Information for Authors

SOAP Author Guidelines & Submission Standards

All manuscripts submitted to SOAP journals undergo rigorous, independent double/single-blind peer review by active field experts. Upon submission, the Editorial Office conducts an initial technical screening, followed by an academic pre-check by the Editor. Submissions meeting quality thresholds are assigned to independent referees, securing a minimum of two comprehensive evaluation reports before an editorial decision is reached.

Notice: Authors should not submit revised manuscripts until official decision notifications and referee reports are delivered via the OJS portal. Final editorial decisions are rendered by the Academic Editor.

Figure 1: Summary of the Editorial and Peer-Review Pipeline

Manuscript Preparation & Formatting (IEEE Style)

1 Document Format & Files

Initial submissions may be uploaded as a single PDF or MS Word file. Revised submissions must be editable MS Word (.docx) files. LaTeX source files are supported upon final acceptance.

2 Typography & Layout

Manuscripts should be double-spaced or 1.5-spaced using standard 11 pt Times New Roman or Arial font with 1-inch (2.54 cm) margins. This ensures optimal readability during peer review.

3 Figures, Tables & Math

High-resolution figures (300+ DPI, PNG/TIFF/JPG) must be embedded near first mention. Tables and mathematical equations must be editable text, numbered sequentially (Figure 1, Table I).

4 IEEE Citation Style

Citations must follow the IEEE numerical system, indicated in the text by square brackets, e.g., [1], [2]–[5], and listed sequentially in the References section.

IEEE Reference Styling Examples

1. Journal Article (IEEE Style)

[1] A. B. Smith and C. D. Jones, "Deep learning applications in modern data processing," IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell., vol. 42, no. 5, pp. 1120–1132, May 2020.

2. Conference Proceedings (IEEE Style)

[2] E. F. Miller, G. H. Taylor, and R. K. Davis, "Neural network optimization techniques for distributed edge systems," in Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Acoust., Speech, Signal Process. (ICASSP), Brighton, UK, 2019, pp. 412–416.

3. Book / Monograph (IEEE Style)

[3] H. K. Wilson, Foundations of Cloud Computing and Network Architecture, 2nd ed. New York, NY, USA: IEEE Press, 2021, pp. 85–104.

4. Thesis / Dissertation (IEEE Style)

[4] M. R. Johnson, "Performance analysis of photovoltaic energy conversion systems," Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. Elect. Eng., Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA, USA, 2022.

* For online sources, patents, and standards, please follow standard IEEE citation guidelines.

Editorial Decision Categories

All submissions receive at least two referee reports. Editorial decisions are communicated as follows:

✓ Direct Acceptance

Accepted for publication without further scientific modifications.

⚙ Minor Revisions

Provisionally accepted pending minor adjustments (completed within 5 days).

↻ Major Revisions

Substantive edits required with point-by-point response (within 10 days; subject to re-evaluation).

✗ Declination

Rejected due to methodological flaws, lack of novelty, or out of scope.

Digital Archiving

Published articles are permanently preserved in the CLOCKSS digital archive to guarantee long-term accessibility.

Open Access & Copyright

All SOAP papers are published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Authors retain copyright while permitting unrestricted distribution.