Online Submission Instructions

Before Submission

Before proceeding, please review the Notes for Authors for specific directions for preparing your manuscript.

If your manuscript and figures are ready to submit according to the manuscript formatting guidelines and requirements below, please proceed directly to the system by clicking submit your manuscript.

Preparing your Manuscript prior to Online Submission

Prepare your manuscript using a word processing program. The journal prefers all manuscripts submitted online to be Microsoft Word files (i.e., .doc, .docx). During the online submission process these will be converted automatically to .pdf files (for peer review).

To submit your manuscript, you will need the following files:

• A Title page file with the names of all authors and co-authors
• Main document file with abstract, keywords, main text and references
• Figure files
• Table files
• Any extra files such as Supplemental files

Formatting Guidelines and Samples of “Title Page,” “Main Document,” and “References” are available for our journal, but please check the Formatting Guidelines page of the journal before you use them.

We prefer that authors upload “a single file” containing the complete manuscript (i.e., abstract, main text, figures, and tables), as this makes the reviewing process easier for editors and referees. This applies to the original version of the manuscript and any revised versions.

When inserting figures into your text documents, please make sure any embedded text is large enough to read. Many figures contain miniscule characters such as numbers on a chart or graph. If these characters are not easily readable in your text document, they will most likely be illegible in the .pdf created by the system. Certain image formats such as .jpg and .gif do not have high resolutions, so you may elect to save your figures and insert them as .tif instead.

Please use short, simple filenames when saving all your documents, and avoid special characters, punctuation marks, and symbols. Also avoid spaces in your filenames.

During the online manuscript submission process you can also upload any other files you might want the Editors/reviewers to have access to, including in-press and submitted papers, or supplementary data (such as questionnaire templates, original data etc.).

During the submission process, all authors listed in the manuscript should have their information filled in the web page and their affiliations and email addresses provided. Thus, the submitting author should check the consistency of the listed authors in the manuscript and the filled-in names of the authors. If the administrator detects the required information is incomplete, the manuscript will be rejected directly.

The authors are expected to recommend three reviewers and at least one of them is outside the authors’ own country or region. But we reserve the rights to send the manuscripts to the recommended reviewers for peer-review.

Authors can check their own manuscript status online. It’s strongly suggested that manuscript ID number be mentioned any time when authors consult the manuscript status or deal with affairs related to the manuscript.

ESTP accepts original papers and invited review that have never been published in any form. All manuscripts will be subjected to a plagiarism checking system by CrossChecking Software iThenticate in case of plagiarism and inappropriate citation.

General

You will need a User ID and Password in order to access the online submission site. If you are unsure about whether or not you have an account, or have forgotten your password, enter your e-mail address into the “Password Help” section. If you do not have an account, you can create one by clicking on the “Create Account” link at the top of the log in screen and following the on-screen instructions. If you have problems with your account please do not create another account. Please contact the ESTP Editorial Office.

All correspondence relating to a submission (i.e., acknowledgement of receipt, communication of decisions etc.) will be sent via e-mail to the corresponding author.

The Online Submission Process

Before You Start

Submissions of Original Articles and Letter to the Editor must be made using our online service, and will not be considered if sent by post or e-mail.

Before starting the online submission process please make sure you have the followings available:

• A file with your complete manuscript (i.e., title page, abstract, text, figures, and tables) in one of the formats detailed above;
• If the images are not embedded in your text file (preferred), the image files; ESTP expects that as a rule, figures in research papers will be original figures generated by the authors. However, in cases where figures are commissioned, obtained or bought externally by the authors, or where figures have been previously published elsewhere, the corresponding author is responsible for pointing this out to the Editors at time of submission.
• The files for any other supplementary material to be submitted with your manuscript;
• The text of your abstract (can be copied and pasted into the system from your word processor file);

Where appropriate, the names and e-mail addresses of all contributing authors. When entering contact and manuscript information (see Submitting your files below), please make sure that everything is input correctly. Errors in contact information, in particular in your e-mail address create severe problems in the handling of your submission.

ESTP does not require all authors of a paper to sign the letter of submission, nor does it impose an order on the list of authors. Submission to ESTP is taken to mean that all the listed authors have agreed all the content. The corresponding (submitting) author is responsible for having ensured that this agreement has been reached.

Submitting Your Manuscript

1. When you are ready to submit your files, please proceed to ESTP’s website.

2. If you know your login details (i.e., you have submitted or reviewed a manuscript in this journal before), use your User ID and Password to log on (Your user ID will usually be your email address.). Once you have logged in to the online submission system, you will be asked to fill in your details on the submission form and submit all files relating to your manuscript.

If you are unsure about whether or not you have an account, or have forgotten your password, enter your e-mail address into the “Password Help” section. If you do not have an account, you can create one by clicking on the “Create Account” link at the top of the log in screen and following the on-screen instructions.
If you have trouble finding your manuscripts or have other problems with your account, do not create another account. Please contact the ESTP Editorial Office.

3. Once you have logged in, click on the “Author Center” button (as an author, you will use the “Author Center” to start the manuscript submission process as well as to track the status of your submitted manuscripts. You can also open recent communications regarding your submission here).

