•  
  •  
 

Information for Authors

JSCCA is an open-access, international, peer-reviewed journal publishing high-quality original research in soft computing and computer applications. Authors are encouraged to review the Aims and Scope to ensure their manuscript aligns with the journal's focus before submission.

Language

Manuscripts must be written in clear, grammatically correct, and formal academic English (US or UK spelling, applied consistently throughout). Authors whose first language is not English are strongly encouraged to have their manuscript reviewed by a native English speaker or a professional editing service prior to submission. Manuscripts with significant language deficiencies will be returned to authors before peer review.

Types of Articles

JSCCA accepts the following types of submissions:

  • Original Research Articles: Present novel findings with clear methodology, results, and discussion.
  • Review Articles: Provide a critical, systematic analysis of existing literature and identify future research directions.

Before Submission

Before submitting, authors should confirm that:

  • The manuscript is original and is not under consideration elsewhere.
  • All authors have approved the submission.
  • Research ethics requirements have been met; an Ethical Approval statement is included where applicable.
  • The English is correct and free of grammatical errors.
  • Figures are of high quality (minimum 300 DPI) and uploaded as separate files.
  • References are properly formatted according to the journal's reference style.
  • A Data Availability Statement is included.
  • A Conflicts of Interest statement is included.
  • An Author Contributions statement (using CRediT) is included.
  • An ORCID iD for the corresponding author has been registered.

Preparation of Manuscripts

Manuscripts must be submitted through the journal's online submission system. The manuscript should be prepared using Microsoft Word and formatted with single line spacing using Times New Roman font, size 12, or Arial font, size 11. Text must be presented in a single column with justified margins.

Manuscripts must be continuously line-numbered throughout the text. All pages must be numbered. Use the equation editor (or MathType) for all equations. Construct tables using the table function. Figure and table captions should use 8-point font. Use the decimal system for headings with no more than three levels (e.g., 1., 2., 2.1, 2.1.1).

Article Structure

Manuscripts should be organised in the following order:

  • Title Page
  • Abstract and Keywords
  • Introduction
  • Methodology / Materials and Methods
  • Results
  • Discussion (may be combined with Results)
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Declarations (see mandatory declarations below)
  • References
  • Tables
  • Figures and Figure Captions
  • Supplementary Materials (if applicable)

Title Page

The title page must include: (1) a concise, descriptive title (no literature references, compound numbers, or abbreviations); (2) full names, affiliations, and email addresses of all authors; (3) the corresponding author's name clearly marked with an asterisk, along with their phone number and ORCID iD; (4) a running title of no more than 60 characters; (5) the title and authors' affiliations in Arabic (where applicable).

Abstract

The abstract must be concise, citation-free, and must not exceed 300 words. It should summarise the study's purpose, methodology, key results, and main conclusions. The abstract should be comprehensible to non-specialist readers.

Keywords

Authors must provide four to six keywords, separated by commas, lower case except for proper nouns. Keywords should accurately reflect the content of the manuscript and should not duplicate words already in the title.

Introduction

There should be no subheadings in the Introduction. Authors should establish the significance of the topic, identify the gap in current knowledge that the study addresses, and clearly state the research objective(s) or hypothesis.

Methodology / Materials and Methods

The Methodology section must contain sufficient detail to allow independent replication of the reported procedures. References to prior publications describing methods are acceptable but must be supplemented with key procedural details. Statistical methods must be described with sufficient detail to enable verification of the results.

Results and Discussion

Results and Discussion may be combined or presented as separate sections. Results should be clear and concise. Use of tables and figures is encouraged where this aids clarity. The Discussion should interpret the results in the context of existing literature, address the study's limitations, and articulate the implications of the findings.

Conclusion

The Conclusion should highlight the main findings of the study and their significance. Conclusions must be supported by the data presented. Provide recommendations for future research where appropriate.

Acknowledgements

The Acknowledgements section should identify all individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet authorship criteria, specifying their contribution. It should also identify all funding sources (see Funding Statement). Individuals named in the Acknowledgements must consent to being acknowledged.

References

Indicate references by Arabic numerals in square brackets [1], which run in order of appearance throughout the text. All references must be listed at the end of the manuscript in order of first citation. Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of all references. Only published or accepted manuscripts, and publicly accessible preprints with persistent identifiers (DOI), should be cited.

Figures

Figures must be clear, properly labelled, and cited in the text in consecutive order. Bitmap images (TIFF, PNG, JPEG) must have a minimum resolution of 300 DPI for greyscale/colour figures. All figures must be submitted as separate files in addition to being embedded in the manuscript. Figure captions must be provided as a list at the end of the manuscript.

Tables

Tables must be cited in the text in consecutive order. Each table must have a concise, descriptive title. Tables should be created using the table function and should not be submitted as images. Footnotes to tables should be identified by lowercase superscript letters.

Funding Statement

Authors must state how the research and publication of their article were funded, naming all financial supporters and, where applicable, providing grant reference numbers. Include this in the Declarations section.

Nomenclature and Units

Where possible, measurements and data should be given in SI units or other internationally accepted units. Non-standard abbreviations must be defined at first use.

