Electronics Letters - Authors' Information
These notes are intended to give you the information you need to submit your paper to Electronics Letters and to present it in accordance with our requirements. If you cannot find the information you are looking for, please contact us at eletters@theiet.org
Contents
What we look for in your letter
Conference and patent material policy
Manuscript presentation
Submit a manuscript
Post-submission
Copyright
Pre- and postprint policy
Proofs and reprints
Checklist
What we look for in your letter
Electronics Letters is a forum for the rapid publication of the latest or preliminary results or ideas relating to the electronic or electrical engineering fields. The advance presented must be significant enough and of a high enough level of interest to the broad engineering community to merit immediate dissemination, otherwise a different journal is more appropriate.
Manuscripts submitted to Electronics Letters should:
- add significantly to existing research;
- be original, and not have been published previously;
- present the novelty clearly and concisely;
- state the potential engineering applications;
- be written so as to make the advance clear to the broader engineering community;
- make reference to the state-of-the-art.
Manuscripts should not:
- present incremental research;
- present trivial and obvious results;
- obscure new results with too much background and context;
- be under consideration for publication in any other journal, book or conference proceedings available through a library or by purchase.
Conference and patent material policy
Electronics Letters does not accept material that has previously been presented at a conference for which the conference proceedings are widely available. Any manuscripts that are submitted to Electronics Letters that are based on a conference paper must reference the conference and demonstrate a significant advance in the work.
We can consider material for Electronics Letters that is also the subject of a patent application. The application number should be stated in the paper in the references and the authors should also make sure that the publication of their work in a journal will not harm their patent application in any way.
Manuscript presentation
It is important to format submissions in accordance with Electronics Letters' house style. Following the presentation guide below will ensure that submissions will move straight to the reviewing stage.
Please note, submissions which are over the maximum allowed length or formatted incorrectly will be returned immediately to authors for revision.
Language, spelling and grammar
All papers must be written in UK English. If English is not your first language, you should ask an English-speaking colleague to proofread your paper. Papers containing English that is so unclear as to obscure the meaning will be rejected by the editors without being sent out for review.
All manuscripts should be spellchecked using a UK English spellchecker before they are submitted. Small English errors that do not obscure the scientific merit of the manuscript will be corrected by our copyeditors before publication.
Fonts and text layout
If possible, please use Arial font, 11 pt. and resist the temptation to use italics for emphasis.
Please format your manuscript in single-column format with double-line spacing. This formatting is necessary for when manuscripts are at the copy-editing stage. Similarly, it is important that you allow generous margins; please set these so that top and bottom margins are at 2.54, with left and right margins at 3.17.
Length and structure
The length restrictions for Electronics Letters are very strict and full details for estimating the length of a manuscript are given in this PDF. If more than the available space is needed to clearly explain your work, a different journal will be more appropriate.
We require manuscripts to be submitted in a single column, double-line spaced format so that, if accepted, there is space for our copyeditors to clearly mark any changes or corrections prior to the creation of the final proof in the double column format. Submission in this format before the referral process avoids delays in publication if the paper is accepted.
Please note: submitted manuscripts of a two-column formatted paper will be returned to the author for revision.
If you place a ruler vertically alongside one column of text in any published article and measure down 1cm, then the area enclosed in that column is referred to as a column cm. If you do this in Electronics Letters, you will see that 1 column cm encloses about three lines of text (roughly 194 characters, including spaces between words).
As a rough guide, a paper should be no longer than 81 column cm, including about eight references and three figures. If the requirements of 11pt Arial font have been adhered to, this averages a total of five pages of text.
A sample document [MS Word format] is also available; please follow this as a guide to layout and approximate length. However, as a rough guide, we suggest that submissions be approximately five pages of text (Arial font, 11 pt), with eight references and three figures. We do not currently have a LaTex template.
Acronyms and abbreviations
Acronyms and abbreviations should be clearly defined on their first occurrence in the text by writing the term out in full and following it with the abbreviation in round brackets e.g. code division multiple access (CDMA). Common abbreviations, e.g. CMOS, need not be defined. If in doubt, please define the abbreviation.
Title
This should be concise (not more than 15 words) but informative and should not include a subtitle. Avoid starting your title with the words "a", "novel", "new" or "the", since these make your article difficult to find in journal databases. It is the Electronics Letters’ house style to remove these words upon editing.
Author affiliations
These should immediately follow the title or be given after the reference list. For multiple-authored articles list the names of all the authors first, followed by the full postal and email addresses, using identifiers to link an author with an address, where necessary. If an author's present address is different from the address at which the work was carried out, this should be given as a footnote.
Abstract
This should be informative and not only indicate the general scope of the article but also state the main results obtained, methods used, the value of the work and the conclusions drawn. No table numbers, figure numbers, references or displayed mathematical expressions should be included. It should be suitable for direct inclusion in abstracting services as a self-contained article and should not exceed 120 words.
