FOR AUTHORS & FOR REVIEWERS & FOR EDITORS

FOR AUTHORS

1 INTRODUCTION

Types of paper: Contributions falling into the following categories will be considered for publication: Original research articles, reviews.

Please ensure that you select the appropriate article type from the list of options when making your submission. Authors contributing to special issues should ensure that they select the special issue article type from this list.

Research Articles should present a major advance and must include an abstract of up to 250 words, an introduction and sections with brief and informative subheadings. Authors may include up to six figures and/or tables and about 40 references. Total research article length should be under 10,000 words. Supplementary materials should be limited to information that is not essential for the general understanding of the research presented in the main text and can include data sets, figures, tables, videos or audio files. For ease in preparing your submission, please follow the manuscript templates in Word and LaTex.

Review Articles should describe and synthesize recent developments of significance and highlight future directions. Reviews must include an abstract, an introduction that outlines the main theme, brief subheadings and an outline of important unresolved questions. Reviews should be no longer than 8,000 words, although longer manuscripts will be considered. Authors may include up to six figures and/or tables and up to 100 references. Most reviews are solicited by the editors, but unsolicited submissions will be considered.

Language (usage and editing services): Please write your text in good English (American or British uasge is accepted, but not a mixture of those). 

2 BEFORE YOU BEGIN

2.1 Ethics in publishing

Please see our information on Publication Ethics.

2.2 Conflict of interest

Please see our information on Publication Ethics.

2.3 Submission declaration

Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously (except in the form of an abstract, a published lecture or academic thesis, see 'Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication' for more information), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder.

2.4 Changes to authorship

This policy concerns the addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship of accepted manuscripts: Before the accepted manuscript is published in an online issue: Requests to add or remove an author, or to rearrange the author names, must be sent to the Journal Manager from the corresponding author of the accepted manuscript and must include: (a) the reason the name should be added or removed, or the author names rearranged and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed. Requests that are not sent by the corresponding author will be forwarded by the Journal Manager to the corresponding author, who must follow the procedure as described above. Note that: (1) Journal Managers will inform the Journal Editors of any such requests and (2) publication of the accepted manuscript in an online issue is suspended until authorship has been agreed.

After the accepted manuscript is published in an online issue: Any requests to add, delete, or rearrange author names in an article published in an online issue will follow the same policies as noted above and result in a corrigendum.

2.5 Copyright

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Copyright Transfer Statement'. An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Copyright Transfer Statement' form or a link to the online version of this Statement.

If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article.

2.6 Role of the funding source

You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such involvement, it is recommended to state this.

Submission

Submission to this journal proceeds totally online. Use the following guidelines to prepare your article. Via the homepage of this journal ( https://www.syssci.ac.cn/) you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of the various files. The system automatically converts source files to a single Adobe Acrobat PDF version of the article, which is used in the peer-review process. Please note that even though manuscript source files are converted to PDF at submission for the review process, these source files are needed for further processing after acceptance. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, takes place by e-mail and via the author's homepage, removing the need for a hard-copy paper trail. If you are unable to provide an electronic version, please contact the editorial office prior to submission sysengi@amss.ac.cn; Tel.: +86-10-82541428.

Additional Information

Tables and figures may be presented with captions within the main body of the manuscript; if so, figures should additionally be uploaded as high resolution files.

3 PREPARATION

3.1 Editorial Policies: Editorial Independence

Principle of Editorial Independence

(1) We believe strongly in ensuring that we keep the editorial decision-making processes of our publications completely separate from our commercial interests.

(2) Safeguarding this editorial independence requires that all editorial decisions, or concerns or complaints about editorial decisions, are dealt with strictly within the editorial structures of a publication.

(3) These structures typically include editors, editors-in-chief, editorial boards or review boards and ombudsmen, or analogous structures for the editorial governance of any given publication. JSSI operates a rigorous peer review process. Generally, the final acceptance/rejection decision will be made by the editor-in-chief, or another academic editor approved by the editor-in-chief. If manuscripts are submitted by a journal editor, they will be assigned to and processed by other journal editors to avoid conflicts of interest. 

(4) It further requires that no one on the commercial or executive side of the business can get involved in, interfere with, or even comment on editorial decisions under any circumstances.

