Submission Guidelines

Preparing Your Manuscript

Length

Submissions should be between 35 and 45 pages with 1.5 spacing, all-inclusive, unless you have received prior approval from the Editor-in-Chief for an exception to this rule. Manuscripts exceeding 45 pages will rarely be considered. The electronic companion should not substantially exceed the length of the main manuscript file. If you have an electronic companion, for the review process, please submit it and the main paper together as one file. (If your manuscript is accepted, you will then need to separate the manuscript from the electronic companion for production purposes.)

Format

Manuscripts should be 1.5 spaced, with 11-point font and 1-inch margins all around. The manuscript must be fully anonymized, with author information added only after acceptance. Additionally, please do not include acknowledgments until after acceptance. Submissions should be between 35 and 45 pages with 1.5 spacing, all-inclusive, unless you have received prior approval from the Editor-in-Chief for an exception to this rule.

Manuscripts should be submitted as PDF files. A PDF file can be produced from LaTeX files by running pdflatex or from a dvi file by running dvipdf or dvips + distilling it. The PDF files should include all figures, tables, bibliography, and appendices. To assist referees, copies of relevant unpublished or inaccessible references may be uploaded as supplementary files.

Double Anonymous

Mathematics of Operations Research conducts soft double-anonymous reviews, meaning that the authors are not provided with the identity of the reviewers and reviewers are not provided with the author names. Please remove author names and affiliations from the title page, any identifying information from acknowledgments, and self-citations that directly reveal author identity. As a soft double-anonymous process, authors may still post preprints online.

Papers submitted before January 2026 will be grand-parented.

Style Templates

The manuscript style is specified in the template file MOR-template.tex, which handles most stylistic issues. You can find the template and other necessary files here.

Keywords

Authors are required to provide 1–10 keywords.

Abstract

After the title page, please include an abstract (up to 150 words) describing the main results of the manuscript.

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments should appear at the end of the paper, before the references. Please do not include acknowledgments until after acceptance.

References

References in the text should be by authors' last names and the reference number, optionally including the year. For example, Boyan and Moore [1], or Gale et al. (1951) [4]. Full references will be printed as below; abbreviations for journals are to be taken from the most recent index of Mathematical Reviews. The bibliography style is the same as amsplain.bst. Authors are advised to use BibTeX with that style to create the bibliography.

[1] Cohen JW (1969) The Single Server Queue. (North-Holland, Amsterdam).

[2] Eaves BC (1971) The linear complementarity problem. Management Sci. 17(9):613-634.

[3] Gale D, Kuhn HW, Tucker AW (1951) Linear programming and the theory of games. Koopmans TC, ed. Activity Analysis of Production and Allocation (Wiley, New York), 317-329.

[4] Karmarkar N, Karp RM (1982) The differencing method of set partitioning, Report UCB/CSD 82/113, Computer Science Division, University of California, Berkeley, CA.

Endnotes and Footnotes

Endnotes and footnotes should be avoided. If the note is necessary, it should be indicated within the text.

Figures

The Author Portal contains detailed instructions for figure composition.

Submitting Your Manuscript

To submit a manuscript to Mathematics of Operations Research, authors should complete the submission process in the ScholarOne Manuscripts website: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/mathor.

IMPORTANT NOTE: By submitting a manuscript to or reviewing for this publication, your name, email address, and affiliation, and other contact details the publication might require, will be used for the regular operations of the publication, including, when necessary, sharing with the publisher (INFORMS) and partners for production and publication. The publication and the publisher recognize the importance of protecting the personal information collected from users in the operation of these services, and have practices in place to ensure that steps are taken to maintain the security, integrity, and privacy of the personal data collected and processed. You can learn more here.

Conference-to-Journal Policy

Manuscripts related to prior conference or proceedings versions are welcome, provided that the journal submission makes a substantial additional contribution. Authors must disclose all closely related prior versions at the time of submission and explain the relationship to them.

Such additional contribution may take the form of new results, stronger analysis, broader generality, clearer conceptual synthesis, or a complete and carefully reviewed presentation that substantially enhances the correctness, completeness, or long-term value of work previously published in abbreviated form. Additional exposition or routine extensions alone will generally not be sufficient.

The journal version will be evaluated both on its own merits and in light of the earlier version. If the central contribution has already appeared in essentially final form in a prior publication, or if the journal submission does not materially deepen, extend, or clarify that contribution, the manuscript is unlikely to be suitable for the journal.