Figures and figure captions
Figures should each appear on a separate page at the end of the manuscript and not within the body of the text. Figure captions should appear as a list before the figures and should be kept as concise as possible. Each figure should be explicitly referred to in the text in numerical order.
Colour figures are published in the online version of Electronics Letters, free of charge. However, it is important to note that the print version will still be published in greyscale, therefore any colour figures will also need to be easy to understand in greyscale. Colour should not be used for distinguishing data in line diagrams; instead, use lettering, numbering or different types of line (full, dashed, dotted) or data point (square, triangle, cross). Note that light colours do not reproduce well when printed in black and white and could; therefore, make your data indistinguishable.
Figure legends should preferably appear boxed in the figure itself but may also be described in the caption. IET house style uses a comma to separate quantities from units on figure axes, e.g. "time, ms". The use of characters, subscripts and superscripts in figures should be consistent with that in the rest of the text.
Tables
Tables should each appear on a separate page at the end of the manuscript and not within the body of the text. Table captions should appear as a list before the figures. Each table should be referred to explicitly in the text in numerical order.
Avoid the use of unusual mathematical characters or graphical material in tables, since the markup language may not be able to reproduce this. If your table contains such material, it will be set as a figure.
Algorithms
Algorithms should not be boxed and should be set as normal text and not as figures or tables.
Mathematics and equations
When writing mathematics, be sure to avoid confusion between characters that could be mistaken for one another, e.g. the letter 'l' and the figure one.
If your paper contains superscripts or subscripts to superscripts or subscripts, take special care to ensure that the positioning of the characters is unambiguous. Ensure that superscripts and subscripts are used consistently in the body text, figures and tables.
Please adhere to the following:
- exponential expressions should be written using superscript notation, i.e. 5x103 not 5E03;
- a multiplication sign should be used, not a dot;
- Electronics Letters uses SI units;
- symbols representing vectors and matrices should be in bold font;
- refer to equations using round brackets, e.g. (1).
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments, if any, should appear at the end of your article, immediately before the References Section.
References
You should ensure that you have included sufficient references to give background and context to your work. Please make sure that you have referenced the state-of-the-art in your field and that the novelty of your work is apparent.
Electronics Letters uses the Vancouver (Numbered) Reference System. You should number your references sequentially through the text and each reference should be individually numbered. The numbers should be given in square brackets. The reference list at the end of the paper should list the references in numerical order.
Please ensure that references are referred to in the text and vice versa. This is important so that readers of your paper as it appears online can click on the in-text reference and be taken to the full reference.
Please also ensure that you provide as much information as possible to allow the reader to locate the article concerned. This is particularly important for articles appearing in conferences, workshops and books that may not appear in journal databases. Please provide all author name(s) and initials, date published, title of journal or book, volume and issue number, editors (if any) and, for books and conferences, the town of publication and publisher (in parentheses), and finally the page range.
We cannot accept references to unpublished work. e.g. papers that have been submitted elsewhere but not yet accepted. Any submissions containing such references will be returned to the author for alteration to an alternative reference.
Remember to double-space your Reference Section as well as the main text of your paper.
Submit a manuscript
Papers should be submitted in electronic form via the manuscript submission page. Authors should complete all relevant fields in the manuscript upload page.
Acceptable source-file formats are Microsoft Word (.DOC or .RTF), PDF or Postscript.
Authors are encouraged to submit the names and contact details of possible reviewers (although the reviewers selected may not be from this list). These suggestions should be impartial. Authors may also indicate non-preferred reviewers if they are working in competition or have conflicts of interest with individuals or organisations.
Post-submission
Changes to the submitted manuscript
If your submission is returned because it requires changes, you will need to go into your Author Centre on Manuscript Central and resubmit a revised manuscript.
It is not usually possible to make changes to a manuscript when it is under review; although there are exceptions if the changes are minor. Major revisions cannot be made without starting the whole process again.
If you wish to make changes, send us the amended manuscript with a list of the changes made, and the Editors will consider which course of action is most appropriate.
Due to the fast nature of the Electronics Letters publication process, we do not make proofs of accepted papers available to authors. Each accepted manuscript is checked prior to publication, using copy-editors and proofreaders. If you notice any errors in your paper after you have submitted, please inform us as soon as possible.
Review process
All manuscripts are sent out for review by independent experts in the field, and the decision made by the editors is based on these reports. To maintain the speed of publication, reviewers are permitted to make a binary decision without providing comments to authors, and we are therefore not normally able to provide authors with feedback on rejected manuscripts, or give any opportunity for revision. Authors should therefore prepare their manuscript very carefully. The average time between submission and decision is six weeks.
Copyright
Before we can publish a paper we require an IET Assignment of Copyright form to be signed by all authors. If this is not practical, the corresponding author may sign on behalf of all authors by indicating this next to their signature. Authors will be sent a copy for signing as soon as their paper is accepted.