(5) To deviate from the rigorous application of this principle in any individual situation would ultimately serve to undermine the integrity of the principle of editorial independence.

3.2 Peer review

This journal operates a single anonymized review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor's decision is final. Editors are not involved in decisions about papers which they have written themselves or have been written by family members or colleagues or which relate to products or services in which the editor has an interest. Any such submission is subject to all of the journal's usual procedures, with peer review handled independently of the relevant editor and their research groups. More information on types of peer review.

Use of word processing software

It is important that the file be saved in the native format of the word processor used. The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. 

3.3 Article structure

Subdivision-numbered sections

Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ...), 1.2, etc. (the abstract is not included in section numbering). Use this numbering also for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to 'the text'. Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line.

Introduction

State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.

Material and methods

Provide sufficient details to allow the work to be reproduced by an independent researcher. Methods that are already published should be summarized, and indicated by a reference. If quoting directly from a previously published method, use quotation marks and also cite the source. Any modifications to existing methods should also be described.

Theory/calculation

A Theory section should extend, not repeat, the background to the article already dealt with in the Introduction and lay the foundation for further work. In contrast, a Calculation section represents a practical development from a theoretical basis.

Results

Results should be clear and concise.

Discussion

This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature.

Conclusions

The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section.

Appendices

If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a subsequent appendix, Eq. (B.1) and so on. Similarly for tables and figures: Table A.1; Fig. A.1, etc.

3.4 Essential title page information

(1) Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.

(2) Author names and affiliations. Please clearly indicate the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author and check that all names are accurately spelled. You can add your name between parentheses in your own script behind the English transliteration. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.

(3) Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. This responsibility includes answering any future queries about Methodology and Materials. Ensure that the e-mail address is given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author.

(4) Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a 'Present address' (or 'Permanent address') may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.

3.5 Abstract

A concise and factual abstract is required. The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, References should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.

Keywords

Authors are invited to submit keywords associated with their paper.

Abbreviations

Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field in a footnote to be placed on the first page of the article. Such abbreviations that are unavoidable in the abstract must be defined at their first mention there, as well as in the footnote. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article.

Acknowledgements

Collate acknowledgements in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing language help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc.).

Nomenclature and units

Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI). If other quantities are mentioned, give their equivalent in SI. 

Math formulae

Please submit math equations as editable text and not as images. Present simple formulae in line with normal text where possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms, e.g., X/Y. In principle, variables are to be presented in italics. Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).

Footnotes

Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article. Many word processors can build footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Otherwise, please indicate the position of footnotes in the text and list the footnotes themselves separately at the end of the article. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list.

3.6 Figures

It is best to create your figures as vector-based files such as those produced by Adobe Illustrator. Vector-based files will give us maximum flexibility for sizing your figures properly without losing resolution. These figure files can be saved at a lower resolution to minimize the file size at initial submission.

Although we do not need the highest-resolution files for the initial submission, you will need to have these high-resolution files of your figures on hand so that they can be submitted with your revised manuscript for final publication production. Each figure or image must be in a separate editable file format at revision. Images may be in .eps, Word, .ai, Excel, PowerPoint, .pdf, .vsd, .emf, .wmf.

3.7 Tables

Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. Place footnotes to tables below the table body and indicate them with superscript lowercase letters. Avoid vertical rules. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article.

3.8 References

Citation in text

Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution of the publication date with either 'Unpublished results' or 'Personal communication'. Citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has been accepted for publication.

Web references

As a minimum, the full URL should be given and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the reference list.

Preprint references

Where a preprint has subsequently become available as a peer-reviewed publication, the formal publication should be used as the reference. If there are preprints that are central to your work or that cover crucial developments in the topic, but are not yet formally published, these may be referenced. Preprints should be clearly marked as such, for example by including the word preprint, or the name of the preprint server, as part of the reference. The preprint DOI should also be provided.

References in a special issue

Please ensure that the words 'this issue' are added to any references in the list (and any citations in the text) to other articles in the same Special Issue.

Reference style

References should be cited in the text using Arabic numerals within square brackets in numerical order, and listed at the end of the paper in numerical order.

Examples:

as demonstrated[1]. 

Kramer et al.[1] have recently shown ....

