--- name: ieee-journal-on-selected-areas-in-communications description: Use when targeting IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (JSAC) or deciding whether a communications-and-networking manuscript fits this venue. Encodes the journal's call-driven fit, the high-impact-and-topical bar, the route-by-active-call logic, house style, official-submission re-check, and desk-reject heuristics. --- # IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (ieee-journal-on-selected-areas-in-communications) ## Journal positioning IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications (JSAC) publishes high-impact work at the systems and networks frontier of communications, organized largely around **topical special issues defined by current calls for papers** — next-generation wireless, networking, security, optical and quantum communication, and machine-learning-for-communications, among others. Unlike a broad-scope transaction, JSAC's fit is set by the active call: a paper must match a specific issue's theme and clear a bar of impact and timeliness, not merely be technically correct. Routine, incremental results — even sound ones — that do not advance a call's frontier are a poor fit. This skill is a **fit / venue-selection / re-framing** tool. It does not replace the journal's current official author guidelines or any call's specific instructions. Before submitting, re-check the live JSAC author information and the target call for papers. ## When to trigger - The author names JSAC for a communications/networking manuscript and wants to check fit against an active or upcoming special-issue call. - A result must be re-framed to foreground its impact and timeliness for a particular call's frontier theme. - The author is choosing between JSAC (call-driven, topical) and a broad-scope transaction (`ieee-transactions-on-communications` / `ieee-transactions-on-wireless-communications`). - The author needs the call-matching logic and desk-reject heuristics specific to a special-issue venue. ## Scope & topic fit - Next-generation wireless and cellular systems, integrated sensing and communication, non-terrestrial and massive-connectivity architectures — when matching a live call. - Network architecture, protocols, virtualization, edge/cloud, and network management at the systems frontier. - Security, privacy, and trust in communication systems and networks, including physical-layer and cross-layer security. - Machine-learning-for-communications and communications-for-AI, where the advance is a communications-systems contribution, not generic ML. - Optical, quantum, molecular, and emerging communication paradigms when aligned with a dedicated issue; route strictly by the call's stated scope and timeline. ## Method & evidence bar - The contribution must be **high-impact and timely for the targeted call** — a frontier advance, not a routine increment; the call's aims-and-scope text is the rubric. - Technical rigor still applies: analysis, simulation, and where appropriate testbed or prototype evidence, with correct, current baselines under realistic models. - Claims of advancing the frontier must be substantiated against the most recent relevant work, including very recent preprints and standards activity where the topic is fast-moving. - System-level and cross-layer evaluation is often expected; isolated PHY tweaks rarely match a systems-and-networks call. - Reproducibility and clear assumptions matter as in any IEEE communications venue; impact claims must be evidence-backed, not aspirational. ## Structure & house style - IEEE format; submissions go to a specific special issue (or, where offered, an ongoing series) — match the manuscript to the call and re-check current article types, limits, and deadlines on the live call page. - The introduction must connect the work to the call's theme and articulate why it advances that frontier now. - Figures and evaluation should be system-level and comparative; include architecture diagrams and end-to-end performance, not only link-level curves. - Hard submission deadlines and guest-editor handling are typical for special issues; confirm the timeline before preparing the manuscript. ## Official-submission checklist - Before giving submission-ready advice, read `../../resources/source-basis.md` and `../../resources/official-source-map.md`; start from the IEEE Author Center anchors, then cite the current JSAC page and the specific call for papers you checked. - Search the live site for "IEEE JSAC call for papers" and confirm the active issue, its scope, and its submission deadline. - Re-check article types, length/overlength policy, the IEEE template, and any issue-specific requirements. - Confirm reproducibility/simulation-code expectations and overlap/dual-submission policy with sibling journals. - Re-check ORCID, competing-interests, funding, author-contribution, and AI-use disclosure requirements, and IEEE open-access options. - If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win. ## Pre-submission self-check - [ ] The manuscript matches a specific active call's theme, scope, and timeline. - [ ] The contribution is framed as a high-impact, timely frontier advance, not a routine increment. - [ ] Frontier claims are substantiated against the most recent relevant work, including recent preprints/standards. - [ ] Evaluation is system-level/cross-layer where the call expects it, with matched, current baselines. - [ ] The JSAC (call-driven) vs. broad-transaction choice is deliberate and justified. - [ ] Article type, length, and the call's deadline are confirmed on the live page. ## Common desk-reject triggers - Out-of-scope for every active call, or submitted after the issue deadline. - Technically sound but routine/incremental work that does not advance the call's frontier. - A narrow PHY-layer tweak submitted to a systems-and-networks call with no system-level contribution. - Generic machine-learning applied to a communications dataset with no communications-systems advance. - Impact claimed but not benchmarked against the latest relevant work in a fast-moving topic. ## Re-routing decision - Broad-scope general communications result, no matching call → `ieee-transactions-on-communications`. - Wireless-specific PHY/MAC, MIMO, channel work → `ieee-transactions-on-wireless-communications`. - Fundamental-limit/capacity theorem → `ieee-transactions-on-information-theory`. - Signal-processing method with analysis as the core → `ieee-transactions-on-signal-processing`. - Broad tutorial/survey of a communications frontier → `proceedings-of-the-ieee`. ## Output format ```text [Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason) [Target] IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications [Active call] [Topic tags] <2–3 closest communications/networking subtopics> [Impact + timeliness] [Top risk] [Deadline check] [Official items to re-check] [Re-route suggestion] ```