The ScholarOne Submission Process

There are six steps for uploading a manuscript in the ScholarOne system:

Step 1: Enter the manuscript type (ie, Research Article). Provide the manuscript title and a running header. Add the abstract (not more than 150 words). Last, select the appropriate area of review:

• Continuous Optimization
• Discrete Optimization
• Game Theory
• Learning Theory
• Stochastic Models

If the area is not easy to identify, authors should select "Other," and the manuscript will be directed to the Editor-in-Chief.

Step 2: Attributes: Authors should select 1–10 keywords.

Step 3: Authors & Institutions: All authors and their institutions must be identified. Please note that the submitting author is required to provide their ORCID iD (more information about ORCID iDs can be found here.

Step 4: Details and Comments: Authors can include their cover letter (optional) either in the text box or as a separate file. This information will be viewed by the Editors but not by the reviewers. Authors will denote funding in this section. Last, authors will certify that they are complying with the journal's ethical policies.

Step 5: File Upload: Authors will upload as many files as needed for their manuscript. These files will be combined into a single PDF document for the peer review process. For revisions, authors should include only the latest set of files. The manuscript files must be fully anonymized, with author information added only after acceptance.

*Mathematics of Operations Research uses soft double-anonymous review. Please remove author names and affiliations from the title page, any identifying information from acknowledgments, and any self-citations that directly reveal author identity.

Step 6: Review & Submit: As the final step, authors will review the previous six steps for completeness and view the PDF proof generated by the ScholarOne system (this is required). Be sure to select “Submit” when done.

Ethical Statements Authors Will Certify

As part of Step 4 (above), authors will certify the following ethical statements within the ScholarOne System:

Prior Submission

Has this manuscript been submitted previously to MOR? If yes, what is the manuscript ID of the previous submission?

Duplicate Submission

Confirm that the manuscript has been submitted solely to this journal and is not published, in press, or submitted elsewhere.

Ethical Guidelines

I acknowledge that I am aware of Mathematics of Operations Research's guidelines for ethical behavior in publishing (http://pubsonline.informs.org/page/moor/submission-guidelines) and all INFORMS policies referred to therein and that this submission conforms to those policies. I have disclosed (in my cover letter and in any related submission questions) any possible perceived conflicts of interest and noted all of my work that has substantial overlap to prior publications, conference proceedings, book chapters, and papers submitted to this journal or any other journals. I also certify that the copyright for all portions of this paper can and will be transferred to INFORMS upon acceptance.

Plagiarism & Copyright

I acknowledge that in submitting this paper I am aware of INFORMS policy on plagiarism and copyright (/authorportal/copyright-plagiarism). Further, I acknowledge that I will supply to the editor(s) of the journal all of my manuscripts (e.g., prior publications, conference proceedings, book chapters, papers submitted to other journals) that have substantial overlap with the submitted paper. I also certify that the copyright for all portions of this paper can and will be transferred to INFORMS upon acceptance.

Troubleshooting

For additional training and support for using the ScholarOne Manuscripts submission system, please visit ScholarOne’s Author Resources page.

Contact Your Managing Editor

Hayes Simpson
INFORMS
5521 Research Park Drive
Suite 200
Catonsville, Maryland 21228
[email protected]

The Review Process

This section summarizes the review process and details the expected cycle times. The review process for revisions is nearly identical to the review process for new submissions: The only difference between the processes is in the supplemental materials the authors provide. With a revision, authors are required to include a response to the reviewers, either in the metadata field provided by ScholarOne or in a supplementary file. The target cycle times are the same for new submissions and major revisions.

Summary of the Review Process

The manuscript is checked to ensure that it conforms with the formatting requirements and all supporting documents have been included.

The Area Editor quickly reviews the manuscript for overall fit with the editorial policy of the journal. If the Area Editor feels the paper fits the journal's editorial mission, the Area Editor assigns the paper to an Associate Editor (AE). Otherwise, the Area Editor returns the manuscript to the authors with a short report explaining this decision.

