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Author Guidelines

Thank you for considering JSCI for your work. Please read this page before you submit, so your paper can go straight to review.

Submit your manuscript

Before You Submit

Scope

JSCI publishes work on artificial intelligence and machine learning, cybersecurity and information assurance, embedded systems and secure hardware, data security and steganography, and secure and intelligent computing systems. See Aims and scope.

Article types

• Research articles: original work with new results, methods or systems.
• Review papers: a clear, critical survey of a field. Reviews are welcome from established researchers.
• Technical communications: short reports of focused results, tools or case studies.

Originality

Your paper must be original, must not be under review anywhere else, and must not have been published before, except as a preprint, a thesis or an abstract. Tell us about any earlier version when you submit. We may check manuscripts for text overlap.

Ethics

All authors must follow our Publication Ethics, including the extra rules for security research (permission to test, responsible disclosure and safe handling of data).

Preparing Your Manuscript

• Language: write in clear English, using either British or American spelling consistently.
• File format: send an editable Word file (.docx), or LaTeX source with a PDF. A PDF alone is not enough.
• Template: use the JSCI Word template so the layout is correct from the start.
• Layout: single column, with numbered pages and line numbers if you can.
• Length: we do not set a strict page limit. Make the paper as long as it needs to be and no longer.
• Anonymity: because review is single-blind, author names stay on the manuscript.

Download the Word template

Title Page, Abstract and Keywords

Title page

Include a short, informative title (avoid abbreviations), the full name of every author, each author’s affiliation with city and country, and the corresponding author’s email address. We encourage authors to add an ORCID iD.

Abstract

Write one paragraph of 150 to 250 words that stands on its own. State the problem, your approach, the main results and what they mean. Avoid citations and uncommon abbreviations.

Keywords

Give 4 to 7 keywords in English, separated by commas. Pick terms a researcher would actually search for.

Structure of the Paper

Number your sections (1, 1.1, 1.1.1). Research articles normally follow this order:

1. Introduction: the problem, why it matters, and your contributions.
2. Related work: what others have done and what is still missing.
3. Methods: enough detail for another researcher to repeat your work, including threat model, assumptions, datasets and settings where they apply.
4. Results: what you found, with fair comparisons and a clear account of any limits.
5. Discussion: what the results mean, and where the approach may fail.
6. Conclusion: the main points and future work.

Then add the declarations (see below), acknowledgements and references. Review papers and technical communications may use a shorter structure that suits the content.

Figures, Tables and Equations

• Number figures and tables in the order they appear, cite each one in the text, and give each a clear caption.
• Make tables as editable text, not pictures. Avoid heavy shading and vertical lines.
• Send figures as separate files (PNG, JPG, TIFF, or vector formats such as PDF or EPS). Photos and plots should be at least 300 dpi, and text in figures must be readable at print size.
• Write equations as editable text, number them in order, and define every symbol.
• Do not alter images in ways that change their meaning. If you used AI to make an explanatory figure, say so in its caption.

References

JSCI uses the IEEE citation style. Number references in square brackets in the order they first appear, for example [1], [2], [3]. Every reference in the list must be cited in the text, and every citation must appear in the list. Only cite real sources you have read. Include the DOI where there is one.

Journal article
[1] A. Author, B. Author, and C. Author, "Title of the article," Abbrev. Journal Title, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 100–110, Mar. 2025, doi: xx.xxxx/xxxxx.

Conference paper
[2] A. Author and B. Author, "Title of the paper," in Proc. Conf. Name, City, Country, 2025, pp. 1–8.

Book
[3] A. Author, Title of the Book, 2nd ed. City, Country: Publisher, 2024.

Web page, dataset or software
[4] Organization or Author, "Title," Year. [Online]. Available: URL (accessed Mon. DD, YYYY).

A reference manager such as Mendeley can format these for you. Remove any hidden field codes before you submit.

Data, Code and Supplementary Files

We encourage you to share your data and code in a public repository and to cite them in the paper. If you cannot share them, say why. Do not share personal data, leaked data or working exploit code in a way that could cause harm. Supplementary files must be cited in the text, be clearly described, and be sent with the manuscript. We publish them as received, without editing.

Declarations

Add these short statements to your manuscript, before the references:

• Author contributions: who did what, using CRediT roles.
• Competing interests: any financial or personal relationships that could influence the work, or a statement that there are none.
• Funding: all funding sources and the funders’ role, or a statement that there was no funding.
• Ethical approval and consent: for any study involving people or their data.
• Data and code availability: where they can be found, or why they cannot be shared.
• Generative AI use: if you used AI tools in preparing the manuscript, see the Generative AI Policy.
• Acknowledgements: thank people who helped but are not authors.

Copyright and Publishing Agreement

JSCI is published by SecureAI Labs, and every paper in the journal is covered by a publishing agreement. All authors must know and accept the terms below before they submit.

• The corresponding author fills in, signs and returns the Copyright and Publishing Agreement with the manuscript, on behalf of all co-authors.
• By signing, authors confirm the work is original, is not under review elsewhere, and does not infringe anyone else’s rights.
• Authors give JSCI the right to publish, host, distribute, archive and index the paper, and to assign it a DOI.
• Authors keep the copyright to their work. Published papers are open access under the license shown on the JSCI website at the time of publication.
• If the same work is reused elsewhere, JSCI must be named as the place of first publication.
• Material from other sources needs written permission from its copyright holder, and the permission must be kept by the authors.

Open the agreement form

Submission Checklist

• The paper fits JSCI’s scope and is original.
• The manuscript is an editable Word or LaTeX file, using the JSCI template.
• The title page lists all authors, affiliations and the corresponding author’s email.
• The abstract is 150 to 250 words and there are 4 to 7 keywords.
• Figures are sent as separate files with captions, and tables are editable text.
• References follow IEEE style, and each one is cited and real.
• All declarations are included, and the Generative AI statement if it applies.
• The Copyright and Publishing Agreement is filled in, signed and scanned.
• Permission has been obtained for any material taken from other sources.
• All authors have approved the submission.

How to Submit

1. Gather your manuscript, figure files and any supplementary files.
2. Fill in and sign the Copyright and Publishing Agreement, then scan it as a PDF or photo.
3. Click Submit your manuscript below to open the online submission form. Complete the four steps: author information, manuscript details, file upload, and review.
4. Confirm that the work is not under review elsewhere and that all authors agree to the submission. You will receive an email with your submission ID, which you can use to track the status of your paper.

Submit your manuscript

After You Submit

1. Screening: the editorial office checks scope, originality and format.
2. Peer review: suitable papers go to at least two independent referees. See the Peer Review Process.
3. Decision: you will receive accept, minor revision, major revision or reject, with the referees’ reports. Send revisions with a point-by-point reply.
4. Production: accepted papers are copy-edited and typeset. You will receive page proofs to check carefully and return promptly. Only small corrections are allowed at this stage.
5. Publication: your article is published open access, receives a DOI and is indexed in Google Scholar.

You keep the copyright to your work. See Copyright and Permissions for the license that applies to published articles.