE Computer Society Digital Library (CSDL) and sent to the IEEE for posting in Xplore. After your paper has been edited and you have reviewed your proofs, it will then be restamped as a "RapidPost," indicating that the paper is complete with the exception of pagination. If for any reason you would prefer not to have your paper posted as a PrePrint, please advise the journal coordiator immediately; otherwise, your paper will be submitted for online posting shortly after all materials are received.

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Mandatory Overlength Page Charges

The following policy on madatory overlength page charages applies to the journals listed below.

• IEEE Transactions on Computers
• IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing
• IEEE Transactions on Haptics
• IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering
• IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing
• IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems
• IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence
• IEEE Transactions on Services Computing
• IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering
• IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics

In its mission to maintain a consistent and high quality publication process, the IEEE Computer Society follows a strict policy on the lengths of both submitted manuscripts and final papers. Submission length restrictions not only encourage authors to submit concise papers that readers will appreciate, but they help to keep the review process timely. Length limits on final papers help maintain uniform editorial standards and consistency with page budgets.

So that manuscripts meet submission requirements, supporting but nonessential information should be submitted as supplemental material. However, there may occasionally be an accepted (final) paper for which an editor-in-chief determines that an exception to the standard limit is appropriate and that from one to four additional pages are needed. The IEEE Computer Society allows for this possibility within its policy on mandatory overlength page charges.

Independent of any voluntary page charges, the IEEE Computer Society assesses the authors of accepted papers that exceed the regular paper length limit a fee called Mandatory Overlength Page Charges (MOPC). The regular paper page length limit is defined at 14 formatted transactions pages, including references and author biographies. Any pages or fraction thereof exceeding this limit are charged $200 per page. Regular papers may not exceed 18 formatted transactions pages. Authors will be notified of any assessed charges when galley proofs are sent for review. Payment must be sent at the time galley proofs are approved by the author. The Computer Society's policy on page limits as described here is strictly enforced.

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Copyright Form & Policy

The author is responsible for obtaining copyright releases and corporate and security clearances prior to submitting material for consideration. It is the IEEE's policy to assume that all clearances are granted when a paper is submitted.

Please use one of these official forms below when submitting a manuscript.

• PDF Copyright Form
• Word DOC Copyright Form

The copyright form should be printed out, reviewed, and signed and dated (by hand). To avoid delays and ensure that the form is kept with the correct manuscript, the top portion of the form should be completely filled out with the manuscript title, the names of each author, and the name of the publication to which the manuscript has been submitted.

The original, signed form should be mailed to the journal coordinator at the address below.

IEEE Computer Society
10662 Los Vaqueros Circle
Los Alamitos, CA 90720-2513
USA

In order to avoid delays, we recommend that authors outside of the USA use a courier express service to send the form. For more information regarding IEEE copyright policies, please see our Copyright & Trademark Information page.

This paper by Harold Stone (PDF) outlines basic author responsibilities in the area of copyright, re-use of material from your own previous publications and as well as publications by others. It also touches on issues of duplicate, simultaneous, and plagiarized publications. All authors should be familiar with the guidelines summarized in Table 1 of this paper.

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