Submissions

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

Ensure the manuscript is clearly grounded in the Information Systems field throughout the paper (theory, research questions, methods, analysis, contributions, implications, etc.), not only briefly mentioned in the Abstract or Introduction.
The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
Ensure that the manuscript is fully anonymized in accordance with iSys’s double-anonymous review policy, removing all information (in the text, references, acknowledgments, and file metadata) that may directly or indirectly identify the authors.
The manuscript is submitted in PDF, following the official iSys template. Submissions not using the template are subject to desk rejection.
A cover letter is uploaded, presenting all required information.
The manuscript is original, has not been published, and is not under consideration elsewhere. Duplicate submissions are desk rejected.
If extending a published paper:
1) At least 40% new content is provided.
2) The extension is clearly explained.
3) The original paper is uploaded as a supplementary file (Other).
Ensure that relevant related work was searched on iSys and SOL (SBC OpenLib) and considered in the submission.
The manuscript explicitly explains how ethical issues were addressed, including ethics committee approval when applicable.
Any use of AI/LLMs (e.g., ChatGPT, Copilot) is transparently described, including the tool, purpose, and author verification.
Mandatory subsections are included: Acknowledgments, Authors’ Contributions (CRediT), Competing Interests, Availability of data and materials, Further relevant information (ditional relevant information, such as approval by an ethics committee or the use of Generative AI tools, and Funding.
Figures and tables are high-quality (≥300 dpi), provided in accessible formats (e.g., alt text, high contrast), and tables are editable.
All authors have read and approved the manuscript, are accountable for its integrity, and consent to submission.
All authors agree to the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, which applies to accepted papers.
Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.

Author Guidelines

Authors must carefully read the following guidelines before submission. By submitting, authors declare that they:

Have read and followed the instructions.
Comply with the submission checklist.
Agree to the journal’s ethical, legal, and open access requirements.

Manuscript Formatting

Abstract and Keywords

Every abstract, regardless of the paper being fully written in Portuguese or English, must be written in English (150–250 words).
Portuguese versions of the abstract (i.e., resumo) and keywords (i.e., palavras-chave) may also be included if the paper is written in Portuguese.
Abstracts/Resumo should be structured and briefly cover context, objective, method, results, and conclusion/contributions.
Remember to keep Abstract (and Resumo) in only one paragraph (without breaking lines).
Provide 3–6 keywords (palavras-chave).

Structure

All papers, after Final Remarks, must include mandatory declaration sections:

Authors’ Contributions (CRediT taxonomy)
Competing Interests
Funding
Availability of Data and Materials
Acknowledgments (if applicable)

References

References must follow the iSys template style (based on APA).
Include DOIs whenever available.
All cited works must appear in the reference list and vice versa.
Authors must ensure inclusive citation practices (gender, region, underrepresented groups).
Ensure that relevant related work was searched. For example, you may consider:
- National venues and research agendas: iSys – Journal of Information Systems, Brazilian Symposium on Information Systems (SBSI), National Meeting of the Brazilian Academy of Management (EnANPAD), and the Grand Challenges in Information Systems Research in Brazil (GranDSI-BR 2026–2036), and others.
- Leading international IS journals: MIS Quarterly (MISQ), Information Systems Research (ISR), European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS), Information Systems Journal (ISJ), Journal of Information Technology (JIT), Journal of Strategic Information Systems (JSIS), Information & Management (I&M), and Decision Support Systems (DSS), and others.
- Major international IS conferences: International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), and Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS), and others.

Figures and Tables

Figures must be submitted in high resolution (300 dpi) in PNG, JPG, EPS, or TIFF.
Tables must be editable (not embedded as images).
Captions must be self-explanatory.
Authors are responsible for obtaining copyright permissions for third-party content.
Please ensure that color images are accessible to all, including those with impaired color vision. Learn more about color and web accessibility.

Supplementary Materials

Authors are encouraged to deposit datasets, software, appendices, and transcripts in trusted repositories (e.g., Zenodo, OSF, GitHub).
Supplementary files may also be uploaded directly to the submission system and will appear on the article’s publication page.

Cover Letter

All submissions must include a cover letter addressing:

Scope: Why the manuscript fits iSys and the field of Information Systems.
Background: Relation to existing work (including SOL and iSys coverage).
Open Science: How data, code, or materials are shared.
Research Highlights: Up to five key contributions. Remember to cover the relevance for the IS field.
Authorship: Contributions of each author (CRediT taxonomy).
Competing Interests: Any relevant conflicts.

Additional information if applicable:

Extended papers: Cite the original version and upload the PDF.
Special issues: Identify the target call.

Extended Papers

Extended versions must include at least 40% new material.
The original must be cited and uploaded as supplementary material.
Text must be rewritten (no copy-paste of full sections).
A table outlining differences is recommended.

Review Process and Double-anonymous Policy

iSys adopts a double-anonymous peer review process. In this model, the identities of authors and reviewers are kept confidential throughout the evaluation process. Authors do not know who the reviewers are, and reviewers do not have access to the authors’ identities. This procedure aims to ensure impartiality, fairness, and independence in the assessment of manuscripts.

Ensure that the submitted manuscript is fully anonymized in accordance with the double-anonymous review policy.

Remove all author names, affiliations, acknowledgments, and funding information from the manuscript file.
Avoid self-identifying references (e.g., “in our previous work (Silva, 2023)…”). When citing your own work, use neutral phrasing (e.g., “Previous studies (Author, 2023)…”), and ensure the reference list does not reveal authorship.
Remove metadata from the document file (e.g., author information embedded in Word or PDF properties).
Omit project names, institutional references, or links that may directly identify the authors or research group.

