Submission Guidelines

Author Portal (for additional author support)

The INFORMS Author Portal is a resource to support authors as they move through peer review and production. Visit the Author Portal for detailed information regarding INFORMS publication policies, accepted author support, resources (including pre-submission editing services), and journal metrics.

—PLEASE REVIEW THE FOLLOWING PUBLICATION AND ETHICS POLICIES BEFORE YOU SUBMIT—

• General Submission Guidelines
• Authorship/Authorship Changes
• Copyright and Plagiarism
• Guidelines for Ethical Behavior in Publishing
• ORCID
• Rights & Permissions

Preparing Your Manuscript

Submission Types

There are two types of submissions: Regular Manuscripts and Short Correspondences.

1. Regular Manuscripts are the primary article type of the journal. They should make a substantial contribution to applied probability, either through theory motivated by real-world problems or through advances in applications and practice. Contributions may include new theoretical results, novel mathematical models, new mathematical or computational methods, innovative applications of existing methods, or the opening of new application domains.

   Representative areas include service operations; healthcare; logistics and transportation; communications and computer systems; finance and risk management; manufacturing and supply chains; market and mechanism design; revenue management and pricing; the sharing economy; social networks; and cloud computing.

   A methodological focus is welcome but not required. The journal also encourages impactful applied work and simple yet novel ideas with strong realized or potential impact.

   The maximum length for a Regular Manuscript is 35 pages (including references).

   Appendices should not include the main part of the proof. The main part of the proof should be placed in the main part of the paper.

2. Short Correspondences are limited to eight pages and receive expedited review. They include concise, high-quality research; position papers on emerging topics; articles shaping new directions or highlighting open problems; and novel, insight-driven ideas. Submissions must be self-contained and not abbreviated versions of longer papers intended for publication elsewhere.

Format

Manuscript files should be 1.5-spaced, have a standard font of at least 11 points, and have one-inch margins on all four sides. Beginning February 16, 2026, authors' names and affiliations should be removed from the first page of the manuscript. If applicable, remove any identifying information from the acknowledgments section, or replace the section with the following statement: "Acknowledgments are omitted to preserve the anonymity of the authors during peer review." Acknowledgments can be included once the manuscript is accepted for publication.

Appendices should not include the main part of the proof. The main part of the proof should be placed in the main part of the paper. The appendix should include only standard or minor proofs. Please use a consistent font size throughout the manuscript. The font size of the appendix should not be smaller than the body of paper.

Style Templates

The manuscript style is specified in the template file SSY-template.tex, which handles most stylistic issues. You can find the template and other necessary files at http://pubsonline.informs.org/authorportal/latex-style-files. Please avoid using your own macros and packages that are not compatible with hyperref.

Manuscript File

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.

Keywords

Authors are required to identify one or more relevant keywords (maximum: 5 keywords).

Abstract

Manuscripts should include an abstract, placed after the title page, of up to 200 words describing the main results. Authors are strongly encouraged to avoid using display math in the abstract.

Acknowledgments

If applicable, remove any identifying information from the acknowledgments section, or replace the section with the following statement: "Acknowledgments are omitted to preserve the anonymity of the authors during peer review." Acknowledgments can be included once the paper is accepted for publication.

References

List only those references that are cited in the text. References in the text should be cited by the author's surname and the year of publication, for example, Cohen (1969). If the reference has two authors, cite both of the authors' surnames and the year of publication: Karmarkar and Karp (1982). If the reference has three or more authors, cite the first author's surname followed by et al. and the year of publication: Gale et al. (1951).

If there is more than one reference by the same author with the same year of publication, the first citation appearing in the text would read “Cohen (1969a),” the second citation would read “Cohen (1969b),” etc. Do not use parentheses or brackets for dates when the citation is already enclosed within parentheses.

Full references should be listed alphabetically by the last name of the first author at the end of the paper. Do not number the reference list.

For journal references, include the author(s), year of publication, title, journal name, volume, and pages:

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

For book references, include the author(s), year of publication, title, publisher, city, and state; if a chapter within an edited book, give the pages:

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

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.

For references to working papers or dissertations, include the author(s), title, type of document, department, university, and location:

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

Figures

Visit the File Preparation page within the INFORMS Author Portal for detailed instructions regarding figure composition.

Submitting Your Manuscript

Preprints

Stochastic Systems strongly encourages all authors to post their papers at arXiv upon submission. This gives the statistics community instant access to your paper and also establishes priority for your ideas while the paper is being reviewed. Posting the paper at arXiv is standard practice in other fields such as math and physics and is becoming increasingly common in statistics. Submissions instructions can be found at: http://arxiv.org/submit.

Extensions of Conference Papers

The purpose of conference proceedings is to quickly bring new results to the attention of a research community. Submissions must be self-contained and not abbreviated versions of longer papers intended for publication elsewhere.

