Information for Authors

Information for Authors

The IEEE REVIEWS IN BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING (R-BME) focuses on publishing comprehensive reviews in both methodological and clinical application of biomedical engineering. Suitable submissions cover a broad spectrum, including engineering methodologies, clinical applications, experimental sciences, and technological advancements relevant to the field. Review articles should offer a critical and thorough summary, underpinned by extensive references, reflecting the author’s opinions and perspectives on the topic. These articles are also expected to provide a forward-looking viewpoint, exploring potential future advancements in the field. Manuscripts that do not adhere to these standards are unlikely to be accepted for publication in R-BME.
R-BME seeks insightful review articles that provide in-depth discussions and expert opinions on diverse subjects, including specific research fields, emerging technologies, or contentious debates. The journal aspires to transcend basic literature reviews by emphasizing a profound exploration of the selected topics, and aims to go beyond mere literature summaries, emphasizing the need for a deeper exploration of the chosen topic.

Submission of manuscripts focusing on Methodological Reviews or Clinical Application Reviews is encouraged. The goal of Methodological Reviews is to present a critical review of current methods important in biomedical engineering, understood in its most general sense. These methodological reviews will be authored by the top experts in the field of biomedical engineering. The most useful reviews are the ones that conceptually relate various methods, present validation among them according to accepted metrics, evaluate pros and cons, and comment on future directions. The writing style should target broad audiences, including experts in the subject matter and general readers working in the broad areas of biomedical engineering, engineering sciences, and clinical sciences. The goal of Clinical Application Reviews is to present a critical review of methods applied to a current clinical problem, where biomedical technology plays a crucial role. The article should be written from a clinical perspective. These clinical application reviews should preferably be authored by a team (e.g., clinicians, biomedical engineers, and biomedical scientists). The most useful reviews will start by explaining the clinical problem, its variables, and how one of several competing biomedical technologies is playing a role, along with their pros and cons. Discussions of bottlenecks and suggestions on overcoming them should follow. The target audiences shall consist of clinicians, design engineers in the industry, and students/academics working in engineering and sciences, including but not limiting to biomedical engineering.

R-BME readership includes not only experts working on a particular area but also researchers in the general field of biomedical engineering, engineering or clinical medicine. Thus, we hope to see R-BME articles include educational materials, which often can be conveyed in illustrative graphics to express key concepts, major principles, and methodological details relevant to the theme of the review. Figure 1 of the manuscript is recommended to show a graphic overview, which reflects the focus and vision of the review. We further suggest a few more additional educational graphics be included as main figures to illustrate the basics of key methodologies related to the research/technology being reviewed. These figures should be visually appealing, and convey the scientific vision, fundamental knowledge underlying the research discussed, and perspectives of the authors. Tables summarizing key references are helpful to readers but should not overwhelm the main text. Figures revealing scientific vision, intellectual perspectives, and illustrative educational materials are more important than denoting how many papers are published in a field. Detailed tables summarizing various references, additional text discussion, additional figures, or even videos can be included in online supplementary materials.

To qualify for publication, all manuscripts must be previously unpublished and not be under consideration elsewhere. The manuscript will be evaluated under the category it has been submitted. All R-BME manuscripts should be, in principle, up to 15 pages in initial submissions, with at least 100 references. Authors are encouraged to include illustrative graphics to express key concepts, major principles, and methodological details relevant to the theme of the review. Educational graphics to illustrate the basics of key methodologies related to the research/technology being reviewed are encouraged. All submissions will undergo screening by the Editor-in-Chief or editorial board members to assess the novelty, quality, and appropriateness for R-BME. Manuscripts will ONLY be accepted in electronic format through IEEE Author Portal. Please do not send original submissions or revisions directly to the Editor-in-Chief.

Manuscripts

For purposes of qualifying for peer review and consideration for publication, authors should sign an Author consent form, agree to a mandatory page charge for overlength manuscripts and prepare a manuscript according to the following guidelines:

  1. The manuscript should be prepared in accordance with the IEEE format, as outlined in the RBME Template available for download at https://www.embs.org/rbme/information-for-authors/. The manuscripts, including the figures, should be converted to PDF for upload to IEEE Author Portal. The initial submission should be, in principle, no longer than 15 formatted pages, with additional contents being placed in Supplementary Materials.
  2. The abstract must be concise, with a maximum word limit of 200.
  3. References are particularly important in Review papers and will be subject to review. Authors should attempt to do an exhaustive search of the literature, and the norm will be to have a reference list of 100~200 papers. The references should appear in a separate reference section at the end of this paper with items referred to by numerals in square brackets. References must be complete in the IEEE style as follows:
  • Style for papers: Author(s), first initials followed by last name, title, periodical, volume, inclusive page numbers, month, year. For papers of 3 or more authors, only list the first author followed by “et al.”.
  • Style for books: Author(s), title, location, publisher, year, chapter, page numbers.
  1. Revised manuscripts must be submitted in a single-spaced, double-column format using 9 point type, with figures embedded, following IEEE Format. The submission of the final revised manuscript following IEEE format will serve as confirmation of the publication length of the manuscript at submission, and as indication for authors to pay overlength page charges.

