IEEE

SIGNAL PROCESSING LETTERS

A PUBLICATION OF THE IEEE SIGNAL PROCESSING SOCIETY

INFORMATION FOR AUTHORS

(Updated September 2010)

The IEEE SIGNAL PROCESSING LETTERS is a monthly, archival publication designed to provide rapid dissemination of original, cutting-edge ideas and timely, significant contributions in signal, image, speech, language and audio processing.

Every manuscript must (a) provide a clearly defined statement of the problem being addressed, (b) state why it is important to solve the problem, and (c) give an indication as to how the current solution fits into the history of the problem.

By submission/resubmission of your manuscript to the LETTERS, you are acknowledging that you accept the rules established for publication of manuscripts.

New and revised manuscripts should be prepared following the “New Manuscript Submission” guidelines below, and submitted to the online submission system ScholarOne Manuscripts. Submissions / resubmissions must be previously unpublished and may not be under consideration elsewhere. After acceptance, finalized manuscripts should be prepared following the "Final Manuscript Submission Guidelines" below. Do not send original submissions or revisions directly to the Editor-in-Chief or Associate Editors; they will access your manuscript electronically via the ScholarOne Manuscripts system.

New Manuscript Submission. Please follow the next steps.

1. Account in ScholarOne Manuscripts. If necessary, create an account in the on-line submission system ScholarOne Manuscripts. Please check first if you already have an existing account which is based on your e-mail address and may have been created for you when you reviewed or authored a previous paper.
2. Electronic Manuscript. Prepare a PDF file containing your manuscript in double-spaced format (one full blank line between lines of type) using a font size of 11 points or larger, having a margin of at least 1 inch on all sides. For a regular paper, the manuscript may not exceed 30 double-spaced pages, including title; names of authors and their complete contact information; abstract; text; all images, figures and tables; and all references.
3. Double-Column Version of Manuscript. You are required to also submit a roughly formatted version of the manuscript in single-spaced, double column IEEE format (10 points for a regular submission or 9 points for a Correspondence) using the IEEE style files (it is allowed to let long equations stick out). If accepted for publication, over length page charges are levied beginning with the 11th published page of your manuscript. You are, therefore, advised to be conservative in your submission. This double-column version submitted will serve as a confirmation of the approximate publication length of the manuscript and gives an additional confirmation of your understanding that over length page charges will be paid when billed upon publication.
   
   Upload this version of the manuscript as a PDF file "double.pdf" to the ScholarOneManuscripts site.
   
   

   Upload your manuscript as a PDF file "manuscript.pdf" to the ScholarOne Manuscripts site, then proofread your submission, confirming that all figures and equations are visible in your document before you "SUBMIT" your manuscript. Proofreading is critical; once you submit your manuscript, the manuscript cannot be changed in any way. You may also submit your manuscript as a PostScript or MS Word file. The system has the capability of converting your files to PDF, however it is your responsibility to confirm that the conversion is correct and there are no font or graphics issues prior to completing the submission process.

4. Additional Material for Review. Please upload pdf versions of all items in the reference list which are not publicly available, such as unpublished (submitted) papers. Other materials for review such as supplementary tables and figures, audio fragments and QuickTime movies may be uploaded as well. Reviewers will be able to view these files only if they have the appropriate software on their computers. Use short filenames without spaces or special characters. When the upload of each file is completed, you will be asked to provide a description of that file.
5. Submission. After uploading all files and proofreading them, submit your manuscript by clicking "Submit." A confirmation of the successful submission will open on screen containing the manuscript tracking number and will be followed with an e-mail confirmation to the corresponding and all contributing authors. Once you click "Submit," your manuscript cannot be changed in any way.
6. Copyright Form and Consent Form. By policy, IEEE owns the copyright to the technical contributions it publishes on behalf of the interests of the IEEE, its authors, and their employers; and to facilitate the appropriate reuse of this material by others. To comply with the IEEE copyright policies, authors are required to sign and submit a completed "IEEE Copyright and Consent Form" prior to publication by the IEEE.
   
