Instructions for Authors
2.4 Supporting document
The allowed Supporting Document types are 1) graphical abstract, 2) video, 3) media, 4) dataset, 5) code, and 6) published conference paper from which your manuscript is extended.
Starting on January 1, 2022, TMI no longer allows submissions of supplemental documents that resemble an extension of the manuscript that includes texts and figures. This policy applies to all new and revision submissions. This change is to abide by IEEE’s guidelines that all materials posted on IEEE Xplorer must be peer-reviewed and has been approved by the TMI Steering Committee.
If you believe the quality of a figure in the main manuscript file is inadequate for the review process, upload the corresponding high-resolution figure file and assign it as a Supporting Document. Files assigned as High-Res Image are not accessible to reviewers.
2.5 Multimedia Content
Multimedia content can be any playable file (audio or video), or dataset file (raw data, source code, or application). It is the authors’ responsibility to encode a video file with the appropriate format and video codec so that the video can be played by the readers of TMI in most common computer environments.
The authors should clearly indicate in the main body of the manuscript that the submission includes multimedia contents and the reviewers can find them under the “Supplementary Files” tab on ScholarOne Manuscripts. The authors should provide enough information about the multimedia content such as a short description, the format, codec, etc. in the figure caption or footnote.
After the submission is complete, the authors will NOT be able to see the uploaded multimedia contents by clicking the “View Submission” link on ScholarOne Manuscripts. The editorial office will check the existence and correctness of multimedia contents for every submission and will contact the author within 12-48 hours if there is a broken or missing file.
2.6 Select keywords
Select at least two keywords that are mostly associated with your manuscript from the drop-down list in each of the three keyword categories: Imaging Modalities, Object of Interest, and General Methodologies. These keywords are used to identify the most appropriate Associate Editor and reviewers who will manage and evaluate your manuscript.
2.7 Contact Author
The submission author is automatically assigned as the ScholarOne Manuscripts Contact (Correspondence) Author. The Contact (Correspondence) Author listed in the manuscript can be different.
2.8 Number of co-authors
ScholarOne Manuscripts allows entries of up to fifty (50) co-authors, but the full author list in the main manuscript file does not have a number limit. If a submission has more than fifty co-authors, the submitting author is responsible for forwarding correspondences from the editorial office to the co-authors not entered on ScholarOne Manuscripts.
2.9 Email addresses of co-authors
Use your co-authors’ primary emails affiliated with their existing ScholarOne-TMI accounts. Entering a different email for someone who already has an account will create a duplicate account which is an administrative hassle to the account owner and the peer-review system.
Enter all the emails correctly. A submission with the wrong email addresses creates multiple bounced messages and will be unsubmitted.
2.10 Cover Letter
No need to write a formal cover letter that replicates the Abstract. You may provide key notes, e.g. the manuscript ID of the previous submission, in the Write Cover Letter text-box.
A cover letter in a pdf file is needed when the manuscript is extended from a published conference paper. Upload your cover letter PDF file and assign Cover Letter as the File Designation and place it at the top of the uploaded files.
3. Monitor Review Progression
Know these:
The average turnaround time for a paper from submission to the first decision is about 7 weeks.
While the progression of each paper’s review is managed through TMI’s established protocols, it can not be strictly controlled. It depends on many factors including the availability and responsiveness of qualified reviewers, who are all volunteers and usually very busy. Sometimes we have to send a few rounds of invitations to secure reviewers required or give extensions to the deadlines for them to complete their reviews.
3.1 Submission Status
The Status of your paper in the review process is shown on ScholarOne under Author -> Manuscripts I have Co-authored, it is updated accordingly while your submission moves through the TMI review and decision process. Two status terms that are less intuitive to understand are explained below.
AE assigns reviewers: The Associate Editor has started selecting and inviting reviewers, but the number of agreed-reviewers has not reached 4, the TMI recommended number. Note that as long as there are less than 4 agreed reviewers, this status will remain unchanged even though the Associate Editor has been actively recruiting new reviewers.
Waiting for Reviewers’ Scores: One or more agreed reviewers have not submitted their scores. TMI allows reviewers three weeks counting from the day they accept the invitation – may be extended by up to two weeks per request – to complete the review.
3.2 Send an inquiry email to TMI Editorial Office
Contact TMI’s Editorial Office if the review duration is abnormally long, for example, more than 7-weeks. Remember to include your TMI manuscript ID in your email. Due to our limited resources, we would only be able to respond to inquiries about submissions we deem abnormally delayed.
4. Act According to Review Decision
The four possible decisions that a submission may receive and the corresponding actions are described below.
4.1 Accept
Prepare the final files according to the guidelines specified in the decision letter.
Upload the final files to ScholarOne by clicking on “Awaiting final files” and then “submit final files”.
If you are submitting Supporting Document, follow these instructions. Within 24 hours after the final submission, all uploaded final files will be exported to the IEEE transactions department which handles the remaining steps such as typesetting before publication. Once the final files are exported, the IEEE-TMI editorial office cannot help the author making changes to the submission. The author will be contacted by the IEEE-TMI staff editors to review the proof and make any changes if needed.
