Guidelines for Accepted Articles
Please review the Electronic Posting Policy and Self-Plagiarism Policy. Manuscripts submitted for publication in IEEE Network should be original work submitted exclusively to the magazine, not previously published, and not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
These guidelines are for accepted articles only after they have been through the review process and accepted by the Editor-in-Chief (EiC). If you are submitting an article for review and possible acceptance, please visit the Paper Submissions Guidelines. The production process is separate from the review process and requires a full set of materials to be sent directly to the production team. The Publications Staff does not have access to materials submitted to Manuscript Central and cannot retrieve files.
Please make sure you have referred to The IEEE Communications Society Publications Department Style Guide before submitting your article. When your page proofs are sent to you, remember to check them carefully for any discrepancies that might have occurred in the original transfer process. This is especially true if symbols (mathematical, Greek, etc.) and unusual fonts were used in the article.
Important Dates
Final Manuscripts Due: The 1st of the following month, two (2) months prior to issue date. For example, all final materials for an article in the January/February issue are due by November 1st.
Page Proofs Sent to Contact Author: Four (4) weeks prior to issue date.
Page Proofs Back to Publication Department: Three (3) weeks prior to issue date.
Submission of Materials to Publications Staff
To speed up the publishing process, make sure all your files are in order. Following these article submission requirements, including graphics and multimedia requirements, can help:
Supply the following during article submission:
- Source file in TXT, DOC, DOCX, or TeX format.
- Source files for any graphics or multimedia items, labeled sequentially.
- Captions for all graphics.
- PDF of the text and graphics in case there are any font discrepancies.
- Permission approvals for the reuse of any previously published material.
Graphics Requirements
Articulate your data points with accuracy and clarity through high-quality graphics. Develop more effective graphics by following the graphics requirements below.
Accepted graphics file formats
Make sure your submitted file formats can be processed by IEEE. Compare your files to the IEEE accepted graphics file formats:
- IEEE accepts PS, EPS, PDF, PNG, or TIFF formats for graphics submission.
- It is acceptable to submit Microsoft Office documents (DOC, PPT, XLS) only when the graphic was originally drawn in the program.
- High-resolution JPEG files are acceptable for author photos only. IEEE also continues to accept PS, EPS, and TIFF.
Most graphics are published at one column width (3.5 inches / 21 picas wide) or two column width (7.16 inches / 43 picas wide). Graphics prepared as VSD, GIF, JPEG, BMP, or any other file formats not listed as acceptable cannot be processed except in the case of an author photo.
Graphics display resolution
Did you know that resolution and size are different? Follow these graphics display resolution guidelines to ensure the graphics for your IEEE journal article look great.
The size of your graphic refers to its dimensions (the width and height). The resolution refers to dpi (dots per inch) or ppi (pixels per inch).
- DPI refers to the number of printed dots contained within one inch of an image printed by a printer.
- PPI refers to the number of pixels in a linear inch when displayed on an electronic image device like a computer, tablet, or your phone.
IEEE standards for non-vector graphics are >300dpi for color and grayscale images; and >600dpi for black and white “line art.”
In cases where graphics, such as digital photographs, are produced at a lower resolution, acceptable quality can be achieved by ensuring that column-wide graphics are at least 1050 pixels wide and page-wide graphics are 2150 pixels wide.
Reusing graphics from the Internet
You will need to request permission to reproduce content that has been made available previously, either in a publication or on the Internet. This may include text, graphics, tables, or other materials.
Reuse permission must be granted by the copyright owner, which is often the publisher of the original work. Avoid reusing content when it is unclear who the copyright owner is or what limitations are placed on reusing the content.
Text in graphics
Any text within a graphic will be replaced during the article production process to adhere to uniform IEEE magazine style. Be sure to check your graphic text during the proof review process.
Multimedia Requirements
Enhance your magazine article by following the IEEE multimedia requirements. Find tips and best practices in the IEEE guide for preparing multimedia materials.
Multimedia objects such as video clips, source code, or data sets can complement the text and graphics of your article.
Learn more in our guide on preparing multimedia materials (PDF, 6 MB).
Open Access (Hybrid)
View the IEEE Article Processing Charges List
This is a hybrid publication, allowing either traditional manuscript submission or Open Access (author-pays OA) manuscript submission. View more information.
The Open Access article processing charge (APC) fee is US$2,995. IEEE members can receive a 5% discount and IEEE ComSoc members can receive a 25% discount (regardless of grade level). Please note that authors affiliated with institutions that have an Open Access agreement with IEEE (see the IEEE Open Access Agreements with Institutions page), can request a waiver of the Open Access APC fee (Open Access funding requests will be approved by an administrator at a local library).
Additional Information
Clearance
IEEE assumes that material submitted to its publications is properly available for general dissemination to the readership of those publications. It is the responsibility of the authors, not IEEE, to determine whether disclosure of their material requires the prior consent of other parties and, if so, to obtain it.
Content
Statements and opinions given in works published by the IEEE are the expressions of contributors. Responsibility for content of published papers rests with the authors, not the IEEE.
IEEE Copyright
It is the policy of IEEE to own the copyright to technical contributions it publishes on behalf of the interests of the IEEE and its authors and their employers, and to facilitate the appropriate reuse of this material by others. To comply with IEEE policy under the U.S. Copyright Law, authors are required to sign at IEEE Copyright Form before publication. This form returns to authors and their employers, full rights to reuse their material for their own purposes.
The U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulation page should be viewed by authors who are submitting military or defense-related material, are U.S. nationals, including green card holders; work for a U.S. based organization, regardless of where they are physically located; or work at a U.S. location of a non-U.S.-based organization. All authors must ensure that they are in compliance with ITAR and the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control regulation as outlined in the above page. If you have any questions on these two regulations, please contact the email address listed on that page. For information on IEEE copyright policy, permission to reuse IEEE copyrighted material, electronic preprints, or posting your paper on your own server, please visit the IEEE Intellectual Property Rights page.
In addition to the IEEE policies, pre-publication author misconduct, such as double-submission or plagiarism, will result in rejection of the manuscript(s), and a minimum six month ban on submissions to fully owned ComSoc publications by the author(s).
Reprints
Information on ordering reprints of your article can be found by emailing the IEEE Reprints Department.