   The IEEE recommends authors to use an effective electronic copyright form (eCF) tool within the ScholarOne Manuscripts system. You will be redirected to the "IEEE Electronic Copyright Form" wizard at the end of your original submission; please simply sign the eCF by typing your name at the proper location and click on the "Submit" button.

Manuscript Length. The submitted manuscript length can be at most 10 double-spaced pages. In print (double-column format, 10 point type), this is approximately 3 pages. No manuscript can be more than 4 published pages. We will immediately request that longer submissions be shortened and they will not be given an official received date.

Resubmission of Previously Rejected Manuscripts. Authors of rejected manuscripts are allowed to resubmit their manuscripts only once. The Signal Processing Society strongly discourages resubmission of rejected manuscripts more than once. At the time of submission, you will be asked whether you consider your manuscript to be a new submission or a resubmission of an earlier rejected manuscript. If you choose to submit a new version of your manuscript, you will be asked to submit supporting documents detailing how your new version addresses all of the reviewers' comments. Full details of the resubmission process can be found in the Signal Processing Society "Policy and Procedures Manual". Also, please refer to the decision letter and your Author Center on the on-line submission system.

Author Misconduct.

Author Misconduct Policy: Plagiarism includes copying someone else’s work without appropriate credit, using someone else’s work without clear delineation of citation, and the uncited reuse of an authors previously published work that also involves other authors. Plagiarism is unacceptable.

Self-plagiarism involves the verbatim copying or reuse of an author own prior work without appropriate citation; it is also unacceptable. Self-plagiarism includes duplicate submission of a single journal manuscript to two different journals, and submission of two different journal manuscripts which overlap substantially in language or technical contribution.

Authors may only submit original work that has not appeared elsewhere in a journal publication, nor is under review for another journal publication. Limited overlap with prior journal publications with a common author is allowed only if it is necessary for the readability of the paper. If authors have used their own previously published work as a basis for a new submission, they are required to Cite the previous work and very briefly indicate how the new submission offers substantively novel contributions beyond those of the previously published work.

It is acceptable for conference papers to be used as the basis for a more fully developed journal submission. Still, authors are required to cite related prior work; the papers cannot be identical; and the journal publication must include novel aspects.

Author Misconduct Procedures: The procedures that will be used by the Signal Processing Society in the investigation of author misconduct allegations are described in the IEEE SPS Policies and Procedures Manual. Author Misconduct Sanctions: The IEEE Signal Processing Society will apply the following sanctions in any case of plagiarism, or in cases of self- plagiarism that involve an overlap of more than 25% with another journal manuscript:

1. immediate rejection of the manuscript in question;
2. immediate withdrawal of all other submitted manuscripts by any of the authors, submitted to any of the Society’s publications (journals, conferences, workshops), except for manuscripts that also involve innocent co-authors;
3. prohibition against each of the authors for any new submissions, either individually, in combination with the authors of the plagiarizing manuscript, or in combination with new co-authors, to all of the Society’s publications (journals, conferences, workshops). The prohibition shall continue for one year from notice of suspension.

Further, plagiarism and self-plagiarism may also be actionable by the IEEE under the rules of Member Conduct.

Submission Format.

Authors are encouraged to prepare manuscripts employing the on-line style files developed by IEEE. All manuscripts accepted for publication will require the authors to make final submission employing these style files. The style files are available on the web under "Template for all LETTERS." (LaTeX and MS Word).

Authors using LaTeX: the two PDF versions of the manuscript needed for submission can both be produced by the IEEEtran.cls style file. A double-spaced document is generated by including /documentclass[11pt,draftcls,onecolumn] (IEEEtran) as the first line of the manuscript source file, and a single-spaced double-column document for estimating the publication page charges via \documentclass[10pt,twocolumn,twoside] (IEEEtran) for a regular submission, or \documentclass[9pt,twocolumn,twoside] (IEEEtran) for a Correspondence item.

