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Author Guidelines

 

Editorial Process

TRETS will accept submissions which have not been published or submitted in any form elsewhere. The Editors-in-Chief or Associate Editors will solicit reviews and make a publication recommendation; the Editors-in-Chief will make the final decision. Three anonymous reviews will be the norm, and every effort will be made to ensure a swift review process consistent with the fair and professional reviews that authors have a right to expect.

TRETS will publish outstanding papers which are "major value-added extensions" of papers previously published in conferences; that is, TRETS will not automatically reject papers that are major extensions to previously published conference papers. These papers will go through the normal review process. The common practice of "at least 30% new material beyond the conference publication" will be applied by TRETS.  The authors should explicitly identify the new material in the cover letter, as well as attach a copy of the conference paper to their submission.

TRETS will occasionally publish special issues to provide a timely boost to promising areas of research and development, or a timely consolidation of the results in other areas. Guest editors will be invited to organize such issues.

Submitted papers are evaluated by anonymous reviewers (referees) for originality, relevance, and presentation. (Please see the TRETS Reviewers Information and Guidelines for more details.) The author will be notified of the name of an Associate Editor who will be responsible for the processing of the manuscript, and should address correspondence to that Associate Editor.

TRETS encourages high-quality submissions that are concise, with no more than 32 published pages including figures, tables, and references. Authors should expect that in longer papers any lengthy appendices, program listings, or similar matter will be published online by ACM and not appear as part of the printed paper. If authors have strong justification to go beyond the 32-page limit, they should first contact the Editor-in-Chief to obtain a page-limit exception before submitting such a manuscript to TRETS.

TRETS will publish survey and tutorial papers that are valuable to the community; however, these should not be submitted unsolicited.  Authors who wish to submit a survey paper to TRETS should contact the Editor-in-Chief with a proposed topic and brief outline.  If the Editor-in-Chief determines the proposed work is appropriate, authors can submit a manuscript for the full review process. Survey or tutorial papers are defined below.

  • Survey Paper: A paper that summarizes and organizes recent research results in a novel way that integrates and adds understanding to work in the field. A survey article assumes a general knowledge of the area; it emphasizes the classification of the existing literature, developing a perspective on the area, and evaluating trends.
  • Tutorial paper: A paper that organizes and introduces work in the field. A tutorial paper assumes its audience is inexpert; it emphasizes the basic concepts of the field and provides concrete examples that embody these concepts.


Manuscript Format, Preparation, and Submission

Authors are encouraged to consult the ACM Publications web page and Policy on Roles and Responsibilities in ACM Publishing, and especially the directions regarding Electronically submitting accepted articles to ACM journals; following those directions and guidelines will speed up the process of having your papers reviewed and published. All manuscripts for TRETS must be submitted electronically as Microsoft Word or as pdf files to ACM Manuscript Central. See below for template files.  Once you are at that site, you will be asked to create an account and password with which you can enter the manuscript review tracking system. This account is different from the ACM account that you may have. From a drop-down list of journals, choose Transactions on Reconfigurable Technology and Systems and proceed to the Author Center to submit your manuscript and any other accompanying files. Published papers will be required to be submitted in ACM format. This format is encouraged but not required for initial submission.

Authors must include as part of the manuscript a descriptive title, author names and affiliations, an abstract of 150-200 words, and indexing information consistent with the ACM Computing Classification System (most recently released in 2012). Please select at least one primary-level classification followed by two secondary-level classifications. Proper classification by the authors, who best know their work, will aid in the review and publication process.

Questions about submissions should be directed to the Editor-in-Chief or by email to trets in the domain acm.org.

Technical content is the primary criterion for acceptability, but the presentation of the technical content is also critical for a successful paper. Authors are encouraged to take this into account before submitting papers, because extremely poor presentation can contribute to a poor evaluation by a reviewer. Note that discounted language editing services are available for submissions to ACM journals.

Note that graphics can be prepared in color or black and white. If graphics are in color, they will appear in color in the version hosted in the ACM Digital Library, but printed in black and white in the paper version of the journal.

In papers describing experimental results, authors should strive to report experiments with replicability as a goal. Such papers shall report results on standard test sets using standard metrics. Authors shall cite the best known results on these test sets. Authors shall provide statistical significance tests on their results. There is little value in a paper that describes an experiment using authors' private data, private test sets, and authors' own metric. In case there are no standard tests or metrics in the paper's area, the authors shall have a mechanism to provide the test material and the evaluation tool to the community.

