Publications FAQ

Publications Frequently Asked Questions

• FAQs for Authors
• FAQs for Reviewers
• FAQs for Associate Editors

For Authors

Q. How do I submit a manuscript?

You may submit a manuscript for one of our publications using the manuscript submission system, ScholarOne Manuscripts™. For more information, visit the Submit a Manuscript page or submit directly, via the ScholarOne system. To submit to Transactions on Multimedia, please go to S1M Transactions on Multimedia.

Q. What is the difference between the 10-page limit and the 13-page limit for submitted manuscripts?

• The 10-page limit refers to the number of pages in double-column format that are published with no expense to the author; any manuscript that is published in excess of 10 pages will incur overlength charges, which are charged at $220/page. For example: if your manuscript is accepted with a final manuscript of 12 double-column pages, you will be charged for 2 overlength pages, or $440 total. This is stated at the submission stage as a point of reference, not a page-length limitation.
• The 13-page limit refers to the maximum length we allow for new or resubmitted regular manuscript in double-column format when first going into review. Your manuscript is allowed to grow up to 16 pages (double-column) in the revision stages of review, but when it is first submitted, we will not send it to review if it exceeds 13 pages in length.

Please Note:

• Overlength charges will only be applied once a manuscript is accepted for publication, and will be based on the final version after IEEE editing (which, due to formatting edits, is not always the exact length of the author’s final submitted version).
• Manuscripts that are resubmitted after receiving a rejection decision must follow the same submission standards as a new manuscript.
• For Transactions on Multimedia, overlength charges will be applied starting at the 9th published page
• For Signal Processing Letters, we do not publish overlength manuscripts. For more information regarding Signal Processing Letters, please see the Signal Processing Letters Information for Authors. 
• Overlength page charges DO NOT apply to Fully Open Access (Topical) manuscripts, such as those that appear in the IEEE Open Journal of Signal Processing.
• Overlength page charges DO apply to Open Access manuscripts published in hybrid journals. Exceeding a journal's page limit will incur an overlength page charge of $220 USD per additional published page
• Overview articles are not subject to overlength charges.

Q. What if my manuscript does not fall under any of the provided EDICS categories?

Your manuscript must be assigned an appropriate EDICS (Editors Information Classification Scheme) category in order to go to peer review. The editor-in-chief (EiC) uses EDICS categories in order to assign your manuscript to a qualified associate editor. If your manuscript does not fall appropriately with any of the provided EDICS categories, please make sure that your manuscript fits within the scope of the journal, or research the scopes of the other SPS journals to find the best fit.

Q. Do I have to submit a copyright form when I first submit my manuscript for review?

No, you will not transfer the copyright until the manuscript has been accepted. Should your manuscript be accepted for publication, you will be given the opportunity to sign and submit the copyright form after the submission of your final files. Further, if you do not submit the copyright form immediately after submission of final files, a link to "transfer copyright" will remain open in the submitting author's Author Center under the copyright is submitted. Your manuscript will not publish until the copyright form is signed and submitted.

Q. I noticed that there was a mistake I forgot to fix before I submitted my manuscript. What should I do?

Please contact the journal’s administrator for assistance. If your manuscript has not yet gone to reviewers, it can be sent back to your author center for edits. If the manuscript has gone to reviewers, your corrections will have to be made in the revision phase, after a decision is posted. Please note that you are given the opportunity to carefully proofread all your materials before submission and therefore should only contact the journal’s administrator if the modifications are crucial and would significantly affect the content of your manuscript.

Q. How do I submit an overview article?

Authors interested in submitting overview articles are required to consult first with the editor-in-chief of their Transactions of choice before submitting a white paper proposal. White papers are limited to 2-pages and should motivate the topic, justify the proposal, and include a list of relevant bibliography materials including any available tutorial or overview articles related to the subject matter. The authors should also attach IEEE-style bios. White paper proposals should be submitted directly to the editor-in-chief. From there, the proposal will go through several approval stages (at the Editorial Board and Publication Board levels) before the author is informed whether or not the overview article proposal was accepted. 