All papers submitted to the IET for publication must record original work not previously published. The submission should not be under consideration for publication by any other publisher. If we find that an author has deliberately plagiarised another work or has submitted his work to us while it is at the same time under consideration by another publisher we will instantly withdraw the paper and will refuse to consider any future papers by that author.
The authors should obtain, from the owners of the copyright, written permission to reproduce any illustration for which the copyright is not their own. The source of the illustration must be given in full and the words 'Reproduced by permission of .....' included with the illustration.
Pre- and postprint policy
The author(s) and/or the organisations for whom the work was performed shall be entitled to post preprints of their work (but not the published PDF) on repositories, servers and websites of any sort, provided that these servers are operated by the author's institution or designated by the funding body contributing to the research. The conditions attached to this are as follows:
- Access to such servers is not for commercial use and does not depend on payment of access, subscription, or membership fees and
- The following wording clearly appears on the front page of the preprint:
"This paper is a preprint of a paper submitted to [journal] and is subject to Institution of Engineering and Technology Copyright. If accepted, the copy of record will be available at IET Digital Library"
On acceptance, this may be changed to:
"This paper is a preprint of a paper accepted by [journal] and is subject to Institution of Engineering and Technology Copyright. When the final version is published, the copy of record will be available at IET Digital Library" - If the paper is rejected, then all mention of the journal should be removed.
- The preprint should be removed if a subsequent postprint is posted.
The author may also post postprints of their work (reviewed, revised and accepted for publication by the IET, but not the published PDF) on repositories, servers and websites of any sort, provided that these servers are operated by the author's institution or the funding body contributing to the research. To comply with funding requirements, authors may also deposit their work (reviewed, revised and accepted for publication by the IET, but not the published PDF) in repositories (or mirror sites) designated by the funding body. The conditions attached to this are as follows:
- Access to such servers is not for commercial use and does not depend on payment of access, subscription, or membership fees
- The following wording clearly appears on the front page of the postprint:
"This paper is a postprint of a paper submitted to and accepted for publication in [journal] and is subject to Institution of Engineering and Technology Copyright. The copy of record is available at IET Digital Library" - The postprint must be the author's version and not the IET version/PDF.
- The postprint must not be posted prior to publication of the paper by the IET and when posted any preprint version should be removed.
Any questions should be addressed to the publisher (journals@theiet.org)
Proofs and reprints
Copyediting and proof correction
All accepted papers are copyedited to ensure clarity and consistency, to correct minor errors, to standardise various formatting details and to conform to Electronics Letters house style.
Authors may receive queries if ambiguities in the language or minor errors in a paper are identified by either referees or the copyeditor that cannot be resolved in the editorial office. Delays in replying to such queries may result in a delay to the publication of a paper.
To maintain the speed of publication, proofs are checked in the editorial office and are not normally sent to authors. If you become aware of any errors in your manuscript after submission, please inform us as soon as possible as there may not be time to rectify them if the paper is accepted for publication.
The time from acceptance to publication in print and online is 2-4 weeks.
Reprints, journal copies and permissions
Once the paper has been printed, we will send the corresponding author a complimentary copy of the issue in which the paper appears. Authors may also purchase a PDF copy of their paper. Please note that this is subject to the terms and conditions of our pre- and postprint policy (see above).
Permissions to reproduce articles published in Electronics Letters should be emailed to eletters@theiet.org
Checklist
Please use this checklist to help you ensure that your paper meets the standards we expect from submitted papers:
- Novelty: This is the most important factor that we ask referees to consider when reviewing for Electronics Letters. We are interested in work that is novel, original and where rapid publication would be of benefit to the engineering community. Papers should provide significant results and the reporting of incremental work is discouraged. Authors should not submit work merely because they need the paper to be published quickly (e.g. in order to graduate or before applying for a new job or promotion).
- Scientific merit: is the work scientifically rigorous, accurate and correct?
- Originality and justification: is the work relevant? Does the work contain significant additional material to that already published and has its value been demonstrated?
- Referencing: has reference been made to the most recent and most appropriate work? Is the present work set in the context of the previous work?
- Appropriateness: is the material appropriate to the scope of the journal?
- Clarity: is the English clear and well-written? Poorly written English may obscure the scientific merit of your paper and can lead to rejection. Are the ideas expressed clearly and concisely? Are the concepts understandable? Is the discussion written in a way that is easy to read and understand?
- Title: is it adequate and appropriate for the content of the article?
- Abstract: does it contain the essential information of the article? Is it complete? Is it suitable for inclusion by itself in an abstracting service?
- Diagrams, figures, tables and captions: are they clear and essential? Are all figures and tables labelled and referred to in the text?
- Graphs and tables: are these clear and necessary? Are the numbers in the tables readily understandable? Explanations should be in the caption, or in the immediately surrounding text.
- Mathematics: is the mathematics necessary? Does it use commonly understood symbols? Are equations numbered if referred to in the text?
- Conclusion: does the paper contain a carefully written conclusion, summarising what has been learned and why it is interesting and useful?