Authors’ Guidelines
1. Preparing and Submitting a Manuscript
2. Article Categories
3. Originality and Exclusive Consideration
4. Manuscript Preparation
5. References and Citations
6. Figures and Tables
7. Equations, Units, Symbols, and Abbreviations
8. Supplementary Material
9. Appendices
10. Authorship and Author Contributions
11. Acknowledgements
12. Statistical Analysis and Reporting
13. Data Availability and Research Materials
14. Ethical Approval and Informed Consent
15. Funding Statement
16. Conflict of Interest
17. Plagiarism, Originality, and Research Integrity
18. Artificial Intelligence and AI-Assisted Tools
19. Permissions and Copyright
20. Editorial Assessment and Peer Review
21. Suggested and Excluded Reviewers
22. Revision and Resubmission
23. Post-Publication Corrections and Retractions
24. Article Processing Charges
Pre-Submission Checklist
Authors are encouraged to complete the following checklist before submitting a manuscript to ensure that all journal, ethical, and publication requirements have been addressed.
☐ The manuscript is consistent with the aims and scope of the Journal.
☐ The work is original and has not been published previously or submitted simultaneously to another journal.
☐ Any closely related articles, conference proceedings, abstracts, preprints, or other versions of the work have been appropriately disclosed.
☐ Relevant and appropriate keywords have been included.
☐ All figures and tables are appropriately prepared, numbered, titled, and cited in the main text.
☐ References are complete and accurate and have been formatted according to the Journal's prescribed Vancouver style.
☐ Details of ethical approval, institutional review, and informed consent have been provided where applicable.
☐ The study design and statistical methods are described sufficiently to support appropriate interpretation and reproducibility.
☐ A data availability statement has been included, where applicable.
☐ All sources of financial support and research funding have been disclosed.
☐ Any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest have been declared.
☐ An author contribution statement has been provided for manuscripts with multiple authors.
☐ The manuscript is free from plagiarism, duplicate publication, and inappropriate text recycling.
☐ Research data, images, figures, and other results have been presented accurately and have not been improperly manipulated or altered.
☐ Permission has been obtained for any copyrighted, previously published, or third-party material used in the manuscript.
☐ All listed authors have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript.
☐ All authors have agreed to the submission of the manuscript to the Journal.
☐ All required manuscript files, supplementary materials, declarations, and supporting documents have been uploaded.
1. Preparing and Submitting a Manuscript
The Journal of Intelligent Geotechnical Engineering and Foundations welcomes original scholarly contributions that demonstrate academic quality, methodological soundness, clarity of presentation, ethical research practice, and relevance to the Journal’s aims and scope. Authors should prepare their manuscripts in accordance with the requirements set out in these guidelines and submit them through the Journal’s designated online submission platform.
By submitting a manuscript, the authors confirm that the work represents original research or scholarship, has not been published previously in substantially the same form, and is not under consideration by another journal. Submission also confirms that all listed authors have reviewed and approved the manuscript, agreed to its submission, and accept responsibility for the content and integrity of the work.
Authors are advised to review the complete Author Guidelines before submission and ensure that all required information, declarations, files, and supporting materials have been provided. Manuscripts that do not satisfy essential submission, formatting, ethical, or scope requirements may be returned to the authors for correction before being considered for peer review.
2. Article Categories
The Journal accepts a broad range of scholarly contributions that fall within its scope. These may include original research articles, review articles, systematic reviews, scoping reviews, short communications, short reports, case studies, methodological papers, technical notes, and other forms of scholarly work considered suitable by the Editorial Team.
Authors should select the category that most accurately represents the purpose, methodology, and principal content of their manuscript. Where an appropriate category is not available, authors should select the closest applicable category and explain the nature of the submission where necessary. The Journal reserves the right to introduce, modify, combine, or discontinue article categories in response to editorial and publishing requirements.
3. Originality and Exclusive Consideration
Manuscripts submitted to the Journal must contain original scholarly work and must not have been previously published in substantially the same form. A manuscript submitted to the Journal must not be simultaneously under consideration for publication elsewhere.
Authors are responsible for informing the Journal of any material that may substantially overlap with the submitted manuscript. This includes, where applicable, previously published articles, manuscripts currently under review or accepted for publication elsewhere, conference papers or proceedings, preprints, technical reports, datasets, theses, or other publicly available material.