Please Note:

• Overview articles can be up to double the length of a regular manuscript and are not subject to overlength charges.
• Journal of Selected Topics in Signal Processing overview articles are invite-only and do not follow the process outlined above.

Q. My manuscript received an AQ decision, but the status for my revision says "In Peer Review." Doesn’t AQ mean it didn’t need to go through another round of reviews?

Yes, but as soon as a manuscript (either new or in any stage of revision) is assigned to the associate editor, the status changes from "Submitted" to "In Peer Review." The status simply means that your manuscript is now with the associate editor for processing, regardless of what the next steps may be.

Q. What’s the difference between a revision and a resubmission? Why does this matter?

• In ScholarOne, a manuscript is referred to as a revision or a revised manuscript when the previous version has received an RQ or AQ decision, and has been submitted under the same manuscript ID with an .R1 or .R2 added to the end of it (e.g. if your manuscript T-IFS-99999-2014 has been given an RQ decision, the next version is considered a revision and the ID would be T-IFS-99999-2014.R1).
• In ScholarOne, a manuscript is considered a resubmission when the previous version has received an R (Reject) decision. A resubmission is treated by submission standards as a new manuscript (i.e. it must adhere to the 13-page limit), but must still be identified as a resubmission by the authors when it is submitted with both a cover letter and a response-to-reviewers letter.

Q. My manuscript got rejected twice from the same journal. Can I submit it again to the same journal? Can I submit it again to another Signal Processing Society journal?

Authors of a manuscript that has been rejected, from any journal, except for reasons of scope, are allowed to resubmit their manuscript only once. At the time of submission, authors will be asked whether they consider their manuscript to be a new submission or a resubmission of an earlier rejected manuscript. Authors are required to disclose all previous rejection decisions regardless of journal.

Q. How long can my final manuscript be?

The maximum manuscript length we will publish is 16 pages in double-column, single-spaced format, including all references, figures, and author bios. If you submit your final manuscript at greater than 16 pages, we will not publish it until it has been reduced in length (exceptions are granted only by the editor-in-chief and on a case-to-case basis).

Please Note: overview articles can be up to double the length of a regular manuscript and are not subject to overlength charges.

Q. If I decide to publish open access and pay the fee, does it mean that I do not have to pay overlength pages charges (OPCs)?

Overlength page charges (OPCs) are only applied to our hybrid publications and not to our fully open access publication: The Open Journal of Signal Processing. You will only need to pay the Article Processing Charge (APC) for our fully open access publication. However, open access articles published in our hybrid journals will carry APCs and OPCs if the article exceeds the maximum page limit.

Q. How do I pay my overlength charges?

The IEEE Reprints Department is responsible for issuing invoices to authors who incur overlength page charges. If you have yet to receive an invoice, please request one by emailing IEEE Reprints. Detailed payment instructions will appear on your invoice.

Overlength charges can be paid by credit card via fax to +1 732-981-8062, by check or money order via mail, or by wire transfer. For security reasons, IEEE does not accept credit card payments via e-mail.

Please Note:

• For all Signal Processing Society journals (excluding Transaction on Multimedia ), overlength charges will be applied starting at the 11th published page, at a rate of $220/page. For example, if your manuscript is accepted and published at 14 pages, you will incur 4 pages worth of overlength charges and your payment due will be $880.
• For Transactions on Multimedia , overlength charges will be applied starting at the 9th published page, at a rate of $220/page.
• For Signal Processing Letters, we do not publish overlength manuscripts. For more information regarding Signal Processing Letters, please see the Signal Processing Letters Information for Authors. 
• Overlength page charges DO NOT apply to Fully Open Access (Topical) manuscripts, such as those that appear in the IEEE Open Journal of Signal Processing.
• Overlength page charges DO apply to Open Access manuscripts published in hybrid journals. Exceeding a journal's page limit will incur an overlength page charge of $220 USD per additional published page.
• Overview articles are not subject to overlength charges.