4. On the left-hand side of the “Author Center Dashboard” you will see links to all of your manuscripts and their current status. The number indicates the number of manuscripts that fall into each status category. Clicking on the name of any of these status categories will refresh the page to show the detailed list for that category at the bottom of the screen. On the right-hand side of the “Author Centre Dashboard” is the “Author Resources” area. This section allows you to begin the submission process for a new manuscript as well as view the 10 most recent emails sent to you from the Journal website.

5. Click on the “Click here to submit a new manuscript” link in the “Author Resources” area. Clicking on this link will take you to step 1 of the “seven-step process” of submitting a manuscript. The progress bar on the left-hand side of the screen will help you navigate the process.

6. At any stage you can stop the submission process – everything you have typed in to the system will be saved. To continue a submission, click on the “Continue Submission” icon.

7. When submitting your manuscript you may have the opportunity to suggest recommended and/or opposed reviewers. Recommended reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript.

• Please be aware of any conflicts of interest when recommending reviewers. Examples of conflicts of interest include (but are not limited to) the below:
• The reviewer should have no prior knowledge of your submission
• The reviewer should not have recently collaborated with any of the authors
• Reviewer nominees from the same institution as any of the authors are not permitted

8. The penultimate step in the submission process is to upload your manuscript files.

Step 1. Select individual files using the “Browse” buttons and choose the appropriate “File designation.”

• Step 2. Upload your files by clicking on the “Upload files” button. This converts your files to PDFs and may take some time. Repeat these steps if you have more than 3 files.
• Step 3. Once you have uploaded all files, indicate the order in which they should appear in your paper.
• Step 4. Inspect the PDF by clicking on a PDF button and if acceptable click “Next.” If the files have not been uploaded to your satisfaction you can delete the files you do not want, and repeat the upload/ordering process.

9. The final step in the manuscript submission process is to review all of the information you have entered to this point, and view the PDF proof of the manuscript. When you have submitted all your files, these will be converted into PDF format and you will be asked to approve the file conversion. Please note that the submission process is not complete and ESTP Editors will not receive your files until you have approved the file conversion. When checking the converted files, you should reassure yourself that the conversion is of sufficient quality for editors and reviewers to reach an informed judgement. Please pay particular attention to any special characters and equations to ensure that these have converted properly.

“My Manuscript Information” lists each step with its filled-in values. If a step is complete, there will be a green tick next to the step. If it is incomplete, there will be a red cross along with a message indicating exactly what is incomplete. Once you have completed the submission process to your satisfaction click on the “Submit” button. It is not until this button is clicked that the manuscript and all of the associated information (i.e., contributing authors, institutions, etc.) are linked together and the manuscript is given a manuscript number.

Once you have uploaded all your files, indicate the order in which they should appear in your paper. This will determine the order in which they appear in the consolidated PDF used for peer review.

10. If your manuscript has been successfully submitted to the Journal you will see a confirmation screen showing your manuscript ID, please make a note of your manuscript ID and use it in all correspondence. You will also receive an e-mail acknowledgement. At any time afterwards you can use the system to check the status of your manuscript.

If you do not receive both of these, your manuscript will not have been successfully submitted to the journal and it cannot be progressed through to peer review. If this is the case your manuscript will still be sitting in the “Unsubmitted Manuscripts” section of your “Author Center” awaiting your attention.

11. Once the manuscript submission is complete, you can follow its progress through the peer review process in the “Submitted Manuscripts” section of your “Author Center.”

Revising Your Manuscript

1. As with all other decisions, you will be notified of a revision decision by e-mail. Please address the Editor’s and reviewers’ comments in your revised paper, as well as any comments sent to you by the ESTP Editorial Office.

2. Log in to the Manuscript Central web site as before and, in the “Author Center,” click on the “create a revision” link in the “Manuscripts with Decisions” list (or click on the “Click here to submit a revision” link). This will create a new manuscript record with the same manuscript ID and a “.R1” appended at the end. If a revision is started, the “create a revision” link will no longer appear in the “Manuscripts with Decisions” list, and the list will display the fact that a revision exists and the revision’s Manuscript ID. The option will reappear if you delete the revision before it is actually submitted. The draft of the revised manuscript is located in the “Revised Manuscripts in Draft” list. Once you click the “create a revision link,” you will receive a confirmation asking you if you are sure you want to create a new revised manuscript. If you click “Cancel,” the action will be aborted. If you click “OK,” you will be taken to the first step in the revision submission process, the “View & Respond to Comments” step.

3. Please enter your detailed response to the decision letter in the box provided. You may cut and paste your responses into the text areas at the bottom of the screen or upload a separate file with manuscript type of “response to reviewer.” Please ensure these responses are anonymous.

4. Proceed through the remaining submission screens (altering any necessary information along the way, such as manuscript type). When you reach the “File Upload” step revised manuscripts are automatically populated with the files you uploaded with the last version.

5. Once you have completed the submission process to your satisfaction click on the “Submit” button. If your revised manuscript is successfully submitted you will receive a confirmatory e-mail.

Support

If you experience problems with your submission or have any questions, please contact the ESTP Editorial Office.