Submission Preparation Checklist

✅ Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items. Submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

📝 Author Guidelines

IJTIMES welcomes submissions of original research, systematic reviews, and short communications at the convergence of computing, mechanical and industrial engineering, and management science. These guidelines describe what authors should know before, during, and after submission.

🔎 1. Before Submitting

• Confirm that your manuscript falls within the journal's Aims and Scope.
• Confirm that your manuscript is original and has not been published or submitted elsewhere.
• Familiarise yourself with the journal's Publication Ethics, Authorship and Contributorship, Data Availability Policy, AI Use Policy, and Conflicts of Interest requirements.
• If you are a member of the editorial team or the active reviewer pool, declare this in the cover letter so that the journal can apply the Editorial Submissions Policy.

📄 2. Article Types and Length

📄 3. Manuscript Structure

Original Research Articles and Short Communications should follow this structure:

Required sections are mandatory. Systematic Reviews follow PRISMA structure.

📋 4. Title and Abstract

• The title should be specific, informative, and free of unnecessary jargon. Up to 20 words is typical.
• The abstract should be a single paragraph summarising the motivation, methods, key results, and conclusions. Avoid undefined abbreviations and references in the abstract.
• Provide 4 to 6 keywords below the abstract for indexing.

🤝 5. Language and Style

Manuscripts must be in clear, professional English. Either British or American English is acceptable, applied consistently. Authors who are not native English speakers may use a language-editing service before submission. The journal does not provide language editing during peer review.

📷 6. Figures and Tables

• Figures should be high-resolution: vector graphics for line art and 300 dpi minimum for raster images.
• Tables should be editable text and not embedded as images.
• Each figure and table should have a caption that allows it to be understood without reference to the body text.
• Where third-party content is used in figures, authors are responsible for obtaining and supplying the necessary permissions.

📚 7. References

References use a numbered IEEE-style citation system. References are listed in the order of first citation in the body text. Each reference should provide complete bibliographic information, including DOI where available. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of references and for verifying that all cited works exist — this is particularly important where literature search has been assisted by AI tools (see the AI Use Policy).

⚖ 8. Required Ethical Declarations

The manuscript must include all of the following declarations (where applicable):

• A CRediT Author Contribution Statement — see Authorship and Contributorship
• A Conflicts of Interest statement — see Conflicts of Interest
• A Data Availability Statement — see Data Availability Policy
• A Use of AI Tools statement, where AI assistance has been used — see AI Use Policy
• An Ethics Approval statement, where the work involves human participants, animals, or sensitive data
• A Funding statement

🗎 9. Templates

Authors are strongly encouraged to use the journal's manuscript templates, available on the Manuscript Templates page. The journal accepts manuscripts only in PDF format at submission.

📤 10. How to Submit

🕐 11. After Submission

Authors receive an automated acknowledgement of submission. The Editor-in-Chief or a delegated editor performs an initial check (typically within 7 days), after which the manuscript either enters peer review or is returned. Updates are communicated through the notification system. The full peer-review process is described on the Peer Review Policy page.

Information on article processing charges is on the Article Processing Charges page. For information on production, proofs, and publication after acceptance, see the After Receiving a Final Decision page.

📄 Article Type Details

🔬 Original Research Articles

Original Research Articles report full-length empirical or methodological contributions. Manuscripts must present substantive, previously unpublished findings supported by rigorous methodology and adequate evidence.

Required structure: Title, Authors & Affiliations, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, CRediT Author Contribution Statement, Conflicts of Interest, Data Availability, Use of AI Tools (where applicable), Acknowledgements, Funding, References.

📋 Systematic or Methodological Review

Systematic or Methodological Reviews present structured syntheses of existing literature or rigorous methodological evaluations. Submissions must follow PRISMA or a comparable established methodology. Narrative literature reviews without a documented methodology are out of scope.

Protocol registration: Authors are encouraged to pre-register their review protocol with PROSPERO or the Open Science Framework and to cite the registration in the Methods section. Pre-registration is not mandatory but is treated as a positive indicator of methodological rigour.

⚡ Short Communication

Short Communications are concise reports of focused, self-contained findings that merit rapid dissemination. Suitable contributions include preliminary results, novel methods with a single clear application, brief case studies with broader methodological relevance, and timely findings of immediate interest. The journal aims to provide a first decision on Short Communications within four weeks of submission.

© Copyright Notice

Authors retain copyright of their published articles. By submitting to IJTIMES, authors confirm and agree to the following:

Full terms governing copyright, licensing, third-party content, and reuse are on the Copyright and Licensing page.