Where related or overlapping material exists, authors should provide complete and appropriate citations and clearly explain how the submitted manuscript differs from the earlier work. The distinct contribution of the present submission should be identifiable to editors and reviewers. Failure to disclose substantial overlap or simultaneous submission may be considered a breach of the Journal’s publication-ethics and research-integrity requirements.
4. Manuscript Preparation
Manuscripts should be written in clear, concise, consistent academic English and prepared according to the requirements of the selected article type. The manuscript should be logically organized and contain sufficient methodological and contextual information to allow readers and reviewers to understand and evaluate the research. Authors should use consistent terminology, headings, units, abbreviations, citations, and formatting throughout the manuscript.
Recommended Structure for Original Research Articles
4.1 Title
The title should accurately reflect the content and contribution of the study; be specific, informative, and concise; avoid unnecessary abbreviations; and contain no more than 130 characters.
4.2 Abstract
The abstract should provide a concise overview of the study, including background or rationale; objectives; methods; principal findings; and conclusions.
The abstract should be written as a coherent paragraph without subheadings. References should not normally be included, and unexplained abbreviations should be avoided.
4.3 Keywords
Approximately 6–8 keywords representing the principal concepts, methods, materials, technologies, or applications discussed in the manuscript should be provided. Keywords should be specific and informative. Unnecessary abbreviations should not be used.
4.4 Introduction
The Introduction should establish the background and significance of the research; summarize relevant and current literature; identify the knowledge gap, problem, or unmet need; explain the rationale for the study; and clearly state the objectives, research questions, or hypotheses.
4.5 Materials and Methods
In this section authors should provide sufficient detail regarding the study design, materials, participants, datasets, procedures, experimental or computational methods, and analytical or statistical techniques to permit appropriate evaluation and, where applicable, reproducibility.
Relevant registration, or other regulatory requirements should be reported in this section where applicable.
4.6 Results
Authors should present the findings clearly and logically, in line with the objectives or research questions of the study. Results should be supported by appropriate statistical analyses, tables, figures, or other evidence. Information should not be unnecessarily duplicated between the text, tables, and figures.
4.7 Discussion
Interpret the findings in relation to the study objectives and relevant literature. The Discussion should address the principal findings; their scientific or practical significance; comparison with previous research; possible explanations for the findings; important strengths and limitations; and implications for research, practice, policy, or future investigation, where appropriate. The Results and Discussion may be presented separately or combined, depending on the nature of the article.
4.8 Conclusion
The Conclusion should concisely summarize the principal findings and their significance. It should not introduce unsupported claims or information not addressed in the manuscript. Where appropriate, authors may identify practical or scientific implications and directions for future research.
Note: Other article types may use a different structure appropriate to their content and methodology.
5. References and Citations
Authors are responsible for ensuring that references are accurate, complete, relevant, and appropriately cited. The Journal uses Vancouver referencing style according to which, references should be numbered consecutively according to their first appearance in the text; the same reference should retain the same number throughout the manuscript; only the official or standardized abbreviated form of journal titles should be used in references where required.; for articles with three or fewer authors, all authors should be listed; while if number of co-authors exceeds three in a manuscript, list the first three followed by et al. DOIs should be included in references whenever available.
Every reference cited in the text must appear in the reference list, and every reference in the list should be cited in the manuscript. Authors should prioritize reliable, relevant, and current scholarly sources and avoid excessive self-citation, irrelevant references, and unverifiable sources.
6. Figures and Tables
Figures and tables should enhance the presentation of the research and should not unnecessarily duplicate information provided in the text. Of note, authors should avoid presenting the same information in both a table and a figure unless there is a clear justification.
Figures
Authors should ensure that figures are numbered consecutively according to their first citation; every figure is cited in the manuscript; each figure has an informative caption; labels, legends, symbols, and units are clear and readable; figures are of sufficient quality for publication; and permissions are obtained for copyrighted material where required.
Figures should preferably be supplied as separate files, and their area of placement clearly mentioned in the manuscript. However, figures embedded in the text may also be submitted by the authors.