All submissions undergo an initial editorial screening (desk review) to verify compliance with the journal’s scope and author guidelines. Manuscripts that pass this stage are evaluated by at least two independent reviewers (and often three), selected based on their expertise in the topic.

Reviewers assess manuscripts according to the following criteria: 1) Novelty and originality, 2) Rigor and methodological soundness, 3) Relevance to the Information Systems field, 4) Transparency, replicability, and reproducibility, and 5) Presentation quality and clarity.

Authors may be invited to revise and resubmit their manuscripts. Multiple rounds of review may occur until a final editorial decision is reached. For detailed information about each stage, please refer to the Editorial Workflow page.

Ethical Issues

Ethical approval must be explicitly stated where applicable (e.g., studies involving humans).
Compliance with SBC’s Code of Conduct and COPE Core Practices is mandatory.
Authors must examine references and methods critically to avoid biases (gender, race, class, disability, geography).

Use of AI and LLMs

AI tools cannot be listed as authors.
Their use must be transparently disclosed (tool, purpose, verification).
AI must not be used to fabricate data, citations, or analysis.
Example disclosure: “The authors used ChatGPT (OpenAI, 2025) to improve grammar. All suggestions were reviewed and approved by the authors.”

Open Science Policy

Authors are strongly encouraged to make datasets, code, and supplementary materials publicly available.
If not possible, authors must include a Data Availability Statement.
Submissions must demonstrate proper coverage of SOL (SBC OpenLib) literature.

Open Access Policy

iSys is Open Access:

No APCs (Article Processing Charges).
No fees for authors or readers.
All articles are licensed under CC BY 4.0, with authors retaining copyright.

Language

Manuscripts may be submitted in English or Portuguese.

Title: must always be provided in English (mandatory).
Manuscripts in English: must include abstract and keywords in English.
Manuscripts in Portuguese: must include title, abstract, and keywords in English, in addition to resumo and palavras-chave in Portuguese.

Template and Formatting

Submissions must use the official iSys template (the LaTeX version is highly preferred)
Files must be submitted in PDF.
If you eventually choose to use the .docx template, please ensure it strictly follows the formatting and structure of the LaTeX version.
We strongly recommend that authors use the official LaTeX template, which ensures full compliance with the journal’s formatting and structural requirements.
Submissions not using the template will be desk rejected.
Ensure the manuscript follows good accessibility practices: figures, tables, and charts must include clear captions and descriptions; language should be inclusive; and the submitted PDF should be accessible (e.g., readable by assistive technologies).
We gratefully acknowledge Prof. José Viterbo Filho and SBC for their support in preparing and making the LaTeX template available.

Special Issues

iSys publishes special issues (collections) on relevant and emerging IS themes. Proposals must follow the Special Issue Proposals.

Copyright Notice

All articles are published under the CC BY 4.0 license. Authors retain copyright and full publishing rights.

After the Acceptance

Once your manuscript has been formally accepted for publication in iSys, authors must complete the following steps carefully. Failure to comply with these instructions may delay publication.

1) Prepare the Camera-Ready Version

Include all authors’ names, affiliations, emails, and ORCID identifiers that were omitted during the double-anonymous review process.
Ensure strict compliance with the official iSys template.
Carefully review formatting issues, including:
- No tables split across pages;
- No missing figures or captions;
- Consistent font usage and spacing;
- Proper citation formatting.
Incorporate all required revisions indicated by the reviewers and editors.

2) Review All Metadata in the Submission System

Before final submission, carefully verify all metadata in the SOL system:
- Authors’ full names (spelling and order)
- Institutional affiliations
- Email addresses
- ORCID identifiers
- Title of the manuscript
- Abstract (and Resumo, if applicable)
- Keywords (Palavras-chave, if applicable)
- Funding and supporting agencies
- Complete list of references

All metadata must be identical to the information presented in the final PDF. No metadata changes will be accepted after the deadline.

3) Submit the Final Documents

By the informed deadline, submit a single ZIP file via SOL (as a reply to the editorial decision message) containing:

The final PDF (camera-ready version);
The source files:

.docx (for submissions using word processing tools), or
.zip containing LaTeX source files.

Late or incomplete submissions may postpone publication.

4) References File (Required)

Authors must also submit a separate file (.txt or .docx) containing the complete list of references, formatted according to the iSys template.

Please ensure that:

No special characters are improperly encoded;
There are no line breaks within individual references;
All references exactly match those cited in the paper.

5) Common Issues to Avoid

Before submission, please double-check the following frequent inconsistencies:

Authors’ names and affiliations differ between the PDF and the metadata;
Title differs between the PDF and the metadata;
Author order in the system does not match the manuscript;
Abstract and Resumo are inconsistent;
Keywords differ from those in the manuscript;
References listed in the metadata do not match the final paper;
Broken or non-functional hyperlinks in the PDF;
Missing ORCID identifiers;
Inconsistent funding information.

Careful verification of these items ensures a smooth publication process.

As soon as you deal with the above issues, you can notify us with a comment on the "Copyediting Discussions".

Appeals

Authors may appeal editorial decisions if they believe a manuscript was unfairly evaluated. Appeals must:

Be submitted through the system as a new message in the Discussion box,
Include a clear justification addressing the decision,
Not bypass the double-anonymous review process.

The Editors-in-Chief will review appeals in consultation with the Editorial Board.

Copyright Notice

iSys is free of charges for both authors and readers.
All published papers follow the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
Authors retain copyright and full publishing rights without restrictions.

Editorial

Standard section policy

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.