The AE reviews the manuscript for fit and quality. The AE has three options: (i) The AE can reject the paper if the AE feels the contribution of the paper is insufficient even if all of the results are correct and even if the authors would be given the opportunity to provide a revision. (ii) The AE can reject the paper if the AE feels that the paper has the potential to make a contribution but there are obvious omissions or corrections needed in the analysis. If either option (i) or (ii) are taken, the AE writes a report for the authors detailing the reasoning behind the decision. (iii) The AE can choose to recruit two to three reviewers.

Assuming the paper is sent to reviewers, the AE waits to receive referee reports. The AE summarizes the reports and recommends one of the following actions:

• Reject: The paper is not publishable as is and not likely to be publishable even with a revision.
• Major revision required: The paper may or may not be publishable; a major revision is needed before a final decision can be made.
• Minor revision required: The paper is probably publishable, but needs some minor revisions before a final decision can be made.
• Accept: The paper is publishable as is.

The AE’s report provides a synthesis of the referees’ evaluations, the AE’s own assessment of the paper, and the AE’s recommendation. When the recommendation is reject, the report should provide an explanation and justification for this decision; to the extent it is possible, the report should also provide constructive feedback on what might make this into a publishable paper. When the recommendation is for a revision, the report should attempt to provide for the authors a clear set of actions to guide the revision, as well as some explanation as to why these actions will result in a better paper; this is particularly important when the reviewers make contradictory recommendations.

The Area Editor reviews the reports (AE's and reviewers’) and makes a final decision from the same choices as for the AE. In most cases, the Area Editor follows the recommendation of the AE. If the Area Editor's recommendation differs from the AE's, then the Area Editor writes a detailed report explaining the decision. If the Area Editor's recommendation is to resubmit, the Area Editor provides guidance to the authors on how to proceed.

Appeals Process

Appeals are only considered where the author(s) believe that one or more significant technical errors have been made by the reviewers/editors that affected the final decision. Appeals are not for cases where the author(s) believe that the reviewers/editors did not sufficiently appreciate the paper.

In such cases, the author(s) may appeal by email to the relevant Area Editor or the Editor-in-Chief. This should be done at least one week after but not more than eight weeks after the final decision was transmitted to the author(s).

The editor will consider the merits of the alleged error and choose a path of action which is generally among the following (1) Uphold the decision made; (2) Consult with the review team with regards to the validity of the author's complaint; (3) Secure one or more additional reviews of the paper for further consideration.

After Acceptance

We respectfully request that authors upload their final files to the submission site within 14 days from receipt of the acceptance decision letter. The decision of accept is not considered binding until final files have been received.

As a condition of final acceptance for publication in Mathematics of Operations Research, the author(s) must indicate if their paper is posted on a working paper website. If so, authors are responsible for ensuring that, if any part of their paper has been copyrighted for prepublication as a working paper, the copyright can and will be transferred to INFORMS when the paper has been accepted. This includes both print and electronic forms of the paper. On acceptance, the text, or any link to the full text, must be removed from the working paper site.

Final Files

A decision of accept will cause the manuscript to appear in the “Manuscripts Accepted for First Look” section of the submitting author’s Author Center, where the author will submit the following files:

1. LaTeX source file of the manuscript, with a cover page that includes full author contact information and keywords;
2. A PDF file of the main paper;
3. If you have an online companion (e-companion), you must upload it as a separate PDF file of the online appendixes, regardless of whether it was included in the main manuscript during review (e-companions are not copyedited, so source files are not required);
4. A signed copyright transfer form;
5. The completed Acceptance Checklist, with all sections fully filled out, as required by Production for processing purposes;
6. The requested OR/MS Subject Classifications can be found here: OR/MS Subject Classifications

Figures

Color figures will publish online in color but be converted to black and white for the print journal unless the authors agree to pay the additional expense associated with printing color.

Open Access

The INFORMS Open Option (IOO) provides an Open Access alternative for articles accepted in any INFORMS journals that would have otherwise been available only through subscriptions or pay per view. Please be advised there is a $3,000 (US) fee to make an article Open Access. If you would like to make your article Open Access, you do not need to complete the regular copyright transfer form. Additional details for IOO as well as other types of Open Access can be found here.

Publication Forms

• Copyright transfer agreement
• Editorial Checklist
• Media Promotion Form
• IOO Publication License (if you would like to make your paper Open Access)

Contact Your Production Editor

After receipt of final files from authors, manuscripts are sent to production for copy editing and layout. Questions about the publication status of an accepted manuscript should be directed to [email protected].