Tables should be numbered consecutively using Arabic numerals; be cited in the text in numerical order; have clear and informative titles; be logically organized; use consistent terminology and units; and contain clearly visible borders and appropriately formatted cells.
7. Equations, Units, Symbols, and Abbreviations
Mathematical equations should be presented clearly and numbered consistently where appropriate.
Authors should use SI units wherever applicable; provide appropriate conversions for non-standard units; define specialized symbols when they are first introduced; write abbreviations in full at first use, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses; and avoid unnecessary or excessive abbreviations.
8. Supplementary Material
Supplementary material may be submitted when additional information supports the manuscript but is not essential to the main presentation. Supplementary files may include additional tables or figures; datasets; questionnaires or instruments; code or computational resources; detailed methodological information; and other supporting material.
Supplementary files should be clearly identified and appropriately cited within the manuscript. Authors should ensure that supplementary files are complete, accurate, and suitable for public dissemination.
9. Appendices
Appendices may contain detailed information that is useful to readers but would interrupt the flow of the main manuscript.
Each appendix should be clearly labelled, for example Appendix A, Appendix B, and so forth, and should be cited in the main text. Essential findings, arguments, or methodological information should not be presented exclusively in an appendix.
10. Authorship and Author Contributions
Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial contributions to the conception, design, conduct, analysis, interpretation, or development of the work and who have participated in drafting or critically revising the manuscript and approved its final version.
All authors share responsibility for the integrity of the work and should be able to identify their contributions. An Author Contributions Statement is required for multi-author manuscripts and should clearly describe the contribution of each author. Contributions may include conceptualization, methodology, investigation, data curation, analysis, software, validation, supervision, visualization, writing, and review and editing, as applicable.
Individuals who provided assistance but do not meet the authorship criteria may be recognized in the Acknowledgements section, with their permission.
11. Acknowledgements
The Acknowledgements section may recognize individuals, institutions, or organizations that contributed to the research or manuscript but do not qualify for authorship. This may include appropriate technical, administrative, language, editorial, or other assistance. Authors should obtain permission before naming individuals in the Acknowledgements. Funding and financial support should be reported separately in the Funding Statement.
12. Statistical Analysis and Reporting
Where statistical methods are used, authors must provide sufficient information for readers and reviewers to assess the appropriateness and interpretation of the analysis.
Depending on the study, this may include statistical tests or models; assumptions and diagnostic procedures; sample-size considerations or power calculations; methods for handling missing data; criteria for statistical significance; effect estimates; confidence intervals or other measures of uncertainty; and relevant sensitivity or robustness analyses.
Statistical findings should be interpreted in the context of the study rather than solely on the basis of p-values. Authors should report statistical methods accurately and use appropriate terminology. Where specialized statistical or computational methods are used, sufficient methodological detail should be provided for evaluation and, where feasible, reproducibility.
13. Data Availability and Research Materials
Authors should provide a Data Availability Statement describing the availability of data and other materials supporting the findings.
Where ethically, legally, and practically appropriate, authors are encouraged to deposit datasets, research materials, analytical code, or other supporting resources in recognized repositories. Where sharing is restricted because of privacy, confidentiality, ethical, legal, contractual, or proprietary considerations, the restrictions should be clearly explained. Authors should ensure that shared datasets and materials do not unnecessarily expose confidential, personal, or identifying information.
Further requirements are provided in the Journal's Editorial and Publication Ethics Policies.
14. Ethical Approval and Informed Consent
Research involving human participants or other regulated materials must comply with applicable ethical standards, institutional requirements, and relevant laws and regulations.
Where applicable, authors should provide the name of the ethics committee or institutional review board; approval or reference number; relevant ethical approval information; and details of informed consent procedures. Studies involving human participants should state whether informed consent was obtained or appropriately waived.
15. Funding Statement
All financial, institutional, or other support for the research and manuscript preparation must be disclosed. Where applicable, authors should identify the funding organization; grant or award number; and the role of the funder in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, or publication.
16. Conflict of Interest
Authors must declare any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that could reasonably influence or appear to influence the research or its interpretation. If no relevant conflicts exist, an appropriate statement should nevertheless be provided, such as: “The authors declare that they have no competing interests.”