Q. How many times a year do SPS journals publish?

All Signal Processing Society publications are volume-only on Xplore now except for Signal Processing Magazine (which publishes 6 times per year) and the Journal of Selected Topics in Signal Processing (which also publishes 6 times per year).

Q. When can I expect to see my manuscript on Xplore? When can I expect to see it in print?

• Once we get the files they are processed in 24 hours and appear in Early Access in the next 1-2 business days usually.
• Once your final files have been sent to production, you will receive a confirmation letter that will notify you of your targeted month of publication. You may also contact either the journal’s administrator, or the production editor handling your proofs, for this information.
• Signal Processing Society publications publish online-only except for Signal Processing Magazine.

Q. Where can I find the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) for my manuscript?

You will have access to the DOI once you receive your galley proofs. It will be in the email you receive, as well as on the Author Gateway. You can also locate your DOI on the bottom left-hand corner of the first page of the proof.

Q. I was looking at my manuscript on Xplore and I found a mistake. What do I do?

For Xplore questions, please contact the Journals Production Manager for the publication. 

Q. If I submit a manuscript to a conference, but then I expand upon it, may I submit it to a journal?

Authors may only submit original work that has not appeared elsewhere in a journal publication, nor is under review for another journal publication. Limited overlap with prior journal publications with a common author is allowed only if it is necessary for the readability of the manuscript and the manuscript is cited. It is acceptable for conference manuscripts to be used as the basis for a more fully developed journal submission. Still, authors are required to cite related prior work; the manuscripts cannot be identical; and the journal publication must include novel aspects. The question of whether there is sufficient novelty should be determined by the review process and not by a simple measurement of overlap determined by word count. Overlap with an unreviewed technical report or student thesis with the same authors is allowed if the original work is cited. Please visit the journal’s Information for Authors for more information.^ Top

For Reviewers

Q. How do I become a reviewer?

Please send your affiliation information, resume, and contact information to the editor-in-chief of the journal for which you’d like to perform reviews. Please copy the journal’s administrator in the message so he/she can make sure you are set up with the correct account.

Q. What if I’ve forgotten my password, or am having trouble logging in?

This can happen due to editors creating on-the-fly accounts for reviewers to add them to manuscripts, not knowing that a reviewer may already have an account in the system. Please contact the journal’s administrator for account/password help.

Q. Why can’t I see the manuscript I agreed to review in my Reviewer Center?

• First, please check to make sure that you are looking in your Reviewer Center, not your Author Center, as all accounts created in ScholarOne are granted both a Reviewer and Author Center.
• If you still cannot see the manuscript, it is possible that the manuscript you agreed to review is in the Reviewer Center of another account under your name. Associate editors can create accounts for reviewers “on the fly” using your name and email address, which can cause users to have multiple accounts of which they are not aware. You can contact the journal’s administrator at any time to combine multiple accounts and consolidate all manuscripts that have been assigned to you.

Q. Where can I find the response-to-reviewers letter that I need to process this revision?

If the authors did not upload the response-to-reviewers file in the Manuscript Files section of their submission, it can be accessed by clicking the “Author’s Response” button at the top of the submission page under the “Manuscript Information” tab. This “Author’s Response” button is located at the far right of the toolbar that also contains the buttons for "HTML," "PDF," "Supplementary Files," "Original Files," "Abstract," "Cover Letter," and "External Searches."

Q. How long do I have to complete the review? Is there a deadline? What if I’m running late?

Deadlines for reviews vary per journal. The editors will provide information on deadline expectations with the review request. If you feel the review will take you longer to complete than the timeline given, please contact the associate editor with the journal’s administrator in copy to arrange an extension. The associate editor may ask you to recommend an alternate reviewer instead.

As a general guideline, if you know you will not be able to complete a review within the timeframe requested, you should decline to review the manuscript.

