Submissions

The IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking enjoys a strong impact factor and approximately 10,000 subscribers. The journal has a commitment to a rapid but thorough review process, a fairly short time from paper acceptance to appearance on IEEE XPlore, and an outstanding editorial board. To authors, the journal offers an attractive vehicle for rapid and wide dissemination of their research results. For readers, the journal is the place to go for the most important, up-to-date research developments in the field. We welcome and encourage the submission of manuscripts for potential publication. All papers submitted should be within the scope of the journal. Papers on social networks, smart grid, or physical layer communications are outside the scope of this journal. Starting in May 2024, papers are reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief as a batch on a WEEKLY basis, for assignments to associate editors. The editorial board is taking initiatives to speed up the review process.

Peer Review

The articles in this journal are peer reviewed in accordance with the requirements set forth in the IEEE Publication Services and Products Board Operations Manual. Each published article was reviewed by a minimum of two independent reviewers using a single-blind peer review process, where the identities of the reviewers are not known to the authors, but the reviewers know the identities of the authors. Articles will be screened for plagiarism before acceptance.

Submission Format and Length

Submitted papers must use two-column formatting with single-spaced text in a 10-point font. Style files are available for Latex and Word. Papers not meeting these guidelines will be returned to the authors for revision before being reviewed. The typical maximum length of submitted papers is 16 pages in the two-column Transactions format. If your paper exceeds this limit, it is preferred that you use the supplementary materials option (described below) to submit the extra pages. Otherwise, you will need to discuss the appropriateness of the length of your manuscript with the Editor-in-Chief before you submit the manuscript. If the EiC agrees with your justification for the length of the paper, you should include this justification in the cover letter and mention in the cover letter that this has been discussed with the EiC. Please see below for information regarding page charges applied to all papers accepted for publication which are over 10 pages in length.

Paper Organization Guidelines

All papers should be written in English. English language editing services can help refine the language of your article and reduce the risk of rejection without review. IEEE authors are eligible for discounts at several language editing services; visit the IEEE Author Center to learn more. Please note these services are fee-based and do not guarantee acceptance.

It is essential that each manuscript be accompanied by an abstract that clearly outlines the scope and contributions of the paper. Introductory discussion should be kept at a minimum and material published elsewhere should be referenced rather than reproduced or paraphrased. Authors should strive for maximum clarity of expression, bearing in mind that the purpose of publication is dissemination of technical knowledge and that an excessively complex or poorly written presentation would obscure the significance of the work described. Care should also be taken in organizing the results such that contributions of the work, as well as a logical, consistent progression of thought are evident. It is strongly suggested that material which is not essential to the continuity of the text (e.g., proofs, derivations, or calculations) be placed in Appendices.

In order for an abstract to be effective when displayed in IEEE Xplore as well as through indexing services such as Compendex, INSPEC, Medline, ProQuest, and Web of Science, it must be an accurate, stand-alone reflection of the contents of the article.

• The abstract must be self-contained, without abbreviations, footnotes, or references. It should be a microcosm of the full article.

• The abstract must be between 150-250 words. Be sure that you adhere to these limits; otherwise, you will need to edit your abstract accordingly.

• The abstract must be written as one paragraph, and should not contain displayed mathematical equations or tabular material.

• The abstract should include three or four different keywords or phrases, as this will help readers to find it. It is important to avoid over-repetition of such phrases as this can result in a page being rejected by search engines.

• Ensure that your abstract reads well and is grammatically correct.

• A graphical abstract can be displayed on IEEE Xplore along with traditional text. The graphical abstract should provide a clear, visual summary of your article’s findings by means of an image, animation, video, or audio clip. The graphical abstract is considered a part of the technical content of the article, and you must provide it for peer review during the article submission process. For more information about graphical abstracts and their specifications, please visit the following link .

Guidelines for Prior or Concurrent Submissions

In case a submission contains material which has been previously published in any form, the submission's cover-letter should include specific information identifying such prior publication(s) together with a link to the publication(s), as well as a brief explanation of the differences between the prior publication(s) and the present submission. The previously published work must also be listed as references in the submission.

Papers that have been previously published fully or in part in another journal or book will not be considered for publication in the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking. Papers that are currently under submission at another journal, book, conference, symposium or workshop will not be considered for publication in the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking. Similarly, it is a violation of the journal's policy to submit to another venue any paper, fully or partially, that is under consideration for publication in the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking.

