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Preparing your materials

Policy on prior publication

When authors submit manuscripts to this journal, these manuscripts should not be under consideration, accepted for publication or in press within a different journal, book or similar entity, unless explicit permission or agreement has been sought from all entities involved. However, deposition of a preprint on the author’s personal website, in an institutional repository, or in a preprint archive shall not be viewed as prior or duplicate publication. Authors should follow the Cambridge University Press Preprint Policy regarding preprint archives and maintaining the version of record. 

Preparing your article for submission

Papers should be prepared in either Microsoft Word or LaTeX format, and initially should have figures and tables embedded. If the paper is prepared in Word, the doc file can be uploaded during submission, and the submission system will generate a PDF for review purposes. We do accept format-neutral submissions for original Word submissions, but if you wish to approximate the journal's style you may use the Word template below. Authors are strongly encouraged to use this for revised submissions:

Robotica Word formatting template

If the paper is prepared in LaTeX, the author must generate a PDF and upload this during the submission process. Authors should use the ROB-NEW.cls style file and supporting files provided below:

LaTeX template files for submission (zip file).

For help with general LaTeX queries, please consult our dedicated LaTeX helpline at https://cuptexsupport.spi-global.com/CUPTexSupport

The LATEX source file should not initially be submitted alongside the PDF, but upon provisional acceptance of the paper, the LATEX source file, along with individual figure files and a PDF of the final version, will need to be submitted for typesetting purposes. See the publication process after acceptance page for further information.


Abstract and Keywords preparation

All papers should feature a single-paragraph abstract of no more than 250 words, which provides a summary of the main aims and results. Further guidance on writing an effective abstract can be found here.

Authors should not enter keywords on the manuscript, as these must be chosen by the author during the online submission process and will then be added during the production process. For further details, please see the submitting your materials page.

Equations, Tables and Artwork

Equations

If you are not using LaTeX, then mathematical equations should be created using MS Equation Editor or similar, with subscripts and superscripts clearly indicated. All mathematical symbols will be set in italics unless otherwise indicated: symbols or letters to be set in Roman (upright) type should be marked clearly.

Tables

Authors using LaTeX should incorporate tables in the usual way.

For other authors, tables should be provided as an editable source file, e.g. Word document. A caption should be given to each table. Tables should be numbered consecutively. Exceptionally lengthy tables may be summarized for publication with a note that fuller details can be obtained from the authors.

Figures

There is no charge for colour figures. For review purposes figures should be embedded within the manuscript. Upon final acceptance, however, individual figure files will be required for production. 

Authors using LaTeX should incorporate illustrations (figures or photographs) in the usual way; figures should be supplied as .eps files at resolution 1200 dpi for lines, 600 dpi for greyscale and 300 dpi for colour (which preferably should also be in RGB format). However, most standard image formats such as pct, ppm, png, psd, Word, ppt, CorelDraw, ChemDraw, AutoCAD can also be used, but not customized output of software not designed for publishing purposes such as Matlab. Figures should be numbered consecutively, have descriptive captions, and be mentioned in the text. A list of captions should be attached separately, and as far as possible, information relating to a figure should be placed in the caption rather than on the figure. Each figure should be clearly numbered. Photographs should be the same size as they will appear in the journal. Photographs should be clearly identified and numbered as for line drawings. Failure to follow figure guidelines may result in a request for resupply and a subsequent delay in the production process.

For further information, please consult the Cambridge Journals artwork guide

Citations and References 

All papers included in the References section must be cited in the article, and vice versa. Citations in the text should be denoted as consecutive numbers in square brackets with one number per reference. For example, see the work of Author [1], Author and Other [2], and Author et al. [3]. Note that et al. is used in the citation, but the full reference in the references section should list all authors. Citations may also be inserted when the author is not being directly referenced [4], and multiple references should be indicated as, for example, [1,3] and [2 – 4]. 

References should be listed at the end of the paper in numerical order. Authors' initials should precede their names: cited article titles should be quoted in full, enclosed in quotation marks; and abbreviations of journal names should follow the style of Chemical Abstracts or Physical Abstracts, and be underlined for italics:

P.W. Anderson, "More is different'' Science l77, 393-399 (1972);

C.V. Negoita, Fuzzy Systems (Abacus Press. Tunbridge Wells, UK, 1980).

Citations such as 'personal communication', 'unpublished work', etc., are not acceptable as numbered references but can be included in parenthesis in the text. Do not use summaries as references.

For authors using LaTeX, please follow instructions given in the guide.

Acknowledgements 

You may acknowledge individuals or organisations that provided advice, support (non-financial). Formal financial support and funding should be listed in the Financial Support section (see below).

Required statements

Author Contributions

A short statement must be provided indicating how each author contributed to the work. For example: AB and CD conceived and designed the study. CD and EF conducted data gathering. GH performed statistical analyses. AB, EF and GH wrote the article.

