Author Guidelines

Manuscript Preparation

All styles, margins, and heading levels are pre-configured in the template and should not be modified manually.

• Manuscripts must be written in English and must be original, unpublished work not under simultaneous consideration elsewhere.
• Recommended length: 4,000–8,000 words for research articles; 2,000–4,000 words for case studies and short communications. Word count excludes references and appendices.
• Do not apply manual font changes, manual line spacing, or manual paragraph spacing — all of these are controlled by the template style definitions to support automated production and XML conversion.
• Abstract: A single, unstructured paragraph of 150–250 words. It must state the problem, the approach, the principal results, and the main conclusion. Do not include citations, undefined abbreviations, or references to figures or tables. The abstract must be self-contained — readable without the full article.
• Keywords: Provide exactly 5 keywords separated by semicolons (e.g., keyword one; keyword two; keyword three; keyword four; keyword five). Choose terms that are specific, searchable, and not already present in the title.

Article Structure

Articles should follow the section order below. Not all sections are required for every article type — use your judgement, but do not omit the mandatory end-matter sections listed in the next section.

1. Title — concise, specific, and descriptive. Avoid abbreviations in the title.
2. Authors & Affiliations — full name, department, institution, city, country; corresponding author email and ORCID (optional).
3. Abstract — single unstructured paragraph, 150–250 words (see above).
4. Keywords — exactly 5, semicolon-separated.
5. Introduction — context, motivation, research gap, and objectives.
6. Literature Review (where applicable) — thematic synthesis of prior work; not a chronological list of summaries.
7. Methodology — design, data, and procedures in enough detail to permit replication.
8. Results — objective reporting of findings; no interpretation here.
9. Discussion — interpretation, limitations, and implications.
10. Conclusion — restate the principal contribution and point to future directions. Do not repeat results verbatim.
11. Acknowledgements (optional) — non-author contributors, facilities, or administrative support.
12. Funding — required (see Mandatory End-Matter below).
13. Conflict of Interest — required.
14. Data Availability Statement — required.
15. AI Usage Disclosure — required.
16. Author Contributions — required (CRediT taxonomy).
17. References — IEEE numeric style.
18. Appendices (optional) — labelled A.1, A.2, etc.

Subsections use Heading 2 and are numbered automatically (2.1, 2.2, …). A third level (Heading 3) renders in bold italic. Apply heading styles from the template — do not format headings manually.

Formatting & Styles

All formatting is handled through named styles in the IORO template. Apply the correct style and let the template control the appearance — do not override fonts, sizes, or spacing manually.

• Body text: Use the IORO Body style for all paragraph text.
• Lists: Use the bullets style for unordered lists and numlist for ordered lists. Never type bullet characters or numbers by hand.
• Block quotations: Use the block-quote style — indented, italic, with a left rule. Do not use quotation marks for block quotes.
• Inline emphasis: Use italic for terms and non-English words. Use monospace (code style) for identifiers, commands, and code snippets.
• Equations: Created with the Microsoft Equation Editor, centred, with a right-aligned equation number in parentheses — e.g., (1). Reference equations as "Eq. (1)" in the text.
• Footnotes: Use sparingly for brief asides only. Do not use footnotes for citations.
• File formats: Submit the manuscript as .docx. A PDF copy is accepted as a supplementary file but the .docx is required for production.
• Anonymisation: The platform default is single-blind review — you do not need to remove author information. If submitting to a journal that explicitly uses double-blind review (stated on the journal's aims and scope page), remove author names, affiliations, acknowledgements, and self-identifying references from the document body, headers, footers, and file metadata.

Citations & References

IORO journals follow IEEE numeric citation style. References are numbered in order of first appearance in the text and cited using bracketed numbers — e.g., [1] or [2], [3]. All cited works must appear in the reference list; all reference list entries must be cited in the text.

In-text citation

Insert the reference number in square brackets at the point of citation, before any punctuation: "…as shown in previous studies [1], [3], [5]…" or "Smith et al. [2] demonstrated…". For a range: [1]–[4].

Reference list format examples

• Use initials for first and middle names: A. B. Author.
• Separate multiple authors with commas; use "and" before the last author.
• Article titles go in "double quotes"; book and journal titles are in italics.
• Include the DOI for all journal articles where available; use the doi: 10.xxxx/xxxx format.
• Do not use footnotes for citations — cite only in the reference list.

Mandatory End-Matter Sections

The following sections are required in every manuscript submitted to IORO journals, regardless of article type. Omitting any of these is grounds for desk rejection.

Figures & Tables

• Figures should be embedded in the manuscript immediately after the paragraph where they are first cited. Captions are placed below the figure using the IORO Figure Caption style — e.g., Fig. 1. Description of the figure.
• Tables should be embedded in the manuscript. Captions are placed above the table — e.g., Table 1. Description of the table.
• Figures must be at least 300 DPI. For final production, supply original high-resolution files (TIFF or PNG) as supplementary uploads alongside the manuscript.
• All figures and tables must be cited in the text in order. Do not include figures or tables that are not referenced.
• For third-party figures or tables, include written permission from the rights holder and acknowledge the source in the caption.

Author Information

• All authors must be listed with their full name, department, institution, city, and country.
• The corresponding author's email address is required. Include ORCID iD where available.
• Authorship must be limited to those who have made a substantive intellectual contribution to the work. All authors must approve the final version and agree on authorship order before submission.
• Author additions, removals, or order changes after submission require written justification and approval from all co-authors.

Submission Process

1. Create an account on the IORO platform.
2. Navigate to Submit Manuscript and select your target journal.
3. Complete the four-step wizard: Submission Details → Manuscript Information → Author Details → Review & Submit.
4. Upload your .docx manuscript and any supplementary files (high-res figures, datasets).
5. After submission you will receive a confirmation email with your Manuscript ID. Use this ID in all correspondence with the editorial office.

Peer Review

All submissions undergo peer review. The platform default is single-blind review — reviewer identities are kept confidential from authors, while reviewers have access to author names and affiliations. Individual journals may use double-blind or open review; check the journal's aims and scope page for the active mode.

Authors typically receive a first decision within 3–7 business days of submission. Fast-track review (decision within 2–3 business days) is available on select journals at an additional fee.

Before You Submit

• Confirm that all authors approve the final version and agree on authorship order.
• Verify that all five mandatory end-matter sections are present and complete (Funding, COI, Data Availability, AI Disclosure, Author Contributions).
• Check ethics approvals, consent statements, trial registrations, and funding disclosures are included where required.
• Prepare figure permissions and acknowledgements for any third-party content.
• Ensure the manuscript's scope fits the target journal's aims and scope.
• Run a spell-check and proofread for grammar — submissions with pervasive language errors may be desk-rejected.

Editorial Quality Checks

Before peer review, all submissions are screened for: scope fit, file completeness, abstract and keyword compliance, reference quality, originality (plagiarism screening), completeness of mandatory end-matter sections, and compliance with the journal's formatting and submission instructions. Submissions that fail these checks are desk-rejected with a brief explanation.

Revision Best Practices

• Provide a point-by-point response letter addressing every reviewer comment in order.
• Highlight changes in the manuscript (tracked changes or a summary of page/line numbers where changes were made).
• If you disagree with a reviewer recommendation, explain your reasoning clearly with scholarly justification — do not simply ignore it.
• Resubmit all revised files, supplementary materials, and updated metadata together. Partial resubmissions will be returned.
• Revisions must be submitted within the deadline stated in the decision letter. Contact the editorial office before the deadline if an extension is needed.