Manuscript Submission

Manuscript Submission

We have created the following overview to assist authors and reviewers with submitting a manuscript.

The WTC manuscript submission of initial manuscripts for review is now closed. We can no longer accept submission for review. Final manuscript submission will open in November 2015.

All papers for peer review are processed on the ScholarOne Manuscripts Website. Tutorials and instructions for using ScholarOne Manuscripts are available online. You are STRONGLY URGED to take the online video tutorial for Authors and download the Reviewers guide (PDF) for the ScholarOne Manuscripts review process.

If this is the first time you have used ScholarOne Manuscripts, you may need to set up an account. If an account has already been set up for you, ScholarOne Manuscripts will return the account results. Check to make sure all information is correct. The correct e-mail address is absolutely CRITICAL – it is your system ID. Please use only one e-mail address for your ID so it is easy for you to find all your paper submissions. Papers are linked to an e-mail ID, not a name.

You will also need to choose a password. Follow the ScholarOne Manuscripts guidelines. Your password is case sensitive and must contain two numerals. You will need to do this only once. Please read all the instructions on the pages where you fill out the forms.

Your paper should be submitted as a Word document (.doc). You may submit the figures as part of the main document or upload them separately as .doc, .jpg or tif files — NOT PowerPoint or Excel.

Guidelines for Submitting a Paper
  1. Be certain to use the Guidelines and layout template. These are provided in advance to help you prepare your manuscript.
  2. Extended abstracts and PowerPoint slides are not acceptable for the conference proceedings publication and should not be submitted.
  3. Manuscripts that are not submitted in an acceptable format may be returned to the author to be corrected or removed from the final publication.
  4. The page limit is 10 pages.
  5. Page size should be 8.5" x 11". Margins should be 1" with a 0.5" margin for header/footer. A centered page number is the only thing that should be in the footer. There should not be a header.
  6. For all text, use either Calibri or Arial font.
  7. All regular text, including author name, author affiliation, bulleted, numbered, table text, references, etc.: 11 pt, regular
  8. Title: 28 pt, bold
  9. Subtitle: 12 pt, regular
  10. Heading Level 1: 16 pt, bold
  11. Heading Level 2: 13 pt, bold
  12. Heading Level 3: Since it is inline with regular text, it is the same size (11 pt) but is bold
  13. Table or Figure Caption: 11 pt, bold
  14. Table Column Heading: 11 pt, bold
  15. Extract Text (quotations): 10 pt, regular, left and right indent of 0.38”
  16. Footnote Text: 10 pt, regular
  17. Page Number in Footer: 10 pt, regular

Editorial Tips

Here are a few of the most commonly misunderstood or misused points of style. Please consult the SME Style Guide for more details or for anything that isn’t covered here.

  1. In publishing, only one space is used between sentences and after colons (not the two spaces we learned in typing class).
  2. Use capitalization and italics judiciously. It is not always necessary to capitalize or italicize for emphasis or for the name of company departments, pieces of equipment, titles, offices, acronyms or terminology.
  3. In general, most compound words with prefixes such as non, ex, re, pre, are not hyphenated. But use the hyphen when the second word is a proper noun (e.g., post-Vietnam).
  4. Full dates are written like this in running text: January 1, 2002. Months and years may be abbreviated in tables to save space. When the date doesn’t include the day, there is no comma between the month and the year: January 2002.
  5. Always place periods and commas within quotation marks. Place colons and semicolons outside quotation marks.
  6. In a series consisting of three or more elements, separate each element by a comma (often called the “series comma”). If commas are used within an element, use semicolons.
  7. Commonly used foreign words do not have to be printed in italics: et al., in vitro, and in situ.
  8. Numbers under 10 are spelled out EXCEPT for expressions of time, measurement and money. A single number more than 10 is always given as a number unless it is the first word in a sentence.
  9. When using numbers of one thousand or more, commas should be used between every group of three digits. Example: 4,000. Exceptions are addresses and years.
  10. Avoid mentioning specific commercial product names. If at all possible, use generic equivalents. Trademark symbols are not required (e.g., ®, ™).
  11. Avoid e.g. and i.e. in running text. These abbreviations are OK in parentheses or in tables and figures. Use periods in both. Use commas after them.

WTC Abstract Criteria
  • Does the paper add unique value to the international tunneling and underground space community, i.e., to your knowledge, this or similar material has not been published?
  • Does the paper present new concepts and information?
  • Is the technical content presented and supported well in the paper, e.g., equations, tables, figures, rationale, conclusions?
  • Is the paper well written – organized, easy to understand, written with correct English grammar and paragraph/sentence structure?

Manuscript Reviews

If the reviewer of your manuscript requests that revisions be made to your paper, you will receive a notification by e-mail that your manuscript is “accepted if modified” and final manuscripts are due 12 January 2016.

Authors will submit their manuscript through our online paper-submission and peer-review system. To upload a paper for review, we recommend that you use Chrome, Firefox or Safari browsers. Other browsers, particularly AOL and Internet Explorer, may cause unforeseen problems. PLEASE TURN OFF POP-UP BLOCKERS. Pop-up windows are necessary for the review to work properly. Please read the online help files on the ScholarOne Manuscripts website for further information.


Copyright Submission

Every author shown on each paper must submit a copyright assignment. This includes authors and coauthors. This is a mandatory requirement to include an author’s name. Copyright submission will be submitted online through ScholarOne Manuscripts during the Final Manuscript Submission process.


Manuscript Submission Resources


Key Dates

30 September 2015 - Initial manuscripts for review are due

15 December 2015 - Comments from reviewers submitted to accepted authors

12 January 2016 - Final manuscripts are due

01 February 2016 - Authors notified of poster or oral presentation


Ready to submit your manuscript online?

The WTC manuscript submission of initial manuscripts for review is now closed. We can no longer accept submissions for review. Final manuscript submission will open in November 2015.