[1] He J, Wang J, Jiang X L, et al. Inventory portfolio optimization in supply chain finance: A Copula-CVaR-EVT approach. Systems Engineering - Theory & Practice, 2015, 35(1): 1-16.

[1] Huppert B, Blackburn N. Finite groups II.  Springer-Verlag, New York, 1982.

[1] Mettam G R, Adams L B. How to prepare an electronic version of your article. Jones B S, Smith R Z. Eds. Introduction to the Electronic Age. E- Publishing Inc., New York, 1999: 281-304.

Journal abbreviations source

Journal names should be abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations.

Submission checklist

The following list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to the journal for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item. Ensure that the following items are present:

One Author designated as corresponding Author:

E-mail address

Full postal address

Telephone and fax numbers

All necessary files have been uploaded

Keywords

All figure captions

All tables (including title, description, footnotes)

Further considerations

(1) Manuscript has been "spellchecked" and "grammar-checked"

(2) References are in the correct format for this journal

(3) All references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa

(4) Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Web)

(5) Black and white versions of the figures are also supplied for printing purposes

4 AFTER ACCEPTANCE

4.1 Use of the Digital Object Identifier

The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) may be used to cite and link to electronic documents. The DOI consists of a unique alpha-numeric character string which is assigned to a document by the publisher upon the initial electronic publication. The assigned DOI never changes. Therefore, it is an ideal medium for citing a document, particularly 'Articles in press' because they have not yet received their full bibliographic information. The correct format for citing a DOI is shown as follows (example taken from a document in this journal): doi: 10.21078/JSSI-2022-309-29. When you use the DOI to create URL hyperlinks to documents on the web, they are guaranteed never to change.

4.2 Proofs

One set of page proofs (as PDF files) will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author (if we do not have an e-mail address then paper proofs will be sent by post) or a link will be provided in the e-mail so that authors can download the files themselves. To ensure a fast publication process of the article, we kindly ask authors to provide us with their proof corrections within two days. 

If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return them to Elsevier in an e-mail. Please list your corrections quoting line number. If, for any reason, this is not possible, then mark the corrections and any other comments (including replies to the Query Form) on a printout of your proof and scan the pages and return via e-mail. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. It is important to ensure that all corrections are sent back to us in one communication: please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility.

FOR REVIEWERS

Only some of the papers submitted to JSSI are reviewed in depth. Reviewers may be selected to evaluate separate components of a manuscript. We greatly appreciate the time spent in preparing a review and will consult reviewers on a revision of a manuscript only if we believe the paper has been significantly improved but still requires input. The final responsibility for decisions of acceptance or rejection of a submitted manuscript lies with the editor.

Guidelines for Reviewers

Be objective. If a reviewer cannot judge a paper impartially, they should not accept the invitation to review it. If a reviewer has any professional, personal, or financial affiliations that are or even may be perceived as a conflict of interest in reviewing the manuscript, they should not accept the invitation to review, or, if this conflict of interest is uncovered after seeing the full manuscript materials, they should recuse themselves immediately and fully inform the journal editors. If there is an aspect of a manuscript that a reviewer feels they are not qualified to evaluate, they should inform the editor.

Provide considerate and useful comments. Reviews should be constructive and courteous, and the reviewer should respect the intellectual independence of the author. The reviewer should avoid personal comments; The JSSI editors reserve the right to edit out comments that will hinder constructive discussion of manuscripts. If something is unclear due to the language please address this in the review, however reviewers are not expected to edit/correct the grammar or language in the manuscript. Please restrict review comments directed to the authors to the scientific content. If you feel that English language editing is recommended, please note this in your confidential comments to the editor.

Work promptly. Just as a reviewer may wish prompt evaluations of their own research, we request they return reviews within the time period specified when asked to review the paper. If events will prevent a timely review, it is the reviewer’s responsibility to inform the editor at the time of the request.

Maintain anonymity. The review process is conducted anonymously. JSSI never reveal the identity of reviewers to authors. The privacy and anonymity provisions of this process extend to the reviewer, who should not reveal his or her identity to outsiders or members of the press. The review itself will be shared only with the author, editor, and possibly with other reviewers (anonymously).

Maintain confidentiality. The submitted manuscript is a privileged communication and must be treated as a confidential document. Reviewers should destroy all copies of the manuscript after review and not share the manuscript with any colleagues without the explicit permission of the editor. Reviewers should not make personal or professional use of the data or interpretations before publication without the authors’ specific permission (unless they are invited to write an editorial or commentary to accompany the article).

