Manuscript preparation and submission

Please note that any submission will be archived by the ScholarOne Manuscripts after a certain period of time. Once archived, the editors cannot see the the content of the submission but only the review history. The author is recommended to keep a copy of the PDF proof for future reference. The Editorial Office may require such PDF proof from the author as a supporting document for the resubmission.

Original submission

When a paper is submitted to TMI for the first time, it is referred as the original submission. As specified in the Editorial Policy, there is no strict format requirement for the original submission. The manuscript should satisfy the general requirements 1 – 5 listed in the Editorial Policy. We recommend the author to check IEEE Author Digital Tool Box for detailed information about manuscript preparation.

The original submission must be made via ScholarOne Manuscripts, which provides clear and detailed instructions on how to complete all the required steps of a submission. We recommend the submitting author to pay extra attentions to prevent the following common mistakes.

  • Incomplete author information:
    The submitting author must provide correct and complete information for all the authors. Please check the cover page of the PDF proof generated by ScholarOne Manuscripts in the last step of the submission to make sure all the authors are correctly listed.
  • Potential redundant ScholarOne Manuscripts user accounts:
    When adding co-authors, please use the search function provided by ScholarOne Manuscripts to check if the co-author already have a ScholarOne Manuscripts account. Searching by first name and/or last name is recommended since the co-author may use a different e-mail address for ScholarOne Manuscripts account.
  • Incomplete figure or table caption:
    All figures and tables must be clearly numbered and captioned so the reviewer can correctly find the one that is referred to in the text.
  • Incomplete orphan submission:
    If the submission process is interrupted or the manuscript is returned by the editorial office as 'unsubmitted', do not start a new submission by following the 'Click here to submit a new manuscript' link. Follow the 'Unsubmitted Manuscripts' link to continue the unfinished submission. All the previously entered information is kept in the ScholarOne Manuscripts and can be modified. The user can also choose to delete the previous unsubmitted manuscript if a fresh start is preferred.
  • Uploading too many files:
    The submitting author only needs to upload one Word or PDF file that contains the complete paper (text, tables, figures and references). Other files such as LaTeX source, BibTeX file, and high-resolution images are not necessary and will be deleted by the Editorial Office to reduce online storage usage.
  • Too many pages or too big PDF proof:
    We encourage the author to submit the manuscripts using single-spaced pages as mentioned in the Editorial Policy because it will be easier for the reviewers to read such 'short' papers on computer or as hard copy. If the figures are not included in the main body of the paper but are uploaded as high-resolution image files, they will appear at the end of the PDF proof. However, this approach is NOT recommended because it will not only produce unnecessarily large PDF file but also adding difficulty in finding the correspondence between figures and their references in the text.

Before the paper is sent into peer review process, the editorial office will do a quick check on the content of the submission and will return (unsubmit in ScholarOne Manuscripts) any submission with incomplete or incorrect information.

Submitting published conference paper

TMI's policy only allows to submit manuscripts to TMI describing work previously presented at a conference paper when the paper is a substantially extended version of the original conference paper. Such a submission is subject to the following requirements:

  • The conference paper must be properly referenced.
  • The new extensions must be described in a cover letter accompanying the TMI submission.

Even if the paper is sufficiently different from the conference version, copyright issues may arise. If the conference is an IEEE conference, no copyright issues shall arise. If the conference paper was not published by IEEE, the authors have to obtain permission from the publisher of their conference paper to use copyrighted material for submission to TMI.

Resubmission

If the decision on the previous submission is 'Reject/Resubmit: major revisions needed and new external review required', the author can choose to revise the paper and submit it again. Besides the same requirements specified for the original submission, the resubmission also must meet the following additional requirements.

  • The resubmission must be made via ScholarOne Manuscripts by following the 'Click here to submit a new manuscript' link. The resubmission will be assigned a new manuscript ID.
  • The author must indicate it is a resubmission and the previous manuscript ID in the cover letter. Note that a formal cover letter in the form of Word and PDF file is not necessary; the author can just provide required information in the text box during submission.
  • The author must provide detailed response for reviewers, which must contains the previous manuscript ID and every original reviewer remark immediately followed by the author's response to it. If the author chooses to use a separate file (other than the main body of the paper) for the responses, it must be uploaded and designated as 'detailed response for reviewers' during the submission process.
  • To expedite the review procedure, please make sure that the revised version has all its changes clearly marked in the manuscript — using sidebars, different text color, or similar.

Revision

If the decision on the previous submission is 'Accept pending minor revision: no external review required', the author must revise the paper and submit the revision. Besides the same requirements specified for the original submission, the revision also must meet the following additional requirements.

  • The revision must be submitted via ScholarOne Manuscripts by following the 'Manuscripts with Decisions' link and then the 'create a revision' link. If the manuscript ID of the previous submission is TMI-200x-yyy, the manuscript ID for the revision will be TMI-200x-yyy.R1. The manuscript ID for revision of TMI-200x-yyy.R1 will be TMI-200x-yyy.R2.
  • The revision must be submitted within 30 days after the decision is made on the previous submission. The author can see the number of days left in ScholarOne Manuscripts below the 'create a revision' link. If the author cannot meet or miss the revision due date, please contact the Editorial Office to request an extension, but do not submit the revision as an original submission or resubmission.
  • The author must provide detailed response for reviewers, which must contains the previous manuscript ID and every original reviewer remark immediately followed by the author's response to it. If the author chooses to use a separate file (other than the main body of the paper) for the responses, it must be uploaded and designated as 'detailed response for reviewers' during the submission process.
  • To expedite the review procedure, please make sure that the revised version has all its changes clearly marked in the manuscript &mdash using sidebars, different text color, or similar.

Final Files submission

If the decision on a submission is 'Accept', the author must prepare and submit final files for publication according to the guidelines specified in the decision letter.

  • The final submission must be made via ScholarOne Manuscripts by following the 'Awaiting final files' link and then the 'submit final files' link.
  • Within 24 hours after the final submission, all the author uploaded final files will be exported to IEEE transactions department which handles the remaining steps such as typesetting before publication. Once final files are exported, the Editorial Office cannot help the author making changes to the submission. The author will be contacted by IEEE staff editors regarding the problems with final files and proof reading and will be given a chance to make changes to the paper.