Revised in April, 2024

1. General Guidelines

1.1

Manuscripts must be original articles written by the author(s), and must not have been made available (distributed or sold) to the public.

1.2

The Marine Acoustics Society of Japan (MASJ) publishes the Journal of the MASJ four times each year (January, April, July, and October). Papers and letters are also published in J-STAGE―the electronic version of the Journal―three months after publication in the Journal.

1.3

The first author must be a member / honorary member / life member / supporting member of the MASJ. It is preferable for coauthors also to be MASJ members. When students submit a paper, at least one of the coauthors should be a member of the MASJ. However, this rule does not apply to authors invited by the Editorial Committee of the MASJ.

1.4

Manuscripts should be prepared in Japanese or English. Each submitted manuscript should be accompanied by a cover page and an English abstract (papers and letters only), and include the main body, along with any supporting figures, photographs, and tables.

1.5

As a general rule, manuscripts should be created using word processing software.

1.6

The number of manuscript pages should generally not exceed the number specified in Table 1 (including figures, photographs, and tables).

1.7

Manuscripts should conform to one of the three types listed in Table 1. Download the cover page from the website of the MASJ, and register the type on the cover page.

1.8

A standard printed page comprises 850 words (average of five alphabetical characters per word).

1.9

The author has ultimate responsibility for the published content.

Table 1  Types of manuscript

Type of manuscript	Maximum number of pages	Content
Paper	12	Original articles that serve the development of scientific research and industry from the viewpoint of marine acoustics, such as the range of issues related to marine acoustics, as well as marine observation and investigation
Letter	6	Letters related to marine acoustics, including measured data, as well as improvement in measuring techniques and proposals
Other	Number of pages and content requested by the Editorial Committee

2. Copyrights

2.1

The papers published in the Society’s journal are treated pursuant to the copyright rules of the Society. In addition, they will be similarly treated even if the author is not specified.

2.2

If drawings, photographs, charts or the like in other publications or literature will be cited in the papers to be contributed, their origins shall always be specified and be cited to the reasonable scope set forth in the Copyright Act. In addition, if such citation will exceed the reasonable scope, the permission to use set forth by the copyright holder of the corresponding publication or literature must be obtained.

3. Title

The title should be as simple as possible. The first letter of the words in the title should be capitalized except for articles, prepositions, and conjunctions.

Example:

Statistical Properties of Processing Gain from Lofargram Smoothing Using Morphological Filters.

4. Name and Affiliation

4.1

Include the author’s (contributor’s) name on the cover page.

4.2

Affiliation refers to the name of the affiliated institution or company for whom the author is working. It is written by the institution or company name and one appropriate department or division name. The description of legal personality is optional.

4.3

Each paper or letter article requires the name and email address of a corresponding author (for contact purposes). The corresponding author need not be the first author, but is simply the one to be contacted by us if needed.

5. Abstract

5.1

Each paper or letter article should be accompanied by an abstract of roughly 200 words (average of five alphabetical characters per word).

5.2

The abstract should precede the main body of the article.

6. Main Body

6.1

Overall Structure
As a general rule, use the following manuscript style in numbering chapters, sections, and items.
1.　　　2.　　　3.
1.1　 　1.2　 　1.3
1.1.1　 1.1.2　 1.1.3
(1) 　　(2) 　　(3)
a.　　　b.　　　c.
Roman numerals, such as I., II., and III., may be used, but only when needed.

6.2

Numbers and Formulae

（1）

Attach a serial number such as (1), (2), or (3) to each mathematical expression. When cited in the main body, use terms such as ‘Eq. (1)’ and ‘Eq. (2)’.

（2）

Follow these examples when a mathematical expression with a fraction is incorporated into a sentence.

$x+a(a+b)/(c+d)$　　$x/\{y+(t/2)\}$

（3）

Follow these examples when a mathematical expression with a fraction is set off from the corresponding sentence. Two or more lines can be used for the mathematical expression.

$x+\frac{a(a+b)}{c+d}$　　$\frac{x}{y+\frac{t}{2}}$

（4）

When a mathematical expression is too long to be expressed in one line, subdivide the expression into smaller parts capable of fitting the line width (column width: 7 cm). Be sure to place the mathematical symbols =, +, −, ÷, and × at the beginning of each part of the expression.

$f(t)=\frac{1}{2}+3\cos\omega_{0}t$
　　 $+\cos2\omega_{0}t+2\cos(3\omega_{0}t-\frac{\pi}{6})$
　　 $=\frac{1}{2}+3\sin(\omega_{0}t-\frac{3\pi}{2})$
　　 $-\sin(2\omega_{0}t-\frac{\pi}{2})+2\sin(3\omega_{0}t+\frac{2\pi}{3})　　(1)$

（5）

When writing formulae, pay attention to the type and use of mathematical symbols (letters used in a formula should be written in italics unless specified).

