Submissions

Author Guidelines

The CERN IdeaSquare Journal of Experimental Innovation (CIJ) publishes:

• Original articles
• Methodological Notes
• Datasets
• IdeaSquare Coffee Papers
• Editorials

The manuscripts have to be prepared in accordance with the double-blind review process, i.e., both the authors' and the reviewers' identities are concealed from each other. Consequently, the author(s) must:

1. retain from using explicit indications of the authors’ names and institutions;
2. make sure that the manuscript does not reveal the author’s identity in any implicit manner.

Author names, institutions, and acknowledgments should appear only in the separately submitted title page of the submission.

Each submission therefore contains a minimum of two (2) separate files: the title page and the blinded-manuscript. Both files should be submitted as Word and pdf files in a zipped folder.

Please use the following Word templates for your submission:

CIJ_article_template_blinded
CIJ_titlepage_template
CIJ_data_template_blinded
CIJ_methodological_note_template_blinded

Article types

Original articles

All submitted papers must adhere to the following formatting guidelines throughout the manuscript (main body, references, appendices, and footnotes). The same guidelines are also embedded in the above templates:

• A4 paper
• Margins: 3.95 cm top and 1.9 cm left, right and bottom
• 10pt Times New Roman font
• 1.0 spacing
• around 3000 words (excluding abstract, acknowledgement, supplementary material description and references)

A word limit is imposed because the intention of the CIJ is to provide a fast and reliable communication tool for researchers to publish the most recent results of their empirical experimentations. Therefore, the shortness of the contributions facilitates that the articles:

1. focus on a certain main contribution;
2. can be reviewed effectively and precisely;
3. are easy to read and their core ideas are quick to grasp.

The Journal recommends prospective authors to follow the guidelines below regarding article structure and content:

Abstract: A brief, less than 150 words, abstract is required.

Introduction: Include a brief introduction comprising a first paragraph which establishes the importance and relevance of the research topic and a second paragraph which establishes the existing research gap and research question(s). Limit the number of research questions to the most important ones.

Theoretical background: A brief, to-the-point theoretical discussion only on the most important relevant literature establishing concepts of the study, necessary for establishing the current level of knowledge and the research gap.

Methods and data: Shortly describe the core elements of your method, so that it facilitates replication logic but does not go into excessive, unnecessary detail.

Results: Concentrate on the most important, core results of your study. Do not discuss results in excessive detail and limit the number of results to answering a limited number of research questions.

Discussion and conclusions: Only conclude what can be said based on the results, considering the core limitations of the research. Do not repeat results, research question(s), future research directions, or the like.

References: Do not use linked fields (produced by referencing software) but rather remove field codes produced by referencing software before saving the final version of your manuscript that you are going to submit. Please follow the APA 7 referencing style.

Author contributions: CRediT: Corresponding authors are required to acknowledge co-author contributions using CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) roles.

Not all CRediT roles will apply to every manuscript and some authors may contribute through

Methodological Notes

These are short articles, usually invited by the Editors, and dedicated to the description of less known methods. They should introduce a methodology for experimental innovation research using practical examples and comprehesive references, with examples of how this method has been used in the past.

No abstract is needed for this type of article. No keywords. No IMRAD structure (but sub-headings are allowed). Only 3 authors are allowed in the byline. Max 1000 words. 1 figure or 1 table. Max 15 references.

Datasets

CIJ encourages authors to publish datasets on the CERN IdeaSquare Journal of Experimental Innovation (CIJ) Zenodo community (https://zenodo.org/communities/cij). Zenodo is a free open repository hosted by CERN for researchers to deposit datasets, software and other digital artefacts.

CIJ also publishes descriptions of such datasets that are already available at an open repository (e.g., Zenodo) and cover the data’s relevance to the field, necessary theoretical bases to understanding it, and in detail how the data was obtained. The template for data publications is made available similarly to templates of other types of publications. Such descriptions should cover the data’s relevance to the field, necessary theoretical bases to understanding it, and detailed explanation of how the data was obtained. They are published as peer-reviewed contributions in the journal.

IdeaSquare Coffee papers

In addition to its main purpose of publishing experimental innovation research related results, CIJ also publishes more light, inspirational food-for-thought intended "IdeaSquare Coffee Papers". These pieces are collaborative efforts prepared by visiting researchers from various walks of life visiting or staying at CERN IdeaSquare premises. The identity of the contributing authors is kept anonymous (although known) but helpful hints can be found in the literature references. IdeaSquare Coffee papers only go through editorial review and do not constitute peer-reviewed publications.

Editorials

These manuscripts are accepted only upon invitation from the Editorial Board.

Supplementary materials

Supplementary materials (such as video material stating the core results, supplementary data files, additional robustness checks etc.) should be provided as additional files for the manuscript submission. These files are not counted toward the word limit of the submission. The contents of supplementary material should not be critical for the proper evaluation of the paper and for delivering the core results of the paper (otherwise these should be included in the main text).

Submission instructions

All manuscripts must be submitted electronically via https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CIJ/about/submissions. Authors are advised to follow the detailed instructions in the system. Authors should contact the Editor-in-Chief if they have any questions or encounter any problems in the system.

