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1.Before you submit

Submit a clearly defined contribution in artificial intelligence. Explain the research gap and show how the work advances the closest existing approaches; broad claims of novelty are not a substitute for evidence.

• Confirm that the manuscript is not under consideration by another journal. Disclose any preprint, thesis, conference paper or other related version and explain the differences.
• Ensure that all authors have approved the manuscript, author order and submission. Designate a corresponding author and keep their details current.
• Check that the paper is readable on its own and that the figures, references and supporting files are complete.

Use the journal's paper requirements package. Any manuscript-specific instructions issued by the editorial office take priority.

Related resources
Start with the journal's Publishing Ethics Policy. Optional author identification: ORCID.

2.Manuscript preparation

• Title: fewer than 100 characters, with specific wording and no unnecessary abbreviations.
• Author information: names, affiliations and the corresponding author's email. Match these details to the submission metadata.
• Abstract: fewer than 300 words, covering the problem, approach, main findings and significance. Avoid unexplained abbreviations and references.
• Keywords: 3 to 5 terms describing the subject and methods.
• Presentation: use single spacing and a 12-point font unless the journal template specifies otherwise. Use italics rather than underlining, except in URLs.

The existing initial-submission guidelines allow OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, RTF or PDF files. The formats and limits enabled in the upload form determine what the system can receive. Ask the editorial office if a source format is not accepted; do not rename an extension to bypass validation.

Related resources
Download the JAIR paper requirements (.zip). See the recommended article structure before preparing the file.

3.Article structure & scientific reporting

Use a structure that makes the research question, method and evidence easy to examine. The following outline is recommended, with appropriate adaptation for theoretical or other types of work.

• Introduction and related work: define the question, identify the gap and state the contributions against relevant prior research.
• Methodology: specify assumptions, notation, algorithms and implementation details. Explain important design choices.
• Experiments and results: identify datasets, preprocessing, evaluation splits, metrics and comparison settings.
• Discussion and limitations: identify failure cases and distinguish demonstrated results from proposed applications.
• Conclusion and end matter: summarise the findings, followed by applicable acknowledgements, declarations, references and appendices.

For empirical AI research, explain how baselines were tuned and whether comparisons use equivalent data access and computing resources. Separate training, validation and test information. Report repeated-run variation where it matters, and use ablation or sensitivity analysis to examine major design choices.

For theoretical contributions, provide the assumptions and derivations needed to check the claims. For surveys, describe the selection of literature and provide a critical synthesis rather than a list of papers; confirm the suitability of the article type with the editorial office.

4.Figures, references & supporting material

• Number figures and tables in order of first mention and cite each in the text. Explain units, abbreviations, error bars and sample sizes where applicable. Do not rely on colour alone.
• Use consistent notation and define symbols. Provide editable equations in final source files.
• Follow the journal template for references. Check bibliographic details and include DOI links or stable URLs where available.
• Obtain permission for reused material when required and credit its source.
• Label supplementary files clearly, cite them in the manuscript and check that they open correctly. Remove confidential or identifying content where the review instructions require it.

5.Transparency, ethics & AI assistance

Prepare the following information, as applicable, in the manuscript or the fields requested by the editorial office.

• Authorship and contributions: describe the authors' roles. Explain proposed authorship changes to the editor and obtain agreement from everyone affected.
• Funding and competing interests: identify relevant support and relationships, or state that none apply. Explain any sponsor involvement.
• Research ethics: identify necessary approvals, consent and safeguards for regulated studies or sensitive records.
• Data and code: describe access to supporting resources. Explain restrictions and any permitted access route rather than disclosing protected information.

Sharing a reproducibility package is encouraged where permissions allow. Useful components include software versions, configurations, seeds, preprocessing instructions and an evaluation procedure. This guidance does not require public release of restricted data.

Verify all AI-assisted text, references, code and results. Describe substantive generative-AI assistance in manuscript preparation, including its purpose; ordinary spelling checks are not scientific contributions. If AI forms part of the research method, report the model or service, relevant version and experimental settings. AI tools cannot take responsibility for a paper and should not be named as authors.

Related resources
For describing contributions: CRediT contributor roles. Background reading: research-data sharing and responsible AI assistance (external publisher guidance, not additional journal requirements).

6.Submission, review & revision

Sign in to the JAIR submission system, open the Author workspace and choose Submit New Manuscript. Complete the metadata, upload the appropriate files and check the submission confirmation.

Use the cover letter or comments to the editor to explain the contribution, disclose related versions and identify matters needing editorial attention. Submission does not guarantee external review or acceptance.

• For a revision, provide a point-by-point response to the editor and reviewers.
• Identify the location of each change. Where you disagree, explain the scientific reason and supporting evidence.
• Upload a clean revised manuscript and any marked version requested. Update supporting files and metadata when needed.
• Use the deadline in the decision letter or dashboard. Ask for an extension before it expires.

Related resources
Open the JAIR submission system or contact the editorial office about an extension.

7.After acceptance

In Post-Acceptance Tasks, use Upload for the camera-ready manuscript and Sign for the copyright agreement. These are separate requirements; completing one does not complete the other.

Check author details, figures, citations and final files before uploading. Supply editable sources if requested; a LaTeX package should include the material needed to build the manuscript. Check proofs when supplied and send corrections to the editorial office.

For fees, licences or access arrangements, consult the journal's published policies or ask the editorial office. This guide does not introduce fees, transfer copyright or promise a publication date.

Related resources
Before uploading, check manuscript preparation and the paper requirements package.

8.Final checklist & help

• Manuscript details agree with the submission record.
• All authors have approved the submission and applicable declarations are supplied.
• Figures, citations and supporting files have been checked.
• Related publications or prior versions have been disclosed.
• Files follow the assigned anonymity instructions.
• After acceptance, both final-file upload and copyright signing have been checked.

For a technical failure, record the manuscript ID, approximate time, attempted action and error message. Contact the editorial office using the journal's Contact page. Check whether an action was recorded before retrying it.

Related resources
Contact the editorial office for submission and technical enquiries.

Need assistance?

Contact the editorial office with your manuscript ID and the details of your enquiry.

External links are supplementary learning resources. The journal's own policies and manuscript-specific instructions take precedence.