Q. Can I request the input of my colleagues?

Manuscripts sent to you for review are confidential. However, requesting the opinion of a single colleague may be appropriate in some circumstances. Please consult your associate editor if you’d like to the input of outside help for the review.^ Top

For Associate Editors

Q. Where can I find the response-to-reviewers letter that I need to process this revision?

If the authors did not upload the response-to-reviewers file in the Manuscript Files section of their submission, it can be accessed by clicking the “Author’s Response” button at the top of the submission page under the “Manuscript Information” tab. This “Author’s Response” button is located at the far right of the toolbar that also contains the buttons for “HTML,” “PDF,” “Supplementary Files,” “Original Files,” “Abstract,” “Cover Letter,” and “External Searches.”

Q. How do I know if a manuscript is a revision?

Manuscripts that are submitted as revisions will always have a purple stripe running down the left side of the submission page. They will also have a .R1, .R2, et al added to the end of the manuscript ID, followed by a number that indicates how many rounds of review the manuscript has gone through. Often, the reviewers from the previous version will be auto-populated into the “Awaiting Reviewer Scores” tab of the revised version.

Q. How do I know if a manuscript is a resubmission?

If a manuscript is a resubmission, the coordinator for the journal will have linked the original version to resubmitted manuscript, under the section labeled “Companion Papers ” on the “Manuscript Information” tab. The authors will have also included a cover letter indicating that their manuscript is a resubmission, as well as provided a response letter giving the reasons for resubmission (this may be a response-to-reviewers letter, or something more succinct if the previous version received an Immediate Reject decision).

Q. How do I find the previous version of a revised or resubmitted manuscript?

• For revised manuscripts, the previous version(s) of the manuscript will be located under the "Version History" section on the Manuscript Information tab.
• For resubmitted manuscripts, the previous version of the manuscript will be located under the "Companion Manuscripts" section on the Manuscript Information tab. You can access the previous version by clicking the link that says "View Details."

Q. Why does the system say “No invitation sent” while also saying “Invited” next to the reviewer’s name for this revision? How do I invite the reviewers?

When a revised manuscript is assigned back to the original associated editor the system pulls the reviewers from the first version and says that they are invited, but no email invitations have actually been sent. 

Q. How do I invite the reviewers for a revision?

If you want to invite reviewers, please:

1. Click "agree" from the drop down menu
2. Click "save"
3. An email will populate
4. Click "send" (Hitting send triggers the system to "invite")
5. Repeat steps for each reviewer you want to invite

Q. If a reviewer sends me his/her comments through email, what should I do?

You should ask the reviewer to log into ScholarOne and upload the comments. If the review has already been posted, please ask the admin to rescind the review back to the reviewer so that he/she can upload the comments.

Q. I retired from my AE duties 2 months ago. Why is this revision or resubmission assigned to me?

Signal Processing Society policy dictates that all associate editors are responsible for the full review of the manuscripts assigned to them, including the revision and resubmission phases, regardless of when their terms end. If there is a problem with your availability that will affect handling the last stages of the manuscripts for which you are responsible, you may contact your editor-in-chief to work out a solution.

Q. How do I gain access to my assigned manuscripts while I am traveling?

You may request emailed copies of your assigned manuscripts from the journal coordinator if you have problems accessing them through ScholarOne. However, please be aware that all actions and recommendations must be made through the system in order to maintain accurate records and to move the review process along.

Q. How do I nominate an individual for an Associate Editor position on a publication?

If you are interested in nominating an individual for an associate editor position on a publication associated with your Technical Committee, please contact the publications' editor-in-chief. Information on the Society’s publications can be found on the Society’s Publications page.

Additional Resources

• Signal Processing Society Guidelines
• Information for Authors - Transactions & Journals
• Information for Authors - Signal Processing Magazine
• Information for Authors - Signal Processing Letters
• Information for Authors - Open Journal of Signal Processing
• Signal Processing Society - Overview Articles