Article Numbering
Article numbering for a journal is based on subject categories or topic codes provided by the Society/EIC/Editorial Office. These subject categories are two digits in length. Articles numbers used in IEEE publications use seven digits and will be used once in a journal in a given year. The first two digits constitute the subject category or topic code. The next three digits create the sequence within each subject category. The last two digits represent the page length of the article. For example, article number 2200105 would mean that it is using the subject category listed under 22 (22), it is the first article in that category (001), and the article is 5 pages in length (05). Using article numbers can help relieve a backlog by working on multiple issues at the same time (for issue-based publications) since the next issue is not based on finalizing page numbers for the current issue. Each article is sequenced by using a number that is part of the metadata (sequence number tag). This creates the order on IEEE Xplore. A group of sequence numbers can be assigned per category per issue (or volume) since sequence numbers can be skipped and the numbers used would be in sequential order. This number can vary if you know that a certain topic would have many articles.
How are subject categories assigned to an article?
The best practice to assign a subject category would be to have the code be a part of the manuscript number that has been assigned by the EIC or editorial office. IEEE Magnetics Letters assigns the code upfront. When the article is delivered via IEEE Author Portal to IEEE, the staff editor knows how to start the article number by the manuscript number.
Article numbers need to be in sequential order so when the issue is printed or placed online, readers are able to locate the pages easily. Each topic code will have to follow the order of the articles by article number. This means that topic codes follow in chronological order and each topic code will have an order set by when an article is finalized through IEEE Publications. Both of these factors constitute the order of the Table of Contents.
The Society would need to provide the two-digit subject category numbers.
The Society would have a total of 90 numbers. IEEE needs 10 numbers.
Front Material
00 covers
01 contents
02 editorials
03 front matter
04 awards
05 memoriam/obituaries
Back Material
96 comments/replies
97 corrections/errata
98 announcements/filler
99 other (includes index)
The list of subject categories/topic codes can change from year to year, but please note that authors and the community at large will get used to an article numbering scheme and it may get confusing if changed yearly. For the first two years, numbers may probably change with additions and/or subtractions. From experience with the journals currently using article numbers, subject categories have changed numbers the second year; including the IEEE front and back matter. Each journal does not have to have 90 categories or topic codes. It varies from journal to journal. For example, one journal contains 13 subject categories while another uses all 90. Numbers can be skipped and saved for future use.
The list of subject category/topic code numbers should be published in each issue or volume so the readers have a sense of what the numbering scheme means.
Individual article numbers can only be used once in a year (volume). Staff editors will need to keep track of article numbers from issue to issue. Keeping a spreadsheet works best. Article numbers are also stored in the Publishing Operations Production Portal (POPP).
Tables of Contents
There are two ways to create a Table of Contents. The best practice would be to allot enough sequence numbers per article number. The articles would be on Xplore in chronological order by article number. The Table of Contents would be created following this order. Subject categories could be added to the Table of Contents.
The second way to create a Table of Contents would be to use an index of articles where the categories on the Table of Contents are in a different order than the articles in the issue. This would be the case if an Editor wanted to place the articles in a category in a specific order. The journal itself would be in chronological order, but the order of papers on the Table of Contents would reflect an index of papers.
Article numbering must start at the beginning of a new volume and year and not changed within the year. Indexing services have asked to keep to full volumes as errors may occur. To have articles ready for a new year, please have the list of subject category numbers by October.
For Early Access articles on IEEE Xplore, if the article is a preprint, there will be no article number as the final page count for the article has not been set. Once an article is in an issue or volume, the article number will be finalized. If the article is a rapid post file, when the article is finalized, an article number can be assigned to it. For volume-based publications, the article would then be placed in a volume immediately. For issue-based publications, the article could be placed in a specific issue or rapid posted in the Early Access section if not assigned to a specific issue yet.
Articles in Print Issues
For issue-based publications, all articles begin on a right-hand (odd) page. While every attempt will be made, during the production process, to end articles on a left-hand (even) page, if an article ends on an odd page, a blank page will appear at the end of the article in the print journal issue. For single articles paginated one at a time and then placed on Xplore, article running heads or footers can be corrected during final correction stage.
Article Numbering for TMAG 2013