Contact Info and FAQ
Contact Information
1) For administrative issues, please contact:
- Kristin Mecsey (k.mecsey@ieee.org): Regular paper submission/un-submission issues using the manuscript center
- Cheryl Koster (c.koster@ieee.org): Other administrative matters such as 1) manuscript center accounts, 2) submission of special issue papers, 3) technical difficulties with the MC website etc.
- George Criscione (g.criscione@ieee.org): Proofreading, small corrections to published papers, extra page charges etc. Please contact him only after your paper has been accepted and the accepted version is uploaded.
2) For non-administrative aspects of regular paper reviews (issues that require the input or action of EIC), please contact Editor-in-Chief. This also includes the scheduling of regular and special section papers for final printing.
3) For non-administrative aspects of special issue papers and reviews, please contact the guest editor-in-chief. His/her email address is in the Call for Papers.
It typically takes at least one week for us to respond to your inquiries. Please don’t send repetitive emails within one week.
Frequently Asked Questions & Clarifications
How to publish a PES Letter in PWRD?
PES letter is a three page short paper. It shall be submitted through the PES Letter website (https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/pesl-pes). If the letter is accepted and if its contents fit the scope of PWRD, it will be published in PWRD automatically.
Can one publish an expanded conference paper in PWRD?
PWRD will review a paper that has less than 40% overlap with a conference paper published by the same authors. (For papers published in PES GM and T&D conferences, the overlap can be as high as 70%). A recommended practice, however, is to submit the entire work as a transaction paper. If the paper is accepted, the authors can request to present the paper in any one of the PES conferences. If the paper is not accepted, the authors can then submit it as a conference paper. This will completely avoid the concern of duplicate submission/publication (i.e. similarity concern).
How to submit special issue papers?
Special issue papers are also submitted using the manuscript central. Please select the proper “paper type” to identify which special issue topic your paper is intended for.
What are the differences between regular papers and special issue/section papers?
Both types of papers are published in PWRD as transaction papers. Regular papers can be submitted at any time. Special issue papers can only be submitted when a call is active. A special issue/section focuses on a dedicated subject which makes it is easier for readers and authors to find most relevant papers in one location. However, special issue/section papers generally experience longer submission-to-publication process due to several factors. For example, a special issue can only be printed after the majority of accepted papers have been proof-read.
Why are new reviewers used for R1 or R2 version of some papers?
Editors always make efforts to use the same reviewers for all versions of a paper. However, the following unfortunate situations make it necessary to include new reviewers for the revised papers: 1) More than one reviewer in the first round did not provide adequate comments. In order to avoid further delay, some editors choose to make a recommendation based on received reviews and get “2nd opinions” from new reviewers in the 2nd round of review, 2) some reviewers don’t want to review the revised version which makes a decision difficult, 3) the revised paper received mixed or polarizing reviews, new reviewers are added to “break a tie”. PWRD editorial board wants to minimize such cases as much as possible.
How are the preferred reviewers utilized for paper review?
Some authors recommend reviewers for their paper. Based on the judgement of the editor, one of such reviewers could be approached as a reviewer. The reviewer selection is based on his/her independence from the authors and the technical reputation/knowledge in the subject area.
Is it essential to include photos of authors in the biographies?
No. In fact, eliminating the photos can provide more spaces for technical materials. It is useful to include short biographies in the paper since they could give reviewers a “personable” impression on the paper.
Why is there a page limit?
To be consistent and fair to all authors and papers, every paper must be less than or equal to 8 pages for initial submission. More pages could be added for the revised versions (see the decision letter). If some critical materials cannot be included due to page limit, you may include them in a separate supplement file for the purpose of providing information to the reviewers. Alternatively you may consider a two-part paper. Please think carefully before using these tools as it is difficult to predict how the reviewers will react.
If an accepted paper has exactly 8 or 9 pages (i.e. no blank space left), it is possible the print version can exceed 8 or 9 pages. This implies page charges for a few extra lines. If an author is concerned with this possible outcome, he/she may just use about 7.75 or 8.75 pages or no biographies when the paper is submitted for review. More information on this topic can be found from “For Accepted Papers” section.
How to include more materials for R0 version without exceeding page limit?
Some authors used the following techniques to alleviate the 8 page limit restriction: 1) eliminate bio section, 2) provide ONE supplementary page to include non-essential but informative materials (please be careful about using this technique since it is hard to know how the reviewers will respond. Never upload it as the 9th page of the paper). After the paper has passed R0 version, you can add some of the missing materials such as bios into the R1 paper since it has a maximum of 10 page limit. It is important to note that cutting references should be avoided as a tool to meet page limit, since they have a lot more use to the review process (see other sections of this website).
How does extra page charge apply?
Any paper that has more than 8 pages will be charged for extra pages. Even if an author is willing to pay extra page charge, the total number of pages of a paper should not exceed 10.
Can a rejected paper be submitted after reasonable improvements?
For some of the rejected papers, the decision letter may indicate that a paper can be re-submitted as a new paper after additional research work. This is called majority revision. Such papers have some promising ideas but the research has not been done to the satisfaction of the reviewers. PWRD will not reprocess other rejected papers, as otherwise (a) there is no end to such a process if a paper is not accepted, (b) this becomes essentially finding a group of volunteers (reviewers and editors) to help an author to improve his/her research or paper, (c) it significantly overloads the review system. Therefore, re-submission of rejected papers will not be processed.
What is Salami Slicing and why does PWRD decline to publish or process such works?
Salami slicing is the conduct that breaks up or segments a large study into two or more publications or slices. Sometime, it involves applying two different methods to solve the same problem and submitting the works to two different journals around the same time. Salami slicing can result in a distortion of the literature by misleading unsuspecting readers (click here for more information). [In case the link does not work, go to the website of Elsevier and search “Salami Slicing”].
Can an author request early publication of an accepted paper?
Electronic version of accepted papers are published soon after the final versions are submitted. For the printed versions, the papers are scheduled according to the dates of submission (one exception is special section papers which have to be published together). PWRD does not accept early publication requests.