Author Guidelines

Language

Manuscripts must be written in clear, professional, and academically appropriate English. Authors are responsible for grammar, spelling, terminology, clarity, consistency, and readability.

Manuscripts whose language substantially affects scholarly interpretation may be returned for language improvement before editorial evaluation or peer review.

Types of Articles

Manuscript Structure

Original research manuscripts should generally follow the structure below. Authors may adapt the structure when required by the nature of the research, particularly for review, qualitative, methodological, or interdisciplinary studies.

Title

The title should accurately communicate the central research problem, method, system, or principal contribution of the study. Authors should avoid unnecessarily long titles, unexplained abbreviations, excessive technical jargon, and generic wording.

Titles should be sufficiently specific to facilitate indexing, search-engine discovery, and identification by readers in relevant research communities.

Abstract

The abstract should provide a concise and self-contained summary of the manuscript. For research articles it should normally communicate:

• Research background or problem;
• Objective or research question;
• Principal methodology;
• Key quantitative or qualitative findings;
• Main conclusion; and
• Scientific or engineering contribution.

The abstract should not contain undefined abbreviations, citations, equations requiring explanation, or general statements that do not communicate the actual results.

Keywords

Authors should provide approximately 4–6 keywords representing the principal concepts, technology, method, system, or application addressed in the manuscript.

Avoid unnecessarily repeating every word already included in the manuscript title. Keywords should support discoverability and indexing.

Introduction

The Introduction should establish the scientific, engineering, environmental, or societal context of the study and clearly demonstrate why the research is necessary.

Authors should normally address:

• The background and significance of the problem;
• The current state of relevant research;
• Limitations or gaps in existing knowledge;
• The novelty of the proposed study;
• The principal research objective or question; and
• The contribution of the manuscript.

The Introduction should not merely provide a long list of previous publications. Relevant literature should be critically synthesized to establish the research gap.

Materials and Methods

The methodology must be described in sufficient detail to permit scholarly assessment and, where reasonably possible, replication or reproduction of the research.

Experimental Research

Authors should describe equipment, instrumentation, calibration procedures, experimental configurations, environmental conditions, measurement uncertainty, sampling procedures, and data-processing methods.

Numerical and Computational Research

Studies using CFD, FEA, hydrodynamics, structural analysis, optimization, reliability analysis, digital twins, artificial intelligence, machine learning, or related computational methods should report relevant:

• Governing equations or computational framework;
• Model assumptions;
• Geometry and computational domain;
• Initial and boundary conditions;
• Mesh or discretization strategy;
• Material or environmental properties;
• Solver and numerical settings;
• Convergence assessment;
• Verification and validation procedures; and
• Uncertainty or sensitivity analysis, where appropriate.

Field and Industrial Research

Studies using offshore, subsea, inspection, operational, sensor, ROV/AUV, metocean, or industrial datasets should clearly explain the data source, acquisition process, measurement conditions, processing procedures, limitations, and relevant permissions.

Results

Results should be presented clearly, logically, and without unnecessary duplication between text, tables, and figures. Authors should report findings relevant to the stated research objectives and provide appropriate quantitative information where applicable.

Engineering results should include relevant units, parameters, uncertainties, performance indicators, statistical measures, or comparative metrics required for scientific interpretation.

Discussion

The Discussion should interpret the significance of the results rather than simply repeat them. Authors should relate findings to existing literature, established theories, engineering standards, previous experimental or numerical research, and relevant industrial practices where appropriate.

Authors are encouraged to discuss:

• Why the observed results occurred;
• How the findings compare with previous studies;
• The scientific or technological significance;
• Practical implications for subsea or offshore applications;
• Limitations and sources of uncertainty; and
• Potential directions for future research.

Conclusions

Conclusions should directly reflect the findings presented in the manuscript and should answer the research objective. The section should emphasize the principal scientific, engineering, environmental, or societal contribution of the study.

Authors should avoid introducing new data, unsupported claims, or excessive repetition of the abstract.

Figures, Tables and Engineering Illustrations

Figures

Figures should be clear, readable, and of sufficient resolution for publication. Graphs, contour plots, CFD visualizations, structural models, photographs, engineering diagrams, ROV images, maps, and other illustrations should contain readable labels and units.

