Archives: Questions

If you are an early career researcher you may find our PDF guides (available in both English and Chinese) helpful.

It may be tempting to begin writing a paper before giving much thought to where it might be published. However, choosing a journal to target before you begin to prepare your paper will enable you to tailor your writing to the journal’s audience. It will also enable you to format your paper according to any specific guidelines, which you may find on the journal’s website. This may save you a lot of time and effort in the long run. Some of the key factors to consider when trying to choose the right journal for your work are:

Peer review service

Peer review is considered a stamp of quality from the research community. It is important to consider whether a journal is published by a reputable and trustworthy publisher who provides a rigorous peer review service (as IOP Publishing does for all its journals). If fast publication is important to you, you may also wish to check with the publisher the publication times for the journal you are considering.

Relevance/audience

You should browse published articles in the journal to establish whether the journal publishes similar papers to the one you are preparing. Check whether your peers publish in the journal. It may also help to review the make-up of the Editorial Board to see if it contains senior researchers in your field.

Scope

The scope may be found on the journal homepage. It is important to consider whether your work fits within the scientific scope of the journal and the topics covered. Also consider whether the journal is broad in its scope or a specialist journal read mainly by a particular community, as this will affect the way that you write your paper. Another consideration is the article types the journal publishes. For example, some work is best suited to the shorter ‘Letter’ format, while other work may suit the longer ‘Paper’ format.

Reputation/quality level

You should consider the reputation of the journal in its field and whether it is considered to be of high quality. Also, you should think about whether it is widely read by your peers. Reputation is often based on impact factor, which is a measure of the average citations of papers published in the journal. High impact factor journals may have high rejection rates, so in choosing a suitable journal you should consider just how novel/significant your research findings are.

Indexing

You should check whether the journal is indexed in the major online databases such as Web of Science or Scopus (this is generally the case for all IOP journals). Indexing increases the visibility and discoverability of the work, and may indicate a trusted journal. For our journals, this information can be found under ‘Abstracted in’ on the journal homepages.

Language requirements

Most international journals publish papers written in English. You should consider the language requirements of the journal, and whether you will need to have your paper checked by a native English speaker to ensure that it is understandable. IOP journals offer authors a language editing service.

Cost

The journal website should inform you of any fees that you may be charged, and you should consider whether your institution or funder will be able to cover the charge if there is one. For example, charges may apply for colour figures or for publishing your paper on a (gold) open access basis.

Publishing model: open access or subscription?

The cost of publishing a paper can be paid for in a number of ways. Traditionally, libraries and other institutions pay a subscription fee to receive individual journals or collections of titles for their researchers. This is known as the subscription model and, as an author, you usually do not have to pay a fee to publish a paper in a subscription journal. You may however incur a page charge for some journals or be charged for colour figures.

The (gold) open access publishing model allows published papers to be freely available for anyone to read. This means that authors, research institutions or funding organizations may fund the costs of publishing. In return, authors ensure that everyone can access their work. If you wish to submit for (gold) open access publication (most journals published by IOP Publishing offer this option) always check with your institution to ensure that there are funds available to cover the article publication charges.

It is important to understand which version of an article you are reading and what rights you have when you access our content. Is it the un-edited manuscript, the peer-reviewed manuscript, the final version or one that has been corrected post-publication? The following are our current definitions of the different versions of an article and apply to both subscription and gold open access articles.

Author’s Original/Preprint is ‘the version of the article before peer review or editing, as submitted by an author to the journal’.

Accepted Manuscript is ‘the version of the article accepted for publication including all changes made as a result of the peer review process, and which may also include the addition to the article by IOP of a header, an article ID, a cover sheet and/or an ‘Accepted Manuscript’ watermark, but excluding any other editing, typesetting or other changes made by IOP’.

Final Published Version is ‘the peer reviewed, edited, formatted and typeset version of the article, including any tagging, indexing and other enhancements published by IOP’.

Version of Record is ‘the Final Published Version, including any post publication corrections or enhancements and any other changes made by IOP’.

You can submit your complete ebook proposal, tentative outline, and brief biography or CV to ebooks@ioppublishing.org, or alternatively direct to the relevant Commissioning Editor specializing in your field. If you have any sample materials, please include those as well. While a sample chapter is not required, it will help us and the referees become better acquainted with content representing your publication.

Please remember your ebook proposal and sample materials will be held in complete confidentiality. We greatly appreciate our authors and editors, and have the utmost respect for their contributions to our publishing program and the scientific community.