Failure to comply with this rule will result in immediate rejection of the paper from both venues where it has been submitted with no possibility of future resubmission; IEEE will typically impose a 6 months publication ban on all co-authors of such papers. In addition to the IEEE policies, pre-publication author misconduct such as double-submission or plagiarism will result in a minimum 6 month ban on submissions to fully owned ComSoc publications by the author(s).

Papers published in conference, symposium, or workshop proceedings may be submitted to the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, provided the technical depth is similar to what is expected from a ToN paper. While there is neither a strict guideline regarding how different a submission must be from a previous version nor a minimum requirement for additional or extended material, ToN will typically not republish verbatim copies of conference papers. It is the opinion of the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking editorial board that:

1. Conference submissions are frequently deadline-driven and will often benefit from an additional round of polishing for clarity and quality of presentation.

2. Conference refereeing or presentation in a public forum will normally result in valuable feedback which should result in meaningful improvement, and which should thus be incorporated into the paper for publication in an archival journal.

3. The page limits for conference papers are often below ToN's limit of 16 pages (with additional pages possible under exceptional circumstances). Many papers will benefit from the inclusion of additional material or will require additional pages to incorporate feedback.

While ToN does not specify a minimum increment over the conference version, additional technical material is expected as per IEEE policy. This additional material, however, does not necessarily need to include new results, and could be elaboration on existing results, technical proofs, etc.

Authors are required to include with their submission a letter in which they identify all prior publications on which their ToN submission may be based, provide pointers to publicly available versions of those publications, and articulate any changes made to improve and/or expand on those conference publications.

Previously rejected papers cannot be resubmitted to the Transactions. If a paper was rejected with an encouragement for resubmission after substantial revision, ie, as unacceptable in current form, then the authors are required to refer to the previously submitted version in their cover letter and provide a detailed statement explaining how the revised paper is substantially different from the previous submission. This should include a point-by-point response to the reasons for the rejection of the previous version.

The posting of work on a public archive such as arXiv, an institutional repository, or a personal web page will not infringe on ToN's restrictions regarding prior or concurrent publication.

Copyright Information

Shortly after acceptance authors will be granted access to the IEEE Author Gateway to track the production progress of their paper. From the Author Gateway, authors will choose to transfer copyright to the IEEE or opt for Open Access (OA). In the case of transfer the copyright will be held by IEEE, with ACM having republishing rights; authors may post their own final versions of papers on personal or institutional websites, but not the final published version.

Clearance for all of the authors and included material must be obtained before submission of the paper for publication. Company clearance, if needed, should also be obtained before the final submission. The authors are responsible for obtaining all necessary copyright releases for copyrighted material which has appeared in non-IEEE publications.

Authors who wish to publish open access will be offered a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).  CC BY allows authors to retain copyright of their article and permits a very broad range of reuse. An article published under the CC BY license is freely available online and may be freely reused as long as the original author and publication are credited. Reuse for commercial purposes or to create derivative works is permitted. Under the CC BY license, authors are responsible for protecting their content from possible abuses such as infringement and plagiarism. Note that publishing open access requires payment of an open access article processing charge.  Visit the IEEE Author Center for more information.

Publication of Accepted Papers

Mandatory Page Charges: Authors of accepted papers are entitled to 10 pages free of charge; additional pages will be $220 per page. If page charges apply, authors can expect to receive a bill directly from IEEE at the time of publication.

Authors from academic institutions who are unable to cover page charges may apply for a waiver by providing evidence to ToN that there is no available funding source to cover the page charges.  No requests for waivers of these charges will be considered after 30 days from the notification of acceptance for publication.  ToN expects authors from non-academic institutions cover page charges. Corresponding authors from low-income countries are eligible for waived or reduced open access APCs (Article Processing Charges) from the IEEE.

IEEE allows authors to make supplementary material available on IEEE Xplore in addition to the accepted paper.  The supplementary material may include appendices, data, and software associated with the paper. If authors are planning to upload appendices as supplementary material, the appendices must be reviewed by the reviewers and the Associate Editor handling the paper and so must be submitted along with the paper for review.  Data and software need not be submitted. The main body of the paper must be self-contained as determined by the Associate Editor.

Instructions for uploading the supplementary material can be found here on the  IEEE Author Center.

