Skip to main content
Publications lead hero image abstract pattern

Publications

The review process is perhaps the most difficult and the most important part of the publication process. Critical reviews by knowledgeable reviewers are the only way that a quality issue can be assured. Each paper must receive at least three independent reviews. It is important that the reviewers be from different organizations. Only those papers that receive solid positive recommendations from the reviewers should be published. A JSAC issue with ten high-quality papers is far more valuable than an issue with 20 papers of lower quality.

The review process is also the point at which problems often develop with the publication schedule. Some reviewers will always be late with their reviews. Guest Editors must remain in contact with the reviewers to insure that the process remains on schedule. The review process must be completed within a two-month period.

Particular care must be exercised in those cases in which significant revisions result from the initial review process. Significant revisions must be re-reviewed by the original reviewers. Since the reviewer is already familiar with the paper, this second review can usually be conducted in a much shorter time than that required for the initial review. Nevertheless, great care must be exercised if the review process is to remain on schedule.

Please note that while graduate students or postdocs of the guest editors may serve as paper reviewers, the following tasks must be performed exclusively by the guest editors who are named in the proposal: soliciting reviewers, evaluating the reviews, making the accept/reject decisions.

IEEE and ComSoc take very seriously author misconduct, including plagiarism and multiple submissions. The IEEE policies governing the response to such misconduct are described in section 8.2.4 of the IEEE Publications Services and Products Board Operations Manual. 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 6 month ban on submissions to fully owned ComSoc publications by the author(s).

With respect to authors' previously published or to-be-published work, material which has been previously copyrighted, published, or accepted for publication will not in general be considered for publication in JSAC. Exceptions to this rule include an author's prior publications that have had limited distribution, have been printed in abstract form only, or have appeared in conference records or digests. All papers are considered on the basis of their individual merit alone, and the fact that a paper may have been accepted for presentation at a conference does not ensure its acceptance for publication in JSAC. In many cases, a conference paper must be substantially revised to meet the technical standards maintained by JSAC. A manuscript identical to or largely based upon a conference paper must be so identified. Please refer to ComSoc's policy on plagiarism and multiple submissions for more detailed information on the use of previously-published work as the basis for a JSAC submission.

Once an article has been accepted for your issue, instruct the authors to visit Information for Authors. Every author is responsible for reading this material, especially the section on overlength page charges.