Manuscript Preparation
Authors should prepare their manuscripts carefully before submission to ensure an expeditious peer-review process. Manuscripts must be written in clear, grammatically sound English and follow the standard IMRAD scholarly structure (Introduction, Methodology, Results, and Discussion).
The manuscript should include the following sections in order:
- Title — A concise and informative title (maximum 20 words).
- Author Details — Full names, affiliations, departments, countries, ORCID iDs, and email of corresponding author.
- Abstract — A structured summary of 150–250 words covering background, objectives, methods, key results, and conclusions.
- Keywords — 4 to 8 keywords relevant to the research topic, separated by commas.
- Introduction — Background context, literature review, research gap, and objectives.
- Methodology — Detailed description of methods, materials, and experimental design.
- Results & Discussion — Clear presentation of findings with data tables, high-resolution figures, and contextual analysis.
- Conclusion — Summary of key findings, implications, and future research directions.
- AI Declaration — Mandatory disclosure if Generative AI tools were used.
- References — Properly formatted list of cited sources in IEEE format.
Official Manuscript Format & Word Template
All manuscripts submitted to MERIT must strictly adhere to the official journal format. Authors must prepare their manuscripts using the Official MERIT Word Template (.docx) or follow the exact layout specifications detailed below and on our Paper Format Page.
Unified Manuscript Specifications:
- Page Setup:Standard US Letter (8.5 × 11 in / 215.9 × 279.4 mm). Margins: Top: 0.75 in (19.05 mm), Bottom: 1.0 in (25.4 mm), Left: 0.625 in (15.875 mm), Right: 0.625 in (15.875 mm).
- Column Layout: Two columns (3.5 in / 88.9 mm column width with 0.2 in / 5.08 mm column separation) throughout the main body text. The article title, author metadata, abstract, and keywords span the full page width.
- Typography & Sizing: Times New Roman typeface exclusively.
- Paper Title: 24pt, Bold, Centered
- Author Names: 11pt, Regular, Centered
- Affiliations & Metadata: 10pt, Regular, Centered
- Section Headings (Level 1): 10pt, Small Caps / Bold, Centered, Roman Numerals (I., II., etc.)
- Subsection Headings (Level 2): 10pt, Italic, Left-Aligned (A., B., etc.)
- Main Body Text: 10pt, Regular, Justified, Single Line Spacing (1.0)
- Figure / Table Captions: 8pt, Regular
- References: 9pt, Regular, Justified
- Line Spacing: Single line spacing (1.0) throughout the entire manuscript.
- File Format: Microsoft Word (.docx or .doc). Maximum file size: 25 MB.
References & Citation Style (IEEE)
MERIT strictly follows the IEEE Citation Style across all manuscripts. Citations must be numbered in square brackets (e.g., [1], [2], [3]–[5]) in sequential order of appearance in the text.
Reference List Example (9pt, Times New Roman):
- [1] P. Sharma and R. Kumar, “Deep learning approaches for NLP,” Journal of AI Research, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 45–62, 2025, doi: 10.1234/example.
- [2] J. K. Author, “Title of conference paper,” in Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on Communications, 2024, pp. 101–106.
Every cited source must appear in the reference list, and all entries in the reference list must be cited in the text. Include active DOI URLs for all references where available. Reference management software (Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote) is recommended.
AI Declaration
When Generative AI or AI-assisted technologies (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) are used in manuscript preparation, authors must disclose this in a dedicated AI Declaration section immediately preceding the References. Standard spelling and grammar checkers do not require disclosure.
AI systems cannot be listed as authors. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, and integrity of the work. See the full Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy for Statement A/B templates and reviewer/editor rules.
Plagiarism & Research Integrity
All manuscripts are screened for plagiarism before review. A similarity index exceeding 15% (excluding references and properly cited quotations) will result in desk rejection.
Authors are strongly encouraged to use plagiarism checking tools before submission to ensure their manuscript meets our standards. See the full Plagiarism Policy.