Integrated Circuits and Systems (ICAS) is committed to a fair, transparent, and rigorous peer-review process. Our policies are designed to ensure the scientific quality and integrity of all published articles. The entire process is managed by our professional editorial team, comprising the Editor-in-Chief and an international board of Associate Editors, who are all leading experts in their fields. ICAS adheres to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the best practices of the IEEE.
The editorial process can be summarized in the following steps:
1. Manuscript Submission
All manuscripts must be submitted exclusively to ICAS through our online submission system, IEEE Author Portal. During submission, authors will be guided through the process of uploading their manuscript files (prepared using the IEEE templates) and providing all necessary metadata.
· Reviewer Exclusions: Authors may request the exclusion of up to three potential reviewers. This request should be accompanied by a brief justification in the cover letter. The editorial team will honor these requests where possible but retains the final decision on reviewer selection to ensure a fair and robust review.
2. Initial Technical and Ethical Check
Upon receipt, every submission undergoes an initial check by the in-house Editorial Office. This check ensures:
· Scope and Suitability: The manuscript's topic aligns with the Aims & Scope of ICAS.
· File and Format Integrity: The manuscript adheres to the required IEEE formatting guidelines.
· Publication Ethics: The manuscript is screened for potential plagiarism using iThenticate, the industry-standard software provided through our IEEE partnership. It is also checked for compliance with our policies on authorship, conflicts of interest, and prior publication.
Manuscripts that do not meet these initial requirements may be returned to the authors for revision and resubmission or, in cases of serious ethical concerns, may be rejected at this stage.
3. Editorial Assessment
Manuscripts that pass the initial check are assigned to the Editor-in-Chief or a relevant Associate Editor. The editor conducts a preliminary assessment of the manuscript's scientific merit, originality, and potential impact. At this stage, the editor may decide to reject the manuscript without external review if it is deemed to be of insufficient quality, outside the journal's scope, or lacking in significant scientific contribution.
4. Peer Review
ICAS operates a single-blind peer-review process. This means that the reviewers' identities are kept confidential from the authors, but the authors' identities are known to the reviewers.
· Reviewer Assignment: The handling editor invites at least two independent expert reviewers with relevant expertise to evaluate the manuscript.
· Reviewer Responsibilities: Reviewers are asked to assess the manuscript's technical soundness, originality, clarity, and significance. They provide a detailed report with constructive feedback for the authors and a recommendation to the editor.
· Confidentiality: All manuscript content and communications are treated as strictly confidential by editors and reviewers throughout the review process.
5. Editorial Decision
The handling editor carefully considers the reviewers' reports and makes one of the following decisions:
· Accept: The manuscript is suitable for publication in its current form.
· Minor Revision: The manuscript is acceptable pending minor revisions that address the reviewers' comments.
· Major Revision: The manuscript has potential but requires substantial revisions and may be sent for a second round of peer review.
· Reject: The manuscript is not suitable for publication in ICAS due to significant flaws in methodology, a lack of novelty, or conclusions that are not supported by the data.
The decision, along with the anonymized reviewer comments, is communicated to the corresponding author.
6. Revision Process
If a revision is requested, authors are expected to submit their revised manuscript along with a point-by-point response to the reviewers' and editor's comments. This response should detail how each comment has been addressed.
· Timelines: Authors are typically given 2-4 weeks for minor revisions and 4-6 weeks for major revisions.
· Re-review: Revised manuscripts, particularly those that underwent major revision, may be returned to the original reviewers for their assessment of the changes. Typically, only one round of major revision is permitted.
7. Appeals
Authors who believe an editorial decision was based on a significant misunderstanding or factual error may submit a formal appeal to the Editorial Office (icas_editorial@sjtu.edu.cn or icas_eic@sjtu.edu.cn). The appeal must include a detailed rebuttal of the reasons for rejection. The handling editor and, if necessary, the Editor-in-Chief will consider the appeal. The decision following an appeal is final.
8. After Acceptance
Once a manuscript is accepted, it enters the production phase.
· License to Publish: The corresponding author will be required to complete and sign the IEEE License to Publish agreement.
· Production and Proofing: The manuscript is professionally copyedited and typeset into the final IEEE format. Authors will receive a proof of their article for a final check. Corrections at this stage should be limited to typographical or production errors.
· Publication: Upon receipt of the corrected proofs, the final version of the article is published online on IEEE Xplore®, where it will be fully citable and accessible to a global audience.