17. Plagiarism, Originality, and Research Integrity
Authors are responsible for ensuring that submitted manuscripts are free from:
plagiarism;
inappropriate text recycling;
fabrication or falsification;
manipulation of data or images;
duplicate or redundant publication;
inappropriate authorship; and
other forms of research or publication misconduct.
Ideas, findings, quotations, figures, tables, data, and other material obtained from external sources must be appropriately acknowledged and cited. Manuscripts may be screened using similarity-detection and other research-integrity tools. A similarity result will be evaluated in context and does not, by itself, establish plagiarism. Where concerns arise, the Journal may conduct an investigation and take appropriate action in accordance with its Editorial and Publication Ethics Policies.
18. Artificial Intelligence and AI-Assisted Tools
Authors may use AI and AI-assisted technologies for limited purposes such as language improvement; grammar and spelling correction; readability; and clarity enhancement. Any substantive use of AI beyond routine language assistance should be transparently disclosed, including its purpose and extent, where applicable. AI must not be used to fabricate data, references, citations, results, quotations, or other scholarly information.
AI tools must not replace the authors' intellectual contribution, scientific reasoning, analysis, interpretation, or scholarly judgment. AI systems and large language models cannot be listed as authors or co-authors. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, authenticity, and appropriate attribution of all submitted content, including content produced or assisted by AI.
19. Permissions and Copyright
Authors are responsible for ensuring that they have the necessary rights to submit every component of the manuscript. All third-party material must be appropriately attributed. Authors must obtain appropriate permission before reproducing copyrighted figures; tables; photographs; substantial sections of text; or other protected material where permission is required. Authors must also comply with the Journal's copyright and licensing policies.
20. Editorial Assessment and Peer Review
All submissions undergo an initial editorial assessment to determine whether they fall within the Journal's scope; meet basic scholarly and methodological standards; comply with ethical requirements; satisfy essential submission requirements; and are suitable for external peer review. Manuscripts that do not meet these requirements may be returned or declined before peer review. Manuscripts considered suitable for review undergo independent peer review according to the Journal's peer-review policy.
21. Suggested and Excluded Reviewers
Authors may recommend up to three potential reviewers with appropriate expertise to independently assess their manuscript. Suggested reviewers should have relevant subject expertise; be able to provide an objective assessment; have no personal, professional, institutional, financial, or other relationship that creates a conflict of interest; and not be individuals with whom the authors have an inappropriate reviewing arrangement.
Authors may also identify individuals whom they request not to review the manuscript because of a potential conflict, competing interest, or other legitimate concern. A brief explanation should be provided where appropriate.
Reviewer suggestions and exclusion requests are advisory only. The Editor retains complete discretion over reviewer selection and is not required to use suggested reviewers.
22. Revision and Resubmission
Where revisions are requested after peer review, authors should provide a systematic response to editorial and reviewer comments and clearly address each substantive reviewer and editorial comment; provide a point-by-point response; explain clearly where changes have been made; provide justification where a recommendation has not been adopted; and ensure that the revised manuscript remains internally consistent.
A revision does not guarantee acceptance. Revised manuscripts may be returned to reviewers or undergo further editorial assessment.
23. Post-Publication Corrections and Retractions
Authors have an ongoing responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of their published work.
Authors should promptly notify the Journal if they discover a significant error, omission, or inaccuracy that affects the interpretation, reliability, or integrity of the published article.
Depending on the nature and significance of the issue, the Journal may publish an Editorial Expression of Concern; a correction; an Addendum; a retraction; or another appropriate post-publication notice.
Such actions will be handled in accordance with the Journal's Editorial and Publication Ethics Policies and applicable publication-ethics principles.
24. Article Processing Charges
The Journal follows an Open Access publishing model, under which all published articles are freely and immediately accessible to readers upon publication.
There is no fee for manuscript submission. For manuscripts accepted following successful peer review and editorial evaluation, an Article Processing Charge (APC) of AUD 450 applies to support the costs associated with editorial, production, hosting, and publication services.
The APC may be paid by debit/credit card or bank transfer. For bank-transfer payments, the total amount is AUD 480, inclusive of applicable bank charges.
Payment of an APC does not influence editorial decisions, peer review, or acceptance of a manuscript.