Financial Support

Please provide details of the sources of financial support for all authors, including grant numbers.

EXAMPLE:  "This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (grant number XXXXXXX)".

Multiple grant numbers should be separated by a comma and space, and where research was funded by more than one agency the different agencies should be separated by a semi-colon, with 'and' before the final funder. Grants held by different authors should be identified as belonging to individual authors by the authors' initials.

EXAMPLE:  "This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (A.B., grant numbers XXXX, YYYY), (C.D., grant number ZZZZ); the Natural Environment Research Council (E.F., grant number FFFF); and the Australian Research Council (A.B., grant number GGGG), (E.F., grant number HHHH)".

Where no specific funding has been provided for research, please provide the following statement:

 "This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial or not-for-profit sectors."

Competing Interests Declarations

All authors must include a competing interests declaration in their manuscript above the references. This declaration will be subject to editorial review and may be published in the article.

Competing interests are situations that could be perceived to exert an undue influence on the content or publication of an author’s work. They may include, but are not limited to, financial, professional, contractual or personal relationships or situations.

If the manuscript has multiple authors, the author submitting must include competing interest declarations relevant to all contributing authors. Example wording for a declaration is as follows: “Competing interests: Author A is employed at company B. Author C owns shares in company D, is on the Board of company E and is a member of organisation F. Author G has received grants from company H.” If no competing interests exist, the declaration should state “Competing interests: The author(s) declare none”.

Data Availability Statement

Articles should contain sufficient information to allow others to understand, verify and replicate new findings. Therefore we encourage authors to include a Data Availability Statement in their manuscript. This statement should include information on where resources such as data, materials, protocols and software code can be accessed. If data sharing is not applicable, authors should state that ‘Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.’

For further information on the Research Transparency policy for Robotica please view the full policy here.

Ethical Standards (only if applicable)

All Cambridge journals adhere to a set of Ethical Standards, as laid out on our Publishing Ethics page.

Where research involves human and/or animal experimentation, the following statements should be included:

"The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional committees on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008." and "The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional guides on the care and use of laboratory animals."

English language editing services 

Authors, particularly those whose first language is not English, may wish to have their English-language manuscripts checked by a native speaker before submission. This step is optional, but may help to ensure that the academic content of the paper is fully understood by the Editor and any reviewers.  

In order to help prospective authors to prepare for submission and to reach their publication goals, Cambridge University Press offers a range of high-quality manuscript preparation services, including language editing. You can find out more on our language services page.

Please note that the use of any of these services is voluntary, and at the author's own expense. Use of these services does not guarantee that the manuscript will be accepted for publication, nor does it restrict the author to submitting to a Cambridge-published journal. 

Seeking permission for copyrighted material

If your article contains any material in which you do not own copyright, including figures, charts, tables, photographs or excerpts of text, you must obtain permission from the copyright holder to reuse that material. As the author it is your responsibility to obtain this permission and pay any related fees, and you will need to send us a copy of each permission statement at acceptance.

For information on how to obtain permission, please refer to this guidance document.

Competing Interests

All authors must include a competing interest declaration in their main manuscript file. This declaration will be subject to editorial review and may be published in the article. 

Competing interests are situations that could be perceived to exert an undue influence on the content or publication of an author’s work. They may include, but are not limited to, financial, professional, contractual or personal relationships or situations. 

If the manuscript has multiple authors, the author submitting must include competing interest declarations relevant to all contributing authors. 

Example wording for a declaration is as follows: “Competing interests: Author 1 is employed at organisation A, Author 2 is on the Board of company B and is a member of organisation C. Author 3 has received grants from company D.” If no competing interests exist, the declaration should state “Competing interests: The author(s) declare none”. 

Publication Ethics

All authors are required to comply with Cambridge University Press’s publishing ethics guidelines. As part of its editorial processes, this journal may share relevant submission data and manuscript content with in-house or third-party tools to perform research integrity and other submission checks. Any such information sharing is conducted in accordance with the appropriate privacy and processing laws, applicable Terms of Use, and ethical guidance. In cases of alleged or suspected misconduct, the journal will investigate in line with COPE recommendations.

Authorship and contributorship

All authors listed on any papers submitted to this journal must be in agreement that the authors listed would all be considered authors according to disciplinary norms, and that no authors who would reasonably be considered an author have been excluded. For further details on this journal’s authorship policy, please see this journal's publishing ethics policies.

During the submission process, the Corresponding Author must declare that they have the authority of all co-authors for the submission. The Corresponding Author will be asked this question when they submit the article for review.

Author contributions

A short statement should be provided indicating how each author contributed to the work. For example: AB and CD conceived and designed the study. CD and EF conducted data gathering. GH performed statistical analyses. AB, EF and GH wrote the article.