NOTE: The ACM Digital Library will host ancillary material for a paper on its web site. This material, an online appendix that does not appear in the print journal, is linked to and accessed from the online table of contents. For example, authors could provide hypertext and/or XML versions of their papers, or animations, or any other appropriate technology. Authors that wish to use this option should attach such material as an appendix to their submission and indicate in their cover letter that this material is intended to be ancillary material included in the digital library, and how it is intended to be accessed. All ancillary material should be free from viruses.

Prior Publication Policy

The technical contributions appearing in ACM journals are normally original papers which have not been published elsewhere. However, previously published conference proceedings can be expanded and submitted, provided that there are significant additions.  In such a case, the submitted manuscript should have at least 30% new material. The new material should be content material, not just the addition of obvious proofs or a few more straightforward performance figures. The submitted manuscript affords an opportunity to describe the novel approach in more depth, to consider the alternatives more comprehensively, and to delve into some of the issues listed in the prior publication as future work. At the same time, it is not required that the submitted manuscript contain all of the material from the published paper. To the contrary: only enough material need be included from the published paper to set the context and render the new material comprehensible.

TRETS expects that papers submitted to it will not have been simultaneously submitted elsewhere, in line with the Policy on Roles and Responsibilities in ACM Publishing policy. The corresponding author of a TRETS submission must inform the editor handling that submission about any paper by any author of the TRETS submission that (a) is in submission, (b) has been accepted for publication, or (c) has been published, that overlaps significantly (more than a page or so) with the TRETS submission. Such papers in categories (b) and (c) should be referenced by the TRETS submission and discussed in the related work section, as appropriate. The corresponding author should also inform the editor about any overlaps that occur while the paper is under consideration by TRETS. In all cases, the Editors-in-Chief will make the determination as to whether the overlap is acceptable and reserve the right to reject papers if these guidelines have not been followed.

ACM Plagiarism Policy

ACM has established a rigorous policy on plagiarism. Manuscripts found in violation of this policy will be immediately rejected. Authors of papers found to be in violation after publication face severe penalties. It is important that all authors and co-authors review this policy before submission. Note that this policy also covers the practice of self-plagiarism (i.e., reuse of one's own previously published material without reference to the original source).

For more information, see the ACM Policy on Plagiarism.

ORCID Requirements

ACM requires that all accepted journal authors register and provide ACM with valid ORCIDs prior to paper publication. Corresponding authors are responsible for collecting these ORCIDs from co-authors and for providing them to ACM as part of the ACM eRights selection process. For journals using the ScholarOne submission system, the submitting author will be required to provide their own ORCID upon submission. Authors are strongly encouraged, but not required, to include ORCIDs for all authors in their source files.  Please note: ACM only requires you to complete the initial ORCID registration process. However, ACM encourages you to take the additional step to claim ownership of all your published works via the ORCID site.

ORCID provides a persistent digital identifier that distinguishes you from every other researcher through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission and supports automated linkages between you and your professional activities - ensuring that your work receives proper recognition. This requirement will also enable ACM to provide improvements to the normalization process of ACM Digital Library author profile data, aid in the detection of undeclared conflicts of interest and other publications-related misconduct in ACM Publications, assist with the implementation of ACM Open, and offer a host of other researcher benefits to ACM authors and the scientific community.

Before submission, the corresponding author should register for an ORCID.  Your co-authors should also create their individual ORCIDs at that time and add them to their accounts in the manuscript submission system. Otherwise, you will need to enter them manually into the ACM rights system upon paper acceptance and before publication in the ACM Digital Library. Simple instructions for complying with this mandate are provided inside the ACM eRights system.

ORCID information for all authors will appear on the article’s page in the ACM Digital Library. If ORCIDs are included in an article’s source files, they will also be linked in the published output.

The ACM ORCID FAQ should answer many of your questions.

ACM Policies

ACM Publications Policy on Research Involving Human Participants and Subjects

As a published ACM author, you and your co-authors are subject to all ACM Publications Policies, including ACM's new Publications Policy on Research Involving Human Participants and Subjects.

ACM Conflict of Interest (COI) Policy

The ACM Conflict of Interest (COI) Policy describes what a COI is, who is responsible for being aware of such conflicts, how to manage COIs, and how to report violations.

ACM Peer Review Policy

ACM recognizes that the quality of a refereed publication rests primarily on the impartial judgment of their volunteer reviewers. Expectations of reviewers and ACM can be found in the Reviewer section of the Policy on Roles and Responsibilities in ACM Publishing page.