• Title page and abstract: The first page of the manuscript shall contain the title, names and contact information for all authors (full mailing address, institutional affiliations, phone, fax, and e-mail), the abstract, and the EDICS. An asterisk * should be placed next to the name of the Corresponding Author who will serve as the main point of contact for the manuscript during the review and publication processes. An abstract limited to 100 words is required. The abstract should not only indicate the scope of the paper but should also summarize the author's conclusions so that the abstract by itself may be useful in information-retrieval systems.
• EDICS: All submissions must be classified by the author with an EDICS (Editors’ Information Classification Scheme) selected from the list of EDICS published online at: http://www.signalprocessingsociety.org/publications/periodicals/LETTERS/LETTERS-edics/
• NOTE: EDICS are necessary to begin the peer review process. Upon submission of a new manuscripts, please choose the EDICS categories that best suit your manuscript. Failure to do so will likely result in a delay of the peer review process.
• The EDICS category should appear on the first page—i.e., the title and abstract page—of the manuscript.
• Illustrations and tables: Each figure and table should have a caption that is intelligible without requiring reference to the text. Illustrations/tables may be worked into the text of a newly-submitted manuscript, or placed at the end of the manuscript. (However, for the final submission, illustrations/tables must be submitted separately and not interwoven with the text.) Illustrations in color may be used but, unless the final publishing will be in color, the author is responsible that the corresponding grayscale figure is understandable.
  
  

  In preparing your illustrations, note that in the printing process, most illustrations are reduced to single-column width to conserve space. This may result in as much as a 4:1 reduction from the original. Therefore, make sure that all words are in a type size that will reduce to a minimum of 9 points or 3/16 inch high in the printed version. Only the major grid lines on graphs should be indicated.

• Abbreviations: The LETTERS follows the practices of the IEEE on units and abbreviations, as outlined in the Institute’s published standards. See http://www.ieee.org/documents/auinfo07.pdf for details.
• Mathematics: All mathematical expressions must be legible. Do not give derivations that are easily found in the literature; merely cite the reference. Final Manuscript Submission Guidelines. Upon formal acceptance of a manuscript for publication, instructions for providing the final materials required for publication will be sent to the Corresponding Author. Finalized manuscripts should be prepared in LaTeX or MS Word, and are required to use the style files established by IEEE, available at http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/authors/authors_journals.html#sect2 under "Template for all LETTERS". Instructions for preparing files for electronic submission are as follows:
  • Files must be self-contained; that is, there can be no pointers to your system setup.
  • Include a header to identify the name of the LETTERS, the name of the author, and the software used to format the manuscript.
  • Do not create special macros.
  • Do not send PostScript files of the text.
  • File names should be lower case.
  • Graphics files should be separate from the text, and not contain the caption text, but include callouts like "(a)," "(b)."
  • Graphics file names should be lower case and named fig1.eps, fig2.tif, etc.
  • Supported graphics types are EPS, PS, TIFF, or graphics created using Word, PowerPoint, Excel or PDF. Not acceptable is GIF, JPEG, WMF, PNG, BMP or any other format (JPEG is accepted for author photographs only). The provided resolution needs to be at least 600 dpi (400 dpi for color). Additional instructions for preparing, verifying the quality, and submitting graphics are available via IEEE Author Digital Toolbox.

Multimedia Materials.

IEEE Xplore can publish multimedia files and Matlab code along with your paper. Alternatively, you can provide the links to such files in a README file that appears on Xplore along with your paper. For details, please see IEEE Author Digital Toolbox under "Multimedia Materials." To make your work reproducible by others, the LETTERS encourages you to submit all files that can recreate the figures in your paper.

Page Charges.

Voluntary Page Charges. Upon acceptance of a manuscript for publication, the author(s) or his/her/their company or institution will be asked to pay a charge of $110 per page to cover part of the cost of publication of the first four pages that comprise the standard length.

Mandatory Page Charges. The author(s) or his/her/their company or institution will be billed $220 per each page in excess of the first four published pages on the rare occasion that a five-page paper is accepted for publication. These are mandatory page charges and the author(s) will be held responsible for them. They are not negotiable or voluntary. The author(s) signifies his willingness to pay these charges simply by submitting his/her/their manuscript to the LETTERS. The Publisher holds the right to withhold publication under any circumstance, as well as publication of the current or future submissions of authors who have outstanding mandatory page charge debt.