Instructions for Authors and Reviews

Guide for Authors

Please read the Guide for Authors before submitting a manuscript.

Submit a manuscript

To submit a manuscript, use JMSJ online submission system:

Authors must prepare following items to submit a manuscript (please see Guide for Authors in detail).

JMSJ template files

J-STAGE Data


Instructions for Reviews


Article Processing Charge

Publishing scholarly journals comes with many costs, such as those of managing peer review, copy editing, typesetting and online hosting. To cover these costs in the absence of other income sources such as subscriptions, authors (or their institutions) are requested to pay an article processing charge (APC), as detailed below. There is no submission fee.

For articles submitted from January 2020:

Article Type Articles Reviews
Members of MSJ 220,000 yen No charge
Non-members of MSJ 240,000 yen No charge
(plus local consumption tax where applicable)

For articles submitted before January 2020:

Article Type Articles Reviews
Members of MSJ 200,000 yen No charge
Non-members of MSJ 220,000 yen No charge
(plus local consumption tax where applicable)

*Authors who have published a JMSJ paper as a first author will receive a 50,000 yen discount on the page or article processing charges of any manuscript submitted within a year of its publication date; for example, if a manuscript is published in the December issue of 2017, manuscripts submitted by the end of December 2018 are eligible. Authors should request this reduction in charges in their cover letter.

*APC Waiver Policy: The journal will waive the APC on an article if no authors have a professional affiliation with a research organization or if all authors are based in a "Least Developed Country" or "Other Low Income Country" on the OECD’s qualifying country list. Other waivers will be considered on a case-by-case basis by the journal’s Editorial Office. Authors must apply for a waiver before or upon the submission of their manuscript; applications will not be considered after the review process has started. Applications may be made by emailing the journal at jmsj@metsoc.jp and must include evidence of financial hardship. The ability of an author to pay the APC does not influence editorial decisions. To avoid any possibility of undue influence, editors involved with the decision-making process on submitted manuscripts are not involved in any deliberations on waivers.

If you have any questions about the journal's policies, please contact the Editorial Office.

Copyright and Licensing

For papers published from January 1, 2018, the copyright of manuscripts will be retained by the authors; authors will be required to sign a License to Publish form which allows the MSJ to publish the article. For manuscripts published before 2018, the copyright belongs to the MSJ.

When quoting part or all of any article published in JMSJ, an author must refer to the original JMSJ publication. When reproducing part or all of an article or figure published in JMSJ, authors must follow the terms of each article's license and/or the MSJ's regulations. More information on copyright and permissions can be found elsewhere on the JMSJ website.

For more information, visit Open Access, Copyright and Permissions

Research and Publication Ethics

JMSJ seeks to uphold the highest ethical standards in both research and publication. The journal follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines when dealing with cases of misconduct or dispute.

Authorship

By submitting to JMSJ, all authors undertake that they have agreed to the author list. Any amendments to the list (such as changing the order, or adding or removing authors) after submission must be approved by all authors and the Editor. In addition, all authors must have contributed substantially to the work; have agreed to be accountable for their contributions to the work; be able to identify the co-authors responsible for each part of the work; have confidence in the integrity of the work; and have reviewed and approved the final manuscript. Contributors who do not qualify for authorship should be included in the Acknowledgements section.

Conflicts of Interest

JMSJ recognizes that it is vital for there to be transparency around any real or perceived conflict of interest regarding papers published in the journal. A conflict of interest exists when any judgement about one interest might be influenced by another secondary interest. This can extend from any financial considerations to academic competition and rivalry, personal rivalry or intellectual incompatibility. Conflicts of interest extend to all participants in the peer review process: authors, reviewers, Editors, and Editorial Board members.

JMSJ holds that consideration of real or perceived conflicts of interest by any of the participants in the publication process must be considered while undertaking their respective tasks. If relevant, they should be declared clearly to the relevant authority.

Authors should declare in their cover letters whether they have any conflicts of interest (financial or otherwise). If so, the Editor will determine the course of action. Reviewers are asked to declare any potential conflicts of interest and recuse themselves if the potential for bias exists.

The Editors and Editorial Board undertake to declare their conflicts of interest when handling manuscripts for publication.

Duplicate Submission

Authors must not have submitted their manuscript to another journal before the Editorial Committee makes the final decision on suitability for publication. If there is possibility of duplicate submission, the Editorial Committee will investigate further and will reject immediately in cases where duplicate submission is confirmed. Authors may submit their manuscripts to another journal freely after withdrawal or rejection.

Images and data

Images, especially graphics files, which are included in a manuscript for review should not be processed except for necessary guides for readers (e.g., labels or arrows etc.). If manipulation is necessary, it should be applied to the entire image and any changes noted in the manuscript.

Any data associated with images or other aspects of the manuscript must be retained and provided upon request.

Confidentiality

JMSJ maintains the confidentiality of all submitted and rejected manuscripts. By submitting to the journal, authors agree to keep all correspondence about their manuscript (from the Editorial Office, editors and any others) confidential.

JMSJ uses single-blind peer review, so the identities of reviewers are not revealed. Journal staff will not disclose a reviewer's identity unless the reviewer requests it. As part of their responsibilities, reviewers undertake to maintain the confidentiality of manuscripts to which they have access.