As noted below, manuscripts that exceed the fifteen (15) published pages will incur payment of mandatory overlength page charges. Since changes recommended as a result of peer review may require additions to the manuscript, sometimes revisions may be slightly longer than 15 pages so it is strongly recommended that original submissions be within 15 formatted pages.

Please refrain from sending original artwork until your paper is accepted for publication during the final submission.

  1. All manuscripts accepted for publication will REQUIRE the authors to make the final submission employing the style files. Please see the detailed guidelines at the IEEE Editorial Style Manual.
  2. Beginning in 2024, author photos and biographies will no longer be published in the journal. Authors should refrain from submitting photos and biographies, and these should not be included in the page limit estimate for manuscript submissions.

Peer Review Process

All submissions will be reviewed by external peer reviewers if and after passing the screening process. Both technical quality and broader impact of the manuscripts will be considered during the screening and review process. Only manuscripts receiving enthusiastic reviewer support will be further considered at each review round.

Authors should recommend 6~8 potential reviewers in the international scientific community who have expertise in the subject and have no affiliations with any of co-authors.

Copyright

It is the policy of the IEEE to own the copyright to the technical contributions it publishes on behalf of the interests of the IEEE, its authors, and their employers, and to facilitate the appropriate reuse of this material by others. To comply with the United States Copyright Law, authors are required to sign a digital version of the IEEE Copyright Form upon acceptance of the manuscript. Authors will automatically be redirected to the eCF (electronic Copyright Form) after they have submitted the final files. The eCF makes signing a publishing agreement easy. The form will determine which agreement meets your needs and enable you to complete it on-screen.

More information can be found at the IEEE Author Center website. Questions can be directed to copyrights@ieee.org.

Author Consent Form

An Author Consent form for manuscripts that have more than one author is also required to ensure that all the authors are aware that the paper is being submitted to the Transactions. Download the Author Consent Form.

Title and Abstract

During the login of an electronic submission in Manuscript central, the author will be asked to enter: the title, names and contact information for all authors (full mailing address, institutional affiliations, and e-mail), the abstract, and the TIPS category. The name of the Corresponding Author who will serve as the main point of contact for the manuscript during the review and publication processes is entered separately. For manuscripts, an abstract of not more than 200 words is allowable. The abstract should indicate the scope of the paper, and summarize the authors’ conclusions. This will make the abstract, by itself, a useful tool for information retrieval. Please be ready with this information when logging into IEEE Author Portal.

Illustrations and Tables

Illustrations/tables should be worked into the text of a manuscript. However, due to production requirements, for the final submission, high resolution figures and tables must be submitted separately, in addition to the single-space, double column IEEE formatted manuscripts. In the printing process, illustrations/tables may be reduced to one-column or two-column width–as much as a 4:1 reduction from the original. In illustrations, all words (as distinct from mathematical symbols) should be in a type size that will reduce to a minimum of 9 points or 3/16 in high in the final formatted version. Each figure and table should have a caption that is intelligible without requiring reference to the text. If any illustration contains previously published contents, authors should make sure they can obtain permissions from the copyright holders before submitting the manuscript. Authors are strongly encouraged to develop original figures to convey the vision, concepts, principles, and issues discussed in the manuscript.

Color Graphics:

R-BME encourages the use of full-color graphics in the submission of figures and tables.

Page Charges

Upon acceptance of a manuscript for publication, the author(s) or their affiliated institution, will be asked to contribute towards publication cost for the paper under the specified page limit. A voluntary page charge applies for up to 15 pages.

The author(s) or their affiliated institution will incur a mandatory charge of $250 for each page exceeding the first 15 published pages. These charges are MANDATORY, and the responsibility for payment lies with the author(s). Payment of these charges is not negotiable or voluntary. By submitting a single-spaced, double column IEEE formatted manuscript, the author(s) signify their agreement to fulfill the requirement of paying mandatory page charges. Failure to fulfill these financial obligations gives the Publisher the right to defer or decline the publication of the current or any subsequent manuscripts from the author(s). To avoid these mandatory page charges, authors are strongly advised to be concise in their initial manuscript and restraint in preparation of the revised manuscript following peer review. Additional materials may be included as online supplementary materials after peer reviews.

Download the Page Charges Consent Form.

Open Access 

R-BME is a hybrid journal offering two options: Traditional and Open Access. Traditional submissions are accessible to qualified subscribers, while Open Access submissions are freely available to the public. For Open Access, an Article Processing Charge of $2,495 is mandatory. Additional fees, such as charges for pages exceeding the 15-pages limit, will be invoiced separately. If you opt for a Traditional submission, your article will only be accessible through IEEE Xplore to subscribers and purchasers, and no Open Access fee is required.

Article Processing Charges (APCs)
US$2495 for articles submitted in 2024. APC US$2645 for articles submitted in 2025.

Some institutions offer assistance for open access funding. Check our institutional partners list to see if yours is one.

Author Posting Policy

Authors are free to post the accepted version of their article on their personal web sites or those of their employers. Authors are allowed to post versions of their articles on approved third-party servers that are operated by not-for-profit organizations. For more information, please read the IEEE policy for Author Posting of IEEE Copyrighted Papers Online.

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