The purpose of Stochastic Systems is to publish high-quality archival work that has passed through a careful editorial process. Accordingly, Stochastic Systems does publish extended versions of conference papers, provided the following conditions are met:

1. The Stochastic Systems paper clearly references, in a prominent location such as the introduction of the paper, a previous or concurrent conference paper, and briefly explains any differences in the papers.
2. The Stochastic Systems paper extends the proceedings paper in substantial and meaningful ways. “Substantial and meaningful” can include extensions of key results, additional methodological contributions, or detailed development of key proofs. The “substantial and meaningful” criterion is subject to the discretion of the editor-in-chief, associate editor, and reviewers.
3. The following are included in any submission to Stochastic Systems: a) the proceedings paper; b) a description of the differences between the papers, e.g., through a brief (one page or less) summary of the differences between the papers, or a version of the submitted paper with all portions that are identical to the proceedings paper highlighted clearly.
4. Authors will ensure that the copyright policy of the conference is respected when submitting work to Stochastic Systems. This is especially important given the open-access nature of Stochastic Systems.

Submission

To submit a manuscript to Stochastic Systems, authors should complete the submission process on the ScholarOne Manuscripts website: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ssy.

The ScholarOne Submission Process

In ScholarOne Manuscripts, there are seven steps in the submission process:

Step 1: Type, title, abstract — Enter the manuscript type (ie, Original Article). Provide the manuscript title. Add the abstract (not more than 200 words).

Step 2: Attributes — Please enter from 1 to 5 keywords.

Step 3: Authors and 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: Reviewers — Enter any reviewers you would like to suggest for review or exclusion.

Step 5: Details and Comments — Authors will certify that they are complying with the journal's ethical policy. As part of Step 5, authors will certify the following ethical statements within the ScholarOne system:

I acknowledge that I am aware of Stochastic Systems' guidelines for ethical behavior in publishing (http://pubsonline.informs.org/page/stsy/guidelines-for-ethical-behavior-in-publishing) 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 no part of the material within the submitted paper is subject to another copyright except those parts covered by permissions the author has obtained.

I acknowledge that in submitting this paper I am aware of INFORMS policy on plagiarism and copyright (http://pubsonline.informs.org/authorportal/copyright-plagiarism). Further I acknowledge that I will supply to the editor(s) of the journal all of my manuscripts (e.g., conference proceedings, prior publications, book chapters, papers submitted to other journals) that have substantial overlap with the submitted paper. I also certify no part of the material within the submitted paper is subject to another copyright except those parts covered by permissions the author has obtained.

Step 6: 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.

Step 7: Review and 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.

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 revisions.

Summary of the Review Process

1. The manuscript is checked to ensure that it conforms with the formatting requirements and all supporting documents have been included.
2. The Editor quickly reviews the manuscript for overall fit with the editorial policy of the journal. If the Editor feels the paper fits the journal's editorial mission, the Editor assigns the paper to an Associate Editor (AE). Otherwise, the Editor returns the manuscript to the authors with a short report explaining this decision.
3. 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.
4. 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, or with very minor changes that can be checked by the Editor.

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

Appeals Process

Occasionally, reviewers or Associate Editors will make errors in their reviews. The Editor-in-Chief and the Senior Editor may fail to catch these errors. Although it is unlikely that an error would impact the final decision on a manuscript, the possibility exists. Therefore, we do allow authors to appeal decisions.

Authors should never appeal decisions only because they disagree with the outcome or feel that the evaluators merely lacked appreciation for what they have done (evaluators are often chosen from the author’s recommendations). Moreover, authors should never appeal on the grounds that their standing in the discipline accords them some special treatment. We give all authors equal opportunity. However, if the reviewers or evaluators have made errors that can be documented, authors can and should appeal decisions. Please note that this formal appeals process is the only option for appealing a decision. Informal appeals are not allowed.

1. Every author is allowed a maximum of one appeal per year.
2. An appeal must be sent by e-mail to the Editor-in-Chief no later than 1 month after the date of the decision letter on the manuscript.
3. All authors must be copied on the appeal email to the Editor-in-Chief.
4. The authors should provide a document that quotes each evaluator statement that is in error and explains why the statement is incorrect. In addition, authors are requested to provide recommendation for up to four reviewers who could be consulted for obtaining additional feedback.
5. The Editor-in-Chief reviews the document and based on that makes recommendation to either approve the appeal or reject it. If the appeal is approved, then Editor-in-Chief solicits two additional reviewers. These reviewers will be shared all the prior reviews, decision letter and appeals document. The reviewers will be asked to make binary decision (accept or reject). If both reviewers suggest accepting, then the manuscript will be accepted. Else it will be rejected.

After Acceptance

Final Submission

We 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 of a paper for publication in Stochastic Systems, authors must indicate if their paper is posted on a working papers website other than their own. Authors are responsible for ensuring that, if any part of the paper has been copyrighted for prepublication as a working paper, permission has been obtained to allow publication in Stochastic Systems. This includes both print and electronic forms of the paper.

If a paper is accepted for publication, authors are expected to provide a LaTeX source file, all figure files, and the matching PDF of the final revision as a reference, as well as a signed Publication License. Important information about preparing files for production is available here.

Open Access

Stochastic Systems provides open access to all of its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Articles are published under the Creative Commons CC-BY: Attribution license. Authors will retain copyright and reuse rights as defined at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. There are no article processing charges or submission fees to publish in Stochastic Systems.

NIH Public Access Policy

NIH-funded authors: Please note that INFORMS follows Method C of NIH's submission methods guidelines (http://publicaccess.nih.gov/submit_process.htm). The author is responsible for complying with the NIH Public Access Policy, and INFORMS has no obligation to notify an NIH-funded author about the requirement.

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].

Publication Forms