（6）

Use [ { ( ) } ] in this order of operations, with parentheses, braces, and brackets.

（7）

As a general rule, use SI units. Write units in brackets [ ].

6.3

References

Textual citations should be indicated using serial superscript numbers (half-size Arabic numbers) with a closing parenthesis (for example, X¹⁾, Y^2,3), Z^4–6)), indicating the presence of references. All reference details should be listed at the end of the main body, in the order of the citations.

6.4

Footnotes
Do not use footnotes in the text. Treat comments and notes as references, not footnotes.

7. Figures, Photographs, and Tables

7.1

Figures, photographs, and tables should be set off from the manuscript text.

7.2

Provide clear figures and photographs (particularly photographs), as these are printed directly. Note that tables and explanatory texts are sometimes retyped for printing.

7.3

Figures and tables should be submitted as digital data.

7.4

Printed figures and tables must be either 70 mm or 140 mm wide.

7.5

Create figures and tables twice as large as printed size. In particular, pay attention to the size of letters and symbols in figures. Use thicker lines for better printing results.

7.6

Avoid large figures, photographs, and tables that must be folded when published.

7.7

Figure numbers should be referred to as Fig. 1, Fig. 2 (etc.), and table numbers as Table 1, Table 2 (etc.)

7.8

Figure or photograph captions (and explanatory text) should be written beneath the respective figure or photograph, and table captions (and explanatory text) above the table.

7.9

When figures are exceedingly small, or when instructions from the author are considered to be inappropriate, the Editorial Committee of the MASJ may request the author to revise the manuscript.

7.10

When creating figures and photographs, take into account the possibility that they may become black and white during on-demand printing or copying.

8. Process from Submission to Publication

8.1

Papers and Letter Articles

（1）

Writing
The author writes the cover page, English abstract, and main body, and produces the figures, photographs, and tables.

（2）

Submission of manuscript
The author submits the manuscript for peer review as digital data in PDF format. The main body, figures, and tables created by word processing software should be combined into a single file in PDF format. Follow the instructions in Section 9 for submission. The manuscript is officially “received” on the day it is received by the Editorial Committee of the MASJ.

（3）

Peer review
The Editorial Committee of the MASJ decides whether the manuscript should be published, while respecting the comments from the reviewers. The author may be requested to revise the manuscript or change the type of manuscript by the Editorial Committee. Refer to Appendix 1 for the peer review policy.

（4）

Revision of manuscript
The author of the manuscript prepares a written response to the peer review comments, and revises the manuscript. If the manuscript is not resubmitted to the Society within six months after the manuscript is returned to the author, the acceptance of the manuscript is cancelled.

（5）

Submission of revised manuscript
The author submits a written response to the peer review comments, along with a digital draft of the revised manuscript (in PDF format), as described in (2) above. Then, the manuscript is again peer reviewed.

（6）

Preparation of the final manuscript
If the Editorial Committee decides to publish the manuscript, the English text (including abstract) in the manuscript is reviewed for error correction. The author is then required to incorporate the corrected English text so that the corrections can be reflected in the manual, and to prepare the final manuscript. Requests regarding the following should be independently made to the Society: (1) the position of figures, photographs, and tables, and (2) other requests regarding printing (e.g., print size of figures and tables).

（7）

Submission of final manuscript
Follow the instructions in Section 9 for the submission of the main body of the final manuscript, figures, and tables created by word processing software. In addition to the PDF file mentioned in (2) and (5) above, the author should submit the manuscript, figures, and tables in the format of the word processing software used to create them.

（8）

Proofreading
As a general rule, the galley proof should be returned to the MASJ office within 24 hours (or by the designated date) after the author receives it. The author is requested to proofread the galley proof, focusing particularly on the mathematical expressions, numbers, figures, tables, and typographical, clerical, or printing errors. The main body, figures, photographs, and tables should not be altered with respect to content or expression.

（9）

Publication
Authors will be given a PDF of one issue of the Journal in which their work was published.

8.2

Other Manuscripts

（1）

Writing
The author writes the cover page and main body, and produces the figures, photographs, and tables.

（2）

Submission of manuscript
The author submits the main body, figures, and tables as digital data, in accordance with the instructions in Section 9.