During the submission process authors may upload additional materials (data, questionnaires, videos, additional analyses, etc.) that they feel will support the review process. Authors submitting a revised version of their manuscript must submit a document that summarizes the changes that they have made containing a detailed response to each of the reviewers’ comments from the previous review.

Data disclosure

CIJ encourages (but does not require) the disclosure of data associated with the manuscripts to support and facilitate scientific work to continue based on the published works. All the data submitted will be open-source licensed.

Ethics and policies

Submission declaration

When authors submit an article to CIJ it is implied that:

• The work described in the article has not been already published except in the form of a preprint, an abstract, a published lecture or academic thesis.
• The article is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
• The article publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out.

Authorship

Authorship of a manuscript submitted to this journal must be based on all four of the following criteria:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data;
• Drafting the work or critically revising it for important intellectual content;
• Final approval of the version to be published;
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work, including the investigation and resolution of any questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of it.

Individuals who meet all four criteria qualify as authors and must be listed as such. Those who contribute to the work but do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgements section, with their role described.

Corresponding Author

The corresponding author acts on behalf of all co-authors throughout the submission, peer review, and publication process. They are responsible for ensuring that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the final manuscript, and that authorship criteria have been met by each listed author.

Change of authorship policy

The author list submitted at the time of manuscript submission is expected to be final. Authors are strongly encouraged to reach full agreement on authorship — including the order of names — before submitting a manuscript. Requests to alter the authorship of a manuscript after submission are discouraged and will be subject to careful editorial scrutiny.

Requests for any change to the author list must be submitted in writing to the editorial office at any stage prior to publication. The request must include:

• A cover letter clearly stating the nature of the requested change and the reasons for it, signed by the corresponding author on behalf of all listed authors;
• Written confirmation from every author listed on the original submission — including any author proposed for removal — that they are aware of and agree to the change;
• A revised author contribution statement reflecting the updated list, specifying each author's role in the work in accordance with the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) framework or equivalent.

Requests to alter authorship after a manuscript has been accepted are not allowed.

Declaration of competing interests

All authors must disclose, in a dedicated section in the main manuscript, any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias their work. Examples of potential competing interests include:

• Employment
• Consultancies
• Stock ownership
• Honoraria
• Paid expert testimony
• Patent applications or registrations
• Grants or any other funding
• Affiliation with the journal as an Editor or Advisory Board Member

Authors with no competing interest to declare should write ‘Nothing to declare’

Funding

Authors must disclose any funding sources who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article. The role of sponsors, if any, should be declared in relation to the study design, collection, analysis and interpretation of data, writing of the report and decision to submit the article for publication. If funding sources had no such involvement this should be stated in your submission.

Here is an example of how to disclose funding:

Funding: This work was supported by ……. [grant numbers xxx]

If no funding has been provided, we recommend including the following sentence:

This research did not receive any grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Corrections

A correction is issued when a published article contains an error that does not affect the overall conclusions of the work but may mislead readers or affect the reproducibility of the findings.

An Erratum is issued when the error was introduced by the journal during the editorial or production process (e.g. typesetting errors, figure mislabelling, formatting mistakes).

A Corrigendum is issued when the error originated with the authors (e.g. incorrect values in a table, a mislabelled figure, an error in a formula or statistical output).

Corrections will be published as a separate, citable notice linked to the original article in both directions. The original article will be updated online to include a prominent link to the correction notice. The correction notice will specify the nature of the error and provide the corrected information in full.

Use of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)

CERN IdeaSquare Journal of Experimental Innovation sees the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) as a fruitful aid to proofreading, formatting, summarising, and other text processing tasks. While generative AI can even aid with ideation, it is also emphasised that generative AI has acknowledged issues around bias, representativeness, context awareness, and accuracy. Hence, authors of papers are to be transparent about how they used AI in papers, which AI was used. This is to be explained in a dedicated section of the manuscript titled ‘Statement of generative AI use.

Authors are fully accountable for all content in their submitted manuscript, including any content generated or assisted by AI tools. The use of AI does not transfer responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, fabrications, or ethical violations to the tool or its developers. Where AI-assisted content is found to contain errors, misrepresentations, or fabricated material, the authors bear sole responsibility, and the journal will apply its standard procedures for correction, retraction, or misconduct investigation accordingly.

AI should not be listed as an author and authors remain fully responsible for the content of their submissions.

The following uses of AI tools are not permitted:

• Fabrication or manipulation of data, results, or images using AI tools, whether for the purpose of misrepresentation or otherwise;
• Generation of fictitious references or citation information, including the use of AI tools that produce plausible but non-existent sources;
• Undisclosed use of AI tools in any component of the manuscript;
• Submission of manuscripts generated in their entirety by AI, without substantial original intellectual contribution from the listed authors;

Use of AI tools by peer reviewers when drafting, structuring, or summarising their evaluation of a manuscript, due to the confidentiality obligations inherent in the peer review process. Peer reviewers are prohibited from uploading manuscript content — in whole or in part — to any external AI system, including publicly available large language models and AI writing assistants. Manuscripts submitted for review are confidential documents. Their use as input to AI systems risks breaching confidentiality, exposing unpublished findings, and potentially contributing to the training of commercial models without authors' knowledge or consent. Reviewers who are uncertain whether a specific tool is permissible should contact the editorial office before use.