 Please apply the following principles when constructing an author list. Collaborators who meet one or more of these criteria should be listed as an author:

·        Made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; and/or

·        Made substantial contributions to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; and/or

·        Enabled the drafting the work or revised it critically for important intellectual content

In addition all authors should give their:

1.  Final approval of the version to be published; and

2.  Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

We encourage authors to list anyone who does not meet the criteria for authorship in an Acknowledgments section in their publication with permission, for example to recognise the contributions of anyone who provided research or writing assistance.

 Changes to author lists in revised manuscripts: Authors are advised that this is strongly discouraged, and you cannot make changes to the list on ScholarOne in subsequent versions. Therefore, you must ensure that your author list is complete and correct at first submission.

If absolutely necessary, changes must be requested by emailing the Editorial Office, explaining why the changes are required and justifying the inclusion of new authors. All authors must meet standard criteria for authorship: other people who do not meet these can be added to the Acknowledgements section.

PLEASE NOTE: any paper where author changes are requested will be put on hold and WILL NOT be released for peer review until the requests have been justified and approved.

Changes will not be allowed after acceptance except in exceptional circumstances

Author affiliations

Author affiliations should represent the institution(s) at which the research presented was conducted and/or supported and/or approved. For non-research content, any affiliations should represent the institution(s) with which each author is currently affiliated. 

For more information, please see our author affiliation policy and author affiliation FAQs.

ORCID

We require all corresponding authors to identify themselves using ORCID when submitting a manuscript to this journal. ORCID provides a unique identifier for researchers and, through integration with key research workflows such as manuscript submission and grant applications, provides the following benefits:

  • Discoverability: ORCID increases the discoverability of your publications, by enabling smarter publisher systems and by helping readers to reliably find work that you have authored.
  • Convenience: As more organisations use ORCID, providing your iD or using it to register for services will automatically link activities to your ORCID record, and will enable you to share this information with other systems and platforms you use, saving you re-keying information multiple times.
  • Keeping track: Your ORCID record is a neat place to store and (if you choose) share validated information about your research activities and affiliations.

See our ORCID FAQs for more information.

If you don’t already have an iD, you will need to create one if you decide to submit a manuscript to this journal. You can register for one directly from your user account on ScholarOne, or alternatively via https://ORCID.org/register.

If you already have an iD, please use this when submitting your manuscript, either by linking it to your ScholarOne account, or by supplying it during submission using the "Associate your existing ORCID iD" button.

ORCIDs can also be used if authors wish to communicate to readers up-to-date information about how they wish to be addressed or referred to (for example, they wish to include pronouns, additional titles, honorifics, name variations, etc.) alongside their published articles. We encourage authors to make use of the ORCID profile’s “Published Name” field for this purpose. This is entirely optional for authors who wish to communicate such information in connection with their article. Please note that this method is not currently recommended for author name changes: see Cambridge’s author name change policy if you want to change your name on an already published article. See our ORCID FAQs for more information. 

Supplementary materials

Material that is not essential to understanding or supporting a manuscript, but which may nonetheless be relevant or interesting to readers, may be submitted as supplementary material. Supplementary material will be published online alongside your article, but will not be published in the pages of the journal. Types of supplementary material may include, but are not limited to, appendices, additional tables or figures, datasets, videos, and sound files.

Supplementary materials will not be typeset or copyedited, so should be supplied exactly as they are to appear online. Please see our general guidance on supplementary materials for further information.

Where relevant we encourage authors to publish additional qualitative or quantitative research outputs in an appropriate repository, and cite these in manuscripts.

Author Hub

You can find guides for many aspects of publishing with Cambridge at Author Hub, our suite of resources for Cambridge authors.

Use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools

We acknowledge the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the research and writing processes. To ensure transparency, we expect any such use to be declared and described fully to readers, and to comply with our plagiarism policy and best practices regarding citation and acknowledgements. We do not consider artificial intelligence (AI) tools to meet the accountability requirements of authorship, and therefore generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and similar should not be listed as an author on any submitted content. 

In particular, any use of an AI tool: 

  • to generate images within the manuscript should be accompanied by a full description of the process used, and declared clearly in the image caption(s) 
  • to generate text within the manuscript should be accompanied by a full description of the process used, include appropriate and valid references and citations, and be declared in the manuscript’s Acknowledgements. 
  • to analyse or extract insights from data or other materials, for example through the use of text and data mining, should be accompanied by a full description of the process used, including details and appropriate citation of any dataset(s) or other material analysed in all relevant and appropriate areas of the manuscript 
  • must not present ideas, words, data, or other material produced by third parties without appropriate acknowledgement or permission 

Descriptions of AI processes used should include at minimum the version of the tool/algorithm used, where it can be accessed, any proprietary information relevant to the use of the tool/algorithm, any modifications of the tool made by the researchers (such as the addition of data to a tool’s public corpus), and the date(s) it was used for the purpose(s) described. Any relevant competing interests or potential bias arising as a consequence of the tool/algorithm’s use should be transparently declared and may be discussed in the article.