Know our Editorial Policies. Reviewers should be aware of JSSI policies regarding conflict of interest, data availability, and materials sharing. To review these guidelines, please visit the Publication Ethics page.

Criteria for Evaluation

Scope: The manuscript should fall within the scope of the journal.

Novelty: The information should not already exist in the literature. It should be innovative and answer an important question within the field. Ideally, it should also have the potential for implications outside of the field.

Methods: The approach should be clear, appropriate, rigorous, and current.

Conclusions: The evidence provided should justify the conclusions and the conclusions should be compelling enough to deserve rapid publication.

For Editors

As an editor for Journal of Systems Science and Information (JSSI), you are part of a valued community and are an integral part in disseminating high-quality peer reviewed research. As a scientific editor, JSSI relies on your experience and expertise to evaluate and accept the highest quality research to be published.

JSSI also relies on the members of their Editorial Board to serve as an ambassador for the journal, helping to inform others about the journal and encouraging valuable research to be submitted.

Handling a Manuscript

Once a manuscript is submitted, the editorial office staff will complete a technical check to make sure all required information is complete before assigning the manuscript to an appropriate editor.

Once you receive an assignment or invitation to handle a manuscript, you will be able to view the manuscript file and the details of the submission. You will also to be able to make a decision to reject without review, if you decide the manuscript does not warrant further review.

If the manuscript does warrant further review, you will be able to invite reviewers. You can search for reviewers that are already registered in the submission system, register specific reviewers, or you can utilize the Reviewer Locator tool to help find appropriate reviewers. Once you find reviewers you can list them to be invited immediately, or you can list them as “alternates” so that they are invited if other reviewers are unable to review. It is always a good idea to list as many additional reviewers as “alternates” as possible to make sure the review process proceeds as quickly as possible. Once you are done listing reviewers, the system and the editorial office will take care of contacting them for you. If more suggestions are needed, the editorial office will notify you.

Once all the reviews have been received, the editorial office will notify you so that you can read through them and make your decision. Once your decision is submitted the editorial office will notify the authors.

Guidelines for Editors

Be objective. If an editor cannot judge a paper impartially, they should not accept the invitation to serve as editor. If an editor has any professional, personal, or financial affiliations that are or even may be perceived as a conflict of interest in handling the manuscript, they should not accept the invitation to handle the manuscript, or, if this conflict of interest is uncovered after seeing the full manuscript materials, they should recuse themselves immediately and fully inform the editorial office.

Provide considerate and useful comments. Editors are encouraged and expected to provide feedback on manuscripts they make a decision on, regardless of whether the decision was made with or without reviews. Editors should always provide a clear and constructive reason for declining the paper, or clear instructions on how authors should revise their paper, particularly if the reviews are not clear or are in disagreement. The editor should also note any personal comments they see in reviews, alerting the editorial office to edit out comments that will hinder constructive discussion of manuscripts. If something is unclear due to the language please address this in your comments, however editors and reviewers are not expected to edit/correct the grammar or language in the manuscript. Comments should be restricted to the scientific content, however, if English language editing is recommended, please note this in your confidential comments to the editor.

Work promptly. In order to usher manuscripts through the review process as quickly as possible, we ask that editors make their decisions within a few days of receiving the manuscript/reviews.

Maintain confidentiality. The submitted manuscript is a privileged communication and must be treated as a confidential document. Editors should destroy all copies of the manuscript after the review process is complete and not share the manuscript with any colleagues. Editors should not make personal or professional use of the data or interpretations before publication without the authors’ specific permission.

Know our Editorial Policies. Editors should be aware of the JSSI policies regarding conflict of interest, data availability, and materials sharing. To review these guidelines, please visit the Publication Ethics page.

Criteria for Evaluation

Scope: The manuscript should fall within the scope of the journal.

Novelty: The information should not already exist in the literature. It should be innovative and answer an important question within the field. Ideally, it should also have the potential for implications outside of the field.

Methods: The approach should be clear, appropriate, rigorous, and current.

Conclusions: The evidence provided should justify the conclusions and the conclusions should be compelling enough to deserve rapid publication.