Templates

Manuscripts accepted for publication in any ACM publication must be formatted using the ACM authoring template. Submissions must also use the ACM authoring templates. ACM style files will closely approximate the final output, enabling authors to judge the page-length of their published articles.

ACM authoring templates and detailed instructions on formatting can be found at http://www.acm.org/publications/authors/submissions. For both Word and Latex technical support, contact [email protected].

ACM Computing Classification System (CCS)

If your paper has been accepted, please read the HOW TO CLASSIFY WORKS USING ACM'S COMPUTING CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM for instructions on how to classify your document using the CCS and insert the index terms into your LaTeX or Microsoft Word source file. Providing the proper indexing and retrieval information from the CCS provides the reader with quick content reference, facilitating the search for related literature, as well as searches for your work in ACM's Digital Library and on other online resources.

Author Rights

ACM authors can manage their publication rights in either of the following ways:

  • A license granting ACM non-exclusive permission to publish—allowing authors to self-manage all rights to their work by choosing to pay for perpetual open access from the ACM Digital Library.
  • A publishing license agreement granting ACM exclusive publication rights—by granting ACM the right to serve as the exclusive publisher of a work and to manage ongoing rights and permissions associated with the work, including the right to defend it against improper use by third parties. (This license is roughly the equivalent of ACM’s traditional Copyright Transfer Agreement except that the author continues to hold copyright.)

As of January 2023, per decision of the ACM Publications Board, the traditional Copyright Transfer Agreement option is no longer available for ACM authors.  ACM will continue to defend all ACM-published works against improper use when allegations of publication-related misconduct are brought to light.  For more information please refer to this article in The Blue Diamond.

Additionally, ACM authors may post all versions of their work, with the exception of the final published "Version of Record", to non-commercial repositories such as ArXiv. See the ACM Author Rights page for additional information.

Learn more, including about posting to pre-print servers and institutional repositories, by visiting the ACM Author Rights page.

Open Access

ACM has made a commitment to become a fully sustainable and Plan S compliant Open Access (OA) scholarly publisher within approximately five years. ACM offers a number of ways to achieve this goal, including Hybrid OA, Gold OA, and the ACM OPEN program.

Most ACM journals, with the following exceptions, are Hybrid OA.  ACM Gold OA journals are:

Click here to view the Article Processing Charges (APCs) to publish your article Open Access.

Additionally, all corresponding authors from an institution participating in ACM OPEN will have their research articles published OA at the time of publication at no cost to the authors.  Click here for a list of participating institutions. To ensure eligibility for the program, corresponding authors from participating institutions must use their institutional email address upon submission.

Language Services

ACM has partnered with International Science Editing (ISE) to provide language editing services to ACM authors. ISE offers a comprehensive range of services for authors including standard and premium English language editing, as well as illustration and translation services, and also has significant outreach in China. Editing is available for both Word and LaTeX files. As an ACM author, you will receive a generous discount on ISE editing services. To take advantage of this partnership, visit the Dedicated ACM Editing Service. (Editing services are at author expense and do not guarantee publication of a manuscript.)

Author-izer Service

Once your manuscript is published, this service allows you to generate and post a link on your home page or institutional repository to your published article. This link will let any visitors to your personal bibliography pages download the definitive version of the articles for free from the ACM DL. These downloads will be recorded as part of your DL usage statistics. A detailed description of the service and instructions for its use may be found at the ACM Author-Izer Service page.

LaTeX Collaborative Authoring Tool on Overleaf Platform

ACM has partnered with https://www.overleaf.com/, a free cloud-based, authoring tool, to provide an ACM LaTeX authoring template. Authors can easily invite colleagues to collaborate on their document. Among other features, the platform automatically compiles the document while an author writes, so the author can see what the finished file will look like in real time. Further information can be found at https://www.acm.org/publications/authors/submissions. The ACM LaTeX template on Overleaf platform is available to all ACM authors https://www.overleaf.com/gallery/tagged/acm-official#.WOuOk2e1taQ.

Kudos Article Sharing Platform

Kudos is a free service that you can use to promote your work more effectively. After your paper has been accepted and uploaded to the ACM Digital Library, you'll receive an invitation from Kudos to create an account and add a plain-language description. The Kudos “Shareable PDF” allows you to generate a PDF to upload to websites, such as your homepage, institutional repository, preprint services, and social media. This PDF contains a link to the full-text version of your article in the ACM DL, adding to download and citation counts.

Author Gateway

Please be sure to visit the ACM Author Portal for additional important author information.

Contact Us

For further assistance and questions regarding the journal editorial review process and paper assignment to an issue, contact the journal administrator ([email protected]).