Mandatory Declarations Section

All manuscripts must include a Declarations section immediately before the References. The Declarations section must contain all of the following subsections:

1. Conflicts of Interest

All authors must declare any financial or non-financial conflict of interest covering the 36 months prior to submission. If no competing interests exist, state:

"The authors declare no competing interests."

2. Data Availability Statement

Authors must indicate where the data supporting the findings can be accessed. Acceptable statements include:

  • "The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in [repository name] at [URL/DOI]."
  • "The data underlying this article will be shared on reasonable request to the corresponding author."
  • "No new data were generated or analysed in support of this research."

3. Ethical Approval (if applicable)

For studies involving human participants, provide: the name of the ethics committee, the approval number, and confirmation that informed consent was obtained. Example:

"This study was approved by the [Name of Ethics Committee], approval number [XXXX]. Informed consent was obtained from all participants."

4. Informed Consent (if applicable)

For studies involving human participants, include:

"Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study."

5. Author Contributions (CRediT)

Each author's contribution must be described using the CRediT 14-role taxonomy (https://credit.niso.org/). All 14 roles must be considered; list only those applicable. At least one author must be designated as guarantor. Example:

"A.B.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Supervision (Guarantor). C.D.: Software, Formal analysis, Validation, Data curation. E.F.: Investigation, Resources, Writing – review and editing. G.H.: Visualization, Funding acquisition, Project administration."

6. Funding

Name all funding sources. If no funding was received, state:

"This research received no external funding."

7. Use of Artificial Intelligence (if applicable)

If AI tools were used in any aspect of the manuscript preparation, disclose this. Example:

"AI tools were used for language editing only. The authors take full responsibility for all content."

If no AI tools were used, no statement is required.

ORCID

The corresponding author must provide a valid ORCID iD during submission. ORCID iDs for all co-authors are strongly encouraged. Authors without an ORCID iD should register at https://orcid.org/register (free, takes approximately two minutes) before submitting. ORCID iDs are displayed on all published articles and are linked to the author's ORCID profile.

Online Submission

Manuscripts must be submitted through the journal's online Manuscript Tracking System (MTS) via the journal website. The corresponding author is responsible for the submission and for all subsequent correspondence. Only the corresponding author should submit the manuscript; co-authors should not submit the same manuscript separately.

Initial Evaluation

The editorial office will check all submitted manuscripts to confirm that they are properly prepared, comply with the author guidelines, and fall within the aims and scope of the journal. Manuscripts failing these checks will be returned to authors without peer review.

Submission Declaration and Verification

By submitting to JSCCA, the corresponding author certifies, on behalf of all co-authors, that:

  • The authors are legally entitled to submit the manuscript.
  • The manuscript is original, has not been previously published, and is not currently under review elsewhere.
  • The manuscript does not contain anything that is illegal, libellous, or that would constitute a breach of confidentiality.
  • The research was prepared with due care and all necessary investigations were conducted to verify that the findings are correct.
  • All authors have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Peer Review

All manuscripts undergo single-blind peer review. The identity of reviewers is kept confidential. Reviewers must not use AI tools to process manuscript content. For full details, see the Peer Review Process section under Editorial Policies.

Revision Process

Authors submitting a revised manuscript must provide:

  • A version with tracked changes showing all modifications made since the previous submission.
  • A clean revised version without tracked changes.
  • A point-by-point response to reviewers, addressing each comment and explaining how it was addressed.

Proofs and Publication

After acceptance, the manuscript will undergo typesetting and production. The corresponding author will receive page proofs by email and must return the approved proofs within 48 hours. Only minor corrections to typesetting errors are permitted at the proof stage; substantial changes may not be accommodated. Accepted manuscripts are published online in the next published issue.

After Acceptance

Upon acceptance, the corresponding author will be asked to confirm the licence (CC BY 4.0) and, where applicable, arrange payment of the APC (Iraq-based authors only). The article will be assigned a DOI and published online in the next published issue.

Supplementary Materials

Authors may submit supplementary materials (e.g., datasets, additional figures and tables, code) alongside their manuscript. Supplementary materials are published as provided and are linked to the article's landing page. Supplementary materials must be referenced in the main text and included in the Data Availability Statement.

Article Processing Charges (APC)

Authors residing in Iraq: 110,000 IQD, payable upon acceptance. Authors from all other countries: 100% waiver — no APC is required.

Payment Process

APC payment is required only after the manuscript has been formally accepted. Authors will receive an official notification with payment instructions from the editorial office. Payment must be completed within 7–14 days of receiving the acceptance notification. Failure to complete payment within this period may result in the manuscript being removed from the publication queue.

Waiver Policy

The 100% international waiver is applied automatically. No separate waiver request is required. In exceptional circumstances, the editorial office may consider additional waivers for Iraq-based authors at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief. The APC and waiver policy are stated transparently on the journal website and are independent of editorial decisions.

Transparency Statement

APCs are used solely to cover publishing services. The ability of an author to pay the APC does not influence editorial decisions at any stage of the submission, review, or acceptance process.