Fully open access journals make all published articles immediately free to read and reuse without any subscription charges or access fees. To support the cost of managing peer review and publication, applies an article publication charge (APC) for published articles (or an article publication fee for journals published on behalf of the AAS). For some of our journals, APCs are not charged if IOP Publishing or one of our publishing partners is sponsoring the costs of publication. A full list of APCs can be found on our APC pricing page.

IOP Publishing and our publishing partners publish the following fully open access journals:

Physics

• IOP SciNotes
• Journal of Physics Communications
• Journal of Physics: Photonics
• New Journal of Physics

Materials Science

• IOP SciNotes
• Journal of Physics: Materials
• Materials for Quantum Technology
• Materials Futures
• Materials Research Express
• Nano Express

Multidisciplinary Physical Science

• IOP SciNotes
• Journal of Physics: Complexity
• Journal of Physics: Energy
• Journal of Physics: Materials
• Journal of Physics: Photonics
• Machine Learning: Science and Technology
• Neuromorphic Computing and Engineering

Environmental Science

• Environmental Research Communications
• Environmental Research Letters
• Environmental Research: Climate
• Environmental Research: Health
• Environmental Research: Ecology
• Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability
• Journal of Physics: Energy

Astronomy and Astrophysics

• The Astronomical Journal 
• The Astrophysical Journal 
• The Astrophysical Journal Letters 
• The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
• The Planetary Sciences Journal

Engineering

• International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing
• Neuromorphic Computing and Engineering

It is important we maintain current book content for the scientific community. Minor revisions and extensions can be accommodated through updates to the published version of the book. Please contact your editor if you have suggestions for updates to your book.

Larger extensions and revisions are best published through new editions; these typically involve a significant editorial revision or update, typically a with minimum of 15% new material. Your editor may contact you to discuss ideas for updates or new editions, but if you have interest in preparing a revision of your book, please contact your editor so they are able to determine if it is the appropriate time to begin the revision process. We may seek feedback from readers of the present edition to help with formulating the new edition.

As you write the revision plan, consider the new or updated content including new sections and chapters that would benefit the book. It is also important to consider what content, if any, is now considered obsolete and should be removed.

Please keep in mind you will be required to obtain permission for all figures in the new edition which you did not originally create for the ebook. This applies unless you cleared permission to reuse the figure in ‘all editions’ of the book when you first obtained permission.

Research papers submitted for publication in IOP journals are most commonly sent to two independent reviewers. Reviewers are selected from our reviewer database and we try to find the best combination of scientific expertise and reviewing experience for each paper. It’s really important for reviewers to keep their research interests up to date on ScholarOne, so we only send them papers that are in the right subject areas.

Authors are welcome to suggest reviewers for their paper if they wish but this is not required, and we are not obliged to use author suggested reviewers. In the interests of impartiality, if an author-suggested reviewer is used then we will complement this with a review from a second referee chosen by the journal from the general reviwer pool.

How to update your Scholar One account

At IOP Publishing, we want to take your ebook idea from conception to reality. We are here to guide you every step of the way.

A well-designed ebook proposal is an effective tool to convey why the ebook you intend to write will make an impact in the scientific community. Your proposal should provide an overview of the ebook, including a technical description, intended readership, approach, features, and the overall aim and scope. We have a proposal form, designed to enable authors to provide a full description of the intended work and facilitate the reviewing and assessment process.

There are various reviews throughout the assessment and publishing process including at the proposal and draft manuscript stages,  all of which serve as independent critical steps in publishing a successful ebook.

Reviewers will be reading your proposal to identify strengths and weaknesses of the proposed project. It is therefore important your proposal describes the intended ebook and its market clearly. Some of the most important aspects reviewers are asked to comment on include:

• Has the author properly assessed a need for this ebook and addressed it with quality, clarity, and organization of the material presented?
• What is the technical level of this ebook?
• Is the author’s coverage of the topic adequate?
• What are strengths of the proposed ebook? What are weaknesses of this proposed ebook and how can we improve and strengthen this work?
• Is the author qualified to write this ebook?
• Is the author aware of any competing books and made clear how their ebook will differentiate itself from the others?

Technical description

While you are preparing your ebook proposal, it is important to communicate exactly what your ebook will do for the reader. After you have clearly identified the market and audience, try to express a broad overview of the ebook’s features, the purpose of the ebook, and what the reader will learn by reading your ebook. Consider the ebook’s approach, coverage, and organization and how these aspects demonstrate its value.