Tables

Tables should present information efficiently and should not duplicate data already fully described in the text or figures. Each table must have a descriptive title.

Captions

Every figure and table must be numbered consecutively and cited in the manuscript. Captions should allow readers to understand the principal content without unnecessary reference to the main text.

Copyrighted Material

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission for copyrighted figures, photographs, maps, drawings, or other materials reproduced or adapted from external sources.

Equations, Symbols and Units

Mathematical equations should be presented clearly and numbered consecutively when referenced in the text. Variables and symbols must be defined at first use.

The International System of Units (SI units) should normally be used. If industry-specific units are necessary, authors should provide appropriate SI equivalents where practical.

Mathematical notation, subscripts, superscripts, Greek symbols, vectors, matrices, and engineering terminology should be used consistently throughout the manuscript.

References

References should be accurate, complete, relevant, and sufficient to establish the scientific context of the study. Authors are responsible for verifying bibliographic information, DOI numbers, publication years, volume numbers, and page ranges.

Authors are encouraged to prioritize relevant peer-reviewed international literature and primary research sources. Excessive self-citation, irrelevant citation, citation padding, or coordinated citation practices are not acceptable.

References should follow the citation and reference style specified in the current JSTS manuscript template.

Research Data and Reproducibility

Authors should retain the original data and supporting documentation necessary to substantiate their findings. Where legally, ethically, commercially, and technically appropriate, authors are encouraged to make supporting research data accessible through recognized repositories.

Relevant research materials may include:

• Experimental datasets;
• Sensor and monitoring data;
• Metocean datasets;
• ROV/AUV observations;
• Computational input files;
• Numerical models;
• Source code;
• Statistical data;
• Supplementary calculations; and
• Supporting documentation.

Proprietary, confidential, security-sensitive, or commercially restricted data should not be disclosed in violation of applicable agreements or regulations.

Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made substantial intellectual or scholarly contributions to the research and manuscript.

All authors must approve the submitted manuscript and agree to be accountable for their respective contributions. Guest authorship, honorary authorship, gift authorship, purchased authorship, and ghost authorship are not acceptable.

JSTS encourages authors to provide a contribution statement, where appropriate, identifying roles such as:

Declarations

Where applicable, manuscripts should contain appropriate declarations covering the following matters:

Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence

Generative artificial intelligence systems and large language models cannot be listed as authors because they cannot assume responsibility or accountability for scholarly work.

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, references, calculations, interpretations, and conclusions of all content submitted to JSTS.

Substantive use of generative AI in manuscript preparation, coding, analysis, visualization, image generation, or other research processes should be transparently disclosed where appropriate.

AI-generated or AI-assisted references, technical specifications, engineering standards, equations, numerical values, and factual statements must be independently verified by the authors.

Research and Publication Ethics

Authors must comply with the JSTS Publication Ethics and Journal Policies. The journal does not tolerate plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, inappropriate authorship, citation manipulation, manipulated peer review, undisclosed conflicts of interest, or other forms of research misconduct.

Research involving offshore facilities, underwater operations, marine environments, human participants, industrial data, or restricted infrastructure should comply with relevant ethical, professional, safety, environmental, institutional, and regulatory requirements.

Peer Review

Manuscripts that pass initial editorial screening are normally considered through the journal's double-anonymous peer-review process.

Authors should therefore avoid unnecessarily revealing their identity within the anonymized manuscript submitted for peer review where required by the journal submission system.

Reviewer comments should be addressed carefully during revision. Authors submitting a revised manuscript should provide a clear point-by-point response explaining how each substantive reviewer and editor comment has been addressed.

Revision of Manuscripts

When a revision is requested, authors should submit:

• A revised manuscript;
• A detailed response to reviewers;
• A clear explanation of significant changes;
• Justification where a recommendation has not been adopted; and
• Any additional files requested by the editorial office.

Responses should be professional, specific, and evidence-based. Authors should avoid responses such as simply “corrected,” “done,” or “revised” without explaining the modification.

Submission Checklist