（3）

Proofreading
As a general rule, the galley proof should be returned to the MASJ office within 24 hours (or by the designated date) after the author receives it. The author is requested to proofread the galley proof, focusing particularly on the mathematical expressions, numbers, figures, tables, and typographical, clerical or printing errors. The main body, figures, photographs, and tables should not be altered with respect to content or expression.

（4）

Publication
Authors will be given a PDF of one issue of the Journal in which their work was published.

9. Submission of Digital Data

9.1

Submission of Data
Manuscripts should be sent by e-mail, as attachments, to the MASJ office. If the attachment exceeds 8 MB, the file should be subdivided into several smaller documents, so that each can be sent by e-mail. In the accompanying e-mail, include the author’s name, the article’s title, the name of the OS used, and a list of attachments (with file name, contents, and name of software used).

9.2

Creation of Data

（1）

Cover page
Download the cover page from the website of the Society (https://www.masj.jp), and complete.

（2）

Abstract and main body
It is preferable for the abstract and main body of the manuscript to be created in Microsoft Word. If these are created in other software, convert them into a plain text format before submitting them to the MASJ office.

（3）

Figures and photographs

1. Line drawings (vector images), such as graphs, block diagrams and illustrations, created by Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point, or Adobe Illustrator, may be submitted in their own file formats. Such digital data created by other software should be converted to WMF or EPS format before being submitted.
2. Photographs and echograms of other types than those listed above should be converted into JPG or TIFF format before being submitted.
3. When creating figures, take into account the possibility that they will be black and white during on-demand printing or copying.

（4）

Tables
Tables created by Microsoft Word or Excel may be submitted in their own file format. Tables created by other software should be converted into a plain text format before being submitted.

（5）

Before submission of a paper or letter manuscript for peer review, the files prepared in (2) to (4) above should be combined into a single PDF file.

10. Address for Submission

Manuscripts should be submitted to the following e-mail address.
submit[at]masj.jp (change [at] to @.)

Appendix 1.  Peer Review Guidelines

1. Purpose of Peer Review

The purpose of peer review is to determine whether submitted paper or letter manuscripts are worth publication in the Journal of the MASJ. If a manuscript is not worth such publication its original form, but can be revised within a short period of time, the manuscript is returned to the author for revision, along with the requirements that must be satisfied for publication. The value of the article’s content is evaluated by the readers. The author has ultimate responsibility for the content.

2. Fair and Unbiased Peer Review

For fairness, the names of peer reviewers are not revealed to the author. Peer reviewers are expected not to make judgments on the basis of their personal views or preferences. If there are differences in the views of peer reviewers, these may be discussed in the Journal after the paper is published.

3. Standards for Peer Review

Manuscripts are peer reviewed according to the following evaluative criteria.

Content evaluation criteria

Item	Criterium	Application
		Paper	Letter
Novelty	Original and unpublished elsewhere	Necessary but not strongly required when value is high	There should be a high evaluation for either novelty or value
Value	Can contribute to the development of marine acoustics	Necessary but not strongly required when novelty is high
Reliability	Points are logically explained, and there is clear evidence supporting the reliability of conclusions	Necessary	Necessary, but evidence need not to be as clear as that for papers
Intelligibility	Points are clearly and concisely expressed, so that the content can be adequately understood by MASJ members.	Intelligible enough for MASJ members to adequately understand the content
Structure	Conforms to the guidelines and style specified in the Author Guidelines.	Manuscript should be described in a manner, and have a structure, that conforms to the Author Guidelines.

4. Peer Review Judgment and Possibility of Publication

Manuscripts are peer reviewed in accordance with the above evaluative items. The possibility of publication is determined as follows.

（1）

Acceptance for publication in the original form
When a manuscript satisfies all the items of the evaluative criteria, it is published in its original form.

（2）

Conditional acceptance for publication
When a manuscript fails to satisfy one or more requirements for publication, but is deemed capable of being adequately revised within a short period of time, the manuscript is returned to the author for revision. In this case, only one such revision is accepted. If the revision is deemed insufficient, and/or the content of the manuscript is not revised as indicated, the manuscript is rejected as per (3).

（3）

Rejection of publication
If the items of the evaluative criteria are not fully satisfied, the manuscript is rejected, with clear reasons being provided to the author. This judgment does not necessarily mean that the manuscript is without worth, as it may include cases in which one revision has been insufficient to satisfy all the criteria. Thus, it may be that the rejected manuscript is reworked, with reference to the reasons for rejection, and eventually resubmitted to the Society.

5. Peer Review Period

With the aim of more rapid peer review, a paper or letter manuscript will, as a general rule, be peer reviewed within a month.