Key features

Communicating and highlighting the key features of your ebook throughout your proposal is critical. What makes your ebook a valuable resource? Perhaps you’re using a simplified approach to an otherwise difficult subject area, or you have included extensive tables and figures, software code, worked examples or case studies. If your ebook has textbook potential, consider including chapter summaries, appendices, or end-of-chapter problems with a solutions manual. Well thought-out features can make a dramatic impact on the final product.

Competition

Identifying competition is essential. Not only will we better determine and understand the market for your ebook, but you will also have the opportunity to discuss what distinguishes your ebook from the rest. How your ebook differs from the existing books in the area will be a focal point in our marketing and distribution strategy for your title.

Referees

Your proposal will be assessed by our editorial staff and also by independent subject specialists from around the world to gain insight on the content and structure of your publication on a global level. Feedback from reviewers and readers is used not only to assess the quality of proposal or manuscript, but to provide constructive feedback to allow IOP to work with you to develop and maximize the potential of your ebook.

As a reviewer for IOP journals, you will be expected to complete your review within 7–28 days, depending on the journal and type of article you are reviewing. When this is not possible, we will consider requests for extensions where appropriate. You will be expected to comment on multiple aspects of the paper, most commonly scientific rigour, novelty, quality, impact and importance. More information on how to complete a review is given in the next section.

We understand you are busy and we try not to send anyone too many tasks. You can always decline any request you are sent. If you are a Board Member or on an Advisory Panel for one of our journals you may receive requests more frequently.

We manage all our submissions and peer review through a web-based system called ScholarOne. It is really easy to set up your account and keep it up to date. Watch this video to find out how.

ScholarOne now supports login and account creation via your ORCID iD. See our help guide for further details.

How to create an account on ScholarOne

IOP Conference Series uses author-supplied PDFs for all online and print publication. Authors must prepare their papers using Microsoft Word or LaTeX, according to the guidelines and templates, and then convert these files to PDF.

It is important to ensure that when you submit your paper, it is in its final form ready for publication, and has been thoroughly proofread. IOP do not copy edit or reformat papers and will not send out author proofs prior to publication. Post-publication changes are not permitted, so please ensure that your paper has been checked for errors.

As a general rule we would advise that an author does not submit more than two articles to a conference. This includes papers that they have co-authored.
Our guidance on what constitutes authorship is available here: https://publishingsupport.iopscience.iop.org/questions/ethics-of-authorship/

By submitting a paper an author and all co-authors are assumed to agree with the terms of the IOP Proceedings Licence.

Do not submit your papers directly to IOP Publishing; please contact your conference organizer for submission instructions.

Paper format

• The paper size is European A4.
• Margins are 4cm (top), 2.5cm (left and right) and 2.7cm (bottom).
• There are no page numbers, headers or footers within the paper.
• Text is single spaced, not double spaced.
• All fonts are embedded.
• All pages are portrait (landscape pages should be rotated).
• The abstract text should be indented 25mm from the left margin and there should be 10mm space after the abstract before you begin the main text of your article, starting on the same page as the abstract.

Paper content

• The paper includes the author name(s) and affiliation(s) (full address including country).
• All articles must contain an abstract.
• Papers must use inclusive language. At IOPP we follow these industry-wide Guidelines on Inclusive Language and Images in Scholarly Communication.
• All figures and tables should be numbered in numerical order. Please ensure that figure/table numbers are not duplicated or missed.
• Figures are legible and placed within the text, not collected at the end of the document.
• If section headings are numbered, ensure that they are numbered numerically, and no numbers are duplicated or missing.
• Displayed equations should follow a naming convention in numerical order, i.e. (1), (2), (3) etc or by section, i.e. (1.1), (1.2) etc. Ensure every displayed equation has its own number and none are duplicated or missing.
• Reference lists are checked for accuracy. References can only be linked via CrossRef if they are correct and complete. Check the templates and guidance page for further reference styling information.
• If numbering references (Harvard system) ensure that references are numbered numerically, every reference has its own number and no numbers are duplicated or missing.
• Ensure that all references are cited in the text and that all citations have a corresponding reference.
• Finally, please ensure that the paper is thoroughly proofread to check the standard of English and ensure wording is clear and concise.

Conversion to PDF

• The PDF file is editable and not password protected.
• The PDF is free of formatting errors (e.g. corrupt equations, missing or poor-resolution figures), since conversion from Word to PDF can introduce formatting errors.
• There are no blank pages.