Announcing your paper on TMI’s Facebook and Twitter platforms
If you are interested in announcing your paper on TMI’s Facebook and Twitter platforms, email the following 3 items to TMI’s Social Media posting mailbox (ieee.tmi.social.medias@gmail.com).(1) A description of the essential contribution of the Paper. It may consist of a few sentences but must be 40 words or less. Please write the description from the perspective of a third party. Note the section title of the posting is “Early Access Papers Just Posted”. Example: A multi-modal MRI reconstruction method that compensates for subtle spatial misalignment between different modalities simultaneously. The target MRI modality which is under-sampled in the k-space can be efficiently reconstructed with help of the fully-sampled reference MRI modality. In our Twitter posting, this description will be replaced by the title of your paper due to Twitter’s number of character limit.(2) A line that starts with “Read the paper:” followed by the link to the Early Access version of the paper. Example: Read the paper: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9745968. To find the XploreID (the 9745968 in the example): Within two weeks after the submission of your final version, you will receive an e-mail with a DOI number informing your article has been posted to Xplore as early access, you may go to IEEE Xplore and search for the DOI number to get the XploreID.(3) The file of a figure or image in your paper or you create that is most informative or representative of introducing your paper’s contribution.Formal publication
Upon acceptance, a paper will become available in “Early Access Articles” on the IEEE-Xplore website within a few weeks and it is citable. But the formal publication of the paper with volume, issue and page numbers usually happens about two months after because of backlog of papers awaiting publication.Archive
Please note that all submissions will be archived by ScholarOne Manuscripts for a certain period of time. Once archived, the editors cannot access the submitted files except for the review history. The author is recommended to keep a copy of the submitted files for future reference. The IEEE-TMI editorial office may request a copy from the author as a supporting document for the resubmission.
4.2 Accept with Minor Revision
Start your revision-submission on ScholarOne Manuscripts.
Choose “Manuscripts with Decisions” and then click on “create a revision”.
If the manuscript ID of the previous submission is TMI-2019-yyyy, the revision ID will be TMI-2019-yyyy.R1. The manuscript ID for revision of TMI-2019-yyyy.R1 will be TMI-2019-yyyy.R2.
The revision must be submitted within 4 weeks from the decision date.
The number of days remaining is shown below the “create a revision” link. If the authors cannot meet the revision due date, please contact the IEEE-TMI editorial office.
The 10-page limit for original submissions is not applicable here, as extra length is often needed to respond to the reviewers’ comments.
Upload the following 3 PDF files.
A document containing point-by-point responses to all concerns raised by the reviewers. Start the name of the file with “response-to-reviewers.”
A clean (changes not-highlighted) copy of the revised manuscript file. Start the name of the file with “clean-copy-.” The file must be uploaded and designated as “Main Body.”
A marked-up copy of the manuscript file. Start the name of the file with “marked-up-.” All the changes should be clearly marked using sidebars, different text colors, or similar tools. The file must be uploaded and designated as “Optional Source File – Main Document.”
Although no external review is required, the AE may still invite reviewers who were more critical to evaluate the submission or just make sure all their concerns are addressed. The reviewers are given 3 weeks to send back their comments. If the revisions performed are not satisfactory, the paper may still be rejected in the next final round.
4.3 Reject with Invitation to Resubmit
If the decision letter states that your manuscript is rejected, but you are encouraged to resubmit the substantially revised manuscript to TMI, follow the procedures below.
Log in to ScholarOne Manuscripts.
Under Manuscripts with Decisions, click the “create a resubmission” link next to your previous submission. Follow the on-screen instructions.
The 10-page limit for original submissions is not applicable here, as extra length is often needed to respond to the reviewers’ comments.
Upload the following 3 PDF files:
A document containing point-by-point responses to all concerns raised by the reviewers. Start the name of the file with “response-to-reviewers-“. The document must contain the previous manuscript ID and each of the reviewer comments immediately followed by the authors’ response to it.
A clean (changes not-highlighted) copy of the revised manuscript file. Start the name of the file with “clean-copy-“. The file must be uploaded and designated as “Main Body”.
A marked-up copy of the manuscript file. Start the name of file with “marked-up”. All the changes should be clearly marked using sidebars, different text color, or similar tools. The file must be uploaded and designated as “Optional Source File – Main Document”.
TMI typically only allows one resubmission.
4.4 Reject
If the decision is Reject (with recommendation to submit to another journal or with preclusion of resubmission) after a full review — having comments from AE and reviewers, this decision precludes resubmission of this work to IEEE TMI even if you revise your paper to reflect reviewer comments.
Authors should be aware that a positive critique does not necessarily imply an overall positive judgment from a reviewer. Quite often, reviewers present a more negative judgment and more outspoken arguments to reject the paper in the confidential comments to the editors than in the comments to the authors.
If a paper is rejected without going through a full review, the authors may have one chance to resubmit the paper with a cover letter detailing that the major concerns in the decision letter have been thoroughly addressed.
Authors who attempt to submit a rejected paper without disclosing the prior review history will receive a warning, each author’s account in the ScholarOne system will be tagged with an orange-colored flag. Two such incidences will turn the flag color to red, which means all future submissions from the author will be immediately rejected without review.
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