ToN ceased publication on paper in 2017 and thereafter has published online-only on IEEE Xplore. Published papers are to be posted to Xplore and assigned permanent Digital Object Identifiers a few weeks after acceptance; volume, issue, and page numbers are assigned at bimonthly intervals for issue publication to the papers in each issue. Paper reprints will be available from the IEEE.

Electronic Submission

All submissions to IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking must be made using the on-line IEEE Author Portal system. The system is reached via https://ieee.atyponrex.com/journal/TNET.

To submit a paper:

1. Please check the paper scope, organization, and length before submission. (Recommended even for veterans of this process!)

2. Log onto our ScholarOne Manuscripts site https://ieee.atyponrex.com/journal/TNET. The process is self-explanatory. First time users on the TNET Author Portal will need to create an IEEE account. Also if you have an account but have forgotten your user name or password, the system can help you recover this information.

3. ORCID Required: All IEEE journals require an Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) for all authors. ORCID is a persistent unique identifier for researchers and functions similarly to an article’s Digital Object Identifier (DOI). ORCIDs enable accurate attribution and improved discoverability of an author’s published work. The author will need a registered ORCID in order to submit a manuscript or review a proof in this journal.

4. Please note that papers in the incorrect format, papers without all authors listed in the submission form, and papers without necessary supporting information such as notation of previous similar publications by the authors with summaries of differences will be returned.

5. If you encounter any difficulty in this process or have questions relating to paper submission please contact the ToN Editorial Assistant, tonea2020@gmail.com.

Submission Timeline

Papers are reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief as a batch on a WEEKLY basis, starting in May 2024. All papers undergo a first assessment to determine their overall suitability to the journal; papers moving forward in the review process will then be assigned to Associate Editors. Authors are welcome to contact the editors of their papers directly regarding the status of their papers; the name and email address of the editor will be available within the online manuscript submission system.

The average and median times from editor assignment to a first decision are currently five months. The first decision can be acceptance for publication, rejection from further consideration for publication, or a request for further revision. Please note that no request for revision implies eventual publication. Papers requested to undergo further revision must be returned within a bounded amount of time, typically three months.

Requests for short extensions may be accommodated when warranted, but requests for longer extensions will be typically denied and the authors requested to submit their revision as a new papers. Submission as a new paper incurs no penalty toward the possibility of acceptance. Unless the authors of a resubmission explicitly request a different editor, the paper will typically be sent to the original editor who will then proceed to forward it to the original reviewers, minimizing additional delay. Avoiding unusually protracted revision periods does provide a fairer measure of how long it takes to be published in ToN.

Accepted papers will be sent to IEEE production for processing shortly after acceptance, and papers are made available on IEEE Xplore approximately 40 days after acceptance.

Accepted Papers

At each revision stage you will be asked to submit camera-ready files, and there are typically no changes allowed post-acceptance. After acceptance your manuscript files will be sent directly to the IEEE publication offices, and you will be contacted if anything is missing or needs correction. If you need to update the acknowledgments section of your manuscript post-acceptance please contact Alison Larkin at a.larkin@ieee.org. You will have the opportunity to make minor edits to your manuscript when you receive the page proofs from IEEE.

By submitting your manuscript final files to the Transactions on Networking, you are acknowledging and agreeing to any applicable page charges this paper may incur. If you have any questions about these charges, please contact the Journal Administrator.

Please do not send ANY items via email, regular mail, or fax, as they will not be processed if you do.

During each round of revision, please make sure all metadata in the TNET Author Portal is correct and complete. Each upload should include:

1. A LaTeX or Microsoft Word application file: this should include keywords/index terms, and the optional biographies and photos if you are including them. A 10-pt font is required, and the required 2-column style files are in IEEE Template Selector along with other useful information for authors. Please check to see if your final manuscript meets the 16pp length limitation using the IEEE formatting template.

2. A pdf of your entire manuscript.

3. Files for figures if they are not embedded in the source file of your manuscript - the acceptable formats are doc, eps, ppt, pdf, png, ips, tiff, and xls. We do NOT accept jpeg files for figures.

4. Optional biosketches. These can be included at the end of your Microsoft Word or Latex source file, or submitted as a separate upload. For author photos, jpeg files are accepted.

5. Authors wishing to include supplementary materials, multimedia files, or datasets should refer to the IEEE's standards for video and multimedia documentation.

IEEE has moved to an all electronic copyright submission system. Once your manuscript has been accepted, you will be required to complete the electronic copyright form the IEEE Author Gateway.